If you've not done so yet, you undoubtedly will engage in several of these job search activities sometime prior to the interview. The important question is how well you conduct each of these activities and thus the critical job interview. Here is a brief overview of the key job search activities and examine how they relate to your job interview.
GET STARTED WITH USEFUL RESOURCES
Each year millions of job hunters turn to career planning books for assistance. Normally they begin with a general book and next turn to a resume and letter writing book. An interview book - if they can find one - is often a third choice.
The reason for choosing this sequence of books is simple. Job hunters should begin with a sound understanding of all elements contributing to a successful job search and then focus on specific job search activities which have the greatest payoffs: resumes, letters, and interviews.
DO IT RIGHT
Ifs important to understand how to best get a job by focusing on methods and strategies appropriate for conducting an effective job search. Unfortunately, few books place the interview within the larger context of the job search. Similarly, many people emphasize only one or two job search activities. They fail to understand that they must become proficient in several different yet related job search activities simultaneously.
Take, for example, resumes. Many resume books crowd bookstore shelves with example after example of supposedly outstanding resumes. Most of these books are long on form but short on content. They encourage you to edit a favorite example and use it as your own - a form of creative plagiarism. Such books are misleading and verge on being unethical. They fail to warn the reader that effective resumes are the product of four other related job search activities: self-assessment, skills identification, objective setting, and research. Failure to engage in these activities prior to writing the resume will most likely to result in producing attractive but ineffective resumes. In other words, you may get the form right but you will lack important content.
Many interview books tend to be written from a similar narrow, copy-cat perspective. Concentrating solely on the job interview in isolation of the other critical job search steps, many interview books are misleading. Emphasizing form, they assume somehow content will follow. They give readers a false sense of self-confidence by teaching them to play a role devoid of much substantive content. Readers, for example, are rehearsed on anticipated questions-answers and expected interview behaviors. They are presented with example after example of typical interview questions and canned responses.
Anticipating questions is fine, but devising canned answers designed to impress the interviewer rather than communicate accurate information about the candidate borders on unethical job search practices. The basis for truthfully answering such interview questions is found in the self-assessment and skills identification steps of the job search--steps which should have been completed long before writing a resume or accepting an invitation to interview for a position.
Our approach to interviewing assumes a certain degree of preparation on your part before entering the interview stage. You should have already completed the self-assessment, skills identification, objective setting, research, resume production, and networking stages. If you have completed these steps, you should be well prepared to address interviewers' questions with substantive answers about your skills, capabilities, achievements, and goals --important areas of questioning for interviewers. If you have not done so already, we encourage you to understand the larger picture--the critical career development and job search processes which are related to the job interview. You must acquire the substantive content necessary for playing the interviewee role.
UNDERSTAND THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
What are the career development and job search processes you need to understand and implement? How do they relate to the job interview?
The career development process consists of four sets of development activities. The interview occupies an important position in the skill development and implementation stages. Prior to developing interview skills and actually conducting a job interview, you should assess your strength as well as explore career information relating to jobs, careers, organizations, individuals, and communities. Only then will you be prepared to thoroughly develop and focus specific job search activities and conduct a job search which focuses on jobs and careers that are right for you.
Underlying this job search model is an important assumption about how people should best seek employment. In short, they should go after high quality employment strategies by looking for jobs and careers that directly relate to their strengths. These strengths consist of interests, motivations, skills, and accomplishments. Accordingly, they should seek jobs that they do well and enjoy doing.
Failing to use this positive approach, most people look for advertised job openings and then try to fit their qualifications into the job. In other words, they try to fit into jobs rather than find jobs that are fit for them. Such a strategy does lead to finding jobs, but it often leads to low quality jobs and unhappy employees and employers; it stresses one's weaknesses rather than one's strengths. We assume, on the other hand, you want to prepare for employment that is compatible with your particular mix of strengths and motivations -- a job that is fit for you! Find out what you do well and enjoy doing.
IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS
Begin by identifying your motivated skills and abilities. Find out exactly what you do well (skills, abilities, accomplishments) and enjoy doing (values, motivations). In other words, you want to identify your motivated abilities. These motivated abilities also become your strengths. And it is your strengths you must communicate to potential employers. At the very least, you need to know your strengths and communicate them in a language appropriate to a job search.
You will find several self-directed and counselor-assisted assessment techniques available to help you generate information on your motivated abilities and strengths. The following exercise, for example, should quickly result in identifying your key achievements. This information should play a central role in communicating your strengths to employers on your resume and during the job interview.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
INSTRUCTIONS: Prioritize what you believe are your most important achievements in your life. An achievement is anything you enjoyed doing, felt you did well, and developed a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, and pride in doing. Make five copies of this form and complete one form for each accomplishment.
ACHIEVEMENT# :
- How did I get involved?
- What did I do?
- How did I do it?
- What did I especially enjoy about doing it?
10 THINGS I LIKE-MOST ABOUT MY WORK
INSTRUCTIONS: List the 10 things you most like about your present and past jobs. Identify them in the order of preference----1,2,3,……
10 THINGS I MOST-DISLIKE ABOUT MY WORK
INSTRUCTIONS: List what you feel are 10 of your major job frustrations and dissatisfactions. Start with the things you most dislike 1,2,3,5,.........
After completing these exercises, put them in a file so you can quickly refer to the information as you prepare for the job interview. The interviewer will want to know about your achievements and work values. The more details you can supply during the interview, the stronger will be your interview performance. The information you generate in these exercises provides you with concrete examples from which you can communicate your strengths and values.
JOB AND CAREER OBJECTIVES
Knowing what you really want to do is the second critical job search step. If you lack a job or career objective, you will have extreme difficulty writing a coherent resume as well as communicating your purpose in job interviews. Therefore, it is essential that you complete this step.
Your job objective should be centered on your strengths as well as on employers' needs; it links your key skills to expected outcomes for employers. In other words, it should state what you plan to accomplish for employers given your primary skills. Try stating your job objective by completing this simple exercise:
MY JOB OBJECTIVE
I prefer a job that will use my ability to develop new initiatives (your primary markets)that will result in increased profits and market skills (expected outcomes for the shares. employer)
Being a work-centered objective, it communicates that you are a skilled, purposeful, and productive individual. Employers want to hire such people.
WRITING RESUMES AND DOING RESEARCH
Your resume is your calling card for opening the doors of employers. It advertises you for interviews. Therefore, everything in your resume should relate to your strengths and objective. Prior to writing your resume, you should conduct research on different jobs, careers, individuals, organizations, and communities which relate to your strengths and interests. This research will help you better target your resume and job search letters.
While much research can be conducted in libraries, the best research comes from talking to knowledgeable people, especially those in hiring positions. These people will give you valuable information and advice on the job market, your job search, and potential employers. In Chapters Six and Seven we outline how to do much of this research.
CONDUCTING PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS
When you conduct research by interviewing people, you will acquire important information and develop key job search contacts for future reference. These contacts will help you locate job opportunities which are not advertised. This type of research, in effect, becomes what we call the informational networking interview-Occurring prior to formal job interviews, informational/network ing interviews are the most effective way to open the doors of potential employers. If you neglect to conduct these interviews, your job search will be more difficult. You will be forced to rely on employment listings for job leads. If you spend most of your time responding to such listings, your odds of getting a job interview will be lower than if you diversify your approach. On the other hand, informational/networking interviews put you in the right places at the right the to leam about potential job openings before they are ever publicized.
INTERVIEWING FOR JOBS AND MONEY
We divide the job interview into two steps. The formal job interview is the major focus. Salary negotiation is one part of the interview. It normally comes near the end of the employment interview - -immediately before or after the job offer, depending on how the employer decides to dose the interview. These two interviews are extremely important when you consider the following rules for job search success: no interview, no job offer; no job offer, no salary negotiations; and no salary negotiations without a job interview.
INVESTING TIME AND EFFORT
Preparing for interviews and conducting other job search activities takes time and effort. A successful job search, consisting of 15 to 25 hours of job search activities each week, will normally take three months to complete. Some people complete their job search within a few days whereas others may take up to six months. But remember, we are dealing with a particular type of individual. They seek jobs that directly relate to their strengths and motivations rather than any job that looks interesting and available. These are selective and highly successful people who set goals, plan, and persist in achieving their goals. Like most people, they experience disappointments, rejections, and frustrations. But unlike many other people, they learn how to handle rejections. They realize acceptances only.
