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Excerpt from CareerSmart Advisor, December 11, 2006 |
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If you are looking for a new position, the answers to these questions may be helpful to you:
- Take time to reflect. Who are YOU?
- What is YOUR personality?
- What can YOU do better than 10,000 people?
- What have people said you are good at since you were a kid? Did you listen? Are you listening now?
The average person has 200 people in his/her personal and business network. Do you have all of them on your contact list? In a database? Have you called all of them? Have you asked for advice, asked for a reference?
Get the job by having the right résumé. Use the rule of one page for every five years in the workforce, stopping at four pages. Don?t try to squeeze to one or two pages. Call to get a meeting rather than just sending a résumé. Tailor your résumé for each specific position.
Label your résumé files ? SMITHjohnHRexec, for example ? when e-mailing to prospective employers. Or, SMITHjohnMANUFexec ? depending on your functional background.
Rehearse for the interview and be comfortable with your answers. Be able to give a 15-minute overview of your career starting with your first position. Be ready for "Take me through your background."
- Wear a dark suit and white blouse/shirt even to places that are business casual.
- KNOW the company and the position ? understand what job responsibilities are most important.
- Articulate (weave into the flow of the interview) how you?ve done very similar things that are expected in the new company.
- Give specific information about situations where you added value.
- DON?T RAMBLE ? just answer the question.
- Have some ideas to "take the pain away" from the hiring manager.
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