Remember, interviews are a two-way street

Whilst it may seem obvious that attending an interview is about both the employer and the potential candidate finding out more about each other, in my role as an interview and career coach, I regularly find that candidates have not considered what questions they should ask at the interview.

In many cases this is due to the fact that they are more focused on thinking about how to respond to questions that they don’t spend enough time considering what they want to know about the organisation and the role that isn’t necessarily clear from the job advertisement or position description.

This is a critical mistake in your job search process, as asking good questions at an interview demonstrates:

• You are genuinely engaged in the conversation
• You are interested in the company and the role
• You are enthusiastic about the role and happy to let the interviewer know it
• You are knowledgeable about the company – this is where your pre-interview research becomes important
• You have come prepared and are serious about the role

The right type of questions can also provide valuable insights about the organisations culture and values, what success looks like and the challenges in the role.  The information you gain during an interview is vital to inform your decision to accept a job offer should one be forthcoming.

Below are some tips from my experience as an interview and career coach.  I recommend considering your questions from 3 aspects.

1. Questions that provide additional or valuable information about the organisation you are interviewing with.

For example:

• What are the challenges facing the organisation/industry?  – Helps you understand the environment the organisation operates in.
• Who are your key competitors and what are your strategies to combat them?  – Helps you understand who the organisation competes with.
• How will the work I would be doing contribute to the organisations strategy? – Creates a link regarding the purpose of the role.

 2. Questions to uncover what is important for the hiring manager.

This could include questions such as:

• What do you like most about working for this company? Why? – Helps you understand their values and if they align with yours.
• How do you see this position evolving in the next 2-3 years? – Helps you understand the potential for the role and how you may use your skills.
• How did you get your start? – Gives insight into their career progression.
• What keeps you up at night? – Gives insight into their concerns.
• What do I need to do in this role to make your life easier – Gives insight into what they really want. They are also likely to talk about what they don’t want

 3. Questions about the role.

This could include questions such as:

• How has the role come about? – Gives insight if the role is new or due to a promotion/resignation.
• What are the first priorities for this role? – Gives insight as to what to focus on to gain success/make a good impression.
• What are the challenges of the role? Why? – Gives insight as to what you will be facing.
• Is there any more information you need clarified to make hiring me an easier decision? – Creates an opportunity for you to provide any further information to support your application.

Happy interviewing!!  Feel free to visit us at www.selectionpartners.com.au or contact us on 03 9832 8100 should you require any assistance to ensure you are well prepared for your next interview. Also check out our job search advice tool on www.careering.com.au

Collaboration, Giving & Networking

I recently became aware of and involved in a charity drive to provide handbags and toiletry products to homeless women or those who are victims of domestic violence.

I was in the fortunate position to have a large number of new handbags available that I hadn’t sold, from a business I had closed down recently.

I decided to donate all of the handbags to the cause and then began to think about how to stock them with great products. Enter the wonderful world of social media and networking. By using various social media channels to reach out to my network I was able to stock 100 handbags with 15 products each. Whilst this contribution won’t change the lives of these women it can certainly put a smile on their face.

Participating in this exercise caused me to stop and reflect on several fronts.

The first was about having a sense of connection to something bigger then yourself. This quote resonated with me “I profoundly feel that the art of living is the art of giving. You’re fulfilled in the moment of giving, of doing something beyond yourself.” – Laurance Rockefeller.

Working in the HR space I talk to a lot of businesses about strategies they use to attract, engage and retain their workforce. There are a range of ways in which organisations encourage the practice of community involvement, such as volunteer days, partnerships with charities to enable employees to participate in activities within the charity, fundraising activities, and sponsorship of events to name a few.

Studies have shown that people who have meaning and purpose in their lives are happier, feel more in control and get more out of what they do. They also experience less stress, anxiety and depression.

What does your organisation do to give back to the communities in which you operate?

How could you influence your organisation to more actively participate in community involvement?

The second was about the power of having a strong and nurtured network. For me networking is about making and strengthening meaningful relationships that are mutually beneficial. I approach networking with a “give first” mindset and am genuinely interested in other people and finding ways I can help them. I also believe in nurturing these relationships by staying in touch regularly in a range of ways such as sharing information, enquiry emails etc. to keep them fresh.

This approach has clearly been successful for me as I was blown away by the response I received to participate in the cause. Within a week I had received product and monetary donations from network contacts all around the country that enabled me to fill the 100 handbags.

Whilst this particular event was not work related, for me the principles of networking remain the same. Consider your networking practice against the following:

• View networking as a practice of making and strengthening mutually beneficial relationships
• Approach networking with a “give first” mindset
• Be genuinely interested in others and finding ways to help them
• Ask for help only when you have established a strong relationship
• Nurture the relationships – keep in touch, share interesting articles or information, arrange introductions to others who may be able to assist

Thinking of a career change?

I am regularly working with individuals who are considering a career change.

This decision may come about due to an unexpected change in circumstances via a redundancy or through the individual just wanting to do something different with their life.

Regardless of the circumstances, considering a career change, can often be a confronting time, where you need to face your fears of stepping outside your comfort zone.

Making a career change is not an easy thing to do but there are some key steps you can take to help the transition.

Understand who you are

Before embarking on a plan to change careers, you really need to understand yourself and what you bring to a role.  You may like to consider:

• When have you most enjoyed work?
• What activities were you doing?
• What types of people were you working with?
• What have you disliked?
• What knowledge, skills and attributes do you have?

 Explore what you want to do

A good start is to write down the options you are considering and why.  Keep the list to no more than 5 possibilities.  Once you have your list, look at the self-exploration you have done to make a list of all of the transferable skills and competencies that you could bring to the role.  It can also be helpful to consider the impact on your life of the proposed career change.

 Build a plan

Now that you have some ideas on what you want to do and what you can offer, it is time to build a plan.  This entails making a list of all of the steps you need to take or things you need to accomplish to make the change.  Things to consider include:

• Any qualifications/education you need
• Any experience you need to build

From your list, create some short and longer term goals.

Now you have a solid plan of attack to achieve your career change.

If this seems a little daunting, engage the services of one of Selection Partners experienced coaches to help you, on 03 9832 8100.

How is your level of self-awareness impacting your career?

Recently I was asked to conduct a workshop for a client to explain the use of the DiSC behavioural profiling tool.  During the workshop I found that this was the first time for many of the participants that they had used any type of assessment tool to create self-awareness about their preferences and style and how these impact their interactions with others.

They found the information quite enlightening and it got me thinking about the impact of self-awareness on my career.  I guess for me it started quite early as whilst completing my studies in HR, part of the curriculum included assessment tools and reflection exercises to build my level of self-awareness.  This created a curiosity about behaviour and trying to understand where others were coming from.

Over the years I participated in and became accredited in tools that measured personality, leadership style, values, motivators, selling style, emotional intelligence, behavioural preferences and competencies.  Each one brought me more insights into what made me “tick” and to identify my strengths and areas that needed some further development or to be aware of triggers that could derail my success.

Having access to this information meant I could play to my strengths and take time to practice doing things differently to get better results.  As a result, some of the actions I took included;

• recruiting people into my team who had strengths in areas I didn’t;
• finding mentors who were good at things I wasn’t to build my skill;
• taking time to plan for interactions/meetings, consider my audience and how best to appeal to them to gain support;
• reflect on interactions/meetings that didn’t go as well as I had hoped to consider what I could do differently next time

Being able to create healthy relationships and interactions with our work colleagues goes a long way to success for us as individuals and the organisations we work for.

Here are my tips for building your self-awareness:

• Do some research on the range of different assessment tools available to identify best fit for your needs.  There are many assessment tools that are free to access
• Complete the tools you have chosen
• Take some time to review and reflect on the results
• Share the results with trusted friends, family, work colleagues to gain their input
• Use the information to create a plan for playing to your strengths and identifying areas you want to practice doing things differently
• Review your progress against your plan

In the words of music guru Molly Meldrum “do yourself a favour” and try some of these tools, you might be surprised by what a positive impact they can have on your work relationships and career.

Find my top tips to avoiding rejection below:

Addressing your application “To whom it may concern”
Your application should always be addressed to a person. There is nothing more impersonal than receiving a “To whom it may concern”. If the advertisement does not provide the specific name always address it to “The Hiring Manager” or “The HR Manager”.

Spelling and grammar errors in your cover letter or resume
Not everyone is great at spelling and grammar but poor spelling or grammar on your application suggests a lack of attention to detail or care to present yourself professionally in your application. It gives the potential employer an insight into your written communication skills. If this is not one of your strong points, get a friend or family member to proof read it for you before you send it.

An application for a different role than the one advertised
Recruiters often receive large volumes of applications for roles they advertise so their time is precious in screening candidates for roles. Sending an application for a different role than the one advertised creates an impression of a lack of care and that the candidate is using a “scattergun” approach and applying for many roles. No one enjoys receiving a rejection for a role they applied for but this strategy is likely to result in that outcome.

Poor resume formatting
The purpose of your resume is to entice the reader to invite you in for an interview. Think about what you would want to see and how you would want the information presented if you were the hiring manager. There is no-one format that works for everyone but it should be easy to read and present you in a professional way.

Applying for roles where you don’t meet any of the advertised criteria
Every role that is being recruited for will have key criteria for success. When screening applicants, recruiters will be looking for a match of as many of those criteria as possible. Whilst applicants may not have them all, receiving applications where none of the criteria are met is time wasted for you as a candidate and for the recruiter.

Searching for a job can be an emotional experience so I hope sharing my tips will assist you in minimising the possibility of your application being rejected and enable you to always put your best foot forward to potential employers.

As women know you don’t want to be seen in exactly the same outfit twice, so if you can’t afford everything totally new, you are always revamping outfits with new accessories to change the look.

Add to this the fact that I have a large group of friends who also attend the races and the stage was set for me to provide my own share service of racing outfits.

It started slowly but gradually grew momentum until my dresses and supporting accessories were being worn many times over on lots of different people and to many different venues.

The adventures of my outfits have created much storytelling and laughter over the years.

Reflecting on these stories had me pondering about reciprocation.  Whilst I freely offered my things without any expectation of anything in return, it turned out, even if not immediately, everyone wanted to do something in return as a way of thanking me.

It made me think about how this approach has worked for me throughout my career.  As someone who naturally gives to others I hadn’t really taken the time to consider how this had helped me.

But when I reflect back over my career I never really had any difficulty in getting help with a range of things when I needed it due to the support of a fabulous network that I had nurtured over the years.

I guess it really struck me when several months ago I changed jobs and was updating my network on what I was doing.  Some of my contacts were recent, but some I had not seen for a long time and yet all were very pleased to hear from me and to meet for a coffee.

Furthermore in my role as a HR consultant, my network has been invaluable in many ways.  It has been a great source of finding talent for my clients, sharing ideas on the latest trends and providing me with feedback on new technology or strategies I am planning to employ. 

As an outplacement and career coach I am regularly working with individuals who are looking for a new role and many of them think the best strategy is to search the job boards looking for the next right role.  They are usually quite surprised when I talk to them about the fact that about 80% of vacancies are never advertised. 

Whilst using job boards is one strategy, I work with them on creating a strategy to tap into their network to gather information about roles and industries and to uncover unadvertised opportunities.  For many of the clients I work with they find this very difficult as they feel awkward asking others for help, especially if it has been some time since they have been in contact but when they try it they are usually pleasantly surprised to find that people are more than happy to help them out.

All it takes is a plan and some regular practice in keeping connected with people you know in a way that is authentic and doesn’t expect anything in return.

So my question to you is, how much are you developing your skills in networking and giving to others? You might be surprised how easy it is and how much value it brings to you and your network.