*Top Tips* What to do if you spell the recruiter’s name wrong on a cover letter

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

The US website Career Realism is running a twitter advice project where people tweet their career questions and career experts have a crack at answering them. A recent one was what to do if you misspell the name of the hiring manager on a cover letter.

I shouldn’t be writing this, given I help people write cover letters and resumes but I’m mortified to say I have done this myself. It was in an email to an editor where I claimed some amazing creative writing skills and asked for some freelancing opportunities. Trouble was I spelled the editor’s name creatively.

I sat there red faced for a half a minute and decided the only thing to do was to point it out. So I wrote:

“How embarrassing!! Sorry for the creative spelling of your name. And I claim to be a writer too! But either way I spell it I would love the opportunity to freelance for you.”

She laughed. I didn’t get an opportunity, but I did get a decent answer. Ironically I don’t think she would have replied to the first email even if I had spelled her name correctly.

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Why job interviews are like first dates. Seven, sorry, eight signs you’ll be seeing each other again

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

I received lots of funny feedback and comments on my earlier post, on why job interviews are like first dates. It’s kept me smiling for quite a while. So thanks everyone for the tweets and comments. However apparently I am remiss. There are actually eight signs you’ll be seeing your interviewer again.

For signs 1) – 7) Read these job interview success signals.

8)  I have a friend Catherine. She’s a serious corporate executive who’s been interviewing for senior strategy roles. She’s just won a job. She says she knew she was “in” when her interviewer started to call her “Cath”.

Feel free to tweet me more: at twitter/interviewIQ

Need to get ahead of the pack for your next interview?

Get our free e-book The 7 Deadly Sins to Avoid at Job Interview!

Deborah Barit wrote this book. She is one of Australia’s leading interview coaches.

To get your free e-book and some of our best interview tips direct to your inbox, simply click on this link.

Here’s what happy readers said about the e-book and interview tips:

“Deborah Barit is a very smart lady…She is good at figuring out what an employer is looking for. It’s like she has ESP, with her help in preparing, I found no surprises in a recent interview and I was prepared for every question….” Cathy, Leichhardt, NSW

“Because I read so many of your posts, I feel as if you were my personal employment coach. I start my new position in two weeks. I had so many obstacles to overcome and each day you posted a solution to my dilemma and how to improve my search. Thank you so much for your input and PLEASE continue to do what you do!”

Click here to get access to the e-book.

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Why job interviews are like first dates. Seven signs you’ll be seeing each other again

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

Sometimes you walk out of a job interview and you just know you’ve hit it off with the interviewer.  You have that sense of warmth like the job is a good fit. You can only think good things about the job, the interview and the employer.

A job interview that’s gone well is almost like a fun first date.

You think you genuinely got to know the other person and enjoyed their company.

I like the dating analogy, because when I take that a step further; I know that sometimes when people are super polite it’s hard to pick what they thought of me.

So if you’re like me and have left interviews wondering how it really went; the following Seven Signs may signal that you will be meeting again.

1) Like a good first date, the interviewer seems genuinely interested in uncovering what makes you tick. Sometimes they’ll keep probing when you have given succinct “overview” type answer . If the interviewer keeps digging for more information, asking for specifics of particular aspects of your answer it’s a great indicator that you have hit upon a skill or attribute skill that makes you a strong contender for the position. If they accept what you say and move on, then chances are you have answered the question to their satisfaction or you are in the process of being ruled out. Be warned here though, if the interviewer needs to continually dig about the same part of your answer you may have not answered the question properly, which may result in you being written off as “hard work”.

2) There’s some mirroring going on. In dating when people like each other they tend to mirror the body language of the other person. Same with job interviews, especially the “coffee chat” interviews, where you are not stuck behind a desk facing a panel.

3) You forget about the time. The job interview goes for much longer than you estimated. As a side note, you can often tell how much time the interviewer has allocated for a job interview by the time they invite you in. So if you are invited in at 9.45, say, it can mean that the interviewers are allocating either 30 or 45 minutes to the interview. If your job interview goes for longer than than the time you estimate, unless you or the interviewer are chronic “over-talkers”, the fact that the interview has gone over time, means you’ve all had a good time.

4) The interviewer asks about your salary expectations. I can’t think of an exact dating analogy for this, except this. If your interviewer asks you what your “expectations are” then you are being “qualified” for the role. Having said this, if the interviewer does not ask about what you want, money wise, this is not necessarily a bad sign about your success. Sometimes interviewers assume that you know what’s on offer, or that someone else will qualify you.

5) Your interviewer asks you about past references. Like dating, talking about relationships early on can be tricky territory. Unlike dating, if an interviewer checks that your referee relationships are still valid and asks for the best way to contact them, it means they think they’re onto a good thing.

6) The interviewer shares something about the company. Good job interviews, like good dates, are about sharing information. There are issues when the interviewer talks too much, but if an interviewer tells you nothing about a company, then there are a few explanations. They may want the job interview to end quickly or they are inexperienced/ poor interviewers. If the second scenario is the case, then you as an interviewee have every right to do your own due diligence on the role and check why it is on the market. Come to think of it, depending on what you want, you could possibly do the same of a date!

7) The interviewer contacts you quickly. Three things here. If a job is genuinely on the market, and the interviewer has their act together, and the interviewer genuinely likes you, you are likely to hear back pretty quickly. This is like dating. It does sound tough I know, but it’s a fact.

Fortunately though sometimes job interviews are not like dating because (for example) the key decision maker may not be the person you met.

So don’t give up even if you haven’t got all the Seven Signs, you may still be about to get some good news!

Need to get ahead of the pack for your next interview?

Get our free e-book The 7 Deadly Sins to Avoid at Job Interview!

Deborah Barit wrote this book. She is one of Australia’s leading interview coaches.

To get your free e-book and some of our best interview tips direct to your inbox, simply click on this link.

Here’s what happy readers said about the e-book and interview tips:

“Deborah Barit is a very smart lady…She is good at figuring out what an employer is looking for. It’s like she has ESP, with her help in preparing, I found no surprises in a recent interview and I was prepared for every question….” Cathy, Leichhardt, NSW

“Because I read so many of your posts, I feel as if you were my personal employment coach. I start my new position in two weeks. I had so many obstacles to overcome and each day you posted a solution to my dilemma and how to improve my search. Thank you so much for your input and PLEASE continue to do what you do!”

Click here to get access to the e-book.

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Resume and Government Selection Criteria? – yes you do need both

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

How important is your resume with your selection criteria?

If you are submitting selection criteria, do you really need your resume?  I receive this question a lot. The answer is yes definitely! With government applications, your resume is read alongside your selection criteria, however the selection criteria is the main event, so to speak.

Often the government panel will read your resume for “context”. In your selection criteria you may give an example, which you do not reference with a date. The panel will flick back to your resume, to see when or which organization you are referring to.

That’s not to say your resume is not important for government applications.  It is for a few different reasons.

If you have a resume that is not aligned with your selection criteria, and, for example, you write in your resume career objective that you want a different role from the one that is advertised, you will look like a bit of a goose.  You also need to provide the government panel with that easy reference. Ideally, also, the formatting, presentation and content on your resume should convey the same impression that your selection criteria does.

As a professional writer, I find it easier to write a resume first then the selection criteria. This is allows me to order my thoughts and work out where I need to question you or prompt you to think of examples for the selection criteria. But everyone is different. You may find it easier to do it the other way around.

One final word of warning, unless the government department specifically states that they will draw information from your resume and to present your application as the one document, you will always need to address the selection criteria. I have only sat on one government panel where they were happy to take information from the resume. And that was for a “tradie” job. No matter how stunning your resume is, you simply can’t take he chance that the panel will be this kind.

Still confused? Read these selection criteria tips before you apply for a government job.

I have a series of posts on putting together a  resume . You’ll find most of what you need on this page. If not, feel free to email me any questions you have and I’ll answer them: karalyn@interviewiq.com.au

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Flunked the job interview? Ask is it me or is it you?

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

People often ask me what am I doing wrong in a job interview?  They’ve sent out fifty resumes, they’ve landed ten or so interviews, yet they’ve missed out on the job. This strike rate says to me that this person’s resume is working for them to a reasonable extent, so it probably does come down to a few things.

Here are some reasons you may not be offered the job.

1) Too many people at the one job interview. This is pretty much market dynamics and not a lot you can do about it at the time, although you should be thinking strategically about how you can stand out, whether that be by upgrading your skills, doing some thorough research prior to the interview or by really focusing on the value you can add to the job.

2) The job has been withdrawn. This happens more often than you think. Sometimes employers will interview just to test the waters. They may not tell you this. After the interview they may fill the job internally, restructure the organization or outsource the role.

3) You may threaten or intimidate the interviewer. This can happen. You may have more experience than the person who interviews you. We all have egos, and the interviewer may be questioning how well they will manage you on the job. They may also ask whether you will want their job, or how long you will actually last in the job.

4) The job does not exist. One of my clients recently had a recruitment consultant interview her over the phone. They offered to forward her resume along with two others. She waited 10 days and rang the consultancy again. Her first consultant had left, but the replacement said she would follow up with the client. Four days later and still my client had heard no answer, so she rang the employer client directly and asked about the job. The employer had not formally given the job to the agency. The agency were responding to an advertisement. This is the topic of a whole other blog post, but be warned, it does happen.

5) You don’t interview well. Here’s where it gets tricky. There are many things people do that will see them eliminated in a job interview. I’ve covered some of these in this post, on job interview nerves. It may be that you don’t answer questions, you talk over the top of your interviewer, you give the wrong information, you talk too much or you talk too little. In other words, many many things.

A lot of what I have just said comes down to communication skills. Different from “hard” technical skills, how effective you are as a communicator is hard for you to gauge. With software skills, for example, you know when you have them. How well you communicate can come down to how “self aware” you are. The reason this is hard for you to pick personally, is you can only really see your success as a communicator reflected in others.

Have I just confused you? Stay with me on this. I’m about to explain what I mean.

Other people are good at hiding their reactions to what you say and how you say it. Lots of people, especially interviewers, are good at looking like they are listening, when they’re not. In work or in your personal life, few people will be really honest with you, if you do something routinely to annoy them in the way that you communicate.

It can also be confronting for the other person to say how you make them feel, as in a sense they are bringing up unpleasant aspects of your personality. Often you may never hear the truly honest feedback you need, as deliverer may sugar coat it. Or you simply shoot the messenger who gives you bad news about how you come across.

If you want to improve your job interview skills, I suggest you do an audit. How do you really know that you are a good communicator? Ask yourself is it me or is it you?

Read here for one of my most popular posts on job interview preparation.

 

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Should you just take any old job?

by K B , updated on November 10, 2020

Career advice for the long term unemployed

Last week one of the bloggers I read on a regular basis, Hannah Morgan, aka “The Career Sherpa” gave some timely career advice on whether you should just take any job, if you’re struggling to find a job. It’s timely advice because it is a question that people have asked during the downturn, and it is timely advice because it’s a question that always confronts new arrivals to Australia, who keep coming up against the barrier “no local experience”.

While you can take any job, you still need to think of your career. Hannah suggests that you do a job hunting audit on your efforts before you throw in the towel. Here are some career questions she poses:

Have you been specific about what you are looking for? And have you communicated this clearly to everyone who knows you are looking?

Are you really qualified for the roles you are aiming at? You need to ask yourself are you aiming at the right level. The answer to this can only come down to how well you understand the roles you are applying for and the skills you can bring.

Have you exhausted all options? I am constantly surprised by how many people will just apply for jobs through advertisements, yet if I question them, they’ve never found a job that way in the past. Go direct, network, volunteer, play sport, do anything that puts you in touch with other people. In my own business I have found many leads from weird places, including the pest exterminator who visited my apartment (it’s a Sydney “damn cockroaches” thing) and wanted me to become his webmaster after we got talking about website optimization.

If you are contemplating taking “any job”, my thoughts are, it’s better to be working than not. I see nothing wrong with driving a cab or even stacking supermarket shelves while you’re working on finding your dream job. I have a few caveats on this, though:

–  Make sure you keep your career focus, part 1. If you take a role that is well beneath your skill level, it is very easy to lose your focus if you work the long days and try to apply for roles at nights, particularly if the TV beckons

–  Make sure you keep your career focus, part 2. It is very easy to lose your confidence, particularly if you are reporting to people when you used to manage them

–  If you take a job where you think you may want to stay then ask a few pointed questions including: Does the company promote internally? What would be a typical career path from this role? Where has the leadership team come from?

My biggest fear about giving advice about taking any job, is that it is easy to be like the “frog in the slowly boiling water”. The frog doesn’t realize he is being boiled to death as the temperature slowly rises. I have found when I have taken jobs beneath my skill level, that my expectations of what I can do, shrink with the role and how I see that others see me. I am hardly aware of this as it’s a gradual thing. It’s taken a jolt to shake myself out of this.

Hannah has these great suggestions if you want to make the most of a job:

When/if you take that job, find ways to make a difference every day. Look for opportunities to learn new things and meet new people. Consider this a form of education. By all means, don’t be resentful, negative, or give an air of superiority. Be grateful to have been given a chance.

Sounds like sound career advice to me! What do you think?

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