A
Crash Course in Interview Preparation
By Christopher Jones , for Yahoo!, HotJobs
Everyone loves to get this phone call: "This is Jane Doe.
I'm calling to see if you would like to come in for a job interview."
Your pulse races: A job interview!
It isn't until the night before the interview that your stomach
drops, a feeling of slight dread sets in and you ask yourself,
"What am I gonna wear?" "What am I gonna say?"
You've got a case of the pre-interview jitters: A good sign
that you haven't spent enough time preparing.
Getting ready for an interview should begin at least three days
before the interview is scheduled to take place. This week,
we'll run down the top things you should do before the big day
arrives.
The Clothes Make the Job Seeker
Make sure your interview clothes are clean and pressed a few
days beforehand. The last thing you want to worry about the
night before an interview is pleading with your drycleaner or
getting burned by a hot iron. Also, make sure you have a neutral
colored umbrella on-hand in case of rain.
Don't Forget Your Resumes!
Make good-quality copies of your resume on a nice grade of paper.
Take more copies than you will possibly need -- just in case.
Store the copies in a folder where they will stay clean and
unwrinkled.
Organize your portfolio, tear sheets, professional reference
lists or any other papers you think your prospective employer
would like to see.
Make sure your purse or briefcase is stocked with everything
else you'll need: A working pen (no pencils!), a notebook, breath
mints, a comb, the umbrella I mentioned and some tissues.
Practice Makes Perfect
Like most things, people get better at interviewing with a little
practice. Dedicate one night prior to the interview to a mock
Q & A. You can set this up with a friend or conduct the
interview yourself with a list of frequently-asked interview
questions and a mirror. Don't panic if, during the actual interview,
you are not asked any of the questions you practiced. The point
of practicing is to "warm up" to the process of answering
questions on the fly.
Do Your Homework
Spend at least two days before the interview researching the
company. Take notes. Memorize important facts. A little preparation
goes a long way. A couple of hours researching the company and
practicing answers to interview questions can give you that
extra bit of confidence you need to ace the interview.
Similarly important, Venator Ventures understands the specific needs of the companies it represents. Working with a cliental that consists of small start-ups, large publicly traded companies and everything in-between we tailor or recruiting efforts to each client and become a major part of their growth and future success. We understand that finding the right employees is the most important part for future success from a talent and fiscal perspective and we are sensitive to both. We pride ourselves in building quality relationships with hiring managers to better understand their needs and this streamlining the interview and hiring process. At the end of the day, we know if our client companies don’t succeed, then we are not doing our job right and we work tirelessly to ensure that this is never the case.
Building
The Right Team, With The Right Stuff, in the Right Way
by Margaret Graziano, for the ERE Network
Have you ever thought you hired the workplace version of John
Wayne, only to find out you’ve been duped and ended up with
a Woody Allen?
How Can We Improve Our Ability to Hire Right the First
Time?
The two most common hiring traps are hiring in a hurry and hiring
the resume rather than the person.
Companies that don’t have succession plans in place or that
fail to practice cross-training often rush to relieve the pain
of the empty chair. Businesses that ignore the hiring process
in the interest of expediting it are far more susceptible to
missing important clues that could otherwise prevent a poor
hiring decision.
Articles from Harvard Business Review, Spherion, and Kenexa
report that more than 65% of all candidates do not prepare their
own resumes and more than 45% of job applicants misrepresent
the credentials on their resumes with one or more “tall tales.”
A third and very common hiring trap is to hire based on a job
description. These typically list a subjective interpretation
of required job skills and experience. By highlighting only
hard skills, they leave out the most critical elements such
as key performance objectives, behaviors, values, character
traits, and soft competencies — the defining criteria that lead
to effective performance.
There is tremendous pressure on hiring managers to keep their
organizations fully staffed and productive. But, how does one
meet these demands without falling into hiring traps?
What is an Internal Hiring Process, and How Do We Create
One?
If you hire someone you don’t really know, for a position you
have not thoroughly defined — chances are neither the person,
nor the position will deliver. Hiring the right people right
from the start requires implementation of a comprehensive internal
hiring process that selects the best and eliminates the rest.
Importantly, it all starts with benchmarking. Whether benchmarking
the role, the top performers in that role, or benchmarking key
traits of the best performers in the company as a whole, the
first step is creating the model of what right looks like. Companies
that take the time and effort to do so fully understand not
only who they need, but why they need them. These are the companies
that excel in the employee selection process and the capacity
to build a “dream team.”
What “Right” Looks Like
Before you evaluate your immediate needs, evaluate the company
and team. This is called the Internal Human Capital Inventory
& Assessment, and involves:
Evaluating your core culture:
• Acknowledge your corporate values.
• Assess the character quotient of your company.
• Identify the non-negotiable character traits or core values
for your company.
Evaluating your current team:
• Identify your key players and what innate abilities and traits
make them successful.
• Identify what’s working on the team and what isn’t.
• Identify what elements are missing on the team that, if present,
would make a positive difference.
Implementing a system for evaluating and selecting
new hires and internal promotions:
• Establish a hiring protocol and train everyone on the hiring
to use and follow it.
• Create companywide candidate-screening ground rules.
• Create a role-specific hiring benchmark for every role. Focus
on the key performance indicators as they relate to the corporate
strategy. Then isolate the core functions that the candidate
would need to perform. • Define the behaviors, values, habits,
attitudes, and abilities of the ideal candidate. List the skills
and experience required to limit ramp-up time.
• Validate and select the right assessment tools.
• Create behavioral-based interview models for each role in
the company.
• Establish a decision-making matrix (a weighted chart with
a point value for each part of the puzzle, experience = 5; behaviors
=10; skills =7, habits =15, values/motivators =15).