U.S. News and World Report article, Great Interview But No Offer: Why You Didn’t Get the Job, Lindsay Olson explores possible reasons you didn’t get the job.
Reasons to look for in Olson’s article:
The Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Garone encourages readers not to exaggerate job responsibilities, titles, or experience on their resume.
Garone gives advice to a job seeker who is nervous about an upcoming job interview because they exaggerated on their resume. Read Her Response.
About.com Guide Alison Doyle shares, Reader Stories: Bad Interview Stories
Find out what happened in the interview, how the interview turned out, and advice on how to avoid the situation in the future. Read Full Article
Do you have a job interview horror story? Tell us about it in the comments section.
U.S. News & World Report article, In a Job Interview, How to Explain You Were Fired, Alison Green tells readers how to explain getting fired during a job interview.
Below is an excerpt from Green’s article. Read Full Article
If you were fired from a recent job, you’re probably dreading being asked about it in an interview. Is there any way to tell the truth without killing your chances of getting the job?Fortunately, yes. There are five keys to handling this well:
1. First, before you can formulate a good answer for why you were fired, you need to be honest with yourself about what really happened. Try to detach your ego from the firing and ask yourself what really went wrong. Don’t feel defensive or ashamed; try to see it objectively. Do you understand why your boss let you go? Were you even partially at fault?
If you haven’t already, now is the time to take responsibility for what your role was in what happened–even if your employer was also at fault. You need to get genuinely comfortable with this because when you’re comfortable with what happened, you’ll give an answer that will make your interviewer more comfortable, too.
2. Formulate an answer that speaks to how you ended up in that situation, what you’ve learned from it, and what you do differently now as a result.
3. Make sure your answer is brief and to the point. Most interviewers will only be looking for a couple of sentences and won’t expect you to present a detailed account. Definitely no rambling or defensive diatribes.
Forbes.com article, 13 Big Mistakes Job Seekers Make, Jacquelyn Smith documents job search mistakes that can derail your job search.
Below is an except of Smith’s article. Read Full Article
There are a lot of ways you can go wrong during your job search. You can fail to spend enough time at it, but you can also get so involved you become isolated from family and friends. Those are among the most common mistakes job seekers make, according to a new study published in theAcademy of Management Journal. Three scholarly researchers, Connie Wanberg, Jing Zhu and Edwin A. J. van Hooft wrote a paper titled “The Job-Search Grind: Perceived Progress, Self-Reactions, and Self-Regulation of Search Effort.” The study shows that signs of progress can make you relax too much and that you should have diversified ways of searching.
The three scholars asked 233 participants to complete a baseline survey and then follow up online every Monday through Friday for three weeks. They were asked to indicate their emotions, the time they dedicated to their job search and the level of confidence they felt about finding an acceptable job. They all had been out of work for about 16 weeks.
Related Story – In Pictures: 13 Big Mistakes Job Seekers Make
Check out this U.S. News and World Report slideshow, 21 Things Hiring Managers Wish You Knew from Alison Green.
Tips from this slideshow include:
Yahoo! HotJobs article, Wacky Job-Seeker Stunts*, Larry Buhl reveals that using creative stunts in your job search is not the best way to get the attention of hiring managers.
Even with the best of intentions Buhl warns, “unless a job seeker is fairly certain a well-executed stunt will work, it probably won’t.”
Here are a few stunts from this article that didn’t help the job seeker:
The recruiters in this article agree that substance in your resume and cover letter will rule over gimmicks.
*Click link to read full article.
In this clip from Bravo reality series, Kell On Earth, the staff of People’s Revolution discover a job candidate talking about her interview on Twitter. Unfortunately for this candidate, she was “interviewed, hired and fired” in a matter of minutes. Click the link to view video.
Kell On Earth – Twitter Lesson
Mistakes this job seeker made in her Twitter posts:
1) Tweeted the company name before she arrived to the interview
2) Revealed the employee she was meeting with
3) Assumed she was a member of the reality show cast
Reality show or not, find out if your employer has a confidentiality policy before you post work-related messages on the internet. You don’t want to lose your job over a status update or blog post.
Elizabeth Garone of the Wall Street Journal warns job seekers of the, Five Mistakes Online Job Hunters Make*.
Garone shows readers how a poorly managed online presence could ruin their job prospects. Online blunders Garone says to avoid:
“Blanketing social media networks with half-done profiles accomplishes nothing except to annoy the exact people you want to impress: prospective employees trying to find out more about on you.” – Make sure any profile you create is complete and up-to-date.
“Choose connections wisely; only add people you actually know or with whom you’ve done business.” – Garone explains the recruiter may try to contact one of your connections to ask about you.
Has your online presence cost you a position? What have you done to correct the situation? Tell us your story in the comments section.
* Click link to read full article
The Business Insider shares 15 Ways to Blow Your Job Interview*courtesy of ”John Q. Recruiter” at CBS Moneywatch. Don’t try any of these cringe-worthy mistakes at your next interview.
Bad First Impression
“Giving attitude to the receptionist? Not such a good idea. She works for us too.”
A Little Too Friendly
“I may in fact be ‘hot’ or ‘smoking, ‘ but sharing that with me in the interview is kind of a negative.”
Exaggerated Experience
“Attending a meeting is not the same as ‘co-leading team events’ or ‘serving as part of project brain trust.”
Too Much Information
“Telling me about the girl you’re dating at work that you need to get away from isn’t a good answer to why you want a new job”
Do Your Homework Before the Interview
“our website has 100 pages of content and we’re in the press daily. So how is it you know absolutely nothing about what we do?”
Want to see more job seeker mistakes, read more of “John Q. Recruiter’s” comments.
*Click link to read full article
