You’re a Lucky Person

Let’s face it, in today’s economy employers can afford to be as picky as they want. Many of those who work their way through college by working in retail, restaurants, etc., the seemingly low skilled jobs still find themselves selling calendars at a mall kiosk or waiting tables at one of hundreds of casual dining restaurants. Why? Because they didn’t get the interview or if they did, they blew it. So, don’t forget how lucky you are to even be getting an interview (unless your Uncle Cosmo promised your Dad he’d take care of you and ensure you could go as far as you want in his company selling meat over the phone).

The Résumé

Before we talk about the interview, let’s take a quick look at what got you here. Some of you may have gone to a job fair and impressed someone enough that they are able to remember you when they come across your resume and they call you for an interview. Even if you have recently attended several job fairs, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend holding your breath while you wait for the call inviting you to an interview.

Ruling out the family connection (sorry, Uncle Cosmo), and the hope that the person you talked to at the job fair will remember your name when coming across your résumé leaves only one way in which the hiring manager even knows you exist and that is because your résumé stuck out of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of résumés he or she receives in a week, sometimes in just a day. So if you wrote the résumé yourself, congratulation, you’ve done a fantastic job. If you had someone else write your résumé, maybe a professional who does this for a living then pat yourself on the back again for having enough sense to know that résumé writing is not your forte and you invested the money to have it prepared by a professional. It is an investment, too; anything you spend money on to help you land a job in an industry where you want to work, where you want to make a career, is an investment. The bank account (yours and/or your parents) may take a few hits now, but if done correctly, the interview will go well and those investments will more than pay for themselves.

Just a little side note here: every now and then in the article, I may make reference to younger, just graduated college, job-seekers. I want to apologize because as we all know, they are only a part of the job-seeking community, and comparatively speaking, it’s most likely a small part. In fact many companies are finally beginning to see the importance of life experience. While it’s true many positions require specific, highly technical training nothing, can replace the experience that comes with life. If a company finds someone with a combination of the necessary classroom training as well as a huge amount of diverse life experiences, that hiring manager will probably feel as if he’s struck gold. So if you are a little older than fresh out of college, always put a positive spin on it. The way you feel about it is most likely the way you will leave the hiring manager feeling as well.

Alright, you’ve got your training, you’ve got your life experience, and you’ve got résumé that makes you it sound as if you walk on water; don’t worry about going over the top, the hiring managers usually expect it as long as you don’t promise something you can’t deliver like, say, actually walking on water. What’s next?

Between the Résumé and the Interview

This is usually the hardest part for people – waiting. First, make sure you’ve sent your résumé to all possible places you are qualified for and would like to work. Once that’s done you have the perfect time to prepare yourself for any interviews you may get based on your résumé. All companies are different, but an engineer is an engineer regardless of the company they work for so many things about the interview will be very similar if not the same. In fact many interview questions are generic enough that they would work for any position, in any company, and in any town. So, as you see, we don’t need any secret list of questions to practice and become prepared. Just remember, they will try to shake you up a little and throw in a question you have no idea how to answer. Just stay calm. Remember, they called you and the better prepared you are, the less likely they will be able to shake you.

The Interview

Plan ahead. Ensure whatever you have planned to wear (and I hope it’s appropriate; you’re Patriots football jersey that you refuse to wash along with the jeans you wear with it to play football in the backyard are not only inappropriate, they’re disgusting) is semi-formal to a little on the casual side. You’ve been in the building before, I hope, what were the employees wearing then? I know if you get the job you’ll be wearing jeans and old shirts but for the interview you need to present a professional office appearance. If the men wear sport coats over dress shirts with collars and nice Docker’s or whatever, than that is how you should dress for the interview. If they wear casual, but collared shirts, Docker’s, and no sport coat than that’s what you wear. For the ladies, it’s probably business dresses or skirts, if they wear pants it’s probably because they are part of a business suit. Make sure ahead of time that you have appropriate attire and that it fits. If it needs ironing, do it the night before. Alright, appearance is covered. One thing that will impress an interviewer more than just about anything else is how much you know about the company. As soon as you are notified of the interview, start researching. Following are the kinds of things you should know (even though you will probably not come up but you never know):

• Depending on how many interviews they have conducted and/or have scheduled will probably keep them from hiring you right away. However if they feel just completely blown away and are afraid of losing you, especially to their direct competition, they may make you an offer right there on the spot, DO NOT ACCEPT IT. Very politely ask them if you can take last year’s annual report home with you, as well as the offer, and ask if you can have at least until the next afternoon so you and your spouse have time to review it all. If not married, don’t lie, just tell them you need a little time to think about it all while he is alone and surrounded by a group of people, all seemingly holding their breath, awaiting a positive answer. Don’t worry, they’ll oblige.

• Take the entire information home and actually read through it. Sometimes they have salary ranges broken down by position in the annual report, besides they will almost always give you a benefits manual so you can see what kind of health insurance they have, and do they have dental or vision, do they have a prescription plan, and do they offer disability insurance.

• Make a list of pro’s and cons (if you haven’t already done so); you know things you are looking for from a company and qualities or policies they have that you may not like. If the pros out way the cons and you were pleased with interview and salary offer, then take the job, but wait for them to call you. If you call them they know they’ve got you, but if you wait they may increase the salary offer, thinking they may be competing for you against another company.

• When they do call, accept the offer, if you hold out too long they’ll find someone else. They don’t want or need the cockiness everyday.

I’ve spent the better part of my adult life in a position responsible for hiring and (the part I hated most) firing employees. Obviously, I’ve been the interviewee a few times as well; this life experience, I believe, qualifies me to write articles of this nature. I hope this has taken some of the mystery out of the process for you and, most importantly, GOOD LUCK!