Interview tips

[habernac]

Homer bursts into Burns' office.

Listen to me, Mister Big-Shot. If you're looking for the kind of employee
that takes abuse, and never sticks up for himself, I'M YOUR MAN! You can
treat me like dirt, and I'll <still> kiss your butt and call it ice cream!
And if you don't like it, I can change!!


I like your attitude. Feisty, yet spineless.


Sir, this man not only failed the aptitude test, he got trapped in a closet
on his way out.
-- Smithers voices his objections to the hiring of Homer Simpson,


Burns responds, ``I haven't been this impressed since I first laid eyes
on a young bootlick named Wayland Smithers. ... Welcome aboard, son.''

Only in America could I get a job!
-- Homer celebrates being hired to work at SNPP

Burns: Who was that young hellcat, Smithers?
Smithers: Homer Simpson, sir.
Burns: Simpson, eh? I'll remember that name...
-- The beginning of a tradition,

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by fotze

The thing is I would probably take a decrease but I would probably be stupid to say as much. I already know the benefits are better and the training opportunities are infinitely better.

How does one answer the wage question if asked: "How much were you thinking for pay?". That is a toughy. I am a terrible bargainer, the guy I sold my car to last night said $600 and I said how about $550 cause he was a nice guy.

I like answering that question with "Well right now I make XXX".

It puts the ball back into their court. You basically tell them what your current situation is and they have to decide if they have to offer you a raise to get you or not. At minimum they should offer you what you currently make.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by fotze

The thing is I would probably take a decrease but I would probably be stupid to say as much. I already know the benefits are better and the training opportunities are infinitely better.

How does one answer the wage question if asked: "How much were you thinking for pay?". That is a toughy. I am a terrible bargainer, the guy I sold my car to last night said $600 and I said how about $550 cause he was a nice guy.

There really arent many secrets among employers, so being upfront and honest about money should be an easy task.
I mean cmon Fotze...grow some cajones and be a real man...tell em what it would take to get you good and horny for that job! If you feel you are worth $90,000 a year and other companies are paying that, then ask for $100k and be worked back to 90. Dont start at 90 and end up underpaid at 70. Ask what they base bonuses on, and what the approx % of bonuses were for people of your ilk last year....and what they would expect for this year. Serious on the holidays...dont get gipped into a 2 week holiday and have to wait 5 years for the 3rd week. Its one of the biggest issues in our marketplace we have...take time off and get as much off as you can. Tell them you have plans for holidays this year and want the Holidays rolled into this year with no holdback until you cpomplete a full years employment.
Find out the dental, eyeglasses and Viagra plan!

Do NOT take a decrease!

[habernac]

agreed on the holidays thing. Most offer 2 weeks hoping you'll accept it. Get AT LEAST three weeks from them. It's an employee's market right now.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by habernac

agreed on the holidays thing.

I guess I would disagree. It all depends on the entire compensation package.

I had a friend who was getting 5 weeks vacation; and was debating taking a job with better hours and an extra $20K per year- all of this over him losing his 3 extra weeks. I asked him if he was allowed to take time off without pay at the new job, and he said yes.

I then remindied him that he was losing 6% pay on the vacation thing, but gaining 25% more pay.

I get 3 weeks now, but if the money was right I'd go back down to 2 weeks.

[CaptainCrunch]

I deal with HR Directors and Managers all the time, I also do a wack of interviews every day. Some key points to impress.

- Know the company, if they're public look for thier shareholders reports, go beyond thier websites. Google them, find press clippings, know they're competitors and look at thier offerings (become knowledgible in thier verticals.

- Make sure your dressed like a pro, but be understated. No stupid ties, no pink shirts and yellow ties.

- When somebody asks about your weaknesses, don't use the turnaround strengths thing. A good manager will drill right through that and make you look like a idiot. Be honest on a weakness, have an example ready, and what you did or are doing to fix it. Stating that your a workaholic is not a positive thing since so many companies have seen that workaholics as long term projects. Attention to detail is fine, but being a perfectionist screams dosen't play well with others and is anal to the point of destroying your work environment.

- Take 3 successes with you, have the abililty to discuss why they were succcesses, and what you had to do with it.

- Have a story of something that went wrong, and how you dealt with it.

- Have fun with the interview but don't be too casual

- mimic his body language appropriately.

- Don't ask about compensation, or benefits, let him bring it up. Its a buying sign

- Trial close him or her throughout the interview. :Ie "This is a great opportunity and I could see myself being a strong addition here"

- Ask the tough questions - "What does your interviewer like and dislike about the organization", give me some success stories about this company that I may not have heard about. Whats the strategic direction for this organization. Is the position I'm interviewing for a new position, or am I replacing somebody and why is the position open.

- If its a management position have a idea of a strategy going in of what you would do in your first day, or week or month.

- Trial close at the end "When can I start", "Do you see a strong fit for me within your team" etc etc.

Thats all for now

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

- Don't ask about compensation, or benefits, let him bring it up. Its a buying sign

I agree with all of it except this.....some companies use it as a trump card and hold it until the very end. Then they suggest they will give you a written offer and you find that the offer is not what you were looking for....
I think its best to ensure you leave that meeting with everyone knowing where they stand on everything...inc $$$$.

[CaptainCrunch]

I always leave it to the interviewer, since I've found that it always comes up in discussion. If they're going to submit a cookie cutter written offer to me, I can do one of two things. Look at it and laugh at it, and inform them that its not in my range. Thats the interviewers fault for either not having a real interest or not doing his due Diligence.

The second option is to negotiate on any package thats given to you in writing.

Its always best to have multiple offers when you go to negotiate your pay package.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I always leave it to the interviewer, since I've found that it always comes up in discussion. If they're going to submit a cookie cutter written offer to me, I can do one of two things. Look at it and laugh at it, and inform them that its not in my range. Thats the interviewers fault for either not having a real interest or not doing his due Diligence.

The second option is to negotiate on any package thats given to you in writing.

Its always best to have multiple offers when you go to negotiate your pay package.

Here is a question.

Do you negotiate right there and then or ask for a day to look it over? What points in the package do you negotiate and how do you know which are negotiable? How much money should be asked for and how to ask for it?

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by fotze

How does one answer the wage question if asked: "How much were you thinking for pay?". That is a toughy. I am a terrible bargainer, the guy I sold my car to last night said $600 and I said how about $550 cause he was a nice guy.

Here's something I came up with last time I was looking for a job and I think it works great.
Figure out how close your skillset and experience is with the job description?
Where do you fit?
So when they ask, what you were looking for in $$$, say well with my experience, education etc. I see myself at about 80% of the comp range of this position. Can you tell me what the comp range is and then we can see if we are in the same neighborhood.

[Ayrahb]

Originally Posted by Cheese

I must be lucky...first Ive only had 5 jobs in my life and one was my own business.....but I dont recall answering "behavioural quuestions"?
Trying to think of what purpose they'd serve to Engineering?
Stuff like...what would you do if your pen leaked ink onto your shirt pocket?
Sheesh...thats easy...wear a pocket protector!

Fair enough, but the value of any job interviewing technique can be debated ad nauseum. My point, however, was not to promote or negate the value of behavioral interviews. I just think that it's better to be prepared. I personally don't know what fotze's field is, but I was asked at least one behavioral question in my last three job interviews. Those were scheduled HR interviews, though.

I actually had the pleasure of interviewing 13 foreign-trained engineers a couple months ago. The goal was to assess their readiness to enter the Canadian workforce in their professional field. My assignment was to look at their responses to a typical interview, so I chose a mix of questions including the dumb ones (in my opinion) such as salary expectations.

This particular group could not be considered entirely fluent in English, but some of the responses really impressed me and those coincidentally came from the behavioral questions. Anyway, I got to hear how they dealt with things like a pipeline burst, murder within the company, choosing safety over money, making sexist remarks. I think I would have had to work a lot harder on getting some of that info if I hadn't asked the questions the way I did.

Then again, to each his own.

[Calgary Flames]

Originally Posted by fotze

The thing is I would probably take a decrease but I would probably be stupid to say as much. I already know the benefits are better and the training opportunities are infinitely better.

How does one answer the wage question if asked: "How much were you thinking for pay?". That is a toughy. I am a terrible bargainer, the guy I sold my car to last night said $600 and I said how about $550 cause he was a nice guy.

What kind of job is this? You'll almost never get to money talk the first interview. After the interview they'll make you an offer, from there you will negotiate.

Also, ask them as many questions as they're asking you, it shows interest. Bring a note pad, take notes, ect and act like you're interviewing them of sorts.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Here is a question.

Do you negotiate right there and then or ask for a day to look it over? What points in the package do you negotiate and how do you know which are negotiable? How much money should be asked for and how to ask for it?

Never negotiate a package on the same day that you receive it, it makes you look desparate. Go to the Alberta governments wage survey site http://www.alis.gov.ab.ca/wageinfo/C...rd&RegionID=20

and keyword search your job. You'll get a low end and a high end. I usually negotiate around the high end. Before you even start the process though, write down whats you need to live with and what benefits are important to you.

I always start negotiations with the question "Whats your best possible offer?" I know I'm worth it, and I don't want to waste time dickering, combine that with the fact that the employer has already set a budget.

Also don't be afraid to walk away from your first offer. I've seen people do it no matter how good the offer is.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Ayrahb

Fair enough, but the value of any job interviewing technique can be debated ad nauseum. My point, however, was not to promote or negate the value of behavioral interviews. I just think that it's better to be prepared. I personally don't know what fotze's field is, but I was asked at least one behavioral question in my last three job interviews. Those were scheduled HR interviews, though.

I actually had the pleasure of interviewing 13 foreign-trained engineers a couple months ago. The goal was to assess their readiness to enter the Canadian workforce in their professional field. My assignment was to look at their responses to a typical interview, so I chose a mix of questions including the dumb ones (in my opinion) such as salary expectations.

This particular group could not be considered entirely fluent in English, but some of the responses really impressed me and those coincidentally came from the behavioral questions. Anyway, I got to hear how they dealt with things like a pipeline burst, murder within the company, choosing safety over money, making sexist remarks. I think I would have had to work a lot harder on getting some of that info if I hadn't asked the questions the way I did.

Then again, to each his own.

Candidate profiling is becoming a huge factor in selecting new employee's. Not only do companies measure your personality profiles, but they also measure your skills, knowledge and behavior based around emotional IQ measurement tools.

Its a big factor in avoiding the counterfeit candidate. Somebody who's resume impresses but has mislead or outright lied to get the position.

One of the things that I do with my clients is something called a top performer profile. This is where I profile the best employer in a department, and hire against that profile. I also use measurement tools that help me build non disfunctional teams. The goal is to reduce hiring mistakes and reduce un-needed turnover and save my clients a ton of money that are caused by hiring errors.

[mykalberta]

I have never been to much of a "say your worst fault is your best asset"

I tell them the truth, if they dont call me back I dont lose sleep. I figure that if a company is stupid enough to fall for that line then do you really wanna be part of that?

MYK