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We have several positions we are trying to fill nationally. We have several positions nationally if you are a dot net architect who has worked on the 3.x platform and has hands on experience with WPF and WCF. We are also seeking Identity Management Architects who have hands on experience with Oracle Identity Management and has prior big 4 experience. Please send your resume to recruiter@pronetiscorp.com if you would like to be considered for one of our hot jobs.
     Sending a thank you note to the interviewer is good business etiquette but it may not help you land the job. I have often seen candidates send out thank you notes with errors in them (spelling, grammatical, etc) just as recently as this week. Thank you notes with errors will not help you get the job. In fact, if you were being considered for the job, you probably will no longer be considered. For example, I had a client preparing an offer letter for a candidate and the candidate was suppose to receive the letter later that day in electronic format. The candidate was very excited about this job opportunity so he decided to send the hiring manager a thank you note. In his thank you note, he had spelled the hiring manager’s name incorrectly. He had also incorrectly used the word for you are as your instead of using the contraction you’re. Unfortunately, this type of error may not show up in spell check. When the hiring manager received the thank you note, he immediately called me and told me he changed his mind and would not be extending the job offer to the candidate because of the errors found in the thank you note. So in this particular case, the thank you note hurt the candidate and cost him the job. So how can you help assure the thank you note you send will give you an edge above the other candidates and possibly help land you the job? Make your thank you note personal I interview over 30 people every week (1500+/year) and receive many thank you notes. Most of the thank you notes I have read pretty much say the same thing – “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I really enjoyed our conversation and meeting you. etc. etc. etc. Thank you notes should be more personalized rather than the standard fare. So you should include something you learned in the interview about the interviewer. For example, you might say Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I really enjoyed our conversation about your typical day at Company ABC. I would than go further and perhaps in one or two sentences summarize the conversation about his typical day. Leverage the thank you note for self marketing You should always include in your thank you note why you would be perfect for the the job. During the interview, you learned about the qualities they are looking for in the candidate that will fill the position. So keep this in mind when writing about why you would be perfect for the job. See my Job Interview Tips post if you didn’t ask about this during the interview. Take your thank you note to the next level What do I mean by this? During the interview, you learned about the challenges of the position you are seeking. You probably also learned about some of the projects that are planned that you would be involved with should you get the job. Why not include in your thank you note how you would go about overcoming some of the challenges in the position? Draw from your actual experience and include real examples of how you were able to overcome the challenges and/or use them perhaps to your advantage. You should also discuss what your approach would be with some of the planned activities that were mentioned in the interview if you got the job and even suggest some other things that should be considered and why, again drawing from actual experience. Once you’ve taken your thank you to the next level, then close it with something like this: I have worked on several projects like this before and have a couple of ideas that you might find useful. Perhaps we can explore this at your convenience. I look forward to hearing from you. Sending a thank you note to the interviewer in a timely manner is good business etiquette. Please make sure your thank you notes are well thought out and contain no grammatical and/or spelling errors. Thank you notes are a great way to give you an edge over the other candidates vying for the same job when done properly. Good Luck. GO
You have probably been on several job interviews and have mastered the job interview. However, I have sent many people on a job interview and have suggested that they prepare for the interview. Some of the candidates thought the interview would be a snap, so they didn’t feel the need to prepare. It was a no brainer. I can remember one recent example, when my client wanted the candidate to take a test on the technology they would be responsible for should they land the job. I had suggested to my candidate that they study and refresh their memory on the technologies so they can ace the test. My candidate ignored my advice and they flunked the test. Needless to say they didn’t get the job. Unfortunately this particular candidate really wanted the job because the company was a great company and the commute for them would be a short one. So although you may have been on several interviews, it never hurts to review these tips. Interview Tips
Now that we covered what you should do on a job interview, let’s cover some of the things you should never do while on an interview:
Most importantly, when you are interviewing for a job, be truthful about your experience and be yourself. Good Luck! Business Casual can mean different things to different employers. It seems that everyone’s idea of what is appropriate business casual attire is different. So how do you know what is considered appropriate? Well let’s start with what’s not appropriate. Business Casual attire is NOT jeans, sweats, tees, tanktops,sandals, flip-flops, shorts, revealing clothing, worn, dirty or ripped clothing, sun dresses, beachwear, and weekend clothing. Business Casual dress is classic, well thought out and coordinated, professional, clean and crisp. Colors should be neutral (such as black, brown, blue and gray.) For men, business casual is clean well groomed, pressed slacks or Khakis, long sleeved shirt, cotton shirts, golf shirts, polished shoes or loafers with socks and fine sweaters. For women, appropriate business attire is pressed pants, dressed, skirts, blouses, fitted sweaters, and quality jewelry. Makeup should be light. If you are still unsure of what to wear or need assistance in putting together a business casual wardrobe, hire an image consultant or stylist. How you dress says a lot about how you think about yourself, your career and the image you project. When it comes to dressing for work, impressions really do matter. Make sure you are projecting the right image for your company. Employees who think that they won’t be judged on how they dress are very much mistaken. Remember what you wear to work matters. Did you know that the interviewer makes up his mind about you in the first few minutes of the job interview? So it’s important to make sure your first impression is your best one. It is virtually impossible to undo a first impression. However, many candidates make some mistakes in the interview that can cost them landing the job. I have interviewed thousands of candidates while I was a hiring manager and now as a staffing professional. One of the most common interview mistakes I have seen candidates make is dressing inappropriately for the interview. If you are unsure of how you should dress or you are coming directly from work and you do not want to alert your employer about an interview by “dressing up” in your interview suit, it is appropriate to ask if it’s ok to dress in business casual attire for the interview as an example. They will tell you how you should dress if you are not sure. Another common mistake candidates make in an interview is forgetting to turn off their cell phone. That’s right. Just as the interview is about to begin, the candidate’s cell phone starts to ring with some crazy personalized ring tone. It is very important to remember to turn off your cell phone before going into the interview. Candidates know they should arrive on time for an interview but many show up late. They have many excuses for not being on time including running into traffic, getting lost, unable to locate parking, etc. Candidates must allow ample time to get to the interview. If you are not sure how to get to the location, drive to the location the evening or weekend before the interview is scheduled. You should plan on traffic and other delays that may prevent you from getting to the interview on time and therefore you should leave early enough in case you are indeed delayed. Also you should plan on arriving 10-15 minutes early. Acting disinterested will not win you any points in the interview. You have no idea how many times a hiring manager has said to me that they are not going to move forward with so and so because they seemed disinterested. When I provide the candidate with this feedback, the candidate is surprised and tells me that they really want the position. So I than ask the candidate if they expressed interest in the job. 9 times out of 10, the candidates reply is always the same “if I wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t have shown up at the interview.” So now you know, being at the interview is not enough to show interest in the position. You should tell the interviewer that you are interested by saying something like “This job is exactly what I am looking for”. Also, you must be cognizant of your non verbal communication or body language. If you are fidgety, not making eye contact, displaying poor posture, or your arms and legs are crossed as an example, displays of these types of behavior can and usually are interpreted as showing a lack of interest. Lastly, you should never speak poorly about a current or prior company and/or boss. This turns off most interviewers and most likely you will not get the job. So remember when you are going to an interview to dress appropriately, show up on time, smile, sit up straight, make eye contact, never speak poorly about your current or prior boss and don’t forget to turn off your cell phone. |
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