The Behavioral Interview

Tell me about yourself.
Why are you looking to leave your job?
Why do you want to work for our company?
Tell me about a professional conflict you've had.

These are all very common questions asked by recruiters and hiring managers that every job seeker should be ready for. What exactly are employers looking for when they ask you behavioral questions that aren't necessarily related to your skills or the role?

Employers are looking to see if they'd want to work with you and if they'd like having you on their team.

When listening to your answer, employers are evaluating you on a few core areas.
1) Is this person excited about this position at this company or do they just need a job?
2) Can this person play well with others and solve problems or could they disrupt the current team dynamic?
3) Is this person aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and will they take criticism well?

The best way to prepare for a behavioral interview, in addition to doing mock interviews, is to do some soul searching. Have your resume in front of you and take notes about each job you've had, specifically what did you like/dislike about the job, what did you do well/accomplish, what did you learn, and how did you work with others. Being aware of these factors will help you understand what responsibilities you don't like, and more importantly what duties and roles you do like.

After you've analyzed your work history and are more aware of what you're looking for in a career move, it's important to come up with examples and stories that can be used in an interview. If you have a handful of specific examples with detailed stories at hand, you can use them for a wide range of questions. The types of examples you want to have should address the following:

• An accomplishment/success
• What are you proud of? Have you won any awards or received a promotion?
• Conflict resolution
• How do you work with difficult people? What would you change about your manager? When have you disagreed with a colleague?
• Challenges
• What has been the most difficult responsibility or project you've tackled? Have you spearheaded a new project/program? How did you successfully complete it? Did you exceed expectations?

Interview Prep - Questions and Answers

Interviewing can be tricky, and it's normal to be nervous, but preparing for your interview is the most important thing you can do.  Check the company website, www.Glassdoor.com, and do a quick Google search for interview questions.  Write out the questions you might get on paper and practice your answers.

Ask a question at the end! Have some stock questions prepared in case you don't have any questions about the job:

• What are the challenges of the position/department?
• How is performance measured/what are the goals?
• What is your favorite thing about the company/department/position?

Be confident!  Its not just about what you say, but how you say it.  If you're not confident with your skills and experience, the interviewer won't be either.

Say "I" not "we"

Remove "I believe" or "I think" from your answers and just make the statement

"My strengths are communication and prioritizing." sounds better than "I think my skills are communication and prioritizing".

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How Recruiters Get You a Job

Whether they work directly for a company or at a staffing firm, recruiters are incentivized to fill job openings, so it's important to stay on their good side.  The best thing you can do is develop good rapport with your recruiter.

A good recruiter searches for and screens applicants and then narrows down the pool of applicants to qualified candidates the hiring manager would want to consider.  It's our job to figure out what kind of pay/benefits/perks you want in order to accept an offer.  This is one of the reasons why it's so important to be honest and upfront with your recruiter.  Don't expect to turn around and ask for more from the hiring manager, it won't happen, and it could hurt your chances to get hired.

While every company is different, a recruiter will typically make recommendations to the hiring manager and do their best to bring the manager to a decision and facilitate the onboarding process.  Follow-up with your recruiter when needed and help him or her make a case for you.

Interview Prep - Your Turn to Ask the Questions

"So what questions do you have for me?" is something you will be asked in 99% of all your interviews, and you need to be able to fire back with at least two thoughtful and relevant questions.

One great question that was brought up by a student when I spoke at Cal Poly Pomona was "Are there any concerns you have about me being a good fit that I can address?".  This gets to the heart of what you want to know and allows you to recover from anything that the interviewer might see as a weakness or red flag.  This may throw the interviewer off so give them a second to think about it and make sure you respond by addressing their specific concern.

Ask about specific things at the company, such as the company culture, most important things for someone in this position to achieve, what a day in the office would look like, and the biggest challenges the department faces.  These questions are very specific and will tell you a lot about the company and the role.  These questions also show that you are serious about the opportunity and very interested

You should always end an interview with "When can I expect to hear back from you?" or "What are the next steps in the interview process?".

While you may think its funny to ask "So do I start tomorrow",  its not, don't say that.

What are some good questions you've asked the interviewer?  Let me know in the comments.

Interview Prep - What to do the Day of the Interview

Take care of everything the night before the interview, the last thing you want is to forget something or be late.  So the night before, make sure you've printed out a few copies of your resume, have paper you can take notes on, and have your outfit picked out.  Make sure you know where you're going and have your route mapped out; be aware that drive times from google maps and siri do not accurately factor in traffic, so give yourself plenty of time.  Make sure you set a couple alarms so you wake up on time.  Get plenty of sleep!  Do not under any circumstances pull an all-nighter or go out partying the night before your interview.

Go about your normal routine, if you normally eat breakfast or drink coffee, do so, but don't drink coffee or an energy drink if you typically don't, you don't need to excuse yourself to the restroom in the middle of the interview.  Take your padfolio with your notes, resumes, and directions, and head out the door.

When you arrive (5-15 minutes early), be nice to everyone from the lobby attendant, random people in the elevator, and the receptionist.  Recruiters and hiring managers ask the receptionist about your interaction, if you're nice, and if you'd be a good fit for the department, so make sure you're on your best behavior.  YOUR CELL PHONE SHOULD BE OFF FROM THE MOMENT YOU ENTER THE LOBBY!  In fact, you can just leave it in the car.

This is where all your research, discussion with the recruiter, and soul searching come into play.  You should have already discussed compensation with the recruiter, so you shouldn't need to bring it up unless the recruiter said to or an offer is made on the spot, if this is a final interview with the director, then you can bring up pay and perks.  If you prepared, then just take a deep breath, you're ready.

Do you have any interview-day rituals to get you ready?  Let me know!

Applied Online, Why Haven't I Gotten a Call?!

Let's look at the bigger picture, there could be a thousand reasons why a company hasn't called you after receiving your application.  The applicant Black Hole is a real thing, and it's very possible that no one has actually seen your resume - so follow-up by calling or emailing a recruiter to ask if they've received your application and to let them know that you're very interested in the job.

Now, to increase your chances of getting a call-back there are several things you should do:

1. Apply to jobs that you're actually qualified for (Read the job description) - if the job is for a sales rep with 4+ years experience, and you've only worked at a fast food restaurant, I'm not going to call you.
2. See Resume Tips - Make sure your spelling and grammar is correct and your resume is formatted
3. K.I.S.S. - If your cover letter is a page long and your resume has paragraph descriptions, I'm probably not going to take the time to read it.
4. There's a ton of applicants right now - The job market is still down, so each job posting gets a lot of responses.  Unfortunately, that might just mean that there were more qualified candidates than you, but don't be discouraged and keep applying.
5. It's only been a week, calm down!  Sometimes it takes a month to get through all the applicants, so reach out and see if you can get the status of your application, that might just get someone to pull you our of the Black Hole of Applicant Tracking Systems, and in front of a decision maker. (Pro Tip - don't be a stalker.  If you call me everyday, or several times a day without leaving a message, I'm going to ignore you.  Once a week or every other week is good.)

Getting the Call - Initial Phone Interviews

The first thing a recruiter does if they like your resume, is call you.  That's the entire purpose of a resume - get the call.  The phone screen is our way of seeing if you fit the job description and are interested in the job. Phone screens vary greatly depending on the job and the recruiter.  Some might take 5 minutes, while others take 45 minutes.  A phone screen usually takes about 15-20 minutes and covers what's on your resume and the details of the job.  This is where you can explain anything on your resume and highlight your strengths.

If you get a phone screen, there are several things to remember:

1. It's OK to Reschedule - You weren't anticipating someone calling you, so if you're in the middle of something, in a noisy area, driving, or have a bad connection, its OK to ask to reschedule.  I would much rather call you back, then deal with a distracted candidate that I can barely hear.
2. Be Prepared - You didn't know I was calling, but you better know what is on your resume when I ask you to go over it with me.  Tell me about your experience, but please don't ramble.  Remember K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid - I think I'll do an entire post on this motto one day).
3. Ask Questions - Maybe you applied to 10 jobs over the weekend and have no idea what the companies were, that's fine, don't tell me that, but ask me about the job, what your responsibilities would be, what's expected of you, and if you could be emailed a job description
4. Take Notes - I'm taking notes as we talk because there's no way I can remember it all, and you should too.  Write down what we discussed and what questions you still have, this will be useful if you make it to an interview

Questions I always ask during a phone screen:

• Tell me about your experience
• Why did each job end? (layoff, quit, fired)
• What are your responsibilities in your current job?
• What are you looking for in your next job opportunity?
• What are the things that are important to you?
• How much were you paid at each position?
• What do you want to be paid in your next role?