Career Tips

I learned in my job-search-today that I was in the final-round-of-candidates.How many times have you heard that and realized your job-search-has-stalled.Regardless of education or experience, you are certainly not alone.Many are finding confusing outcomes with the post-recession interviews and interview processes.

• What are the questions I should ask myself or things I should evaluate at this point?
• It is time for new ideas!

• Am I focusing too much or not enough on my presentation?
• Am I losing sight of my competition and what they are doing to get the offer?
• Am I prepared for a structured behavior-based interview or unstructured interview?
• Can I do more homework on the interviewers and/or the company?
• What can I add to my resume presentation such as a power point document and/or a quantitative cover letter to elevate my value? Is my resume presentation and verbiage competitive with what others are using?
• An interview conversation is not an everyday event and I could have habits I’m not aware of that need to be addressed. Consider spending time with a trained interviewer to enhance your skills and identify the unknown habits that show up during an interview process?
• Are you bringing certain personality abilities or enhanced knowledge to the interview that is not expected? Do additional homework on the interviewers, the company, and even company cultural events that are considered positive by the employees.
• What can I learn about the competition of the company that I am interviewing with?
• Are you allowing the interviewers to connect with you and see your positive values and behaviors?
• Do you struggle in conversation with certain topics in your career field? Be a subject matter expert in your area but do not be afraid to honestly communicate that certain topics are not your strong points?
• Could it also be the interview process which many are unstructured and many employers are not using a professional interview methodology? An unstructured interview process depends more on opinions, agendas, and personal biases, feelings at the time, and historical results with past candidates. Either way, knowing yourself and your skills and being able to articulate both is the one thing you can control. Focus on the issues you can control and ask yourself the hard questions to evaluate even the things you think you are practiced and compete for the offer.

My job search today “final-round-of-candidates” – Notes on a Napkin