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With everything and everyone online, you may feel that face-to-face com­munications are growing scarce and are less important than they used to be. You can get insurance quotes, buy Avon products (that old door-to-door sales icon) and shop for a medical care provider without leaving your computer. Part-time, freelance, telecommuting, contract, and full-time positions are advertised on the Internet for every conceivable career. Resumes are scanned into databases, video interviews are shown to prospective employers, and interactive application forms are proliferating in the job market. With all these technological advances, there still has been no movement away from the interview as a serious hiring tool. A face-to-face encounter that takes the measure of both interviewee and interviewer is still the method of choice for recruitment and selection. Recent postings in newspapers show that even dot.com companies are hosting job fairs! Although interviews still exist, what may be changing are the abilities of interviewers and interviewees to find the 'right' employee for the 'right' job. As more business is done online, personal communication skills may be suffering.

You still want to meet the person who will repair your car, know about the past performance of a new dentist, and learn about the people you will work with. Verbal and nonverbal communication play an extremely important part in the job search process. All the information you can gar­ner from your research, both online and in the real world, is important, but it is still the interview that will spur a decision. An interview is a two-way opportunity to consider and evaluate all the elements of the organi­zation, the job, and the candidate.
Why Are Interview Questions Good for You?
1. Questions help you understand what the employer needs.

2. Questions help you decide if you want the job.

3. Questions help you communicate in a mutually helpful manner.

 

 

What You Need to Know about Interviews

An employment interview is an attempt by the hiring organization to as­sess three important hiring criteria:

1. Can do—the applicant has the education, skills, and training to perform.

2. Will do—the applicant has the experience (has performed the same or similar functions in another venue) and possesses the intangible moti­vation factor.

3. Fit—the applicant has experience in a place or environment similar to ours or appears to be able to be easily assimilated into our work team.

These issues are all assessed in a typical 30- to 45-minute interview. At the same time the interviewer also attempts to deterrnine honesty, in­tegrity, enthusiasm, determination, personality, ethics, and potential. The interviewer may be aided by a quick review of the candidate's resume^ augmented by references, testing, work samples, and portfolios.

 

 

Interviewing Is a Skill—on Both Sides of the Desk

You may not have any control over the experience or biases of the inter­viewer, but you certainly can make yourself into an experienced, com­petent, confident, and marketable interviewee. You accomplish this by recognizing that both parties/ you and the interviewer, are mutually responsible for creating a comfortable, effective interaction.The failure rate for new hires is high; approximately 40 percent of net executives fall within the first 18 months. Why? Consider these top reason cited by employers:

1. "Interpersonal problems. Could not build a working relationship with peers c team."

2. "Had no insight into what was expected."

3. "Lacked political sense within the organization."

4. "Did not meet priorities or main objectives."

5. "Longer than expected learning curve."

6. "Imbalance between work and personal life."

 

How might you prevent such problems?

1. Deal with the current problem, not just the symptoms in hopes it will go away.

2. Push the envelope and "think outside the box." Go outside of your comfort zone in order to make an impact.

3. Be flexible and adapt to different types of people, organizations, an ways of doing things.

4. Keep your cool. Do not allow circumstances to overwhelm you.

5. When there is a tough decision to be made, do the research and ma! the decision.


Employers and savvy interviewers know these things. They know what, the problems are in their organization, and they are extremely interested in making the right hire. These are the issues that drive the questions in the interview!

 

Shape of an Interview

Think of the last time you had a casual conversation with someone yc just met. You may have found some common interests because you we: both at the same conference or meeting or on the same airplane. Usually, you wish to pursue the conversation, you each try to feel each other out f i other similarities in your backgrounds or other common denominators, you find topics that interest you both, then the conversation continue with more sharing and openness. However, should there be any disincli­nation to share or pursue the conversation on the part of either of you, the conversation winds down and ends.

An interview is as simple as that. The shape of an interview—begin­ning with small talk—resembles a bell curve with the downside show­ing the winding down of the process. The height and length of the curve is a measurement of the interest of both parties to continue the process. However, unlike a casual conversation, the interviewer has more control over when to end the conversation, so it is up to you to keep the momentum going if you have an active interest in the job opening or the organization. The sooner the two parties can establish common ground and rapport, the more likely the time will be spent productively exploring the candidate's qualifications and details con­cerning the job and the organization.

 

Visit CareerTrade.NET and start searching for your job so you can start preparing for the interview!
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