This is probably the most concise, thorough interview preparation guide I’ve seen. It covers everything from preparing for the interview to formulating your answers.
The interview is often the best shot you have at getting a job, so you really want to do everything in your power to present yourself in the best light.
Of course, as the last couple of weeks at my work have proven, it helps if you make sure you can get selected for the interview, and that you can honestly assume the position if it is offered to you. We’ve had a few frustrated giggles as job seekers have sent cover letters with no resumes, cover letters with no resume or contact information, or accepted a position and then quit in less than twnety-four hours because other schedule elements in their life couldn’t be adjusted to allow them to work with us.
Posted by Rebecca as Changing careers, Skill building, Warnings at 8:20 AM EDT
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I subscribe to a couple of the Monster.com newsletters, and over the past few months, there has been an interesting teaser in one of them. It links on to the book written by the gentleman, but I have found myself really offended by the teaser. It’s a teaser for a book filled with tips for finding and pursuing careers. Monster runs several rotating teasers for this book in these newsletters. Sounds like a great book, but the teaser I keep seeing that just bothers me no end has completely turned me off from ever wanting to acquire the book.
The teaser reads:
Overqualified?
In most job interviews, the phrase “overqualified” means “overpaid.” Like a good sales rep, counter this argument by focusing on your value rather than your price. Mention qualities like judgment, insight and experience — especially if you’ve seen mistakes and won’t make them. Learn more interview tactics in my new book [book title omitted] which can be found [web link to purchase book online] or in bookstores everywhere.
Let’s start with the fact that I have never seen the word “overqualified” show up in a job interview. I can’t imagine any question that might appear during an interview that would lead to a candidate saying, “Well, you know, I did this job, but I was really overqualified for it.” That’s just arrogant, and could pretty much assure that the candidate wouldn’t get the job.
I also can’t see an interviewer during the course of an interview saying, “Well, I see here that you worked at this job you were overqualified for,” or anything to that effect. When they call back to reject the candidate, that’s a different story. I’ve been on the receiving end of that phone call far too many times in the past few years. My young looks have not been enough to save me from the “We like you. You have excellent skills, but we feel you would get bored here very quickly.” phone call.
That’s where my problem with this teaser comes in. I’ve been rejected from a number of jobs, and I’ve been frequently told I was overqualified for the position. It’s never been about my previous salary. In fact, my previous salaries have never come up. I’m sure if it had, my previous pay of “volunteer” or “barely minimum wage” would never have been labelled as “overpaid” or “overqualified”. “Overqualified” has always related directly to my skills and experience.
I’ve been “overqualified” and “ambitious”. I’ve never been “overpaid”. Draw your own conclusions.
Posted by Rebecca as Warnings at 9:24 AM EDT
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In preparation for my upcoming move to Seattle in a couple of weeks, I have made a rather sad discovery. I was looking at Sologig.com, trying to get a feel for how they are currently running things when I noticed that they are subscribed to AdSense. Fine, they’re looking to make a little money. It’s perfectly logical and AdSense seems to be a nice enough way to generate some side income.
Then I started looking at the ads where I found one titled “Get Rich Quick”. The blurb under that suggested the company was a bit more shady than I would have expected from a reputable site like Sologig. Something tells me that wasn’t the type of ad they had in mind when they registered for AdSense.
I don’t want to make it sound like this is a totally unheard of situation. A couple of years ago, I was using Monster to look for a job after moving to San Antonio. I was looking through one of my search agents and found this job offer that really sounded too good to be true. After a little research, I discovered that the company was an MLM. An MLM? Recruiting through Monster?
Even more disturbing was Monster’s repsonse when I contacted them about it. They told me that they do not have time to review every company that posts a job on their site and didn’t particularly feel compelled to. The responsibility for determining the validiy of a company rested with those trying to find a job through Monster.
Amazingly enough, I am still using Monster (with no luck), but let this be a warning if you are trying to locate a new job on Monster or Sologig. It takes only a few minutes and Google, but it may save you a headache or three in your job search.
Posted by Rebecca as Changing careers, Warnings at 9:55 AM EDT
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In preparation for my upcoming move to Seattle, I am trying to update my resume, organize a skills packet for the local staffing agencies, and making sure Monster.com is up to date. It led to some interesting discoveries.
The first discovery was that I had mislabelled a section on one of my skill worksheets. It addressed my project management skills without acknowldging my lack of budget skills. I have now fixed that.
The second discovery, and I nearly died when I saw it, was that some of my positions had been altered on Monster. My “Customer Service Volunteer” position became a “Customer Service Director” position. Another position had been altered from volunteer status to management. I was horrified and immediately pulled the resume from public view. I have now also deleted it. It was too much of a fight to update it. The resume I have been working on for the past week is now on Monster, but it’s still a work in progress and not published.
I have also decided to give Monster Networking a try. It, of course, inherited the bad resume, so I’m now trying to fix it. The simplest solution may just be to figure out how to import my new resume since Monster Networking doesn’t believe in summer jobs or one year internships. It’s been quite aggravating. However, by the end of the week, I’ll have applied for a job in Seattle, so hopefully all will go well.
Moral of the story: If you keep a resume on Monster, keep a very close eye on it. Terms can apparently change without any warning.
Posted by Rebecca as Changing careers, Warnings at 8:00 AM EDT
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