Questions to Ask in an Interview

Looking over several recruiting websites recently I have noticed several listings of helpful questions to pose your interviewer. It is always good to have some questions for the interviewer. Asking questions shows that you are interested in the opportunity and thinking about how you can help the prospective employer. I have culled the following list of questions from the web:
What type of growth and advancement opportunities does this position offer?
What would my first project be?
Does the company offer educational assistance and/or continuing education/training?
Who will I be reporting to?
What are the job responsibilities?
What is the timeline for hiring this position?
Can I contact any other employees about the position?
Should I follow up with you about this position?
These are just a few. Plan on having some thought up before you show up for your interview. It will show that you are serious.

Holiday Job Search: Follow Up

To follow up on the last post, I just read in the Career Journal of the Wall Street Journal that they too recommend keeping active with your job hunt during the holiday season. A few things the article mentioned was that hiring managers do like to find candidates through their referral network, and that the holidays can be a great time to participate in annual holiday events. Also, fiscal year budgets often coincide with the calendar year, and managers are eager to fill head count positions that are open. Many times executives are looking at the upcoming year's budget, and are interviewing in anticipation of hiring at the beginning of the new year. These are opportunities for you to get noticed now--and not after the holidays. Lastly, with the holidays upon everyone, many hiring managers hope to stay near home. This gives you an advantage to catch them at their desks and often with time to schedule an impromptu interview.

Keep at it--no time like now!

Take Advantage of the Holidays for Your Job Hunt

Okay, as a former sales manager, I have to admit that one of my favorite movies is Glengarry Glen Ross. You may think I'm callous liking it, but it does show a lot of the personalities that work in the sales world, and some of the ones that are successful. Being a bit jaded, Alec Baldwin's sales speech wasn't that shocking to me. Maybe I was a tough manager.

The best salesperson in that group was Al Pacino's character, Ricky Roma, who when the power went down at the office went with his roll of quarters to the nearest phone booth and kept calling away. The other salesmen were griping about how they couldn't make calls, and therefore couldn't work. It's not surprising that Al Pacino's salesman outperformed them all, everytime. I've seen both types of salespeople and recruiters, and have never been surprised when the innovative person is more successful.

Having worked in an office with other salespeople, I often heard excuses why they couldn't sell at various times. Everyone always said that the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's was the worst times to be trying to sell services. They are also the easiest time to get distracted by holiday shopping, family gatherings and the related hub-bub.

But if you are smart, and really want to pursue a new job opportunity or new client, the holidays can be a great time to connect with people. You may be able to carve out a little extra time to search job postings. You may also be able to contact people in your network to wish them well during the holidays--and ask about any opportunities they have heard of. And, you may be one of the few people that responds to a posting--since they other job hunters are too busy with the holidays!

So, don't look for excuses why this is a bad time to be looking for a job. Look at it as a good time to make some solid inroads in your job search--while spreading holiday cheer!

Career Advice: How you act in an interview

A few months ago I interviewed a gentleman for a sales position I was working on. I interview all of my candidates in person before I send them along to my clients. There is a very good reason for this. To make sure I'm representing them in their true light, and to make sure there aren't any personality problems I need to be aware of.

Case in point. This gentleman who has been selling in the wine industry for the last 15 years is very qualified for many sales positions. And I'm sure he would interview very well with many male hiring managers. He might not do so well with female interviewers. Why? The entire time I was interviewing him he was staring at my chest. I asked my husband if my outfit was too revealing, and he said "Possibly, in a black burka sort of way." Having worn a conservative, long sleeved black sweater that day, I didn't think I was calling attention to my anatomy.

While interviewing he brought up that he has a very active social life and that he has been divorced for the last three years. While these things come up in interviews, I felt the conversation was moving into personal waters.

While trying to direct his attention back to my face, let alone my eyes, I started to realize that if he's trying to find his next job, he might need to work on his interpersonal skills a little. Feeling like I needed a shower after the leering looks, I am now questioning what type of sales position would be best for him. Probably one dealing with male winemakers and male general managers.

So when you are interviewing, keep your demeanor professional and think about how you come off to the interviewer. We're paying attention, and may limit the opportunities we present based on how our interview went.

Juggling work and job hunting

This has been a crazy time for me and WineTalent. After a spate of marketing, my plate is yet again full with new orders--which leads to resume reviewing, candidate screening, interviewing, client visits and negotiations--and ultimately to new hires.

With my juggle I get behind in some areas, and am sure when work is busy for my candidates and they are also working at finding a new job, some things get pushed to the side.

My only advice is to prioritize and then to get to work. Your current position has to be your top priority. Being a solid contributor to your company will pay off when it's time to move on. References are very important, so keep focused on your work.

Next, when job hunting, use resources to your advantage. Set up searches and agents on any job boards you use so that new, appropriate positions are sent to you for your response. If you are overwhelmed with information, retool your search parameters to make only highly desirable positions end up in your inbox.

Now, make sure you have a general version of your resume ready for a position. Having a chronological resume updated at all times is very important. When that great opening pops up, you can zip off your resume and not be bogged down with other matters that could distract you from ever responding to the position. You can also always add some custom elements to the generic version that apply directly to the opening you are interested in.

So, your resume's out and you get that call. Return the call as soon as you can, and if your schedule is crowded, let the caller know that you may have to get back to them. Many of us are over-scheduled now, and a last minute meeting isn't always going to work out. But be creative. Ask if you can call them back during a certain time, or give them times that would work when you could talk at length, and see if there is a schedule match. Thinking past "No, I can't" to "How about if we talk at 3:30 on Friday?" will make the interested party know that you are eager to connect, and are keeping both parties schedules' in mind.

Interviewing can be tricky. Interviewers often understand if an early morning, lunchtime, or evening time is the only thing that will work for you. But, some companies can't make allowances for your interview time constraints. So, if the job is important enough to you, you're going to have to figure a way to get there--and not jeopardize your current position.

You're interviewing, it's going well, and they want to contact your references. A great idea is to contact your references beforehand so that they are expecting the call. When I'm calling references, I always get a quick response when the reference knows why I'm calling. They are is hoping to help out a great candidate. I always recommend giving more than the number of references requested so that they are assured of reaching a few people, and aren't stuck waiting for return calls.

Good News: They are interested in hiring you and need to negotiate your offer. Don't do this at work. Make time to call them back when you are out of the office. Another idea is to have a contact at home that can be a conduit to you. I often can negotiate offers faster if a candidate's spouse or partner is open to me leaving messages with them and having the candidate contact me when they can. That way they can already be thinking about it by the time they reach me and have some ideas in place. But don't worry if you don't have a reliable contact outside of the office. Voicemail is a tool that you can use to take messages and return as soon as possible. Most companies won't leave offer terms on a message, but you can know that they have a response for you.

Yea, they want you. If you need to, have them send you an offer letter and/or contract. That way you can read through it when you have time, and respond appropriately. You also can do it away from work, where you aren't thinking about work matters.

Lastly--don't abandon ship. Always let both your old employer and your new one know that you need "at least two week's notice" before you can start your new position. It is the professional thing to do, and will keep you smelling like a rose with everyone.

Congratulations. You successfully juggled your work with your job hunt--and found a great new job.

Gotta run, calls to make, references to check, clients to call.