5 Tips to Prepare for a Job Interview

5 Tips to Prepare for a Job InterviewA good einstellungsgesprch can mean the difference between a new job and more months on the unemployment line. Theres one rule when it comes to the contemporary job hunt you can never be too prepared. Lets take a closer look at why interviews are so important and what you can do to ace your next interview. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) Know the JobJob postings are carefully crafted to convey a message to potential job applicants. Have you thoroughly reviewed and analyzed the job posting? Doing so can give you valuable insights into what a company is looking for to fill a particular vacancy with the right candidate.Rather than playing it by ear, be proactive. Take time to match up your own qualifications including skills, knowledge, experience and character traits against the job description. The more matches you make, the more closely your candidacy will align with a prospective employers expectat ions. Review this list before the interview to optimize your chances of impressing when job-specific questions arise.Know the CompanyThe internet has opened up a whole new world to job seekers. Theres no flying blind when it comes to selling yourself to a company you dont know. A breadth and depth of information from logical strategies to corporate culture is readily available via web pages and social media. Researching the company doesnt just help you be more prepared to answer any question that come your way it also indicates initiative and interest to employers.This is also an opportunity to use social networking sites to your advantage. Do any of your friends or contacts have a relationship with a prospective employer? If so, they become a potentially valuable source of information.And be sure to evaluate your own social networking accounts, and clean up, if necessary. The best interview in the world wont overcome an inappropriate facebook inc photo.Demonstrating knowledge of the market in addition to the prospective company also contributes to your ability to make a winning impression. Are there any interesting industry trends happening right now? How is the company positioned within the current market? Todays employers arent just looking for the yes men of days past. Rather, theyre looking for progressive-minded leaders who will forge the path to innovation.Practice Makes PerfectThe more confident you are in your ability to answer questions, the more positively youll represent yourself to prospective employers. Enlist the help of a family member or friend in advance to practice with you. While it may seem silly, it will lay the groundwork for a successful and in-control interview. Make sure to review these 6 hardest interview questions and be ready to tackle these questions with thoughtful answers that will help you land the job.In addition to practicing answering questions, make sure to have plenty of questions of your own. Ultimately, the interview i s as much an opportunity for you to get to know a prospective employer as it is for a prospective employer to get to know you.The Clothes Make the Man/WomanFor better or for worse, we live in a world where material things matter. Choose a professional interview outfit and have it ready at all times. Business attire is essential for interviews with professional organizations. More casual environments may require less formal clothing, but the commitment to a neat appearance and personal grooming remains.Etiquette MattersYoure elend just being judged on what you say during an interview. Youre also being judged on what you do. Maintain a polite and pleasant demeanor with everyone you meet from your fellow elevator resident to the receptionist.Body language plays an increasingly important role with employers sit upright, maintain eye contact, and pay attention.Demonstrating the ability to listen during an interview is just as important as answering questions. The best interviews include both give and take theyre a discourse as opposed to a stilted series of questions and answers. The more engaged you are in the conversation, the more engaged a hiring manager will be by you.Taking time to prepare for an interview can be time-consuming, but the potential payoffs are well worth the work. After all, one of the best investments you can make is a well-prepared interview that results in the job of your dreams.

Five Resume Workarounds for a Spotty Job History

Five Resume Workarounds for a Spotty Job History Five Resume Workarounds for a Spotty Job HistoryBy Liz Ryan, for Yahoo HotJobsIs your employment history the kind we used to call checkered? Well, youre not alone, or even in the minority. People bounce around between jobs, industries and locations like crazy ansicht days -- but the result can be that your resume makes you look confused, finicky or otherwise undesirable. Here are five ways to smooth out your career storyline and help employers understand the genius behind your meanderings1. Tell a Story in Your Resume SummaryMost of our resume summaries (or resume objectives) trot out the same say-nothing language Results-oriented professional seeking challenging assignment in yada, yada -- whatever. No one cares about that. You should instead use your resume summary to get across the power behind your storyI started out in accounting before discovering my love for customer problem-solving and making the move to sales. I grew a natural -foods vendor from launch to $20M and then started an online boat-sales Web site with a childhood friend. We sold that business brde year, and Ive been consulting with sales VPs and writing a sales-training book since then. I thrive in small- and medium-sized sales organizations where the products or services justify a 10X larger audience.Put your personality into the paragraph, along with your story.2. Use Your Resume Bullets as SeguesMost of us use dusty resume bullets like Supervised a staff of six and Prepared reports for our controller. For each job youve held, use your last bullet to tell why you left, so the reader can stop wondering. I was recruited to join a startup software firm is a lot more appealing to employers (they went after this guy) than an abrupt jump from one job to the next.3. Tell Your Story in Your FramesWhen you describe each job youve held in the body of your resume, dont begin with the company name -- for instance, Acme Explosives -- and then simply list t he dates and your title. Thats too vague. Lots of people wont know what Acme Explosives is. You want to share more of your story than that, and your employers business description and a quick summary of your role are part of that story.Just under the name of the employer, add something like thisAcme Explosives is a $100M supplier of dynamite sticks to the coyote market. As Channels Manager, I was brought in to create an ecommerce capability and to ersatzdarsteller our sales through local dynamite resellers.This sort of framing statement tells the reader what the job was about -- not just the day-to-day duties in it. Itll help employers follow your storyline, no matter how many chapters it has.4. Use Your Cover Letter to Explain Your JumpsA strong cover letter (I call it a pain letter, because it should address the employers pain) can make a huge, positive difference for you. If youve got a story to tell -- and you do -- your pain letter is a great vehicle for putting it across. Here s an exampleWhen I left the military, I first gained business skills working for a family friend in his auto dealership then, through military buddies, I found a terrific opportunity managing the purchasing department for a commercial fishing organization.Employers want to know how you roll, and your own description of your story helps them understand that youve got a direction -- and good reasons for every career decision you make.5. Dont ApologizeWhen you think through and understand the reasons for each of your career moves, you gain a huge amount of power. You dont have anything to apologize for. Rather than choosing a Sorry, my bad message like I took a job, but it lasted only six months, you can say something like XYZ Graphics wasnt a great long-term fit, but my six months there taught me a ton about commercial printing.Look at what youve gained in each of your jobs, rather than what went wrong. Its all valuable learning, right? Trumpeting your value begins with understanding what youve picked up at each career stop along the way. You bring a lot of power to your next employer -- but only if you see the power in your history yourself.Make your resume shine with help from Monsters resume writing experts