The purpose of this article is to cover the most frequent mistakes made by applicants. Although most of these points appear to be common sense, human resource professional often witness these pitfalls. For more information visit our resume and job interview training and services on one of the largest job sites in Canada, US and UK.
1. First, turn off your cell phone during an interview. A ringing cell phone won’t impress an interviewer. With today’s reliance on cell phones, in our experience about 1 in every 5 applicants forget to turn off their cell phones during an interview.
2. Reciting your resume and cover letter is also something that’s common, but should be avoided. The interview is your chance to expand on these documents and discuss your qualifications.
3. Mumbling is another common mistake that can often be corrected with ease. Some applicants mumble, are soft-spoken, or perhaps have a slight accent. Remember to speak up and speak clearly when you are in a job interview.
A useful exercise to refine interview skills is the use of role-play. Find someone who is willing to role-play some interview questions with you and ask them to provide feedback. For your convenience, we have a Mock Interview Exercise that simulates a real interview and contains grading tools to show ways to improve and reveal answering patterns. You can also enhance this exercise with the use of an audio/video recording tool.
4. Over answering is one of the most common and easily correctable mistakes. Over answering is also one of the biggest pet peeves among interviewer circles. Know when to stop. The interviewer’s body language can signal to the applicant when it is appropriate to stop answering. These signals include briefly looking away, leaning away from the applicant, and shifting their positions frequently during your answer. If you see one of these signs in your next interview, ask yourself: “have I answered the question?” and act accordingly. Try timing your answer to see the length of your response. On average most people take between 5 to 7 mins to answer which exceeds the attention span of most interviewers.
5. Avoid being negative. While your previous employer may have been a tyrant and difficult to work for, it is not to your advantage to speak negatively about past work experiences.
Here are some samples of illegal questions, meaning, the interviewer should not ask:- How old are you? When were you born? These questions should be avoided, because the state law prohibits so, as they discriminate persons above 40 years of age and� older. However, an age inquiry may be made to make sure that the person is of the necessary age to handle the job. Examples are for school bus drivers, or where there is an age equirement for such job.- Question of Marital and Family Status. � Sometimes, employers want to see immediately if the interviewee is a case of absenteeism or tardiness. This is generally targeted to women. If the employer is concerned about work attendance, the question can be reworded to �Are there incidents that would interfere with your regular attendance?”
August 10th, 2010 in
Warnings |
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There has been tremendous growth of banking sector in India with many job opportunities and large number of job seekers in bank industry. Private and Public banks along with Indian and Foreign banks are recruiting professionals in huge numbers to meet the growing demand. There are opportunities at all levels i.e. entry level, middle level and top level. Some of the major career opportunities and skills are listed below.
Relationship Managers
Candidate with experience of sales and ability to successfully drive multiple sales targets.
Skills -
- Involves meeting with corporate clients in given portfolio on a regular basis for opening new accounts and ensuring smooth relationships.
- Meet Cross sell challenges across product lines.
- Manage key issues and be a front end all consumer bank related queries for the corporate.
Credit Analyst
Chartered Accountant / MBA (Finance) with accountability for the treasury limit setting process for treasury clients, including the consistent application of the banks credit policy and periodic treasury limit reviews of existing treasury clients, with the goal of optimizing the treasury ability to service clients in Foreign Exchange and Structured Products.
Skills -
- Analyse financial information, such as balance sheets, management accounts and cash flow statements for setting up of treasury limits.
- Assess the credit worthiness of client companies.
- Should be in a position to independently analyze the financial markets, market trends, political and economic indicators and advice structured hedging solutions to corporates.
- Write credit proposals for treasury clients in the banks “credit policy” format.
- Apply for treasury limits through the Account Relationship Manager for clients who already have limit facilities with Corporate Banking Department.
Branch Manager
Development of the Banking functional network. Managing the recruitment / induction of professionals and develop potential managers. Provide leadership and management for other teams. Establish and maintain high standards of work quality, as measured by productivity, customer complaints and repeat business.
Skills -
- Should posses 5 – 10 years of experience in banking industry with past record of achievement in motivating others towards ambitious targets and higher levels of performance.
- Strong Leadership qualities and evidence of ability to motivate, coach and mentor others.
- A breadth and diversity of knowledge of the market place.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Key Accounts Manager
- Good knowledge and experience in capital markets product knowledge.
- Good personality & communication skills.
- Client acquisition, retention and growth.
- Maintain and manage good relations with HNI Clients and their portfolio composition.
Dealer
- Graduate with NCFM certified (Cash and Derivative Module).
- Communicating trading calls and investing ideas to customers.
- Monitoring day to day operations at Branch.
- Maintaining good relations with clients.
- Knowledge of Equities, Derivatives & Commodities Market, Business Development, client servicing and maintaining of existing & acquired accounts.
Other jobs include transit clerks, cashier, client servicing executives, bank tellers, loan officers and other banking related work professionals.
A banking interview process can be tight if you will come unprepared for it. There are different sets of banking interview questions that you will have to actually face and you really need to be prepared to become successful in obtaining the job.
You should also know where these questions would come from. Normally, the first set of interview will revolve around general questions about the applicant such as his family background, interests and education. The next set or sets of interview may revolve around his work experience, capacity, nature, ideology and ability to solve problems.
July 10th, 2010 in
Tips | tags:
guide,
interview |
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You may well be intimidated by the question and answer section of any job employment interviews that you attend. This need not be so. Just like political leaders like Barak Obama and Sarah Palin come off well in interviews you can as well. It comes down to preparation, anticipation and even practice.
It is no secret in the H.R. human resources trade as well with experienced managers and interviewees that in the end there are only so many questions that can be asked. The same questions get asked and answered again and again in job interviews – so why not prepare for the eventuality of these probing questions so that you come off looking assured , confident and ahead of the rest of the pack. You will become a real find, a real gem for most employers to hire.
It is true that the core of an interview comes down to a question and answer period. Generally this includes questions and answers from both the interviewer and you as well. Not that you want to be in “control” of the interview. Such tactics early on often indicate trouble already for the employer with their candidate even before being hired – and often lead to an early ending for the specific interview. Just answer the questions – easier if you are prepared and be prepared to ask a few or several thoughtful and relevant questions. Generally it’s expected if the interview is serious about the job in question they will have a few questions to ask.
Generally it can be said that the standard questions that you will be asked in a job employment interview fall into three general categories. General information questions, behavioral questions and lastly character or character values questions.
Firstly in terms of general information and general information questions to test the waters initially and start initial conversation you may well be asked standard questions to be expected for example – Why do you want the job ? , What type of work do you most enjoy or excel at? , What are your strongest skills? And the classic “You look like a person who knows what they want and where they want to go. Where do you see yourself in 2 or 5 years? These questions may well go along hand in hand with questions of your long term goals. Lastly in terms of general information the current trend is teams rather than “lone wolves”. You invariably may be asked “Are you a team player”.
Next in line you can expect a slew of “behavioral questions”. The basic premise of these questions is that you’re past behavior and actions are the best indicator and guess of your future behavior. Expect questions on how you reacted to past situations you found difficult and moist difficult. What did you learn from these situations? Have you improved as a result? In addition you may well be asked your actions and reactions to hypothetical situations and perhaps even “role playing”.
Lastly you may well be gauged by “character questions”. Some firms even employ tests and exams whose score is judged to be highly accurate in gauging the character and integrity of candidates. It is a well known , but seldom mentioned fact , that the biggest source of loss and theft in most commercial businesses and enterprises are not from outside agencies or customers in say a retail store , but rather the most major source of loss and pilferage in businesses is internal by employees themselves. Thus companies try to weed out and reduce the chances of this occurring from the onset by hiring employees who have great personal honor and integrity. You may well ask hypothetical questions on paper or directly on your views of customer and staff theft. A customer does not pay for a chocolate bar, you catch an employee paying back the firm for a “loan” etc etc.
You may even get hypothetical questions of whether to declare a small item at the border to the nice customs people when you have only been gone a day and it’s a small item.
Along with these character questions you expect of how well you work under “stress”.
All in all it can be said that there are only so many questions in life and in a job interview. Further these questions can only be asked so many different ways. If you want to do well and excel in job employment interviews in the end it all comes down to preparation, anticipation and practice.
In other words, are you interviewing with any companies other than ours?
This is a common question that interviewers ask when you are interviewing with them for a job with their firm.
In other words, do you have any other jobs on the go that could result in someone else hiring you?
Part of you might think that saying “yes” to this question will make it look like you are not 100% interested in the position with this company and that the potential employer will look at this negatively.
Another part of you might think that saying “no” to this question will make it look like you have no other options available and are having trouble finding a job, thus reducing the company’s interest in you.
At the end of the day, the best way to answer this question is as follows:
1. Be honest. If you have other jobs you are interviewing for, say so. If not, say so. Tell the truth.
2. Be brief. Don’t tell the employer which specific companies you are interviewing with. It’s not their business nor is it pertinent. Typically a hiring manager just wants to know if you are going to be getting an offer soon from another company and if so how quickly. If you are interviewing for other jobs and are early on in the interview process, simply tell them that yes, you have other jobs you are interviewing for and leave it at that.
Personally, I think the best situation to be in is to have several interviews on the go and several possible jobs to choose from and to let a potential employer know this if they ask. Again, no specifics such as the names of other companies you are interviewing with should be divulged.
It’s sort of like having several people all interested in you at one time. Who doesn’t like that?
At a minimum, it might help to get the companies you are interviewing with to move a bit faster than they normally would if they are really interested in hiring you if they think they might lose you to another company if they’re too slow.
At the end of the day, most companies don’t just interview one person for a job so it’s unreasonable to think that you are going to interview with just one company at a time hoping they’ll hire you, if you have other opportunities you could pursue.
If you expect honest feedback and input from potential employers, it’s only fair that you provide them with the same. Just like you want to know how you compare to other people they are interviewing for the same job, they will want to know if you are interviewing elsewhere so that they are aware that competition for your services exists.
Modern banks have highly trained staff for delivering top quality service to customers. Other financial institutions like insurance companies now offer most of the services provided by banks. Owing to this intense competition, banks need top quality staff that is talented, reliable, trustworthy, and communicative. Many banking jobs are in specialist areas such as IT and corporate banking.
Entry-level jobs will probably involve processing checks so that the employee can meet the strict deadlines for overnight delivery to the bank’s head office. These employees are also involved in answering customers’ questions and are the bank’s front line executives.
If the employee shows aptitude and initiative, he or she can become a supervisor, carrying responsibility for his or her own team. Once this employee passes their professional banking exams, he can be in charge of the whole branch. Graduates can expect to be placed on a fast track learning course, spending about two years moving through different jobs within the bank while learning how the bank works before being promoted to a management position. Managers need a wide knowledge of the financial services available and should know when to bring in specialist advisers from other areas of the bank.
All banking staff is expected to attend regular in-house training courses throughout their career to learn about new developments. Working hours of the staff are generally from 9am to 5pm, but working patterns can vary. Some branches will be opened on Saturdays and some are even open on Sundays.
Salaries depend on the roles and responsibilities of the employee and the location of the bank. Most banks operate on an annual appraisal system and salary increments are awarded according to the performance of the employee during the year. Profit sharing, subsidized mortgages, and non-contributory pension schemes form a part of their remuneration package.
There is a tremendous range of opportunities in commercial banking, starting at the branch level. Different job options are Credit Analyst, Loan Officer, Branch Manager, Trust Officer, Mortgage Banker, and other jobs in accounting, marketing and advertising, commercial card operations, securities transfer, wire operations, private banking, cash management services and operations and communications. In the case of investment banking, the job options are manifold in areas like corporate finance, merger and acquisition deals, project financing, derivative financing, international sales, and retail brokerage.
When you go to a job interview, the odds are against you. A typical job opening will attract dozens of well-qualified applicants; only one can be hired. So most people do not receive the desired phone call extending an offer.
What DO they receive? Usually, nothing. Some companies will send a letter or e-mail notifying candidates that a selection has been made and “thank you for interviewing with us.” Most companies won’t even do that, and the candidates will have to contact THEM to find out the status of the position.
Finding out you didn’t get the job can be frustrating, demoralizing and heartbreaking. Not knowing WHY you didn’t get the job can make you feel even worse-especially if you thought you did well at the interview.
So ask for job interview feedback. If you find out what went well and what went wrong, you can make adjustments that will help you do better-and increase your chances of getting a job offer-at your next interview.
But there’s a right way-and a wrong way-to do this.
How to Ask for Job Interview Feedback
If you receive a phone call notifying you that you were not selected, ask for feedback during that call. If you receive an e-mail or letter, ask for feedback within 24 hours (reply via e-mail or call).
But do NOT ask the interviewer why you were not selected. I know this is what you’ll want to ask, but don’t. Instead, word your request in such a way that the interviewer knows you are not questioning his or her decision, but would appreciate some constructive feedback.
Ask how you can improve, what your weak areas were, or if he/she has any specific interviewing advice for you. For example: “I have another interview coming up and I’d like to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes I made when I interviewed with you. Could you give me some advice on how I might improve my interview performance?”
People do NOT like to have their decisions questioned. People DO like to give advice. Usually.
Why Most Interviewers Will Not Give Helpful Feedback
As I said, most people do like to give advice. And unless you were arrogant, disrespectful or unprofessional during the interview, most interviewers will genuinely want to help you do better next time.
But that doesn’t mean they will actually give you helpful feedback. Many interviewers will not. Here are three reasons why…
1. The number-one reason? Fear of being hit with a lawsuit.
You’d think that as long as the interviewer doesn’t admit to making the hiring decision based on race, age, religion, sex, or any of the other protected categories, this wouldn’t be a concern. But it’s rarely that straightforward.
Suppose the interviewer told a female Asian candidate-truthfully-that she was not selected because she didn’t have enough public speaking experience. Now imagine it’s a complicated position, and after continuing to search unsuccessfully for more than nine months for the ideal person with the perfect combination of skills, the interviewer finally lowers his standards and, long after conversations with the original candidates are forgotten, ends up hiring a white male who has all of the qualifications except one: public speaking experience. The rejected Asian candidate may perceive that she was discriminated against, even though she was not, and file a lawsuit.
It doesn’t matter whether lawsuits are justified or not-they cost money to defend against and can damage a company’s reputation, so all companies are desperate to avoid them.
In today’s world where so many people are willing and eager to hire a lawyer and scream “I was treated unfairly!” you can understand why companies and interviewers choose to give feedback that is honest and generic (“We selected someone whose qualifications more closely matched what we were looking for.”)-but not specific enough to be helpful to you… or potentially harmful to them.
2. Another reason some don’t offer feedback is because they don’t want to get into unpleasant conversations with people who cannot accept the fact that they were not the best person for the job. Those people are more interested in debating the decision than in learning how to do better at a future interview. Here’s a typical exchange:
Interviewer: “You had many of the qualifications we were looking for, but we needed someone with stronger communication skills.”
Non-selected candidate: “But I’m a super communicator! Ask anyone! I even won a debate in high school! I don’t see how anyone else can be better at communicating than me! I think you’ve made a big mistake.”
Accept this: You will not succeed in changing the interviewer’s decision. That decision is based on your resume and what they learned about you during the interview. If you didn’t show the skills, personality, or other characteristics they want during the interview, that’s why you were not hired. It is natural to want to correct a wrong impression about you, but doing so, and trying to convince them that they made a mistake, is pointless.
I’m not saying hiring mistakes never happen. But expecting an interviewer to reconsider you after your interview is over and you’ve received feedback on why you weren’t selected is like expecting to be able to take a test over again after you’ve been graded and given the correct answers! It just doesn’t work that way.
3. Last but not least, some interviewers don’t want to give feedback because they honestly don’t know what to tell you. Have you ever met someone and immediately decided you didn’t like him or her, but weren’t sure why? It’s often the same in a job interview. It could be something about your personality, the way you shook hands, maybe even the perfume you wore that created an unflattering impression, almost subliminally, in the interviewer’s mind. Or maybe the interviewer does know what she didn’t like about you, but doesn’t want to hurt your feelings by mentioning it (bad breath, for example).
Benefit From What You Learn
There are many other reasons interviewers may not give you helpful feedback. But it never hurts to ask (in the right way).
If you DO receive helpful feedback, be thankful because it truly is quite rare.
Don’t take offense or become argumentative if you don’t agree with the interviewer’s assessment of you. After all, it’s just that person’s opinion. Besides, it makes more sense to respect the opinion of a person who works for that company, who knows the needs of the job, and who knows better than you whether or not you’re likely to be a good fit for the organization and the job.
The key is to listen carefully to the feedback the interviewer gives you. If something doesn’t make sense, ask for clarification or a specific example, but don’t get defensive.
Remember to thank the interviewer for his/her time and comments.
Once you have the feedback, be sure to work on whatever it was that held you back. If you were told you seemed disinterested, for example, you know that next time you’ll need to show more enthusiasm. Whatever the reasons given, whether true weaknesses or inaccurate perceptions based on your failure to successfully communicate your strengths, use that vital information to become better prepared for your next job interview, and get the job!
Obtaining a job in the medical industry can be highly competitive. One medical career area that has becoming increasingly more competitive is Pharmacy. Candidates must prepare for a job interview much like they would for a Pharmacy exam. Adequately preparing for a Pharmacist job interview will increase the chances of landing a career in your most preferred job location.
The following is a list of helpful tips to help one get ready for a Pharmacist job interview:
Research All Aspects of the Job: Find out more about the company by researching their website and talking to past employees. Make sure you know exactly what the position entails. This can include responsibilities, hours of operation, management, number of employees…etc. Make sure your resume is up-to-date and includes information that is relevant to the position of which you are applying. You can also drive to the location before the interview to make sure you know exactly where it is.
Create Possible Employer Questions and Practice Answers: You should come up with various questions an employer may ask. You can then practice answering them. You can work on content, speech pattern, and body language. Create some difficult questions to answer so that you are thoroughly prepared.
Create Your own Questions: The interviewer will ask if you have any questions. Make sure your questions are relevant to the position you are applying for. Don’t ask a question that is too simple. You have to show you are interested in the organization and the job.
Prepare a List of Your Strengths and Weaknesses: Create a list of your strengths and weaknesses and make sure you include a story or example that highlights your strengths. With your weaknesses, explain the weakness and how you overcame it. Also, show how your strengths are an asset for the job. You have to make sure that you can sell your strengths. Provide examples that show how your strengths have made a positive impact in your or another organization. Keep the stories short. Rehearse several times before the interview.
Highlight Accomplishments; Prepare a list of your accomplishments and how these accomplishments will be an asset to the organization. Explain the process of achieving the accomplishment that will include skills such as working well with others, being a team player, technical and medical skills, leadership skills…etc.
Prepare For Arrival: Prepare to arrive 10 minutes early for the interview. Check your appearance in the washroom. Don’t chew any gum and greet the employer by making eye contact and shaking his or her hand. Make sure that you smile and are friendly with the employees. You should be dressed professionally and in a conservative business outfit. Your outfit should be clean and pressed.
Employers looking to fill a pharmacy job know exactly what kind of employee will be a valuable addition to their organization. Preparing for a job as a Pharmacist entails coming up with information that will show that you will be an efficient, well-liked, and qualified contributor to the organization. The goal of the job interview is to leave a positive long-lasting impression. By going into the interview well-prepared, you will drastically increase your chances of getting hired.
You WILL NOT GET HIRED if you continue to make certain mistakes before, during or after your job interviews.
Most of the time, the problem is not the number of jobs available, or the industry you work in, the problem is YOU!
There are certain common interviewing mistakes that everyone knows to avoid. Some of the common mistakes we all know about include giving a great handshake and maintaining good eye contact, etc. However, those mistakes are NOT the primary reasons job seekers aren’t getting job offers or promotions.
In 18 years of job development and recruitment, I can’t think of one single person who did not get hired because he gave a poor handshake.
Here are some INTERVIEW MISTAKES to AVOID:
1. Before Your Interview: Make sure you do not arrive at your interview 1-2 hours before the scheduled time without getting permission from the hiring manager. When you arrive at an interview 1-2 hours early, you are getting off to a bad start!
Here’s Why: You are forcing the hiring manager to change his schedule to accommodate you. Think about this, no one wants to have someone sitting in their lobby for hours waiting to be interviewed.
Also, arriving this early could be misunderstood as having poor time management skills. The last thing you will want the hiring manager to think is that you do not have good time management skills. Pay careful attention to this if you are applying for a management position.
2. During Your Interview: For the most part, people tend to hire who they like. If you are able to get the interviewer to really like you, and enjoy talking with you, you will greatly increase your chances of getting hired.
Avoid talking too much, being arrogant or boring. Engage in a conversation with the interviewer, and if you feel comfortable enough, ask him questions about his work history or his feelings about his company. You can gain a lot of valuable information by doing this.
3. After Your Interview: Did you know that it is perfectly fine for you to check your own references? That’s right! Call your references and ask them what they are going to say about you.
People like to believe that everyone will have something great to say about them. Believe it or not, almost 20% of job offers are either retracted or not extended at all because of bad references!
Take heed! Even though employers are required to only verify employment, they say and do a lot more! So, check your references and make proper adjustments.
What’s the point of going on interviews if you are going to continue to mess up? There are many different mistakes made by job seekers in professional and non-professional categories. Here are a few:
The professionals or executive level job seekers struggle quite a bit with interview mistakes involving personality issues, arrogance, and a lack of effort on their part to set up interviews for themselves.
The non-professionals tend to make interview mistakes centered around their appearance, ability to sell themselves, poor follow up, and yes… not setting up interviews for themselves.
4. BONUS Interview Tip: One of the most effective strategies to getting a job fast is arranging your own job interviews. It is so important for job seekers to be aware that they have to take the initiative and learn how to set up interviews for themselves. At all times, always be open to getting help during your job hunting process and seek counsel from experienced professionals who care about your success.
Be wise when deciding which recruitment firm to use, and which career counselors to take advice from. It’s time to learn from others’ mistakes and get hired or promoted in record time!
Unlocking Greatness…
