Answering Interview Questions: A Consistent Marketing Message

IP is over the quota
IP is over the quota

Next to meeting your significant other's family, the most challenging, stressful opportunity we face to impress others, is when we interview for a new career position. Nervousness is a by product of how well prepared we are. When we're ready for it, the interview lets us bring our marketing material to life. What follows are series of tips for the interview that will help you to stand out in a positive manner.

Does your resume have an objective or a summary? There are several positives to the summary approach, which help you focus on your message and deliver it consistently. The summary helps you to answer the following interview question:

Tell me about yourself?Why should we hire you?What do you bring to the table?What can you do for us that the other candidates can't?What are your strengths?

A well written summary will help you to talk about your skills and how you use them to successfully complete projects. It enable to deliver your message with confidence, has value and meaning to a potential employer. How well you prepare FOR the interview is directly proportionally to how well you'll do IN the interview.

Another group of questions deal with your work relationship and examples of these are:

Describe your last bossWhat did you like/dislike about your last boss?How did you get along with your co-worker, customer, and supervisor?

What are they really asking when you get these questions? They are asking about your judgment and personality. The interviewer is looking to see if you can follow directions, your work ethic, your ability to get along with others, and your conflict resolution skills. As much fun as it may be, it is NOT the opportunity to trash others. When you do, the message heard is "I make no mistakes", "I'm never wrong", "I'm a Diva", and "I'm smarter than anyone else" in an arrogant way.

Other keys to keep in the corner of your mind are:

Keep everything positive.Do not use yes/no answers. They close conversations and reveal very little about your skills and abilities.Tell your story; you are the one who has to make sure your story is told.Tell the truth and take responsibility for what occurred. A favorite saying is, "It is what it is, deal with it and move on".When answering, think like an owner. Telling a story about your prowess in the arts or sports (unless it is RELEVANT to the job) has no value to an employer's bottom line.Sell your professional benefits, features and skills. State their value and potential positive impact.Look at challenges as opportunities for growth.And most importantly of all; hear the question, understand the question and answer the question.

Are you looking for a new career opportunity and want to learn how to present your skills more effectively? If so, I recommend my book "Pieces Of The Puzzle - A Job Hunters Guide for the 21st Century." which is currently available at https://www.createspace.com/3710544

Finding Work During a Recession - Make Use of All Your Contacts

IP is over the quota
IP is over the quota

Are you experiencing difficulty finding work after you have lost your existing job? You need to do all you can to get another job because the longer you stay unemployed the harder it will be for you to get a new job. In addition, you will probably have to dip into your savings. Once way that you can increase your chances of getting new employment is by making use of all your contacts.

Most people are sadly unaware of the important role that a network of contacts can make in finding work. These contacts can include friends, family members, neighbours or even former employers. Many of these people might know of job openings that you could apply for but if you do not approach them for help they might not be able to anything for you. Lots of people feel ashamed about being without a job and this is of course very natural. However, when the entire country is facing an economic crisis then there should be no need to feel embarrassed about spreading the word that one needs a job. Ask your contacts to give you every possible lead, whether it is of a company directly or a recruitment agency.

If you are serious about finding work soon then you should start by contacting your former employers. Obviously, this only works if you have left that job on good terms. There is no harm in asking for your job back even if it means that you are overqualified for it or that you will have to make do with a lower pay than what your last job gave you. Even if your former employers cannot offer you suitable employment they might be able to tell you about job openings in other companies. In fact, they might even give you a very good recommendation that will stand you in good stead.

This is also a good time to make use of social networking sites. If you ask your Facebook friends for employment leads you will be surprised at the response you get. You could even indicate that you are willing to do temporary jobs until you get a permanent position. Even if you do not get a great career this way you will be able to earn money that helps put food on the table. If you are a member of a church or even a hobby group you should not feel embarrassed about using those contacts to ask for any work that you might be able to do.

You have to be relentless in your efforts towards finding work because these are tough times indeed. However, if you are able to keep your morale high you will be able to find a good job far easier than people who wilt under pressure. It is also good to keep in mind that bad times cannot last forever. In fact, staying in touch with your circle of friends and contacts will also help you feel valued and you will stay motivated this way.

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The Worst Cities to Relocate to During Your Job Search

IP is over the quota
IP is over the quota

There are some cities that, despite a better hiring economy, lack any sort of competitive job market. Still, job seekers relocate to these metropolitan areas to beat the odds and, from what my recruiting firm has seen, regret the relocation significantly.

While it is possible to find a sales, marketing, or business development job anywhere, even the most talented are going to find more headwinds in cities that are showing little to no improvement.

Philadelphia - To give you an idea as to why this Northeast Corridor city makes the list: Philadelphia job seekers hit our site in droves, but there are no employers in sight. Not even poor ones that don't offer marketable jobs. Nothing.

Philadelphia may have some good sports teams, but when you can't afford to buy a ticket due to no good jobs being around, you're going to be living off of Brotherly Love.

Phoenix - When thousands of people lose their homes due to a terrible market, they typically like to leave the past behind them, often leaving the city altogether.

While some would say that the amount of competition dropping may be an intelligent time to move, standing out as the best unemployed candidate in the city still cannot be monetized. Unless you want to get in the distressed housing business, you're simply going to be distressed.

Good weather, absolutely. Though, it doesn't matter when there is no money to fill the pool.

Tampa - While Miami is picking up with hiring, Tampa is remaining stagnant. I do think this area will pick up, but being a second to Miami, which seems to have some interesting positions opening up, I am not all that sure that people relocating to Florida shouldn't head to Miami rather than the west-central coast. The opportunity cost of waiting for a position can be very high, not to mention quite frustrating... even with the best golf courses on the East Coast.

Minneapolis / St. Paul - The Twin Cities were booming prior to the economy tanking. While Minneapolis and St. Paul are the best of the worst on this list, that's not saying much.

While sales jobs have faded along with a nonexistent marketing and media need, there are still some opportunities, but the high demand for each open job pushes the salary down, thus making relocating there quite unattractive.

Combine this with the freezing winter and unattractive becomes dreadful.

Honorable mentions go to: Detroit, Dallas and San Jose.

Ken Sundheim runs KAS Placement, an executive staffing firm that Ken started in 2005.

Ken Sundheim Blog

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Ken's articles have appeared in, among many others Forbes, NYTimes, USA Today and more.