Sunday, January 22, 2012

Weekly Job Tip - Often Overlooked Job Interview Tips

The job interview will often be your first to meet and make an impression on a possible new employer. Though many folks have undergone these previously, they often times overlook some key factors which can be easy to overlook. In today’s job market it's important to be conscious of every detail to compete for jobs.

One of the easiest steps to do prior to an interview is perform a little research on the employer. Though it seems obvious, lots of people forget about this step and show up to an interview with none knowledge about the employer besides what was posted in the original job opening. When you interview with a company your are demonstrating what kind of employee you’ll be if hired. Would you like to show that you’ll be disorganized and uninformed or that you’ll be prepared and knowledgeable? 

The good news is this sort of investigation is amazingly simple! Nearly any potential employer almost certainly has an online presence with lots of accessible data including company history, management, and current news articles. Just an hour or so of reading can give you sufficient information to offer you an edge in the interview process.

Though one of the main points of the interview is for the company to learn about you, being a really good listener is a key aspect for any job interview. You should understand and be able to answer the question precisely and succinctly. Many interviewers are not just in search of the specific answers, but also exactly how you respond to a question. Additional words (or rambling) or off-topic answers will often be an indicator that you don't either know the answer or how to clearly answer the question. 

Coming prepared to an interview can help you give clear and accurate responses. The internet has many websites that provide a number of interview questions for you to practice with. Even though you almost certainly won’t get the exact same question, preparing can help give you confidence to answer a bunch of distinctive questions and you’ll have many practice answers in your head to work from.

A final tip is to always send a follow-up thank you letter or e-mail. It’s bewildering how many people overlook to do this small last step int the interview process! Sending a thank you note offers you an additional chance to concisely reaffirm who you are and why you’re an excellent match for the open position. It also demonstrates that you appreciated the interviewers time and effort, and what type of employee you’ll be if employed.  again, take every advantage you can find.
So remember, the small things count in job interviewing today. 

Take just a few extra minutes to show up prepared, be a good listener, and send a follow-up thank you note and you’ll help yourself get the extra edge you may need to get that job. Good luck!

If you are looking for employment in Minnesota, please be sure to visit Unemployment MN.  It's a 100% free website with links and information to everything you need to while MN unemployed.


Unemployed in MN?

If you're unemployed in Minnesota there are many free resources out there to help you.  Visit Unemployment MN for starters.  It's a 100% free website with links to all the sites are services you need when you a unemployed in MN.  This includes Federal and State resources, help finding a job, social networking, and more.  Check out MN Unemployment today!

Technology in Your Job Search

Like lots of other things in your life, your job search has been impacted by the advance of technology. Capitalizing on these changes can really enhance and speed up your ability to find your next employer. Fight against it, and you could swiftly find that your competitors has quickly outpaced and outmaneuvered you. 

In today's job market, it is important for you take every advantage you can, which includes using the wide variety of technology-based opportunities available to you. The world wide web is a wealth of information, including a bunch of high quality job search websites. Names like Monster and Careerbuilding are well known, and several newer niche job search webpages are appearing on a regular basis. Putting 'job search' into Google returns well over 1.4 billion hits! The true challenge is not in finding the websites themselves, but in sorting through all of them to locate the few that work for you personally and make a difference in your search.

Check out a few of the larger/more popular sites first to get a feel for the variety and type of jobs (or job search services) they provide. Additionally talk with colleagues or friends and family and see what they've used and appreciated or disliked in the past. Many people you know likely have experience using the internet to find work. Learn from their experiences to improved your our job search. 

There's also national niche job search sites. These websites are concentrated on a exclusive group or profession (i.e. technical or sales jobs). Despite the fact that these websites will most likely have a fewer amount of available jobs, for the specific job-seeker they cater to they are generally a great source to find likely matching jobs quickly. 

Among the best ways of looking for jobs has been by networking with family, acquaintances, and former co-workers. In the past, this was accomplished by each person maintaining their personal human network of individuals. This has changed with the popularity of web based social networking websites where you can collaborate and engage with other people anywhere in the world. 

Millions participate in Facebook causing it to be one of the most popular social networking webpages on earth. For the job-seeker the fact that so many people participate in the website allow it to be a crucial resource in networking. While many people use the site to reconnect with old college classmates, the resourceful job seeker will also utilize it to get in touch with prior coworkers or employers. There are lots of pages built with the main purpose of networking with prior co-workers at a selected employer. Even long lost friends could possibly have advice about job opportunities you do not find out about by yourself. 

Along with many of the more well known sites (such as Facebook), there are also websites that focus exclusively on business networking. On these websites, networking with those who do business in the profession or even at the firm you'd like to work for can be a crucial edge on other people. These sites can offer you experience and insights that would be a challenge to track down on your own, particularly if you are making a career change. Just like other web sites, be cautious about where you go and who to communicate with and defend your privacy. 

There are also many smart phone and tablet apps offered that could assist today's job seeker. Utilizing iTunes (or Amazon etc.) you can purchase many apps, including from a number of the big job search sites like Careerbuilder, Monster Beyond, or Craigslist that match job the search characteristics from your mobile device. Alternative valuable apps comprise those linked to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Other apps can aid with resume writing and so forth, nevertheless the most beneficial overall appear to be those that keep you current with new openings etc. while you're away from your personal computer. With the recent surge in new tablets (i.e. iPad, Kindle Fire) and technology, the alternatives and offerings ought to only get better. 

Embrace technology in your job search and improve your outcome!

Are you unemployed in MN?  Use Unemployment MN to view all best resources for you MN Unemployment job search.