March 2014 |
Transition-e-news Volume 3 Issue 92 |
|
|
Sponsored By: |
Transition Insight
"In order to succeed, your desire |
 |
|
|
||||
|
|||||
Click here for a complete list and description of organizations of TAOnline.com growing Partners! |
 |
|
This spring, in partnership with Student Veterans of America, Heroes Work Here will |
How to Stand Out in an Interview
by Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, MFRW, MMRW, MFCA-T Employers are looking for standout candidates in the interview process—candidates who bring new ideas to the table and address problems with both creativity and confidence. Candidates who answer interview questions with clichés essentially fail for originality, and are classified as "status quo," lowering their chance of landing that sought-after job. If an interviewer asks you about your biggest weakness, don't cop out and say that you don't have any weaknesses, or that you always turn any perceived weaknesses into strengths. Avoid the "status quo" by preparing carefully thought-out answers to common interview questions so you can become a standout job candidate! Below are two examples of interview questions and what you can do to offer a better-than-status-quo, standout response. 1. Why do you think you fit within our company culture? This question is asked to see how well job interviewees have researched the interworking of a company. A good company culture is the second-highest priority for most job seekers—second only to salary. A candidate may be surprised when asked this question, but a strong, valid answer shows that he or she has done his or her research, and that the candidate is interested in your company for more than just a paycheck—the lifestyle and culture of your workplace, for example. 2. What did you learn from your most impactful professional failure? Most interviewers ask candidates to expound upon their most impactful professional accomplishment. However, most job candidates are not prepared to respond to the crucial question regarding their failures. They may "tiptoe" around the question, or give an example of a minor slip-up. This question could be an excellent opportunity to provide a "standout" answer. An honest but confident candidate will not be afraid to tell the interviewer exactly what went wrong in the situation, and the valuable lesson he or she took from it. Candidates should be specific and tell a short story about the failure, and then explain how they turned this lesson around. Everyone makes mistakes, but those who learn from those mistakes experience professional and personal growth at an exponentially faster rate. A candidate who demonstrates knowledge of the company and industry will stand out. Candidates who honestly describe their failures and lessons learned will stand out. Hiring managers interview multiple candidates for a position, but the individual who demonstrates a level of expertise and passion and stand out are likely to be productive immediately, without suffering from a learning curve—a rare quality! What do you think? What are some ways to stand out from the crowd to land a great job? Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job. |
Veteran Cover Letters: Angling for the Right Approach
by Dr Ryan Wallace Job hunting for some veterans must feel like going on a fishing trip to a lake with no fish. I once received this sage angling advice from a friend, "The fish are out there if you’re not catching anything, you’re probably doing it wrong." Unfortunately, one often is not receptive to making the changes necessary to succeed until they first concede failure. Enter greenhorn Ryan Wallace. After returning from an overseas deployment, I went on leave with my wife on a whirlwind family tour which ended at the home of my grandfather-in-law, Dick. An avid fisherman, Dick, suggested we take to the lake to bring home supper. Not wanting to pass up a challenge, I readily agreed. While he collected the rods and tackle boxes, Dick directed me to the pantry. "Grab a bag of marshmallows and your favorite can of corn." I unquestioningly complied, sacked the goods in a plastic bag and followed Dick out to his beat up truck. After a short drive down the dusty road, we arrived at his secret fishing hole on the shores of a small lake. He wasted no time affixing the hooks and weights to each of our rods. After settling into a comfortable lawn chair, I watched as he ripped open the bag of marshmallows, punctured one, and ran it several inches up the line. "This is your bobber if it goes down, then you got one." I nodded and strung a marshmallow on my own line. After retuning my gaze to Dick’s demonstration, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his own can of corn and proceeded to open it. He picked several pieces from the can, threaded them on the hook of his line and cast into the lake. He then tossed me the can opener and said, "That’s all there is to it!" I starred at the can opener in my hand, slightly dumbfounded. Noticing my hesitation, he queried, "What’s wrong?" Knowing I wasn’t going to live this one down, I sighed, "Remember when you told me to pick my favorite can of corn..." I slowly lifted my can to his gaze, until I could see his realization turn from curiosity to amusement and eventually erupting in all-out laughter. "Well son, it might be your favorite, but you’re not going to catch many fish withcream corn." If you are not using the correct bait, you won’t catch fish. In the job hunting arena, a poorly constructed cover letter won’t get you any "nibbles" from the hiring manager. Here are some specific suggestions to improve the effectiveness of your cover letters: Submit one. Not adding a cover letter to your resume or job application package is like fishing with no bait. While most application materials are fairly dry, the cover letter brings life to your application. It allows you to highlight your creativity, passion, and show yourself as a real person to the hiring manager. Failing to submit a cover letter can be interpreted as an act of laziness. Similarly, don’t use a boiler-plate or generic cover letter. It is easy to tell if the letter is targeted to the specific company or merely the latest Xerox from a template. Keep it short and focused. In fishing, if you let out too much line, it might get tangled and you’ll be forced to cut it loose. The longer the cover letter, the less likely it is to be read by the hiring manager. Keep your cover letter short and focused. Get to the point and don’t make the manager dig for meaning. Address it correctly. Failing to specifically address a cover letter to the hiring manager is like making a crummy cast it’s not going to put you anywhere near the fish. Don’t use generic salutations such as "To whom it may concern" or "Dear Sir or Ma’am". Take the time to research the name and business address of the hiring manager. This information may be available on the company website. Alternatively, don’t be afraid to contact the HR department. Remember, just like your resume, a cover letter is a marketing document. When you receive marketing mailers at your home, do you respond positively to letters addressed to "Current Resident"? If it’s not important enough for a company that wants my business to address me by name, then I put such documents in my inbox (trashcan) for "further review". Grab Attention. If you don’t put a hook on your line you won’t be catching any fish. The opening paragraph of your cover letter is the most critical it must immediately grab the attention of the hiring manager. Start with a strong opening sentence. This is the place to name drop or highlight your personal connection to the company. Forbes recommends including a story in your cover letter. What brought you to apply at the company? Do you have a special connection with the company’s product? Veterans generally have no shortage of good stories just be sure to keep them relevant to the job! If I were applying for a position with the Apple Company, I might tell an attention-grabbing story like this: "When I deployed with the military, my iPod deployed with me. My iPod served as my sole form of entertainment. It kept my music playing while working out in the hot desert sun. I filled it with a library of movies that kept me entertained, as if I were at home. Most importantly, it never let me down. That iPod allowed me to breeze through many long months, making an arduous deployment just a little brighter!" Show your value. In the second paragraph, you need to reel ‘em in. Keep the manager’s attention by showing your value to the company. Clearly establish how your experience connects with the position. Louis Lavelle from Bloomberg Businessweek explains that managers are looking for "WIFM" What’s In It For Me. Specifically focus on how you can solve the company’s problems. They key here is to highlight your qualifications and skills, without rehashing content in your resume. Prove you understand the company. If you don’t know anything about fish, how do you expect to catch one? In the third paragraph, you need to demonstrate your understanding of the company, its goals, strengths, challenges, opportunities, or threats. This proves you have carefully researched the company and are not merely applying in the blind. Directly address suspected hiring issues. Occasionally, when reeling in a fish you will snag your line on some seaweed pull through without losing the fish! Directly address issues that you feel may impact your hiring desirability. If you are overqualified, be prepared to show your passion for the position and emphasize your commitment to stick around and not jump ship at the first sign of better opportunities. If you are lacking in certain skills listed in the job posting, address how you are actively shoring up those deficiencies through education, training, or other activity. Share your passion. Live bait catches fish! A "dead" cover letter won’t get you anywhere. Dig deep to reveal your inner fire and passion for the position. For more seasoned veterans, avoid using the "R" word (retired) at all costs. For veterans, "retiring" from the military is usually synonymous with starting a new career, however, the term does not have the same connotation for civilian employers! You want your cover letter to exude energy and ambition. Show that you still "got game" to keep up with the young bucks! I am reminded of a quote from the movie Men of Honor, where the protagonist is asked how after recovering from an amputation, he would keep up with men half his age. His response illustrates the same exuberance needed in your cover letter. "The question is, sir, can they keep up with me?!" Explain what you will do next. "The game’s not over until the fish is in the cooler." Now that you’ve successfully captured the attention and interest of the hiring manager, you need to close your letter with an action. Start by summarizing what you bring to the table. Finally, close by suggesting a meeting or indicate whenyou will follow up. Be sure to follow through with your contact commitment! Good fishing! "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." |
Have You Done Your Homework?
© Tom Wolfe, author; all rights reserved; excerpts from Out of Uniform:
Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition; used with the permission of the author and publisher,
www.potomacbooksinc.com.
Those of you who have read my book know that one of the central themes is the impact that knowledge has on the success or failure of an interview: knowledge of self, knowledge of the position, and knowledge of the company. Today’s column focuses on the third of the three. You must research a company before an interview. There are two important reasons for this. The first reason should be obvious. An interview is a two-way street. Yes, the interviewer tries to figure out if you are the kind of person the company wants on the team, but you must also determine whether or not you would want to work for that company if an offer is made. Researching a company is all about answering questions and gaining information. You learn many things about the organization-people, mission, products, history, leadership, and culture, to name a few. The second reason is often overlooked. Thorough company research will also improve the odds of a successful interview. To get an offer requires four things:
The last one on that list trumps the first three combined. No matter how qualified you are, no matter how likeable you appear, no matter how well you stack up against the competition, if you fail to express a high level of interest, you are doomed to failure. The interviewer must know that you care and that you worked hard to prepare. Simply accepting the invitation to interview and showing up is not good enough. Of course you can, and should, express interest in a direct way by simply coming out and saying the words I am interested but you also need to back up those words with enthusiasm, body language, personality, empathy, and attitude. You will also show interest indirectly by asking good questions-questions about the job, the opportunity, the company, the people, and the interviewer. Thorough company research-your homework-will also give you the background to ask more and better questions. Properly researching a company takes time and may be tedious, but it is not difficult. What may be difficult is learning how to research a company. You would be wise to master the art of company research well in advance of your first interview. Once you are aware of the resources and how to use them, the process is fairly simple. What will take you many hours to do the first time, you will be able to accomplish in less than an hour when you have to do it for real. Here is an exercise to help you develop this skill. Select an actual company as the subject of this exercise and do the research as if an interview was coming up soon. Why? It would be a shame to waste all of this hard work and valuable information. By selecting a company with which you know you will be interviewing or one where you hope to do so, you may be able to actually use the results of this practice. Let’s get started. It is not that hard to research an American company that is publicly traded on a stock exchange. Privately held companies, companies headquartered overseas, and start-ups are more difficult. Although the Internet has simplified the process, it has also created an issue. Yes, doing the research is easier, but with that ease comes an expectation of thoroughness and accuracy. Speaking of accuracy, resist the temptation to believe everything you read on the Internet, especially when it comes to blogs and open sources like Wikipedia. When Internet research was not an option, an interviewer might forgive an inadequate effort, especially if the company was in the difficult to research category. That forgiveness is now much less likely to occur. There are three angles of attack to keep in mind as you do your research:
To answer the first, visit the company’s website. Here you will find information about products, sales, profitability, corporate officers, subsidiaries, locations, and press releases. You should also read the company’s annual report, especially the cover letter from the president or CEO. The answer to the second is easy to find if the company is publicly traded. There are dozens of investment-oriented websites at your disposal. Perhaps you use an investment advisor who would share with you his or her research or steer you in the right direction. The answer to the last exists in print and digital media. The popular search engines are a good place to start. For more targeted information you might use private sources. One excellent resource is the on-line research tool available through the Wall Street Journal. Although this is a paid subscription, the fee is modest when you consider the wealth of accessible information. You would be hard pressed to find any company, foreign or domestic, public or private, start-up or Fortune 500, which the Wall Street Journal has not researched or profiled to some degree. Publications such as Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes are helpful, as are web-based magazines like Slate. Business-oriented social media sites such as LinkedIn can be a wealth of information. To summarize, researching a company in advance of your interview will pay double dividends. Not only will you get a sense of whether or not it is the right kind of company for you, but you will also enter the interview armed with valuable information necessary to demonstrate your level of interest in that company-a critical element of interview success.
© 2014; Tom Wolfe, is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. Prior to civilian life, he graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy and served as a surface warfare officer. He teaches transition courses, gives seminars on career and job change, writes about the career transition process, and continues to counsel current and former military personnel. His book, Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition, was published by Potomac Books in 2011. Tom lives on the North Carolina coast with his wife, Julie, and their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Maggie. |
|
TAO Privacy Statement | View Previous Issues | Military Job Fairs ©TAOnline.com 1996-2014, All rights reserved. |
