5 Ways to Sabotage Your Interview Part II: Tools That Can Help!
Knowledge is power. Part of professional development is knowing
what you need to work on and using your resources to make adjustments. The previous post 5
Ways to Sabotage Your Interview: Part I talked about common mistakes
that could cost you the interview. Here are some tips and techie job search tools to fix those 5 sabotaging
mistakes!
5.
Initiating Salary Talk:
You want to know what your skills
and abilities are REALISTICALLY worth
in the market; and you definitely want to make sure that you have done
everything in your power to find out what the actual salary of the job is. Develop a
good salary range…the highest you are worth, based on the market and salary ranges for your type of skill; and
the lowest you will accept, based on your
financial responsibilities, in case the job is something you really want or
need for professional development. The key to NOT wasting your time is making
sure you are actually applying to jobs that you are a good fit for compensation
and skill wise. Use tools like Glassdoor.com,
Indeed.com Salary Finder, Payscale.com, Salary.com to do your research.
4.
Not Presenting Your Accomplishments Clearly:
The goal here is to know your most
valuable skills and what things have you done using those skills that you are
most proud of or have really been a star at. Take inventory of those skills
that are related to the duties and responsibilities of the job you are
interviewing for. Then rehearse a brief
narrative of how you would explain what happened.. A good ole paper and pen/pencil, your noggin,
and the job description. Click here for an article to some good accomplishment writing
techniques.
3.
Not Doing Your Research:
Doing your research for an interview is not always easy. If you have been searching for a long time or
have put out many applications and you get a last minute call for an interview,
you may not have time to prepare.
However, if nothing else do enough research to know what the company is
all about and develop questions to ask the employer at the end. Search the company’s
corporate web site, use glassdoor.com, LinkedIn, Facebook Graph Search any and
everything that is available to you to show you are knowledgeable about the
company and are interested in more than just a paycheck. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviews/qt/interviewtipcompany.htm
2.
Bad Mouthing Past Employers:
Just DON’T Do It! Being aware that it happens and how it
happens is enough to help most people refrain from slipping into this interview
faux paux. However, another way to
prevent this from happening if you really did not like your previous employer
and fear your feelings may come out is to rehearse those tough questions.
Have a friend or an employment
counselor sit with you and go over your toughest interview questions in a few
mock interviews. This gives you the
chance to explore your reactions and come up with professional ways to
respond. Rehearse those professional
answers and keep them ready for use in the interview.
Here is a really cool interview app that lets you do your own
mock interviews and play back your answers for review.
1.
Not Dressing For Success:
Again you don’t have to be fashion
forward for an interview. Your appearance needs to be clean, neat, appropriate
for the setting, and professional. Don’t
know if you outfit is a go or a no go?
Check out this infographic I collected on my Pinterest Interview board. …
Follow me on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/KCCEmpowers/
for access to my hand selected pins to
help you in your job search and career management!
Thanks for reading!
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