It’s sometimes very tempting to “alter” the truth a bit during a job interview. For instance, say you quit instead of being fired. That might be OK, because how you had been let go is a blurred area. But by all means you cannot say you get M.S. degree in Computer Science from Stanford if you never had, that’s a very obvious lie. thus the risk of being discovered as a liar far outweighs the potential benefit of hiding the truth.

If you are thinking about telling a lie during the interview, ask yourself these questions (this technique has helped me make many major decisions): “What is the best thing that could happen? What is the worst thing that could happen? Is the best thing worth risking the worst thing?” In this instance, the best thing would be getting the job. The worst thing would be getting discovered as a liar, which could lead to getting fired, which could lead to unemployment, which could lead to more job searching, which could lead to another interview, which could lead to the stress of deciding whether to lie about just getting fired, and so on… a cycle that can go on indefinitely. Is all that worth getting the one job, perhaps on a temporary basis?

Always consider the consequences of your actions.

This website provides lists of popular IT job interview questions, and more importantly, the winning answers. Knowing the types of questions to expect can be very useful. But knowing how to answer those questions can mean the difference between getting the job and getting the “reject letter.”

Here’s the recommended strategy to help you win the job interview:

1. List your best selling points for the position. What qualifications, skills, experience, knowledge, background, personality traits do you possess that would apply to this job? Write them down and look for opportunities to work them into your answers.

2. List probable questions for this position. You should develop your own list of probable questions based specifically on the job for which you are applying. Put yourself in the hiring manager’s shoes… what kinds of questions would you ask to find the best person for this job?

3. Prepare your answers to likely questions. Review and edit them until you feel they are “just right.” Read them over and over until you are comfortable that you know them fairly well. Don’t try to memorize them; don’t worry about remembering every word. Practice saying them out loud. If possible, have a friend help you rehearse for the interview.

4. Prepare key phrases for the interview. If you’ve got a copy of the job announcement for the position you’ll be interviewing for, study that carefully. Note the phrases they use when describing the desired qualifications. You’ll want to target these as much as possible when developing your answers and during the interview conversation. For example, if the announcement says they want someone with “strong database administration skills,” make sure you include “strong database administration skills” in at least one of your answers. Prepare a sentence like “I have strong DBA skills and in have administratered large scale database server for both Oracle and DB2.”

5. Don’t use canned answers. It is very important that you customize your interview question answers as much as possible even though you can find many well crafted answers from this website. Interviewers can spot “canned” answers a mile away, and if they suspect you are regurgitating answers that are not your own, you can kiss that job goodbye. You must apply your own experiences, personality and style to answer the questions in your own way. This is crucial, and it will give you a big advantage over candidates who simply recite answers they’ve read in a book or website.

In general, if you prepare well, you have much better chance to win the job. However, you should be aware of the important facts out of your control: There is no way to predict every question you will be asked during a job interview. In other words, expect unexpected questions–they’ll come up no matter how much preparation you do.

Are you afraid of interview? Don’t! Job interview questions are not things to fear, they are opportunities to excel. They allow you to show why you are the best person for the job, so
instead of dreading them, look forward to them! The key is to give better answers than anyone else, and win the job offer.

In fact, a job interview is nothing but a market where you can sell yourself.  By practicing this tip in responding to interview questions, you should always expand on your answer and offer specific examples wherever possible.  When preparing interview, you need to craft the answers with a short story that gives specific examples of your experiences.  However, your story must be short because you don’t want to ramble or take up too much time, so that your story should be brief but still make your point.

For instance, an interviewer asked, “Have you ever dealt with database crush?” You may answer, “Yes, our database crushes a lot, I know how to deal with it”.   That might be a correct answer, but not a good one.  You really should take this opportunity to sell your database backup/recovery skills.  A better answer could be:

“Yes, as the DBA I deal with database issues on daily bases.  I’ve developed a robust Oracle backup and recovery plan and procedure for dealing with unexpected database problems.  In fact our database crushed last Monday due to network infrastructure upgrade, but I was able to recover all the data from redo logs within an hour.  I have the skills and experience to recover database crush with minimum business interruption.”

In today’s IT job market, often dozens of highly qualified candidates fight for each opening.  What should you do?  You must try whatever make you stand out and be remembered.  One way is to tell a short, impressive, and accountable story, that should greatly increase your odds of getting the job offer.

There is a trick to reading ‘situations vacant’ ads that make it much easier to write applications that get you an interview and the job.

You must secure an interview to get a job.

Consider that tip number 1. Job Secrets Revealed readers will understand this concept and many are already getting more interviews and hence job offers because they know how to get an interview – and know what to say in an interview.

When you see a situations vacant ad it may list things like:

Good communications skills
Must have college degree
Self-motivated
Excellent phone manner
X years’ experience

This tells you what the business wants, but doesn’t tell you what it wants those skills FOR. And that’s the key.

Always look at the skills listed in an ad and ask yourself: “What would they want those skills for?” Then look at your own skills and experiences, and address in your application how they can help the employer.

Take “Must have 5 years’ experience” for example.

What would they want that experience for? Maybe because the employer feels that you need that length of time to operate the machinery, equipment, computer, software or whatever properly?

So asking for someone with 5 years’ experience means that only skilled operators will apply. So the issue is being able to use the equipment properly – NOT the 5 years’ experience.

In your application you simply illustrate your competence on the relevant equipment. You may have only 2 years experience but you still could get the job.

Another example? What about “Must have degree.”

Your solution is simple. Ask yourself – why is there so much emphasis on the DEGREE itself?

Why would they want the degree? Specifically, what will it bring to their company? How would it benefit them? The answer to those questions give you the RIGHT approach to take for your application and allow you to overcome the “lack of a degree” problem you may face.

It’s not the degree they want. It’s the benefits and results that the degree promises. Work out what they are, pitch your application there, and you’ll have the approach you need to sidestep the degree.

I have used these strategies over and over again to help people get jobs even though they didn’t meet all the criteria in the ad. You can use it too.

by Acland Brierty

SHAMELESS PLUG: Job Secrets Revealed comes with a special ‘interview secrets’ report that will give you – more secrets of the experts including sections on “behavioral interviewing”, an expanded section on understanding the mind of the employer and the Top 10 list of the “Things Interviewers Fear,” as well as the complete list of the toughest interview questions you’ll ever get, including advice on how to side-step the ones you won’t want to answer. Plus, we give you powerful techniques to let you take control of the interview.

The more you can do to convince a potential employer that you understand the problems they’re facing in their industry, the more THEY’LL be convinced that you’re THERE TO HELP… not just there for the JOB, like everyone else.

Once you have a target list of companies it’s time to research them to find out what makes them tick. It’s important that you find a niche that you can fill within that company. Until and unless you understand an organization and the unique challenges it faces, you are just “looking for a job.” One of the things employers don’t need is someone who’s just looking for a job.

There’s a saying in sales that you can’t sell anyone anything until and unless you know their needs or desires. And let’s be honest here – when you’re looking for a new job, you’re in the business of selling. You’re selling yourself and your skills to a potential employer.

Consider this analogy used in sales seminars:

When a person goes to a hardware store to buy a drill, its not the drill they’re after but the HOLE the drill makes. The more you know about the hole and what it will be used for the easier you can sell them the drill and possibly the picture hooks and framing wire and the stud finder as well. You can only do this if you ask questions. By asking questions you are seen to be helping (part of the solution) and not just selling.

Customers don’t buy products – they buy benefits and results. They’re buying a self-serving outcome. If you think that an employer just wants a secretary, articled clerk, plumber, or a salesperson – you’re looking down the wrong end of the telescope again.

When an employer advertises for an “X”, you need to ask yourself what need or desire are they trying to fill? What outcome do they want from you or the position you are trying to fill?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can now start to sell yourself. Don’t assume that you know the answers. You need to ask. Once again this involves using my favourite tool – the telephone.

If you are applying to firms that have advertised for staff, ring them and find out more details about the firm. Talk to the person who will be doing the hiring or talk to the general manager or owner. The closer you can get to the person who makes the final decision to hire you the better.

Here’s how the conversation could go.

“Hello XYZ Corp… Amanda speaking”

“Hello Amanda, I wonder if you can help me I saw your ad for… OR … I’m interested in working for your organization……. and before I applied I thought it would be good to find out more about the company, its goals and reputation but more importantly the sort of challenges I would be facing as a ……….. Who do you think would be the best person to speak to about that?”

“Oh, that would be Jo Bailey. But she’s not available.”

Anticipate rejection.

“That’s fine, when would be the best time to call her?”

“Probably this afternoon around three.”

“Thanks for that Amanda. Do you think she would mind if I spent just five minutes asking her some questions?”

“No, that should be fine.”

“Could you please leave her a message to expect a brief call and if it’s inconvenient to call me on 555-5555 so we can re-schedule?”

“Sure.”

“One last thing, how do you spell her name… I want to be sure that I get it correct.”

“That’s Bailey…. B.A.I.L.E.Y.”

At 3pm you ring, ask for Amanda, thank her for her help and then ask her to put you through to Jo Bailey. From the message you left, Jo Bailey will possibly already be familiar with what the call is concerning.

It is important to not go over your five minutes unless they beg you to keep talking. Their time is valuable so you must respect it.

The 10 best questions to ask in five minutes are:

1. What are the greatest challenges you’re facing in your industry?

2. Is your industry/business growing?

3. What main factors do you attribute to your growth?

4. What do you attribute to the success of your company?

5. What makes you better than your nearest competitor?

6. What main benefits does a [position title] bring to your company?

7. What are your dress standards?

8. Besides the obvious skills, what other qualities are you looking for in staff?

9. How do you see these skills/experience [list some of your skills] being of use to you?

10. Is there anyone else besides you, involved in making the final hiring decision?

Question 10 is very useful when dealing with personnel departments of large firms. They will have the facts needed to do the job and concerning the company but the final decision to hire you may rest with the department manager, etc. You need to follow on from question 10 by getting the department manager’s name.

Ring the department manager. Ask for just five minutes of their time, explain how you were talking with the personnel department and you thought it would be a good idea to get the real picture from them – “straight from the source” so to speak. Run through the 10 questions again.

As soon as the five minutes is up, thank them for their time and tell them your next course of action (whether you’ll apply or not). A smart move would be to ask if you could send your application direct to them and if they like it they could send it to personnel. In this way you’re applying direct to the final decision-maker while everyone else is being weeded out in personnel – always a great strategy!

Good luck and remember to visit us at the expert forum if you need more help in this area.

by Acland Brierty

SHAMELESS PLUG: Job Secrets Revealed will teach you how to read between the lines of any ‘situations vacant’ ad to work out how to best pitch your application, regardless of whether you meet their up-front skills or experience requirements.

While many questions asked during job interviews appear to focus on your past accomplishments, here’s an important tip: they may be asking about what you did, but what they really want to know is what you can do now, for them.

Think of the disclaimer that accompanies every advertisement for a mutual fund or investment brokerage: “Past performance is not an indicator or guarantee of future returns.” Or imagine Janet Jackson asking, “What have you done for me lately?” That’s the interviewer’s perspective.

The key is to talk about your past accomplishments in a way that shows how they are relevant to the specific job for which you are interviewing. Doing advance research about the company will be extremely helpful.

For example, when the interviewer asked, “What’s your greatest accomplishment?” You might answer, “I won an Olympic Gold Medal.” Indeed that’s great accomplishment which you should be very proud of, but remember the interviewer’s perspective. Your interviewer would be impressed, but he’s thinking “What’s in it for me? What an Olympic Gold Medal can do with helping me to increase business productivity?”

A better answer could be, “I developed and implemented a web-based inventory control system to automate inventory management in our company. My system helped our company increasing productivity in our warehouse by 40%. I was named Employee of the Year because of this accomplishment.” This answer is much less spectacular, but it’s relevant to the position and indicates that you have what it takes to be successful in this particular job. It tells the interviewer, “I have what you’re looking for; I can help you with your specific needs.” Looks like you have a new job!

A: Well this friend got the interview… he rang me the day before and told me that the interviewers were really looking forward to meeting him… that they were impressed with the application and had never seen anything like it before. So obviously we had to work out how to handle the interview… that is the next part of the equation and Job Secrets Revealed covers that too.

M: So your techniques can be used in interviews too? Is that what you’re saying?

A: Absolutely… and I can give you a really simple analogy that ties all this together and graphically demonstrates where I’m coming from… would that be helpful?

M: Ahuh.

A: OK… this analogy is a bit worn out but it sets everything up perfectly… When a customer goes to a hardware store to buy a drill, what does he really want?

M: Yes. I’ve heard this one. what he really wants is the hole…. the end result, as it were.

A: RIGHT… but most people would say they want a QUALITY drill… or one with a lot of features or the best value for money… the fact is the customer wants a HOLE… all we have to do is find out about the HOLE and we can then give him the perfect drill for the job… and it might be the cheapest nastiest drill will do the job. Taking it further, the more you can find out what he is going to do with the drill the more a hardware salesman can sell him other products, for example picture hooks or framing wire or putty to cover the mistakes… and here’s the key, those extras become really beneficial to the buyer.

Take this analogy over to the job market and to a whole new way of looking at things. So basically my book shows people how they have been looking down the wrong end of the telescope when it comes to applying for work.

M: Wrong end of the telescope?

A: Sure… they have the RIGHT tools but they’re using them the wrong way. Instead of seeing the BIG PICTURE, they look down the wrong end of the telescope and see a hopelessly small picture. They see an employer looking for an employee and that is the smallest picture I could imagine.

M: Hmmm… I’m on the verge of understanding how this applies to me and my search for a new job.. but I’m not quite there yet…

A: What’s missing?

M: Well the drill metaphor kind of makes sense – talk about this a bit more as to how it applies to job applications.

A: OK… what is an employer REALLY looking for? An employee?

M: Ok, I’m not falling for that… NO… so they want a benefit or a result right? But the benefits or results must vary from business to business.

A: Right, and they do vary – but all businesses have one thing in common… they want to make money. And they attempt to do this by using one or all of these things… more customers, higher unit of sale, more repeat customers, lower overheads and costs or some other competitive advantage. Probably the last thing they want is an employee. The employee is simply the DRILL that does the job… and you know where most applicants drop the ball?

M: Tell me.

A: They think the employer wants an employee so their applications talk about the applicant. You know, they say things like “I did this”, “I have that”, “I am this.” Most applicants are hopeless when it comes to telling an employer what they will do for THEM.

An employer is only interested in what you can do for THEM… the more clearly you can articulate that and the more you can overcome their fears and apprehensions about you the faster you will get the job and become the answer to the employers prayers… so to speak

M: OK I’m starting to see the big picture now… going back to your drill metaphor for just a second – you’re saying that the more an applicant can talk about what the employer wants (the hole) instead of talking about themselves (the drill) – the more likely they’ll get the job!

by Acland Brierty

Acland’s book, Job Secrets Revealed includes many before and after examples of applications and cover letters showing how readers have taken their me-too applications and made them instantly more exciting. You’ll be able to copy from them and use their phrasing when you have the book!

So, spend enough time to prepare the interview, and learn as much as you can about the company and the industry in general. Your research on the company should mainly cover the following aspects:

What products the company make and/or what services it offers.

Who are its customers.

Is the company a major player in the industry.

Who are the company’s competitors.

How many employees the company has.

Is the company expanding or downsizing.

What new products, services, and technologies it is initializing.

How many branches and locations worldwide.

What is the company’s reputation and public value.

What is the company’s corporate culture.

Names and background of the company’s executive officers.

The management structure of the company.

All the research can be done online. In addition to checking the company’s website, you can use the following resources to evaluate a targeting company and get detailed information:

Hovers

http://www.hoovers.com/

Hovers has the most complete business information and reference directory.

Wet Feet

http://www.wetfeet.com/

company profiles and industry profiles.

PR News Wire

http://www.prnewswire.com/

Search for news about a company and industry.

Thomas Register

http://www.thomasregister.com/

Products and services, and their providers.

You can search the company by its name in
www.about.com
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com

“Has anyone ever heard of a group interview? I am getting conflicting information on this. I was told that it involves the interviewee and several interviewers at one time, and also I was told that it involves several interviewees and some interviewers and the interviewees stand up in the front of the interviewers and make their presentation. Does this description sound confusing?

I had almost forgotten that there are still companies out there that conduct group interviews. I went for one ten years ago and still have the scars to prove it. It’s one of the most stressful and unconstructive things you’ll ever be asked to do as a job applicant.

I like to think of group interviews as places where you and the other applicants are put in a room to fight it out. If you are asked to come in for a group interview, your decision on how to handle it will depend on how badly you want the job.

The moral high ground – make a statement and leave. Reverse the situation onto your prospective employer like this:

“If a client asked you to come to a group meeting with your competitors so you could jostle for the right to sell to them, what would you say? And more importantly what would you do? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to share the processes and systems that make you unique with your competitors! You’d want to do it one-to-one.

“As a matter of fact, you probably wouldn’t even bother with a customer that wanted to do business like this! And that’s how I feel. I appreciate the offer of the interview and I’m sure everyone in this room can do the work required – that’s why we’re all here.

“I don’t believe that this is the way YOU would choose to do business and I have skills and experiences that could be a real asset to your firm… but I would like to do this one-on-one rather than try to use these skills to out-maneuver the other people in the room. You have my number, call me.”

That’s the approach I recommend.

Now here’s something to think about. Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth< /a>, was an evangelist for getting would-be employees into a room over a few nights so they can learn about the company and interact with the other staff.

He promoted this to thousands of businesses across the country. Your group interview could be this sort of thing. His theory was that until and unless a prospective employee could appreciate what the company stood for and how it operated, how could they be sure the company was right for them (makes sense doesn’t it?)

So if this is the case you should go to the interview and try not to sell yourself against the other applicants but ask questions about the company (you may be the only person in the room doing this). Find out how the company got started. What was the owners VISION or DREAM (if they are Gerber fans, they will love this stuff).

Ask how they see your role helping them in the pursuit of this vision. Find out their biggest frustrations and maybe show them how you have faced those same frustrations in your previous jobs and solved them.

by Murray Gray
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SHAMELESS PLUG: Job Secrets Revealed will teach you how to read between the lines of any ‘situations vacant’ ad to work out how to best pitch your application, regardless of whether you meet their up-front skills or experience requirements.

How to Make the First Impression in Phone Screening?

First you should understand what the hiring manager wants to know and like to get from the phone screening. If they want to bring you to interview, they must make sure:

• You have confidence on your qualification.
• You have enthusiasm about the position.
• You are really available.

Here’s what you should do:

When on the phone, speak up! Convey energy. Stand up.

On the phone screening there will not be a lot of technical questions asked, but the hiring manager may want to check what job you are doing recently. It is a good opportunity for you to discuss how you can help companies improve their bottom lines. People are attracted to others who speak with excitement and conviction. Be yourself, but increase your volume.

Since the hiring manager cannot see you, the way you speak and the speech volume are critical, that’s where you make the first impressions. Make the way you talk deliver confidence and enthusiasm. A simple way to make it happen is to increase your volume. It may be as early as 8 a.m. in the morning and you are barely waked up, but still, you need to adjust yourself quickly and speak like a power-charged person. A few years ago, I called a prospective candidate at 9 a.m., and I still can’t believe this: He yawned twice during our 10-minute interview. Obviously, he made my decision very easy.