Category: Job Search Tips and Tricks

6 Interview Questions To Make Any Employer Want to Hire You

We often focus on interview questions from the standpoint of the interviewer.

This blog post from Ragan’s PR Daily finds some interesting questions for candidates to ask that can help them get the job.

Interview

Via Ragan’s PR Daily:

Common advice among job seekers is that when you attend an interview, you need to interview the employer right back. After all, you’re the one who will potentially fill the position. You need to know if it’s going to be a good fit, right?

While salary ranges, benefits and schedule flexibility are important details you deserve answers to, hiring managers don’t appreciate questions like those until at least your second interview (or maybe even after they make you an offer).

During your first interview, the “impress me” dance is still in full swing. When a potential employer asks if you have any questions, she doesn’t want inquiries about parking validation; she wants to see if you’re prepared, educated and inquisitive.

Here are six questions to ask at the end of your interview that will help you master the twisted tango of getting hired:

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Three Useless, But Common, Interview Questions

Most common interview questions don’t get to the heart of the matter – knowing if the candidate is the right person for the job.

Interview QuestionsThe majority of standard interview questions actually discover little about a job seeker. Of course, all interview questions are the same question—why should we hire you?

As for the candidate, they obviously have one mission—to get the job.

However, the average hiring manager is extremely busy, and they often they execute a series of offenses:

  • Answering phone calls during interviews
  • Not taking notes, acting bored or distracted
  • Bad-mouthing their companies
  • And the worst of all—asking those “gotcha” questions without a good reason

The cost of asking terrible interview questions can be anything from hiring the wrong people to driving away fully qualified applicants. What can make things even worse; poorly trained hiring managers can leave employers open to legal liability by asking biased questions.

The concepts behind successful interviewing are simple—better interviews lead to better employees. Asking the right questions can get enough information to get the best people for the job.

Avoid these three useless interview questions, and incorporate some few well-worded replacements:

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Job Tips for Generation Y Can’t They Find a Job

 What to do about Generation Y… can’t they find a job?

Generation Y Can't They Get a Job?

In a recent survey of 500 hiring managers, a majority believe that college graduates are not prepared to enter the job market. In addition, 58 percent are not planning to hire recent graduates for entry-level positions.

With student loan debt reaching $1 trillion, this gap between Generation Y (born in the 80s and 90s) and employers can become a serious problem. Most new entrants in the job market have a bachelor’s degree, making them overqualified for many entry-level jobs.

Generation Y and social media

In addition, social media is essential parts of Generation Y. Nearly 60 percent of them are reluctant to work for companies that ban social media, as well as having a heightened sense of entitlement. These attitudes make job seekers finding the right “fit” in an organization challenging.

Making the situation more difficult for Generation Y is the fact that many Baby Boomers are delaying retirement, staying in the job market longer and taking more of the higher-paying positions.

This infographic from Adecco offers several successful job search tips for Generation Y candidates. Apart from dressing well and refraining from sharing too much on social media, job seekers should not focus exclusively on themselves.

Infographic after the jump…

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10 Meaningless Words That Will Kill Your Resume

A resume that looks and sounds like a million others will never become a winner.

Make your resume stand out by ditching ten meaningless and empty words and phrases.

Resume Today, you have only one guarantee one when applying for a job—your resume will never be alone.  Expect it to sit in a stack of dozens, hundreds or even thousands.

It is no secret that to get ahead, you have to stand out.

Your resume represents valuable real estate, like ad space for you and your unique brand. Each word must have maximum impact to reach your goal—getting the job.

With that said, there are certain words and phrases overused by job seekers. In fact, they use them so much they have become dull, trivial and utterly inadequate.

A strong resume should avoid these 10 meaningless words and phrases. This way the hiring manager’s eyes won’t glaze over when seeing the same garbage over and over and over…

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Are Paper Resumes Dead?

A few employers are signaling the paper resume is dead! They look at social media, and Klout scores. Some even go as far as asking for resumes through .

Klout instead of Resume?
Klout, Kred, Twitter and others may be the death of the paper resume.

Get ready for the moment you see a job post saying, “no paper resumes.” Companies will identify qualified candidates by social media influence on Klout and Twitter, using hashtags for job seekers to apply for jobs.

The paper resume is dying.

In the (very) near future, recruiters, human resources departments and hiring managers will use the Web for a candidate’s record of qualifications and social networks will be mass references.

Employers that are not social will lag behind. Continue reading →