Monthly Archives: November 2019

Let’s get resume building back to the beginning for a bit. Let’s start with the basics and go through what sections every resume should include. Even though many, if not most, resumes don’t include all these sections. To their peril. Each section has unique attributes and all of them together strive to build a story […]

Once your resume is out there, the next step in the hiring process is usually a phone interview with a recruiter. Someone who is an intermediary between you and a hiring manager interview. These interviews, done on the phone, require different approaches to answering the interview questions than a face to face interview. Here are […]

Forced choice interview questions put you into what my old debate days called a “dilemma”– no matter which way you answered, you lose. Pick one of two opposing choices and pick your poison. Let’s get some help on these forced choice interview questions. What is a forced choice interview question? Interview questions can be described […]

Every person hired works on a team so teamwork interview questions are logical and expected. Candidates often answer teamwork interview questions with “willing to work long hours” or “willing to help a person on my team” answers — and fail. Instead of answering with what you are willing to do for the team, answer with […]

Asking about a manager’s management style is necessary to determine if you are okay with the job or, if you are a manager, your management style fits in with the company. But if you ask “Describe your management style” in an interview, you will fail to discern the real management approach. Seriously, how many managers […]

As a manager, it is a great relief to go through the hiring process and, after great deliberation, hire what you think is a great new person to help out your team. Once in a while, though, that great new hire walks in the door on day one and doesn’t look or sound like the […]

Phone interviews are the classic next step after successfully submitting your resume for a job. People blow the phone interview all the time — sometimes before they even have the telephone interview scheduled. Making any of these five mistakes for your phone interviews can doom the chances of moving on to the face-to-face job interview […]

In an uncertain economy, it may seem difficult to distinguish yourself in a job market that is flooded with many job seekers. Whatever the conditions, there are things that you can do to showcase yourself as the most attractive candidate to a potential employer. Anyone can improve upon their chances of success in landing a […]

It’s one thing to deal with one manager. It’s worse dealing with another. And another. And all those stakeholders who think they can have a piece of your time to do work for them. Not only can it drive you crazy, but you can end up getting a poor performance review from too many bosses […]

People — and managers — have perceptions about our work. These perceptions influence how people work with you and also how they help you in your work and career. When trying to present yourself to others at work, I would suggest striving for excellence, not perfection. Here’s why. Perfection has pitfalls Perfection means you never […]

“What’s your greatest weakness?” is a common interview question that doesn’t need to trip you up. While some recruiters have stopped using it after receiving too many canned answers, many others still include it in their repertoire. So what’s a candidate to do?Plan for it.Prepare a thoughtful answer since, chances are, someone somewhere will pose […]

There are lots of articles about how to talk to people in higher levels of management. Most of them start with the wrong premise. For example, many writers consider an opportunity to speak to upper management more on the level of meeting royalty. One article put it this way: “If you are granted an audience.” […]