Career

Questions to Ask at a Job Interview

When I went to my first interview, I only had one question: When do I start?

As I’ve continued my career, when the employer asks me if I have any questions, I take advantage and ask questions to determine if I’ll be a good fit with the organization.

I don’t ask questions about benefits. For one thing, I don’t want it to seem that is all that interests me. For another reason, it’s almost always best to talk with someone in the HR department about benefits.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have questions. They fall within a few key areas.

Professional Growth. What is the employee review process? How is progress measured? Do you support involvement in professional organizations?

Supervision. How many employees report to me? What are their backgrounds? How long have they worked for the company?

Culture. Is telecommuting an option? What is the average length of tenure? What equipment is available to me and what support? Will I be expected to be available after hours?

Travel. Will the job require travel? Will I have a company credit card? What are the travel policies?

First Day. If possible, find out in advance your email address and phone number so you can share it with your contacts before you leave your current job. I usually ask this once I’ve accepted the offer and necessary paperwork is signed.

Answers to these questions will provide a better understanding of the environment and whether you would be a good fit.

Informational Interviews Benefit All

The other week I met with a former colleague and her daughter over dinner. We were discussing her future. She was interested possibly in a marketing career, but definitely doing something to help others.

She was a confident young woman in her final year of college. She didn’t hesitate to ask probing, but respectful, questions about my career. And she asked for advice.

It was a great way to spend a few hours. I enjoy helping others start their careers because, even though it’s been many, many years, I still remember attempting to navigate those early years on my own.

If you ever have the opportunity to participate in an informational interview, I highly recommend it. Usually, the student will come to you through a friend. It might be their son or daughter, or the son or daughter of a friend of a friend. It doesn’t matter how they reach you; it does matter that they reached out.

I offered to review the young woman’s resume, and she promptly sent it that weekend. She also connected with me on LinkedIn. Both smart moves because it demonstrated follow-through. In reviewing her resume, I realized, I had not looked at mine in a few years, so I tweaked it a bit. It’s always good to keep the resume fresh. I also updated my LinkedIn account.

This young woman had reached out to me to network, and I realized I had not been networking as consistently as I should. I immediately scheduled a few coffees and lunches so that I could reconnect with professional peers.

In sharing my career highlights, I recalled what is important to me. When I returned home, I looked at all my activities, and reviewed them. The ones that were moving me in the direction I want to go with my career, I kept. The ones that were an extra, I decided to stop doing so I’d have more times for the critical ones, and also more time for relaxation.

Sometimes the best advice is the advice we give others.

Professional Development Books Keep Me on Track

One of the ways I know if I’m on track is by checking the number of books I read each year, both for pleasure and for my profession. I don’t have a set number that I have to read, but I do know that if I’ve gone months without reading then I need to realign my priorities.

River

Professional development books help with one’s career journey. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

I decided to review the books I had read for my professional development, in part, because the stack that still needs to be read remains quite high. I did finish several and thought I’d pull them together in a list in case you have anyone you’re still shopping for. I included links to the original posts.

Most of try to do too many things at once. All that multi-tasking makes it difficult to focus. A great book about getting yourself set for the day is 18 Minutes. Written by Peter Bregman, it is based upon his weekly Harvard Business Review columns. Step 1 takes 5 minutes and is about setting the plan for the day. Bregman says that before turning on your computer, we should sit with a blank piece of paper and decide what will make this day highly successful. In Step 2, we refocus for one minute every hour. At the end of the day, we review for five minutes. It sounds simple. I’m fairly consistent with Steps 1 and 2. Step 3, not so much.

I’m an introvert, althoughI’ve learned to function in many settings as an extrovert. I even enjoy it. However, at the end of the day, I need to allow for quiet time, which is why at conferences I prefer to room alone and why I build time into the day for a peaceful walk in between meetings. These become my “restorative niches” as described in Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain. It’s a great book for understanding the value of introverts.

In Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, he recommends making a list of the 25 people most responsible for your career. But he doesn’t stop there. He then wants us to write a thank you note “to confront the humbling fact that you have not achieved your success alone.”

Most of us need routines and order in our lives. If you’re like me, though, you struggle to do so. It’s about finding “the power of rhythm and routine” at work. That phrase comes from Cheryl Richardson in her book, The Art of Extreme Self Care. Creating routines “creates a sense of order that gives the mind a much-needed rest,” she writes. One of the best routines I’ve developed is printing my daily calendar for the next day before I leave the office at the end of the day. That way I already know if I have to pack a lunch or if I have an early meeting for which I must prepare. If that’s the case, I know to schedule my training session for a different day or only plan on a 30-minute morning workout. I also know what healthy snacks to pack.

Jason Womak, author of Your Best Just Got Better, warns that we are often forced to sacrifice quality for quantity. Because there is so much information to take in, he says, we’ve become a nation of skimmers. The downside of that, Womak says, is we miss essential details that could “help us improve our productivity, build better relationships and live more gratifying lives.” His book offers several suggestions, several of which I’ve implemented, including carrying a camera.

What books did you read this year that you would add to the list?

Answer These 3 Questions; Ace Your Next Job Interview

We all know we’re supposed to prepare for a job interview. So why don’t we? It’s a question I ask because in the past few years I’ve probably served on a dozen interview panels.

Some individuals are quite prepared. It’s obvious they’ve done their homework – from reviewing the company website to researching their future colleagues to connecting their skills and experiences to the mission of the company.

And then there are those who seem surprised by some of the questions. And yet, if you go to any website about interviewing the questions are right there. Here are a few that you should think about in advance and be prepared to answer:

  1. Would you tell us about a weakness? Most individuals think the goal is to turn it into a positive so they mention things like they are perfectionists or they work too hard. That might work when you are first starting out, but as you interview for increasingly complex jobs, what interviewers really want to know is how self-aware you are. More importantly, they want to know how you are addressing the weakness. One candidate I interviewed was asked the question during three separate interviews and never could answer it. It certainly didn’t help the candidate’s cause.
  2. Why do you want to be part of this team or company? Interviewers expect to hear that you believe in the mission of the company and that you’ve heard great things about the team. The interviewers already know that since they work for the company. What they really want to know is “What are you passionate about?” and “What gets you excited to come to work?”
  3. Why should we hire you? This is the softball pitch, meaning that the candidate should be able to hit this one out of the ballpark. And yet, too many candidates stammer when asked this question. Those who have to think about it or stammer their way through it usually have blown the interview. Almost always, I’ve hired the candidate that heard the question and immediately provided a tight synopsis of his strengths and how those strengths would benefit the company.

Are you ready for your next job interview?

3 Tips to Handle Bad News

When your job hands you lemons, how do you make lemonade?

It’s not always easy but recently three individuals who have been handling difficult news each shared a tip for making lemonade from difficult news.

  1. Identify your value proposition. Mary Ellin Arch, spokesperson for Pocahontas 895 toll road in Virginia, shared how nobody likes toll increases. However, when she talks about how a road saves the person time, it lessens the impact of the rate increase news. “It becomes the good news,” she said.
  2. Share your own bad news. Ray Kozakewicz, who formerly worked for Media General, said it’s important to get your own bad news out before others report on it. “It is very important that you don’t sugarcoat your bad news,” he said. In dealing with staff layoffs, Kozakewicz also emphasized the importance of holding special meetings and identifying key message points.
  3. Identify stakeholders and their issues. Once you know the issues, you can build the message points, said Chet Ward of Dominion. Even though Virginia rates are lower compared to others, customers don’t want to hear that, Ward said. “They want to know about reliability. We have to provide reliable information about reliability. We don’t talk about rates, we talk about what you get for your money.”