Interview Etiquette

Interview etiquette is a very important part of getting your dream job. You know you can do the job, but can you get the job? When you are looking for a new job, you need to know the acceptable way to behave so that you come across as a professional whom the employer does not want to pass up. What protocols do you need to adhere to? What should you wear? How to you calm your nerves before an interview? Hopefully you will find these hints and tips useful for securing that job.

Before you go for your interview, you need to make sure you are well groomed, that your hair is clean and tidy, that your nails are clean and that you present a fresh appearance. When dressing for an interview it is best to dress conservatively, even if the company does not have a dress code. First impressions count.

Arrive early for your interview; it’s always better to be a few minutes early than late. Rushing around will only make you stressed and you will be unable to project that aura of calmness that is so desperately needed. Make sure you turn your phone off before going into the interview room. Nothing is more annoying than the bleating of a mobile phone, and it is considered extremely rude.

Be politely assertive and shake hands with each interviewer while looking them in the eye and giving them your full attention. Repeat their names as they introduce themselves to you. Don’t use slang words or jargon, speak clearly and concisely. Pause before you answer a question, it shows you are thinking about what you have been asked, and gives you time to formulate an appropriate answer.

During the interview stay calm and focused. Don’t allow yourself to be rattled. Do show enthusiasm and a genuine interest in the company and your interviewers. After all, you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t interested and why would they want to hire you if you weren’t?

If you don’t understand a question, ask for it to be repeated or rephrased. Maintain a natural amount of eye contact but don’t stare. If the interviewer happens to be dressed oddly, has a pimple or some other minor deformity do not focus on it. It can be hard to ignore physical features that are slightly abnormal but you need to pay attention to the person, not the pimple.

Keep your body language polite. Do not lean forward aggressively or sit with your arms folded across your chest. Neither should you sit bolt upright in your chair as if sitting to attention. You should have good posture, but keep it relaxed and friendly.

Don’t fidget with your pen, wring your hands or chew your hair. Keep your hands resting gently on the table, on the arms of your chair or gently folded on your lap. And refrain from doodling, it is extremely impolite and simply screams, “you’re boring me”.

At the end of the interview shake hands with each interviewer and again address them by name after thanking them for their time. Make a mental note of how and when they say they will be contacting you. If they have asked you to send them any further information or examples of previous work ensure that you do so quickly. Use the opportunity to compose a simple, short cover letter thanking them for their time and gently reminding them of how interested you are in working for their company.

Submitted by: UK Employment Agencies Database
http://www.accessplace.com/recruitment
Find recruitment companies in your local area and in the areas you want to work.

Chronological Resume or Functional Resume

Chronological Resume or Functional Resume? Which one to use?

Now days, chronological resume format is preferred more by employers. Chronological resume also works well if you are not changing your job profile. Like you are not changing from your human resource job to programming job. What this means? This means that if you are changing your job profile, changing your field, use functional resume because it is more of a skill oriented format which will be better to show that your skills are transferable.

Letter of Recommendation

I have added a section on the website today on letter of recommendation. This section describe how to write a letter of recommendation and what are all the types of letter of recommendations.

Click here to see letter of recommendation articles and samples.

I hope you find them useful.

Work History Related Interview Questions

Here are some of the interview question about your work history which can be asked:

1. What is the reason for leaving your current job?
2. Why are you looking for a new career options?
3. If we ask you to evaluate your present company, how would you do it?
4. What were your responsibilities in your past company?
5. What are your responsibilities in your present company?
6. How many hours do you work per day or in a week? What are all major challenges did you face in your present company?
7. What was your most difficult job assignment in your present company?
8. What do you consider as biggest accomplishment or failure at this position?
9. Have you helped increase sales and profits for the company?
10. What was it like working for your supervisor?
11. What were your supervisor's strengths and weaknesses?
12. What did you like the most and least about your current job?
13. What mistakes you have made in your career and how did you fix them?
14. Was your work ever criticized, if yes, for what?
15. What were you doing during the period of time not covered in your resume?
16. Do you know What do your subordinates think of you?
17. How do you evaluate your subordinates?
18. How do you evaluate your seniors?
19. Tell us a situation in which you and your coworker had a disagreement, and how did you work it out the situation?
20. How would you describe the your working pace?

Just prepare these questions for your interview.

Resume Cover Letter Tips

You should always send a resume cover letter with your resume. Remember, your employer sees your cover letter first (in email) and then only your resume. If your cover letter is not good enough, employer may loose interest in your resume. So here are some of the tips you should remember while writing your resume cover letter:

1. Send it to one person - Never address your resume cover letter as "To whom it may concern". No. Call the person by name to whom you are sending the resume. If you don't know the name of the person, call the company or checkout their website. This personal communication in cover letter shows that you have an interest in the company.
2. Start with a referral - If you know somebody in the company, or somebody who know somebody in the company, start the cover letter saying "Mr. So and so said that I should mail your and send my resume for so and so job, which I am much interested in", will create a sense of familiarity and comfort for the person reading your resume cover letter.
3. Short and sweet - Don't make your resume cover letter into an essay. Just describe your most recent work or achievements (related to work).
4. Call for action - AT the end of your cover letter, ask the employer to call you up or write you. Don't say the employer that you will follow it up. You should still do the follow up.
5. Correct Language - At the end, check your resume cover letter twice for any typos or grammar errors.

Writing Resume for an Employer Overseas

Are you thinking of getting a job abroad? Of may be that you HAVE to get a job abroad for various reasons (lets say your family is transferring). So what all you need to think while writing your resume/CV for an employer overseas?

There are 5 most important things to remember while writing resume or CV for your employer abroad:

1. Personal information - In Asian and European countries, your background and personal characteristics are very important. Put your full educational background (from KG) on your resume/CV. Put a passport size photograph on resume/CV. Mention any foreign languages you know.
2. There is no default resume - Resumes varies in countries and even in countries resume varies with company to company. In some countries job history is important, some country give more preferences to your academics. If possible, checkout company's site to find what the employer is looking for.
3. Chronological or reverse chronological resume - When making your resume for an employer abroad, please verify what resume format is most used in that country. Most countries outside USA use chronological resume which some like UK, uses reverse chronological resumes. So do check what resume format is preferred in that country.
4. Team Player - In many countries (specially), putting "I" is not considered good. The consider everything as team work and you as a team player. So you have to prove yourself as a good team player. So when mentioning your individual achievements use verbs instead of "I".
5. Times New Roman - While writing resume or CV for your overseas employer remember to use the standard (times new roman) fonts only. Don't use any fancy fonts. Use bold only for section headings. Don't use very difficult words. If you have some difficult words, replace them with some laymen terms.

Resume with MBA Degree

Does your resume needs MBA degree mentioned in it?
Yes. You business school MBA degree can you put on on the A-list of the recruiter. If you are getting bored with your current job and looking for another job, getting an MBA degree can help you a lot and can put you back on track. So taking this MBA degree can change not only your resume but your life too.

Some interview success tips

Interview these days are quite stressful and uncomfortable and you have to deal with this hiring process. So you need to understand the interview process to manage and control the interview.

Here are the some interview tips for your success in interview:

1. Sell your achievements and don't just tell your achievements. Yes. You have to sell what you have done in your past and not just simply tell it the the interviewer.
   
2. Turn your negatives into positives There are times when you are asked question for which your direct answer would be no. But giving negative answer is not a good idea. For example, if you are asked whether you have done Perl programming in past. And you know that you have not. But instead of saying it straight you can say that you have done shell programming quite well and getting a handle on Perl will not take much time.
   
3. Take some initiative in your interview. Its not always good that only your interviewer is asking questions and you are asking. It is also a good thing to ask questions in return. Also, if you have worked quite well on a topic for the interview and the topic didn't even come up in the interview, then make sure you bring the topic somehow by asking some question or sharing some information.
   
4. Look confident. It is natural to feel nervous in interview, but remember that you have proved yourself suitable by your resume or cover letter or by a phone interview to the post, that is why you are here for the interview. So be confident. They want to hire you.
   

Here are some of the common ones:

1. Dress well and look smart.
2. Reach the interview venue on time.
3. Do your research about the company well before interview.
4. Keep yourself an extra copy of your resume, your references and a blank paper for notes.
5. Listen carefully when interviewer is talking.
6. Give specific examples while answering the questions.
7. Follow up after the interview.

Resume Cover Letter

Writing your resume cover letter

Remember one rule: Always mail a cover letter with your resume. You'
d be foolish not to.

In a resume cover letter you can show an interest in the company that you can't show in a resume. You can also show more about yourself, while highlighting one or two of your skills or accomplishments the company can put to good use.

First off, your resume cover letter should be addressed to either the hiring authority for the position you're interested in, or the human resources director. Be sure to include the contact's full name and title, preceded by "Mr." or "Ms." If you are not sure who you should send your resume cover letter to, call the company and find out. Above all, be sure to spell your contact's name correctly.

In the resume cover letter, you need to mention:

1. the job or type of job for which you are applying, and
2. any other information that is important to your situation - for example, dates when you will be available for an interview; the best time of day or night you can be reached; and salary information, if it has been requested;
3. a bried statement highlighting your skills and experience in your resume that you think qualify you for the job.

Remember that you want to highlight skills and experience mentioned on your resume, not just parrot back your resume in cover letter form. If you are applying for a job that doesn't fit directly into your experience, make sure you explain how your background and qualification match the requirements of the position. Be specific but precise. You can see some sample cover letters here.

Look at it this way. Your resume cover letter is more important than your resume itself, since if it doesn't impress the reader, he or she may not even look at your resume. And the easiest way to impress the the reader is by doing your homework and finding out as much as you possibly can about each firm you are applying to.

Keep in mind, too, that the appearance of your resume cover letter is just as important as the resume itself. Each cover letter should be individually typed. Remember that it is a business letter so be professional.

Another important rule: Keep your resume cover letter to only one page. Remember, the key is to state the facts and be quick about it.

Good Performance Review

How to get good performance review?

Ok, so finally its that time of the year and you are looking for your performance review. So how can you get a good performance review? Can you do something about it? Here are some of the tips to remember and work on:

1. Make best efforts possible. Do your best to complete all your projects before the performance review time. If your boss seeing your working hard, there is a possibility that your minor mistakes (and may be some major ones) will be ignored.
2. Take more initiative. Don't just carry out your regular work, take some extra initiatives to do something new to improve your work.
3. Keep regular communication with your boss. This is very important. Sometimes your boss doesn't know what sort of problems you are having, he/she doesn't know why your work is getting delayed. If you are communicating with your boss regularly then he/she is aware that you are working hard and having problems too. This will also give you chance to see whether your boss is happy with your work or not, if not improve your work.
4. Focus on team work too. Always try to help your colleagues because some part of your performance review also comes from your colleagues.

Welcome to sample resume & career blog

Hello all.

Welcome to sample resume and career blog. I am creating this blog to give you tips releted to your career objectives and resumes. I am also planning to write some resume articles on this blog. Lets see how much time can I takeout, but will surely write some.

Thank you
-kams