Do you have an artistic vein but you’re not quite ready to join a commune in Paris and drink red wine seven days a week? Becoming a graphic designer could be the answer; you get to be creative AND make an honest buck. In a nutshell, a graphic designer is a professional within the graphic…
Category: Workplace
Employee experience can seriously impact your bottom line. The Employer Brand Index gives you insight into what talent really thinks about your company.
Know any jobseekers out there? Are they struggling on social media? Then look no further than Joshua Waldman’s new book “Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies“. I had a chat with Joshua the other day to get some pearls of wisdom for jobseekers out there. In this interview we discuss how important Personal Branding…
You are going to apply for that first job, right? But how do you feel? Well, different people have different kind of feelings when faced with this situation. Some jobseekers feel really excited. Some of them are nervous. Many others are quite confident about it. As a matter of fact, nervousness and excitement are all…
“I want money (that’s what I want!)” -The Beatles Money. It’s on your mind, it’s on my mind, and it makes the world go ‘round. As a job seeker, money takes on a new role. While your ideal job should be something that in itself is satisfying, it’s also what gets you more money. When money…
I’ve interviewed people almost every day for almost ten years and I have to say I love it. I love meeting new people and I feel a huge responsibility to make sure I ‘bring it’ to the interview and by ‘it’ I mean the very best version of myself. After all, the job seeker has…
With the London startup careers fair SiliconMilkRoundabout taking place in East London, the good folks at Adzuna have gathered some start-up and technology employment data below that might be of interest to companies and job seekers alike. Key Findings: One thing is for sure, London startups drive a hot tech employment market, and here are…
Didn’t you always wonder how folks found jobs back in the day? I mean the day before LinkedIn. Were there neolithic recruiters? Were headhunters literally that? We will never know. What we do know is that there were jobs then that have somehow vanished. Some of the most sought after jobs from medieval times include:…
So you’ve had your interview and thought that nothing could top those nerves, until you realise you have still got to wait for the results. The anticipation commences the moment you step out of the interview room, all the possible mistakes you made or all the wrong things you might have said begin playing and your mind and you dismiss all the good things.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a hint of whether you did well or botched the job interview altogether? Here are some clues that might help you along the way:
1. The Next Call
During your interview, a great sign that you are up for the job is when the hiring manager schedules you for a second interview before you have left, it can only mean that s/he wants to know more about how qualified you are for the job. However, statements like, “We well just call you” can be devastating and could be one of the signs that you have to move on and try for another job.
See Top 10 Tips and Tricks to Nail that Job Interview for more tips.
2. Interview Over time
Everyone knows that Interviewers do not waste their time with unqualified applicants, if you are not suited for the position it is highly unlikely that your interview will run over time, so if it does – this is a good sign. If the interview begins to get more personal, it means that that they are more interested in you and most likely studying your traits very carefully. Remember some jobs are about more than just your degree, you need a personality too – especially when working within a team.
3. Meet and greet the team
Some interviewers are known to let the possible new hire meet the soon-to-be colleagues at work. This a great sign! It is often the case that the interview wants to know how well other office personnel respond to you. They wouldn’t waste their time with this is they weren’t contemplating making you part of the team.
4. Selling the company
When the interviewer spends more time talking in detail about the position or the organization and begins to tell you in detail all the advantages of working for the company, it’s a positive sign that you are going to get the job. If your interviewer then begins running through a detailed description of the role that you might the job more appealing to you, then they are probably trying to make sure no one else gets to you first.
You might also want to check out How To Sell Yourself in a Job Interview.
5. Future boss reveals plans
One of the clearest and most obvious signs is if you interviewer comments on how they are looking forward to having you as part of the team. If you then begin discussing future plans about a possibly project that you would be working on within the job; it is a discreet way of welcoming you to the company.
Bottom line
However, with all the competition that there is around you in today’s job market, it is essential to put your best foot forward during the job interview. Try and read all the possible hints that are been let off, although do remember that an interviewer can do any of the above and maybe not mean anything by it.
Equally they may show great interest in you but eventually settle for someone else. If you are not successful, don’t worry. Pull your head up high and keep applying – there are still 452,639 jobs still available in the UK.
This is a guest post from Rebecca Airey, Community Assistant & Writer at job site Adzuna.co.uk, connect with her at @adzuna.
Applying for a job is actually selling yourself for that particular position. There would be many other candidates who would try to grab that particular opportunity, but you need to distinguish yourself from the others in a way that the employer feels that you are the best candidate for the said position. For this, it is important for the applicant to write a resume cover letter, and send it along with the resume.
The resume gives the employer the details of the applicant’s academics and work experience. However, the employer, if reads the complete resume, he/she would need at least 10 minutes to know everything about you. On the other hand, if you write a cover letter that summarizes your resume in a way that the employer gets a complete idea of your qualification and expertise in less than 5 minutes, is more impactful, and would lead to a positive decision in your case. The letter is aimed at simplifying the reader’s task, but if not written correctly it would rather weaken your resume as well.
1. Overuse of ‘I’
The cover letter is aimed at presenting your skills and potential and communicating to the employer of how you fit in the organizational needs. Over stressing on ‘I’, would make your letter look like an autobiography. Mention what the employer wants, and then answer how you satisfy the same.
2. Weak Opening:
Beginning a cover letter is a task of responsibility. The beginning of the letter creates your first impression. This should thus be very impressive, and to the point. For example,
a. Please consider my application for the post of Sales Team Lead – this is a very weak beginning. It does not differentiate you.
b. The advertisement read that you need a Talented and Target Oriented Sales Team Lead, and I believe that I match this requirement – this is a better beginning as it says how you meet the organizational needs.
More on your opening at How To Start Your Cover Letter with a Bang!
3. Do not fail to highlight your USP:
USP – Unique Selling Proposition is all that your cover letter is about. It must strongly present yourself, and present your key skills that distinguish yourself. Never fail to highlight these points. In absence of this, your letter is like any other normal application letter. Write these USP’s in sync with the employer’s requirement stated in the advertisement, to make your letter more powerful.
4. Long letters:
Long letters are the biggest disaster. A cover letter is aimed to save the employer’s time, and put forth your best in a precise manner. If the applicant writes a long letter that goes on for more than a page, the purpose of the letter is compromised with, and is deviated from its aim.
Further reading at 5 Rules To Keep Your Cover Letter Simple and Effective.
5. Repeating your resume:
While applying for the job and writing this letter, you are writing about yourself. You do not need to copy anything from the resume. You must know what you possess, and present it in a way that puts forth the best of you. If you start copying everything from your resume, it might create a bad impression on the employer and make your letter very boring. The letter should interest the employer to read your resume, and if it has exactly the same information as in your resume, it becomes monotonous.
These are some basic cover letter disasters that should be avoided. These mistakes fail to create the impression you wanted to, via your cover letter.
Being a professional Resume writer and an advisor on how to make the job applications more impactful, Arion Barry has developed unique expertise in writing of