blueskyresumesblog

Questions to Ask at the End of the Interview

It's always tricky at the end of a job interview, when the interviewer has asked all her questions and now turns to you and says "Is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

Back when I was in HR, there was no greater turn-off that the candidate who said "No. I think you've answered all my questions." For me that just showed such a lack of curiosity  and I wasn't looking for uncurious people.

HR Guy points to this article on questions to ask during an interview. There are some great questions there and any one of them will (a) impress the interviewer and (b) give you some more information about whether this is a place you actually want to work.

My own personal favorite when I was being interviewed (as opposed to conducting the interview) was this:

"A year from now, how will you evaluate if I have been successful in this position?"

I liked this question because it showed the interviewer that I cared about being successful and it gave me solid information about whether I could be successful. Sometimes the answers were just plain unrealistic - and I'd rather find that out during an interview than months after I took the job.

Remember, looking for a job is like shopping for jeans. You're not looking for the first pair you find - you're looking for the ones that fit just right. When it comes to job search, good questions can help you get there.

Don't Stand in the Doorways Don't Block up the Halls

Morgan Stanley's contest to choose an Intern (part of the "Ultimate Internship Contest") brings home just how much Youtube and sites like it have the potential to change job search.

Let's face it, a resume is a highly imperfect way for a company to choose whether you are the right candidate. A resume tells the employer more about your writing skills and ability to sell yourself than it does about your ability to do the job. So it's not surprising that companies and job seekers would explore other means of making a match.

Now Morgan Stanley, along with other major companies such as The Gap, Yahoo! and NBC, is running a contest to select an intern based on videos they submit. You can watch the videos here.

Now, I hate being filmed. I hate the way I look. I hate the way my voice sounds. I avoid cameras like the plague, sometimes trampling women and children to avoid having my picture taken, so my initial reaction to the idea of using videos for job applications goes something like this:

"It'll never work because video resumes will favor people who look and sound good on video, not necessarily people who are best for the job."

Sound familiar?

The Internet is changing everything (my mantra these days!) and video resumes are just an example of that. And there's never any point of standing in the way of change - it's inevitable that people will start to use video to communicate with potential employers.

That said, I think the question for you as a job seeker is whether video will work for you. Are you comfortable on camera? Can you be engaging or funny or thought-provoking? Can you impress other people with your presence? If so, why not incorporate video into your job search now? Sites like Youtube and Gofish make it possible for anyone to create a video message for potential employers.

If you're like me, and you're pretty sure that a video would be hurtful to your job search, don't go there! But take the video idea and run with it. How else can you leverage the new web 2.0 sites to improve your job search? Perhaps you could do something with Squidoo? Or MySpace? Perhaps you could use a photo site like Fickr to create an impressive slideshow that tells a story of your career.

The times they are definitely a' changin' and you can win if you figure out a way to capitalize on that change.

The Myth of the One Page Resume

I worked at a job fair on Monday, doing free resume critiques for military veterans, and I learned that military career offices give REALLY bad resume advice!

In just 5 minutes per-person, my colleagues and I were able to help almost every person see their resume through new eyes. It was great to see the excitement in their faces as they grasped the concept of self-marketing and I know their new resumes will be much better than the ones they walked in with.

But I found the experience frustrating as well as gratifying, because I realized how many myths there are surrounding resumes - and how damaging so many of them are. And the #1 culprit as far as I'm concerned is the idea that everyone should have a one-page resume.

This is Just. Not. True!

I met with one veteran, a senior executive, who showed no accomplishments on his resume. I explained that it's crucial to write action-packed accomplishment bullet points to show employers that you can add real value - especially when you're applying for jobs that pay upwards of 150K. He nodded as I spoke, but when I was done, he explained that he didn't include that information because it wouldn't fit on one page.

Gah!

All the good stuff had been removed from his resume and all that was left was a series of brief descriptions of his jobs. If I were hiring a new Vice President of Operations, I would have no reason to interview this gentleman because he didn't give me one. Yet as we talked further it became clear that he had an impressive record of accomplishments - he had cut costs, streamlined operations and improved productivity in each of his positions.

Please do not believe anyone who tells you that your resume has to be one-page long. It is a myth. No one ever rejected a resume because it was two pages long - and if they did, you wouldn't want to work for them anyway, because it would make no sense (and presumably they would make no sense in other areas of life!)

I write one-page resumes when that's all the space I need to market someone, but if I need two pages, I use two pages. That is almost always the case for senior executives. Occasionally three pages are appropriate, although this is rare.

If you find yourself eliminating key information in order to squeeze your resume onto one page, then you need two pages.