JNU’s student career development association organized it and here’s a report and some photos of the class:

http://tinyurl.com/2vjfs27

Excited. Anxious.

Before long, as the day gets nearer, you will start to feel nervous, if you are like most people.

While you are busy feeling nervous and, hopefully, doing good research about the employer, the job, and the industry, how do you think the interviewer is feeling?

Let me be upfront: The interviewer or the hiring manager is sweating.

Yes, you are not the only one who is afraid and nervous.

The interviewer is nervous too.

The reasons for this are interesting:

1. The chances of finding a good employer through an interview is only 3% better than picking a name out of a hat;

2. If the interview was conducted by someone who would be working directly with the candidate, the success rate is 2% worse than that of picking a name out of hat;

3. If the interview was conducted by a human resources expert, the success rate plunged to 10% below that of picking a name out of a hat.

The fact remains that most interviewers have never been trained to properly select candidates through interviews. And they simply pretend that they do and make it as if what they are doing is scientific.

They also have work up to their eyeballs and spending time sorting through job candidates is something they are not hired to do. And so, they may well know that they are not very good at it.

Another fact of life: As humans, we make decisions emotionally, then justify them by logic.

Very seldom do we actually decide using logic to make decisions (Yes, management and business schools will teach you the logical evaluation tools to use for decision-making… but that’s not real world.)

This is the reason why the first impression you give the interviewer within the first 3 – 5 seconds matters the most!

Now, why is it that they don’t seem nervous?

Well, because you are too focused on yourself (and your fears) to notice their nervousness. And of course, they have learned to hide their fears from years of practice.

Now, what is the interviewer afraid of?

Here a list:

1. You won’t do the job well because you lack the needed skills or experience.

2. You won’t put in a full day’s work regularly.

3. You will be sick often.

4. You will quit within a few weeks or months.

5. You will take too long to master a job.

6. You won’t get along with others in the team.

7. You have to be held by the hand to get the job done for too long.

8. You will simply do the minimum required.

9. You have a work-disrupting character flaw.

So, in actuality, we have 2 very nervous people sitting across the table in an interview.

Think about it: How difficult is it to convince a nervous person who really is not sure how to do a good job at selecting a candidate?

The game is simple: The more sure, definite and certain you are, the more convincing you will be.

After submitting all the necessary documents, we were handed an acknowledgement slip which stated an interview date for my son 3 months from now.

Interview? A two year-old?

Interesting enough, just last month, I heard from a friend who brought her son to be interviewed at a kindergarten about her “ordeal.”

It was her son (2+ years old) who was supposed to be interviewed but it was her who was completely stressed out.

In fact, she got so upset with the interviewer she almost cried when he said, “Most children at this age should be able to follow my instructions without problems. But it seems that your son couldn’t.”

Such experiences are very real today. Competition is so keen that schools, even kindergartens, must institute a selection process.

But they beg the question, “What are schools for?”

In my mind, the mission of schools is to educate. This means that the a school would best serve its reason for existence when it manages to turn an “uneducated” student into one who is “educated.”

However, with all these selection and filtering processes, schools are taking in only “the best.” These are already the better lot and so, how much more education do they need to be excellent?

Look at it this way: It is a matter of “INPUT > PROCESS > OUTPUT.”

If a school can produce excellent output no matter what input it is given, then that is THE ONLY VALID indicator of the quality of the school.

Just like many parents are busy trying to impress the schools just so that their children can get in, most job-hunters will go to interviews thinking it is a one-way street – That is, employers are choosing them.

I beg to differ.

As I have always taught, an interview is a two-way street. They choose you and you choose them. There are so many employers out there, why should you work for this particular one?

My point is this: You should not be there to beg for a job. If you are, then you are putting control into their hands.

Remember that an interview is a business meeting to discuss a business problem. No business will hire if they don’t have a problem.

As such, you are there to provide value to help solve a business problem. Thus, employment, when it occurs, is a fair exchange.

This is one key reason why you MUST have questions to ask in any interview.

Coming back to the school topic, I’m sending my son to a school to be educated, not to be judged.

You can be sure that when I bring my son for his interview, I will have loads of questions for the teachers as well.

If you did a quick search on the Internet, you will find that
professional resume-writers in Hong Kong, Singapore and the USA
charge the following fee range for students and freshgraduates
(i.e. 0 to 1 year experience):

1. Resume Review US$129 (HK$1,000) onwards.
2. Resume Writing US$128 (HK$1,000) onwards.
3. Cover-letter Writing US$79 (HK616) onwards.
4. Interview Preparation US$179 (HK1,400) onwards.

And these fees do not include “express” (within 48 hours) and
“rush” (within 36 hours) service.

I think this is the reason why I received several emails after
sending out our resume-writing Summer Special over the past 2 weeks
all of which said something to the effect of:

“Are you crazy??!”

“Don’t you have to eat?!?”

I guess I am crazy to be offering such a low rate. But I do want to
help as many students as we can get a good start in their
job-hunting and career. This is our mission.

Incidentally, I did get emails from one lady repeatedly asking me
WHY do we charge for our resume-writing service.

Well, my answer is simple: If my team and I are dead (no fee = no
income = no pay = no food = dead), we can no longer provide any
benefit to you or anyone!

We do need to survive in order to continue with our work and that’s
why we charge. Much like why you pay school fees, doctor’s fees,
bus fare, hostel fees, etc.

So, here it is (with more stuff)!

“Resume + Interview Coaching” Special!
To upgrade your resume, simply email your current resume (with the
industries and jobs that you are interested in as well as your
strengths and interests/hobbies) to the Career Architects resume
dropbox resume@careerarchitects.com.

It will be reviewed and we will revert to you within 36 hours.

Using the Career Architects resume-writing service, your resume
will be RE-WRITTEN by one of our Certified Professional Career
Coaches or Certified Employment Professionals.

Our usual fee for students is HK$250.
Summer special HK$150 (i.e. 40% off)

Our usual fee for freshgraduates is HK$300.
Summer special HK$150 (i.e. 50% off)

Our usual fee for Interview Coaching: HK$880.
Summer Resume + Interview Coaching package HK$680
Send in your resume to resume@careerarchitects.com. Indicate
“resume + interview” in the email if you’d like to be receive
personal coaching on job interview preparation.

Offer ends 31 July 2009.

It draws attention because the employers will be thinking: “Were you fired?”, “Why didn’t you line up a job after quiting?”, “Why is it that you can’t land a job quickly?”, “Will your skills remain up-to-date and sharp?”, “Will you need more time to pick up work again?”, “Did you not get along with your team?”

When it draws my attention, I will certainly ask the candidate what he/she did during that period in an interview. Interestingly, the most common answer till date has been, “Oh, my mother was unwell during that period in time and I quit my job to look after her. Now that she is well, I decided to look for a job again.” The answer is usually given with a variation of a direct relative, usually father or mother.

While I do not doubt the truthfulness of such an answer, it lacks a punch. To turn your explanation of a gap in your employment history into an advantage, my suggestion is to make your answer more compelling by completing your answer with, “During this time, I remained connected to the industry and field of work. I kept up-to-date with industry (or professional) development via industry journals, books, associations, events, etc. and did freelance/part-time work in my field.”

To put the interviewer’s attention back to your suitability and away from the gap, always express, very proactively, your keenness to get back into the job circuit. Reiterate how you fit the job and company inspite of the gap and highlight the value that you will bring to the organisation and your readiness to contribution.

I hope you have at least drafted some concrete answers that will speak of how you will be bringing value and contribution to the job and the company.

Elaborate on how well you know the business (products and services, customers, suppliers, target market, organsiation structure, culture, etc.) and the role (meaning what the person is required to do and the skills the person should have) and that your skills, passion, experiences fit in very nicely.

Talk about how you have decided on doing this kind of work.

Talk about why this particular company when there are many others in the market that you can choose from.

Talk about why this line of work is what you have passion and keen interest in and give a glimpse of what you hope to achieve in it for the company and yourself. Do mention your personal mission and motivation if it adds value to the conversation.

Of course, you can talk about how you wish to personally benefit from being part of the company and team but always put this last.

The key is: Always put the interests of the company or hiring manager first and your own interests last.

So, how about another very commonly asked question: Tell me what you know about this industry?