Prepping for an interview can be a stressful thing—What to wear? What to ask? What to share? These are common questions that everyone asks themselves prior to an interview. The best way to be successful in an interview is to PREPARE. A prepared person is a successful person. Here are a few tips on how to best prepare:

1- Get to know the company. Review their website and familiarize yourself with what the company does, where they are located, their mission statement and also with whom you will be meeting. If you only have their name and a bio is not available on the company website, use LinkedIn as a tool to learn about the person with whom you are meeting. Do a little research to see if you have any commonalities, find out where they went to school and gather other specifics about the person that might help to break the ice and start the conversation.   

2- Study the job description of the position for which you are interviewing. Write down some specific examples of professional experience that apply to the main buzz words of the job description. Be able to relate those buzz words to past experiences.   

3-Dress to impress. It may not be your favorite thing to wear, but dust off the suite hanging in the back of your closet. When you are dressed professionally, it helps with your confidence.

4- Have a few questions of your own prepared. Ask questions that may not have yet been answered during your conversation-- about the position, about the company, about the potential for growth, or even things that might help make the hiring manager's job a little easier.  

5- Always take copies of your resume and be sure to get the interviewer's business card so you can follow up with a thank you note.

6-Make eye contact, be yourself, listen, and share without interrupting.   

If you follow these common steps, you will be an ACE during an interview! Again—PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE.  Good luck and I look forward to preparing you for your next interview.

By James Murdock - Search Consultant

Don’t get lost in the shuffle. Tips on how to make your resume stand out.

Do you ever wonder what happens to your resume when you apply for a job online? I often found myself wondering this very thing when searching for my own job seven years ago. I found myself submitting my resume for a wide variety of positions, but rarely heard anything back from the prospective employer.  Was I not the right candidate?  Did they not like something on my resume? These are questions I asked myself each time I did not get a response.

The truth is, most of the time, your resume is actually  being received through an automatic portal filtering hundreds of incoming resumes. In some cases, the company recruiter may not even be aware your resume has been submitted.  If you have the opportunity to submit your resume directly to the hiring manager or even the corporate recruiter, what can you do to stand out? Here are a couple of suggestions:

1-Make sure your resume is clean. It should be neatly organized with the use of page breaks, bullet points and an easy-to-read font.

2-Tailor the resume for the position you are pursuing. Incorporate key points and buzz words from the job description in your resume, if they are appropriate, based on your experience.  You should always have one rough draft of a resume in your files and tailor that resume for the position you are pursuing.  

3-Lastly, only apply for positions for which you meet the criteria. For example, don’t apply for an Accounting Director position if you are a food delivery person and clearly do not have the experience required and listed in the job posting. Use your common sense.

The above are 3 ideas to help you get started on standing out. The most important take-away should be to always remember to TAILOR, TAILOR, TAILOR-- That’s something I can do for you and you should always do for yourself.  Good luck!!

By James Murdock - Search Consultant