Some things that can get you rejected in a face-to-face interview.

You might be surprised how many people don’t do what should be obvious preparation for face-to-face interviews. You can mess up an interview by doing any of these things:

Be late: there are valid and invalid reasons.  Call ahead and explain. Prepare in advance by getting contact names and telephone numbers. Know exactly how to get there; do a dry run if possible.

Be odorific: Avoid this by practicing good hygiene. Avoid things that create bad breath. Alcohol, smoke and food seasonings like garlic on your breath will make you unattractive.

Dress inappropriately: Only lost luggage can explain away this one.

Be totally unprepared for the questions: There are standard types of questions. Prepare with practiced answers. Practice out loud with video if possible. Listen to what you say, how you say it and watch your body language. Learn from it.

Make politically incorrect comments, swear, be negative, berate your employer, don’t smile, and talk too much (monopolize the conversation) during the interview: These things will end your chances quickly and it should be obvious to avoid making them, but given things I have heard in interviews, I wonder how obvious.

Karl has been reviewing resumes for people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com

Sometimes we are simply products of our environment, but we are always the products of our decisions!

New job seekers may be the result of their job environment, but the decisions they make regarding how to become employed again are absolutely critical!

Losing a job, regardless of the reason, creates a situation having the potential to bring great harm to real life situations depending upon the decisions made by those losing their job.

What are you going to do if it happens to you? Job searching is more complex than it was years ago, but there are also more search tools available as well. The answer is to do everything legal and ethical you can do to win a job offer.

Getting professional help, immediately, is the most important action to take when one has just become unemployed. While outplacement services are not always available to the newly unemployed, professional job search services are always there. Professional services are more affordable immediately and becomes less affordable as time passes, therefore time is of the essence. Procrastination is the enemy. So is the assumption that “I can do it on my own”.

Job searching is blessed by the electronic age. It is extremely different than in years past. Typewriters are replaced by computers; Newspaper ads by the internet. New search techniques that many job seekers have never used are available, indeed have become required skills in order to compete. Some search techniques are incredible hurdles for the uninitiated. Therefore overcoming procrastination and getting professional help immediately is of paramount importance to the new job seeker.

For those who are fortunate to be currently employed, preparing for the future, be it self-planned or a surprise, would be good ‘insurance’ to purchase.

Karl has been reviewing resumes for people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com

Have you differentiated yourself from the rest of the job candidates?

Most job seekers will first think of applying through HR because “that is the way it has always been”. But unless you are seeking an HR position you should be directing your efforts directly toward the actual hiring manager, not HR, regardless of what the application instructions say.

Take the requirements stated in a job description with a big grain of salt. Many ads are canned repeats of older jobs and don’t adequately reflect what a particular hiring manager needs. Some will instruct you not to call. However the most successful way to get a job is to speak directly to the hiring manager before you send your resume in so that you can edit it specifically for what that hiring manager’s key problems are. The job description may not say what is critical to landing the job.

Eventually you will have to follow the proper job application protocols, but unless you speak to the hiring manager before you apply and have the opportunity to edit your resume you have no better chance of landing the job than the rest of the herd of applicants! Differentiation is the name of the game, and you don’t differentiate yourself by being just another one of the herd of applicants. Be different. Call and speak directly to the hiring manager before you apply.

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Karl has been reviewing resumes for people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com

Can you prove you are what you claim to be?

Does your resume say you are innovative, world-class, results-oriented, motivated, creative, dynamic, passionate, unique, strategic, collaborative, etc.?

Do you think people will believe what you say simply because it is written? Maybe some will be gullible and accept anything you tell them, but good hiring managers will not!

Imagine you are the hiring manager. You have been charged with the responsibility of achieving many goals. Your personal performance depends upon delivering results. Your pay and promotability depend upon your results. And now you have a hiring need.

You know that hiring people who claim to be one thing and turn out to be another can be worse than not hiring anyone. Making self-assessing claims can raise doubts thereby having the opposite effect then their intent. A good hiring manager will question your claims unless you can demonstrate them. And if you simply describe your results and accomplishments there is no need to make self-assessing claims.

For the hiring manager, not only is making a wrong hire a waste of time and money, it can make results worse and consume much time to correct. So a good hiring manager will not take self-assessing claims at face value.

For a job seeker, the conclusion should be obvious. Demonstrate what you claim to be by providing examples. Clearly indicate the results of your work. Talk about what you have achieved and why it was important. By doing so you will attract the hiring manager’s attention and enable him or her to vet you. You will not need to make self-assessing claims that come across as having questionable merit, thereby raising doubts about you.

Karl has been reviewing resumes for people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com

When you are told to “Tell me about yourself”. What are you going to say?

The interviewer just turned control of the interview over to you. This is your chance to take the interview into the direction you want it to go. The interviewer surely will take over soon enough but this is your opportunity to tell about the most important thing you want the interviewer to know about you.

While you can respond many ways, it is not the time to talk about your life history. Don’t ask “What would you like to hear about?” That answer turns control back to the interviewer and points out that you are not prepared, not creative, not “street smart” or maybe all of the above. Be prepared with a topic that starts out with “I’d like to tell you about ……….” or something similar. If you have already spoken with the hiring manager by phone (a recommended search tactic) you can expand on something that was important to him or her.

The interviewer is most likely interested in something that applies to the job, but the question might also be a probe for something non-work related that talks to your outside interests to see how “well-rounded” you are. While this may be the case, be prepared to at least direct the flow of information to those work-related strengths you think the interviewer should be interested in.

Karl has been reviewing resumes for people at no cost since 1999. He has been counseling job seekers since that time as well. If you would like his help, email him at kl@hoochresumes.com