How to attend an Interview

Tips for interview

Each time you go for interview you must have wondered as to what kind of questions the interview and how you should answer and behave yourself. Here are some of the tips:

• Arrive on time or few minutes earlier.
• Walk in the room confidently and greet the interviewer.
  Wait till you are offered a seat.
• Be polite, sit straight on the seat, look alert and interested at all times.
• Maintain an eye contact with the interviewer.
• Keep a copy of your resume in front of you so that you can explain the projects you have undertaken and you are right at all times.
• Before interview always get the full detail about the company, products, services and the post you have applied.
• Listen to the questions carefully and try to answer to the point. If you are unable to understand the question, ask the interviewer to repeat it and request for related information. Answer the questions truthfully.
• Switch off your mobile / pager.
• Don't put your folder on the interviewers table, keep it on your table.
• Don't lie under any circumstances and don't give wrong impression.
• Don't interrupt the interviewer.
• Don't give long answers, stories to go off the topic you are discussing.
• Never show or express unwillingness to be interviewed.
• After completing the interview process if the interviewer asks if you have any questions? Clarify any issues related to company's background, place of work if hired starting date and timings.
• Always be positive.
  

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

How to hire passionate employees.

Visage Ventures is a leading provider of full-service staffing solutions to a broad range of clients globally. We command state-of-the-art tools that help you make the right decision about your company's most important asset—your people. We test the candidate's general business skills and applicable industry specific skills such as machinery or forklift operation. We also ensure each candidate's integrity with references.

To gauge that, experts recommend digging deeply into a candidate's work history. You need to take the time to do a detailed, job-by-job review.. Where did this person excel in the past? What specific achievements got recognized and rewarded? Why did she get promoted? Which job or jobs really gave him a chance to shine? This will show you pretty clearly what the candidate is passionate about.

Then you can assess whether her/his passion matches the job you're trying to fill. Someone with a phenomenal talent for wooing new clients, for example, may not be the right fit for a sales-manager position that will put him behind a desk managing other salespeople without ever meeting a customer. The better you understand both the job itself and the person you're considering for it, the more likely you are to get someone who can channel his or her passion in the right direction.

Ask candidates about some of the risks they have taken and how they turned out. Passion really comes down to confidence and courage, including a willingness to push back and take an unpopular position if you really believe in it. Debate with the candidate. Sometime during a conversation roll out an opinion or an idea that is way out of left field, just to see if the candidate is willing to argue - politely, of course, but with conviction.

Pay close attention to the questions asked by candidates. Passionate people will ask you a question and then, based on your answer to that one, ask you another one. They're following one idea to another idea with genuine spontaneous curiosity. That shows passion. Ask people what they are passionate about outside of work. Someone whose eyes light up when they talk about a sport or a charity or whatever it is they do in their spare time - that is someone who will probably be passionate on the job too. People don't switch their passion off when they walk into work in the morning. It carries over.

Passion isn't all that hard to spot - if you really try. Too many employers pay lip service to the idea of passion but in fact they want cookie-cutter thinking, which is why they end up with cookie-cutter hires. Hiring managers will opt for the 'safe' candidate rather than a more provocative one - and then they're disappointed a year later when the person hasn't stepped up and produced fantastic results.

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

Dressing right for the interview

Let's say you are going for an interview tomorrow. You have prepared yourself well for the occasion - anticipating the question and getting ready the answers - but have you given a thought to what you will wear?

If you have not peeked into your wardrobe yt, it's time to take a real hard look now. Your application's fate depends not just on how well you answer the interview questions, but also on how well you project yourself physically.

The first impression your interviewer makes about you is based on the way you look, and you know what they say about first impressions. According to Joe Hodowanes, J.M Wanes and Associates career strategy advisor, "The way a person dresses is the single biggest non-verbal communication you make about yourself."

The right dressing is a measure of the seriousness that you place on the position, as a person normally spends time on his looks if he considers an event important enough.

"Although proper dressing by itself will not get you the job, a poor dress sense may exclude you from further consideration, "warns Gerry Ditching, managing partner of Filgifts.com. Besides, given two equally good applications, the company may choose to hire the person who is dressed more professionally.

Here are some tips to give you a headstart.

MEN
Long-sleeved shirt and dark slacks: White is still the safest and the best color or shirts. The colour is also appropriate for our tropical weather. Also acceptable: pale shades such as beige, blue, and other pastels. Tuck in the shirt and do not roll up the sleeves. Never wear a short-sleeved shirt to an interview or any business purpose. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt will destroy executive image.

Ties: Optional. But if you do wear one, choose a conservative pattern. Solids, small polka dots, diagonal stripes, small repeating shapes, subtle plaids and paisleys are all acceptable.

Belts: Belts should match your shoes. Those with smaller buckles with squared lines look more professional.

Socks: Black socks arethe best, followed by blue or gray, depending on your attire. Never wear white socks! Check your sock length, too-no skin should show when you sit down or cross your legs.
Shoes: Black or burgundy leather shoes with laces on them, because tassel loafers are very casuals. Other suitable colour are brown, cordovan and navy.

Hair: Keep neat, short and preferably parted on the side. And shave off all those facial hair. Jewellery. Wear no or little jewellery. The watch and wedding ring are the only acceptable pieces of jewellery to go with the male attire. Thin gold or leather-strapped watches look professional but not digital watches. Also, avoid political or religious insignias, necklaces or bracelets. Definitely no pierced body parts, and cover up your tattoos!

Accessories: As much as possible, use leather briefcases or folders to hold copies of your resume. Use narrow briefcases and avoid plastic folders and plastic ball pens as they are out of place.

WOMEN
Three-piece business suits, blouse and skirt or slacks, and cardigan twin-sets: Sleeveless shirts should be rejected Short-Sleeved blouses are okay when they are tailor-cut or have features such as sports collar or double breast design to create a business-like look. Skirts can either be long provided it does not create a Cinderella or barn-dance look or short where it fails no shorter than two inches from the knee. Nothing too revealing, please!

Shoes: Closed shoes or pumps with at least 1 1/2-inch heels suggest a more professional look. Dark colours are best.

Hair: Hair longer than shoulder length should be worn up or pulled back. Don't let it fall in front of your face and don't keep trying to fix it during the interview. Avoid large hair ornaments and trendy hairstyle.

Make-up: Be subtle; natural is the key word. Light shades of lip colouring and nail polish are recommended. Jewellery. Be conservative. Studs of gold, silver or pearls are best. Do away with gaudy fashion jewellery, and those that clank and make noise when one moves.

Accessories: Folders and bags should blend well with the total professional look. Women should match their purse with their shoe colour.

Jewellery: Wear no or little jewellery. The watch and wedding ring are the only acceptable pieces of jewellery to go with the male attire. Thin gold or leather-strapped watches look professional but not digital watches. Also, avoid political or religious insignias, necklaces or bracelets. Definitely no pierced body parts, and cover up your tattoos!

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

New trends in HR technology

Human resource strategy is the result of a set of decisions a company makes about the humans with whom it does business. HR technology of Visage Ventures offers employers and job seekers the chance to find suitable candidates and employment opportunities. HR executives, like other business professionals, are increasingly seeking to utilize the power of computing and the internet to improve process effectiveness. A new generation of products has evolved which can, in tandem, address all steps within the recruitment process.

Many companies fail to adequately plan and precisely define their requirements before they begin the recruitment process. Much recruiting is reactive, i.e. to replace resignations or terminations or the sudden emergence of projects which should have been notified months before.

Often information given to recruiters is based upon a top-down process. We contend that a proactive, bottom-up process is also beneficial where there is a real involvement of the workplace in determining the required skills and competencies, and making or at least validating a precise description and tenure statement.

The first step in hiring approval is to ensure the job is properly defined and meets the needs of the hirer. Applications should include libraries of job competencies and skills preferably extracted from the existing employee base.

The next step in hiring approval is to submit the completed description together with costs, tenure, and other requirements to approvers. This limits ‘maverick’ hires and provides a measure of spend control.

Technology supplements but does not replace the ‘art’ of recruitment, the cornerstone of which is human contact, relationships and the ability to motivate people to opportunity and change. The application of this art is the main activity of staffing companies where technology is only an enabler, with success arising from their specialist knowledge of the candidate market, individual candidates, and their ability to attract, motivate and broker applicants with employers.

Another technology coming of age is the deployment of software that does intelligent matching, based on the extraction and evaluation of skills and other attributes from the candidate resume. Complex but powerful, this software uses probabilistic algorithms and natural language processing techniques.

The interview is an important component of the recruitment process. A number of hiring systems include standard interview questions and provision for post interview scoring.Most hiring systems include provision for interview scheduling, which may be integrated with corporate diary systems such as Outlook or Notes. Hiring systems may also include a standard ‘letter of offer’ and customizable ‘rejection letters’. Hiring systems may also record short-listed but rejected candidates for later contact and automate periodic contact management and tracking.

Information about the successful applicant(s) must be processed and incorporated into the company HRIS and payroll systems. Company intranets may also be used to announce the new appointment and starting date. Letters of offer, contracts with mutual obligations, salary and benefit information are initiated as required. Hiring systems may incorporate or be integrated into email systems and provide email and documents properly stored and indexed for future retrieval.

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

'Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job and being let in on things that are going on in the company.'

- Zig Ziglar, an American author

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

Save Your Sanity

If you’re doing head-stands and all kinds of acrobatics to keep a stable job and supporting you well in a volatile market, read on. You might just find exactly what you need to keep your head on right.

When reading through a favorite site of mine, I came across an article on ways in which we corporate employees can save our sanity in difficult times of volatile markets. It is both interesting and helpful and I’ve excerpted some portions which I thought you might like to read. Here they are:

Every morning I wake up to what seems like a list of two million things I think I need to get done before the sun sets. I used to push myself to the limit physically and mentally, but still rarely accomplished everything I had planned, and that left me frustrated and stressed. My solution? I came up with a list of five things to help me get more done without feeling so pressured. Believe it or not, none of them are "work harder" or "go faster."

Get…at the root of the problem, [don’t] just deal…with the symptom, the stress.

Spend a few moments [to] meditate…

Plan and organize. I have found that by planning my day the night before, I can free myself of much of the stress on even the busiest of days. I start with a list of everything I need to do or would like to do, set priorities, and pare down the list to what seems realistic. Then I plan the order in which to do them, including my route and travel times, estimating on the outside to allow for the unexpected. If everything doesn't fit, I cut some more. Having a solid plan sets my mind at ease.

Take breaks. Friends who work in offices, banks, schools, and other busy workplaces tell me, "That's impossible! I don't have the time for breaks." But I've found that a break doesn't have to take 30 minutes or an hour to be effective. Five minutes or less will usually do. I drink a glass of water and step outside for a deep breath of fresh air. Or if I can't do that, I look out a window or lean back and close my eyes. Relaxing physically helps to calm my mind. The next hour or two usually go so much better that it's clear those five minutes were a good investment.

Stay positive. No matter how carefully I plan my day, there are times when things go wrong or the unexpected happens. Instead of panicking or getting frazzled, I make a conscious effort to look for the good, to focus on possible solutions, not the problem.

So there you have it—five sanity savers that don't require any special genius, just a little discipline and practice.

If you have any other tricks and tips that help keep you sane, write in with it and we may just be able to sneak it into next months issue.

Article excerpts from activated.org

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)

Strategies for Success

Faced with a major project or challenge? You probably have a general idea of where you want to go, but you'll need a strategy, a plan of steps to take in order to reach that objective.

Planning is an investment. To plan wisely and well takes time, effort, patience‚ good research, and counsel. But a well-formed plan will pay for itself many times over.

There are many ways to create a strategy, but here are a few tried-and-proven principles that you might want to try:

Define your long-term objectives. What exactly do you hope to achieve? Spell each one out on paper in concrete, concise terms. For the greatest chance of success, narrow your focus to one or two primary objectives. You can take on more or diversify later.

Set short-term goals to reach your long-term objectives. In order to reach your long-term objectives, you will need steppingstones along the way. These should be smaller goals that together will get you to the final destination of your long-term objectives. They should be detailed and specific, concrete and measurable. If a goal isn't something that you'll be able to tick off as done, if it can't be quantified, then it's not specific enough.

Breaking down your goals into bite-sized pieces is crucial. The simpler and easier your goals are to reach, the better, because you'll see more immediate progress. It's easy to overestimate and shoot too high when setting your goals. It's also wise to realize that reaching big objectives takes time. Having a number of smaller goals will help keep the motivation level high, because you'll see more tangible progress. And every time you tick off one of your smaller goals, you're that much closer to your long-term objective.

Identify any obstacles. Once you have determined your long-term objectives and your short-term goals, you should take a look at any obstacles, or cons‚ or things that might stand in the way of achieving the results you're after. If you are alerted to potential problems, you can head them off by proactively praying for potential solutions.

Formulate a strategy. Once you have determined your long-term objectives and the short-term goals, you need a plan that includes specific tasks that will help you reach each of your short-term goals. Your plan must be realistic. A lofty plan may look impressive, but if it's too complicated or difficult to implement, it will never get off the ground and therefore be ineffective.

Assign the specific tasks that will be involved. Determine who will be responsible for each step, when they should have it done by, and if it's possible to know at this stage, how it should be done. Accountability is vital to success, as otherwise there will be no follow-through and no progress.

By POST A RESUME (www.postaresume.co.in)