Archive for June, 2011

Questions To Ask At A Job Interview – How To Get The Most Out Of An Interview

When you go to an interview you expect to answer a lot of questions. But have you thought about the questions you should be asking? An interview is a lot more than a way for the employer to get to know you. It is also your chance to learn about your employer and about the position offered. What you find out could make you realize that the job is not for you after all. Or it could reaffirm your stance that you really want the position. Before you meet with any potential employer you should compile a list of questions to ask at a job interview. Do not read from your list. Writing your questions down should serve as a memory aid only.

Before you compile your list study up on the company you are interviewing with. Find out how much compensation you should expect and how the company typically treats its employees. Think about the skills and qualifications you have to offer the company. How will you be able to best serve the company? The interview meeting provides the opportunity to learn the answers you seek but you need to have an idea of what you want to know before the interview so that you can get the most out of it.

No doubt the most important thing on your mind will be money. How much compensation should you expect? What types of benefits are offered? Don’t worry about appearing greedy. It’s your wallet. You might NEED to earn a certain salary level to survive. If a company cannot afford to pay you what you need you can save a lot of time if you know this before you go through the rest of the application process.

Ask what will be expected of you and what type of environment you will be required to work in. Do you think you can work in such an environment? What can you contribute to such an environment? You should also take this time to ask about performance reviews bonuses and raises. How will your work be appraised and by who? When will you be eligible for a raise? How much should you expect? These are all questions to ask at a job interview.

Bring up any other concerns that you may have. If youre looking for opportunity for advancement it would be nice to know beforehand if the company promotes within or hires management from outside the company. If you want to work for a communityminded company this is the time to find out how the company operates in the community.

If you forget questions to ask at a job interview but think of them later call the employer. Most people will be more than happy to address any concerns that you have.

About the writer:  CK Tan is the owner of JobAsiaSearch.com a web site dedicated to assisting job seekers secure a job in Asia. If you need help in your Asia job search or looking for a job opening in Asia visit http://www.jobasiasearch.com

How To Prepare For The Interview

The things that are tested during the interview are knowledge aptitude confidence interpersonal skills ability and desire to work hard. In addition to this your physical appearance good and clear way of communication would also be of good usage for the interview. Therefore the preparation for the interview includes the practice and improvement for all of these.

The knowledge and the questions that the interviewers generally ask is about the recent developments and events that are occurring that related field. For this you can read the magazines and websites related to your field. Be in touch with the friends who are related to the same field and exchange knowledge with them. Buy this way you can also get the information about the interviews that they may have undergone.

However prior to that the knowledge about the basic subject that you have learnt during the training is very important. Therefore even if you must have got very good marks in it it is important you practice and revise it before the interview.

During an interview when you answer one question the interviewer may ask a crossquestion on your answer. For answering this you have to think very quickly. Therefore a good practice is needed. You should practice selfinterviews several days before the interview. During this you can practice such question and answers. If you search the market you may find a guide or some book containing the questions related to your field. These would help a lot for the preparation. Alternatively they are also available online.

You should practice until you can fluently answer these questions one after other. There should not be any delay in answer. For this you can also ask someone to ask the questions and then you can practice the answers for that. This would not only practice the answers to the questions but it would also be helpful for gaining confidence in order to answer them to others.

However as knowledge is considered to be important for the interview so is the confidence and interpersonal skills. For gaining confidence you may practice orally the questions and answers that are generally asked for an interview. Practicing loudly would help well. This would also improve your voice and make you more comfortable for giving the answers. This would help you for speaking with comfort in front of many people.

The interpersonal skills are very crucial for working at any place. Therefore you should have the basic skills required for dealing with the other people.

The interviewers also are influenced by your physical presence. Moreover practice to have some patience and tenderness in your behavior. Most of the times the interviewers also check whether the aspirant gets easily angry or misbehaves when he loses his patience etc.

About the writer:  Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Job Interview for Years. For More Information on How To Prepare For The Interview Visit His Site at

The Under 30s Disloyal Greedy Scum Bags

Whats your view of younger workers? Our research shows most employers think they are disloyal demanding impatient job hoppers and thats ignoring the expletives.

Positive ? comments include Great if you can keep them.

Why so negative about the young? It seems to be a combination of:

1. Not understanding their major difference to previous generations: they will walk from bad jobs much faster than Boomers.

2. Easy excuse for employers to cover up their mismanagement; and for recruiters to cover their mistakes with Well you know what Gen Y is like. They just wont stick with a job!

3. And just because every generation in history has done it And why not? They have youth. They deserve it!

Does it matter that we demonise them? Well yes.

1. Employers are less keen to hire them contributing to the perceived skills shortage

2. It excuses employers from addressing the real issues of why they leave

Now modern society is great at creating a syndrome and then sticking a catchy label on it. A consulting industry grows up to fix that syndrome. So now we have Gen Y experts who will come and sort you out for a nice fee naturally!

What a waste of money. With managing Gen Y knowing just one thing is critical: they want the same things from a job as everybody else. It took some public humiliation for me to understand this.

Last year in a hotel down on the Yarra I was on my feet in front of 45 HR Managers imparting wisdom about recruitment. I get to the module Creating jobs Gen Y want and deliver my first pearl of wisdom.

A grizzled old HR manager interjected But I want that in my work so whats different? I made my 2nd point and he did it again.

It took 3 interjections for the penny to drop. Age doesnt matter we all want the same things from a job.

What may vary is how much of each bit we want the relative weighting we put on it. For example the young seek more fun at work than Boomers as they dont separate their work and social life as much. Also what each see as fun differs a little but fun remains key to both groups.

So they essentially want the same things from a job as the oldies however there is one BIG difference that really damages employers that leads to the demonisation.

They wont put up with being badly treated at work. Unlike bo

About the writer:  Toby is an active speaker on the international conference circuit. His mission: To give all companies no matter how few employees they have the information and expert help they need to do their own recruitment and selection and find great new staff. If you like what you have read so far you can get more information and resources at www.abacusrecruit.com.au