interview advice

If I see that phrase “time out of your busy schedule” one more time in a thank you letter to potential employers, I shall SPIT. It is such a cliché, there is no excuse for using it ever under any circumstances. Remember, this blog is called “Margaret says” and this is one of those times  when Margaret says and isn’t going to listen to any “Yes, but what if”…Please don’t ever use it. Actually, if I had ten dollars for every time I’ve read it in a thank you letter/email, I’d be sunning myself on a beach, not listening to the sounds of the OWS protesters

I read, ok, if I’m being honest with myself, quickly scan through all these tedious articles on my Internet home page (not saying which one, because my colleagues use other ones, and they’re all as bad as each other, the home pages, not my colleagues), giving career advice. They all seem to have numbers in the titles, to attract your attention: 5 things to say in interview, 10 things not to say in interview, 3 tips for the perfect cover letter, 5 things not to do in the office, 2 words that’ll get you the job, 4 things not to

You went on a job interview. You prepared/could have prepared a bit better. You dressed in your interview best/you couldn’t dress appropriately because your boss would have guessed immediately what you were up to. You did your best/you weren’t on your game and totally blew it. You were the best candidate around but they put the position on hold/you were not even close to being the best candidate around. You thought before the interview it was the ideal job/during the interview you realized this would be a horrible fit.   All of the above  scenarios have ended up in your not being offered the

**with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her fabulous romantic sonnet, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”.       1) You didn’t do your homework.  Mr/Ms Google is going to go to straight to heaven for coming up with a search engine that tells you everything you wanted to know, and sometimes more than you wanted to know, about all companies and most people. Depending upon the job, it may indeed sometimes be necessary to wade your way through annual reports but there are usually bite-sized bits of interesting information for you to chuck around

The last blog was about what not to say in interview, you know, the NORMAL dumb questions. This week, I thought I’d write about the absolute silliest things ever  that my colleagues have been told their candidates said on interview (not through Merit, I hasten to add)… You sometimes read articles like this on msn home page, but I thought I’d write about examples that I can swear actually happened (well, unless my colleagues were lying to me, of course, but that would never happen). I’d like to say that I’m relating these so you can learn from them. But

I have previously written about what to do when you get asked the tough questions, and when you get asked the same questions several times by different people for a specific job. This week, I thought it would be helpful to talk in more general terms about what NOT to say in a interview. You have the chance to blow it at the end of an interview when the interviewer smiles and asks, “Have you any questions for me?” This is notthe time for you to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. On the contrary, it gives you

Those of you who know me will be snorting in derision at the thought that I , Margaret, Queen of the vulgar, obscene, inappropriate language will be offering advice on what naughty words NOT to use in interview and, if you’re lucky enough to get the job, in those crucial first few months of employment. Not that you should refrain from swearing for 90 days and then feel that you can legitimately let rip. But once a company knows and loves you, they are more likely to smile indulgently at the little oopsies. We live in a world that is

Yup, that they do. Think about it, lads and lassies. Let’s start with the more mundane jobs – I don’t want to offend anyone with what I consider mundane but e.g. if you’re a minimum-wage barista, then you have to be pleasant to customers, or you’ll start affecting their revenue as customers disappear to the shop a couple of blocks away. You have to be nice to colleagues, too: My local supermarket has in recent months lost lots of friendly, helpful check-out staff because they couldn’t take the less-than-adorable store manager. At the other end of the scale, CEOs known

….today’s lesson, gals and guys, will be to talk about the wrongstuff when you visit an employment agency. First, though, please, a word about employment agencies from our point of view. We are here to help you find jobs, and to help our clients find the very best people to fill those jobs. We help our candidates, for free, with their resumes, with their interview techniques, with advice on how not to blow it. Candidates for their part should recognize that, friendly, helpful, and sometimes informal though we might be, we are still interviewing you, just as our clients do.

Usually it’s so simple deciding what to wear for interview and indeed on the job that it’s hardly worth discussing. But the younger generation has a different sensibility from boring old Margaret, so that it’s worth a blog article about it. Not that I, Margaret, am the one who decides what’s correct! It’s your potential employers who rule the roost. Here are the guidelines from a major insurance company (thanks for giving me permission to print, chaps)…. Insurance companies are a good standard for deciding what’s appropriate for a lot of New York companies. They are formal without being stuffy.

Lovely company, people seem normal and you could work happily with them. Good job, money and benefits. We’ve established therefore that you really want the job. But frankly, the interviewing team e.g. mixture of HR, managers and future colleagues haven’t quite got it together to co-ordinate questions & feedback. In the course of the interviews they all ask the same “difficult” question. Clearly they have all read the same book, “How to Interview People and Thereby  Impress Your Mother”. How do you answer so that you don’t sound stale? Worse, what if comes out that you gave an identical answer