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Essential reading for the creative writer…. More >>

About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews

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You Are Our Voice: Articles, Essays & Interviews About Global Women Entrepreneurs and Women’s Issues Intrepid international consultant Susanne E. Jalbert, Ph.D., profiles dynamic women entrepreneurs in transitioning and developing countries. Women business owners face tremendous practical obstacles such as accounting, banking, legal, and taxation issues along with social and cultural problems like surviving the local Mafia. Meet courageous women who cha… More >>

You Are Our Voice: Articles, Essays, and Interviews About Global Women Entrepreneuring and Women’s Issues

Interview Questions Can Decide About Your Job. If you know all answers of all Job Interview Questions then may be you can be the best candidate for that job. A job interview typically precedes the hiring decision, and is used to evaluate the candidate. The interview is usually preceded by the evaluation of submitted résumés from interested candidates, then selecting a small number of candidates for interviews. Potential job interview opportunities also include networking events and career fairs. The job interview is considered one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees. It also demands significant resources from the employer, yet has been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal person for the job. Preparing for the Interview Know yourself. Know what your personal and career goals are, and how they fit with the company’s goals. It can be a good idea to do some research on the company beforehand, to get an idea of what it does, what it believes in and even who the company works with or competes against. You should also study the job description carefully, and be able to talk about the skills you have that are listed in that description, as well as other skills that may apply to the position. Be able to discuss where or how you acquired these skills, and how you might best put them to use for the company. Practice answering questions. While this may seem silly, it will go a long way to preparing you for an interview. Nerves and adrenaline make people inclined to rush or babble, two things that should be avoided during an interview. Practicing beforehand will help to combat this. Most interviews will consist of fairly similar questions. Some will, of course, be specific to the job and company, but you will likely always be asked about past jobs, past projects, hobbies and interests, your ability to work as part of a team and/or to be a leader. Keep your answers brief and to the point, without leaving out any important information. Always focus on the positive. Dress well. Regardless of a winning personality or stunning intelligence, much of a first impression is based on physical appearance. Follow the old adage to “dress for success” and demonstrate by your attire and how you carry yourself that you are professional, organized and confident. During the Interview The first few minutes are crucial; studies have shown that interviewers form their overall impression of applicants within the first four minutes of the interview. Be sure to keep in mind the following basic things: Stand tall. Make eye contact. Shake hands firmly. Be polite; use the formal address of Mr., Ms., unless invited to do otherwise. Wait for invitation; do not sit until invited to do so. Sit straight and tall and look attentive and enthusiastic. All of these things indicate that you want to be there and that you are calm, confident and professional. What to Expect All interviews have certain basic elements in common. You have to studty the Interview Questions before going for interview. Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many candidates or the job is particularly challenging or desirable. Earlier rounds may involve fewer staff from the employers and will typically be much shorter and less in-depth. A common initial interview form is the phone interview, a job interview conducted over the telephone. This is especially common when the candidates do not live near the employer and has the advantage of keeping costs low for both sides. Once all candidates have been interviewed, the employer typically selects the most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer. It is very important to be well prepared for an interview. According to the University of Delaware’s career center, a common reason employers give for not hiring an applicant is the inability of the applicant to fully explain the contents of his or her resume. Therefore it is paramount to be able to discuss in detail every item listed on one’s resume, and if possible to give examples when appropriate. It is also wise to research the company before the interview and to avoid being nervous, the applicant should also practice answering difficult questions.

Job interviews are typically the last stage in the hiring process, used to evaluate the best candidates. Interviews are usually preceded by the evaluation of supplied résumés, selecting a small number of candidates who seem to be the most desirable (shortlisting).
A company seeking to fill a single position will typically interview a handful of candidates – perhaps as many as ten if the level of application has been high. While job interviews are considered to be one of the most useful tools for evaluating potential employees, they also demand significant resources from the employer and have been demonstrated to be notoriously unreliable in identifying the optimal person for the job.
Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many candidates or the job is particularly challenging or desirable; earlier rounds may involve fewer staff from the employers and will typically be much shorter and less in-depth. A common intitial interview form is the phone interview, a job interview conducted over the telephone. This is especially common when the candidates do not live near the employer and has the advantage of keeping costs low for both sides.
Once all candidates have had job interviews, the employer typically selects the most desirable candidate and begins the negotiation of a job offer.
A typical job interview has a single candidate meeting with between one and three persons representing the employer; the potential supervisor of the employee is usually involved in the interview process. A larger interview panel will often have a specialized human resources worker. The meeting can be as short as 15 minutes; job interviews usually last less than two hours. The bulk of the job interview will be the interviewers asking the candidate questions about their history, personality, work style and other relevant factors to the job. The candidate will usually be given a chance to ask any questions at the end of the interview. The primary purpose is to assess the candidate’s suitability for the job, although the candidate will also be assessing the corporate culture and demands of the job on offer.
Lower paid and lower skilled positions tend to have much simpler job interviews than more prestigious positions; a lawyer’s job interview will be much more demanding than that of a retail cashier.
Most job interviews are formal; the larger the firm, the more formal and structured the interview will tend to be. Candidates generally dress slightly better than they will be expected to wear to work, with a suit being appropriate for a white-collar job interview, but jeans being appropriate for an interview as a plumber.
Additionally, some professions have specific types of job interviews; for performing artists, this is an audition where the emphasis is placed on the performance ability of the candidate.
Psychometric testing may also be used in job interviews.
In many countries including most of North America, Western Europe and Australasia, employment equity laws forbid discrimination based on a number of classes, such as race, gender, age, and marital status. Asking questions about these protected areas in a job interview is generally considered discriminatory, and constitutes an illegal hiring practice. Asking questions that touch on these areas, such as “Are you willing to travel/relocate?” (possibly affected by marital status) or “When did you graduate from school?” (indicative of age) is still usually possible.
There is extant data which puts in question the value of Job Interviews as a tool for selecting employees. Where the aim of a job interview is ostensibily to choose a candidate who will perform well in the job role, other methods of selection provide greater predictive power and often lower costs. Furthermore, given the unstructured approach of most interviews they often have almost no useful predictive power of employee success.

   INTERVIEW ABOUT SUCCESS, HAPPINESS AND A MORE MEANINGFUL LIFE                            

 

The following is an interview by Darryl Mobley–http://www.darrylmobleylifebalance.com–featuring June Stepansky–poet, writer and creator of the self-help web-site A Different Voice–poetry, opinion and the exploration of a happier lifestyle http://home.att.net/~adifferentvoice/   1. From your perspective what is the most important key to achieving personal success? Before this question can be answered, we must define what we mean by personal success. Many of us equate personal success with power and financial success, and indeed we must have enough self-esteem and enough financial security in our lives to feel confident that we are meeting our necessary responsibilities, but in my definition of personal success we must view our lives in all of its varied aspects. That means attention must be paid not only to our work and our careers, but also to our personal needs–health, recreation, personal relationships and  growth.  In today’s fast paced environment, this takes a special commitment to dedicate ourselves to planning and balance.    2. What are the common barriers that block a person from achieving success?  Again we must define which type of success we are seeking, because the two separate definitions of success demand different strategies and follow different paths. Financial and career success demand that we learn to work hard, pick ourselves up from our failures and continue to constantly do what is necessary to move forward toward our goals, making success the first priority in our lives. If we make this choice then we can be confident that we will eventually succeed.    Success in one’s personal life has a different path. Our own private needs and our personal relationships must then become part of our decision making process. These more personal decisions may take time and energy away from our drive toward our financial and career success.  Each person must make his own decision as how to continue to move forward, but each decision that is made has its consequences.  If we choose career success at any cost then the personal side of our lives may suffer. If we choose our personal success path, then we may make less money and feel perhaps a lesser sense of achievement in our careers.   Therefore the barrier to achieving success is really our own conflict about these choices, and the difficulty in deciding what our choices should be. Once we make our decisions, we can then move quickly toward our selected goals.         3. What are the keys to effective goal setting?             There are two ways that we set our goals. One is outer driven and one is inner driven. The outer driven goals are the goals that others set for us. They may be set by our friends, our neighbors, the society in which we live or the prevailing values of our time. The second way we discover our goals is inner driven. It is an internal system which show us what we would like to personally achieve. It is this inner voice that whispers to us who we are and how we can achieve our unique potential. Before we can achieve our goals we must know ourselves well enough to know what goals we want to achieve, and be sure they are our own goals and not the goals that others have set for us. When we know what we really want to accomplish, it is then easier to take those steps which help us to achieve those goals.     4. What 2-3 core “things” do you believe are part of living an extraordinary life?      For me the extraordinary life is not so much about what a person achieves or what others think of him, but rather how he views his own life and his own achievements in terms of his loving relationships and his competence in adjusting to the difficult demands of living with strength and with dignity, so that he can say when he looks back over the passing years “I have been grateful for the gift of life. I have tried to continue to learn and grow. I have tried to have the courage to follow my internal honesty.”  This more examined life is an extraordinary life because it leads to more balance, more contentment and to the fullfillment of each individual’s personal vision.  5. What has life taught you that you would like to share with others?  Life is a marvelous, continuing journey. Every day is a challenging adventure with opportunities for new insights, growth and change. With thoughtful planning and good decision making skills we are more able to have some control over our days and to achieve that ultimate goal of leading happier, more fullfilled lives.    6. Biography  Interview questions by Darryl Mobley–Life Balance http://www.darrylmobleylifebalance.com

 

Interview answers by June Stepansky. She is a  published poet and writer who has a monthly web-site on the internet.  A DIFFERENT VOICE –Poetry, opinion and the exploration of a happier lifestyle http://home.att.net/~adifferentvoice/(Free self-help articles)