Michael DeSafey | Executive Recruiter and HR Professional
Informal Interviews – The New Casual Interviewing Environment!!
Informal Interviews – The New Casual Interviewing Environment!!
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing. I have seen many interviews conducted in such an informal setting that they could be considered a conversation rather than an interview; don’t let the setting confuse you..
We are now in a world where everything we do is becoming more and more casual and interviews are no different. Many employers are now trending towards a much more casual and comfortable interview style – the “Informal Interview”. This is most often a meet up for a cup of coffee, quick breakfast or snack and can leave the interviewee confused as to how to proceed, even with simple aspects such as what to wear.
Don’t forget an interview is an interview and you should prepare this informal gathering much the same way you would for a traditional interview. You should still dress just as you would if it was being held in their office. Complete your recommended research on the company so you are educated about your interviewer, their company and what type of employee they value and hire. You should still be prepared to explain your strengths, career plan and goals, the value you bring and how your expertise makes you the ideal candidate. Always bring extra copies of your resume and any samples of work would normally want to have to help present yourself as a very organized and professional manner.
Unlike a traditional interview however, you will usually have more of an opportunity to ask questions and to learn more about their company than you would normally have. There is also the pitfall of allowing the casual setting to let yourself slip into a more casual way of speaking – keep it professional and appropriate – remember, it’s still an interview. It’s not uncommon for an offer to be extended to you in this informal setting, and you should be prepared with how you want to handle this and proceed.
At the end of the interview make sure you get a business card and promptly write and send out a thank you note, as you normally would. When the check comes, it is traditional that the interviewer takes care of it, as they invited you there.
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com). To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Are You Qualified? Succeeding In A Qualification Interview..
Are You Qualified? Succeeding In A Qualification Interview..
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing. I have seen many extremely qualified candidates never get past the first qualification stage of the interview process, due to lack of preparedness..
In a Qualifications Interview setting the interviewer is seeking precisely information about what makes you qualified for the opportunity – your skills, past experiences and qualifications.
They are seeking to obtain information on the qualifications you possess and how well they pertain to the position they are hiring for. You will need to choose your answers carefully to allow yourself to concisely, yet completely, demonstrate how your experience directly relates to their needs.
This is an interview where you can expect lots of demonstrative questions about your past and how well it has prepared you to go further with their company. You can expect a series of questions like:
(1) Why do you want this job?
(2) What qualifies you for this job?
(3) Why should we hire you, what can you do for us?
(4) Why are you the best candidate for this opportunity?
(5) How do you measure success?
(6) What makes you a team player?
(7) Tell me about your successes? What are your strengths?
(8) Tell me about your failures? What are your weaknesses?
Everything about this interview revolves around your experience and how it has helped you to become the perfect candidate for the position you are interviewing for. As you provide your answers you should also be prepared to follow them up with solid examples and explanations of how it will benefit your prospective employer in the future.
As with any interview don’t forget how important it is to make sure that your answers to these questions match any previous answers you have given, as they are also looking for honesty, consistency and integrity.
In addition it is important to make sure that you are prepared to speak with potential employers when they call. If you need to let the call go to voicemail so that you have the advantage of listening to the message and properly preparing yourself before returning the call, do not hesitate to do so.
A little preparedness can go a long way when you begin the interviewing process; especially during the qualification interview stage. Do not let a qualification interview impede your success; this is the time to showcase your abilities and qualification’s.
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com). To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Video Conference Interviews – Set The Stage!!!
Video Conference Interviews – Set The Stage!!!
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing I have seen many extremely qualified candidates get intimidated by a video conference interview situation.
As more and more people are relocating for business these days and technology advances the video conference interview is becoming more and more common in the interview process. This type of interview speeds up the interview process for employers and allows both the candidate and interviewer the opportunity to “feel out” a situation without a significant commitment to time and travel.
Don’t let the camera and microphone intimidate you – it’s just a normal interview after all!!
If however, you are not familiar with the technology behind using your webcam; make sure you allow time to learn the hardware and software technology before the interview, by testing the webcam and conducting a mock interview on your own before the actual interview. Set the stage, test things out, and practice your video conference interview skills beforehand.
Beyond the technology aspect you should treat this just like a regular interview. Make sure you do your preliminary research on the company and the position itself just as you would any other in person interview. Dress just as you normally would (proper pants/skirt too in case you stand up or move around) and make sure to create an interview friendly atmosphere around you. Eliminate any distractions, phone ringers, radios, and other people talk around you. Make sure any information you may need or want to refer to, as well as, a glass of water is in front of you.
Be aware of what may be showing in the background and clean up any distractions and clutter. Utilizing the picture in picture feature also will allow you to be aware of just what the interviewer is seeing from your end. On that same note be aware that the microphone will also amplify all the noises around you. So the pen you are tapping, the paper you are shuffling or foot you are tapping will probably add to background noise and be a distraction during the interview.
When in doubt just treat this as though you were in the same room with the interviewer and let your conduct follow the traditional expectations of any in person interview.
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com). To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Surprise?? Are You Ready For An Interview!!
Surprise?? Are You Ready For An Interview!!
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing I have seen many extremely qualified candidates in an interview situation get caught off guard with surprise or unexpected questions.
Surprise! Whether it’s a single question or the entire interview, it’s almost guaranteed to stop you in your tracks! Unfortunately for those in the interview process this is becoming a trend and many more interviewers are utilizing this technique. Sometimes the questions are more thought provoking but simple, “when can you start” or “what would you ask if you were me?” Many large companies are known for their weird or offbeat questions like “how many
cows are in Canada”, “rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 of how weird you are”, “how many basketballs can you fit into this room”, “if you could be any superhero – who would it be”, and “what would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle”?
A surprise question is meant to throw you off and give you pause for a moment. It not only tests how you handle stress under pressure but is also meant to test your creativity. When presented with this type of questions make sure to keep your calm and remain composed. Take a moment to consider how you want to answer the question and then do so when you have formulated the perfect answer. Just remember this is just a test to see beyond your professional facade and get a glimpse into your personality; there really is no right or wrong answer to these questions..
The entire interview a surprise? More and more employers these days tend to be calling potential employees and springing a surprise interview on them. While they are growing in popularity they are bad business for both interviewer and interviewee. The interviewee is ill prepared, unfocused on the interview, and possibly not even somewhere that they can easily handle their end of the interview. The employer is definitely not going to get a realistic picture of the candidate and the candidate is often afraid to say it’s a bad time to talk for accurate fear of not getting a call back. If possible the best way to take back some control of this process is to simply screen your calls while job searching. This will give you the opportunity to prepare yourself and find a quiet spot to return the call when it’s convenient to your schedule.
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com) . To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Behavioral Interviews…Shine With The STAR Method!!
Behavioral Interviews…Shine With The STAR Method!!
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing I have seen many extremely qualified candidates lose an opportunity because they get tripped up in a behavior interview situation.
During a traditional interview the employer is looking to determine if you will be a good fit for their company based on questions about how you might handle future situations as they arise. In a behavioral interview the employer is more interested in how your past work history would make you a good candidate for a future position and tends to be very job specific. They will seek examples that demonstrate you already possess the skills they have deemed necessary for the position you are interviewing for. Your strengths and weaknesses are not nearly as important as what you have actually done; in this type of interview.
Prior to any interview it always a good idea to review your work history, past situations and events that you have dealt with and be prepared to present this to a potential employer in an interview situation. Take some time to review not only the position description but also their website, literature and other company material. You should be aware of what the company is about and what they expect from their employees. Carefully consider the skills that they will likely require of an employee and be prepared to show that you already have a history of successfully demonstrating them in past employment, always being specific with the when and how.
When answering questions you should always refer to the STAR method; Situation (describe what the situation was), Task (what goal did you hope to achieve), Action (what did you do to reach your goal, and Result (be able to explain how you, specially, achieved the goal in the end).
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com) . To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Panel Interviews….Are You Ready For A Grilling?
Panel Interviews….Are You Ready For A Grilling?
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at Webuild Staffing. I have noticed that most candidates are the most stressed and worried about a panel interview.
Even the most experienced and dedicated professionals dread this type of interview. Sitting in a room, with 3 to 10 people forming opinions about you can be stressful, especially when you are interviewing for a position you really want.
As the name implies this is an interview with a group of people. Sometimes it will be with everyone all together at one time, but sometimes it may also be with the members of the panel separately, wherein they will come together to meet, discuss and determine how they each felt about the applicant.
Try to research the individuals on the panel ahead of time if you know who they will be so that you can best prepare for who you will be meeting with. This should also help you prepare yourself with a custom question that you can ask each one at the end of your interview as well as to help you engage with even the most quiet member of the panel. When meeting with a panel it is even more important to remain calm and avoid the appearance that you may be intimidated by the members and the more knowledge you have about them ahead of time the better chance you have of remaining calm during the process.
As with any interview you should also be prepared with a story that shows off your past work history and how well your skills fit into the position they are hiring for. If you are interviewing with the panel members separately or in groups, make sure you take notes about what each asked and how you answered, as well as any information about the job or company that you were able to obtain, and whom you obtained it from to ensure consistency with multiple interviews.
The key to these types of interviews are to be prepared, be confident in your skills and qualifications. Address questions in a straightforward and direct manner; relating past experiences to the interviewers questions. The abilities to link your past with how you can benefit this new employer will make a panel interview a fun and rewarding experience. More like a backyard BBQ rather than a Grilling..
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com) . To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com
Frustrated With The Interview Process??
Frustrated With The Interview Process??
As a professional recruiter who has been working recruiting professionals in the environmental, engineering and construction industries for over 18 years now at www.webuildstaffing.com. I have seen many extremely qualified candidates get frustrated with employers interview processes.
Each employer seems to have their own thought-out process; but for qualified candidates an initial Screening interview can be a frustrating and an unneeded step in the eyes of an experienced candidate.
Screening interviews have become more and more common in today’s economy as there are an unbalanced number of applicants per job position and employers no longer have the time for a traditional interview of all applicants. A screening interview is typically a pre-interview done to make sure the applicant is adequately qualified for the position they have applied to. This is usually a brief interview and often done over the phone or, sometimes, over a webcam before sending the applicant through to the rest of the interview process. It the screener’s primary task to make sure you are as qualified as you claim to be, are not overpriced for the position they have open and have been truthful on your resume.
While this is a general interview is typically done with someone other than the actual decision maker it is still vital to the process, as this is just first step of many. Don’t forget to treat the screener with the same respect you would to their superior as your attitude will likely be reported, whether good or bad. Overall, however they are not making a judgment on your personality, this is more about checking facts and selecting the best qualified to send through to begin the formal interview process. It is imperative that you are very familiar with any and all information listed on your resume and are prepared to confirm the facts listed. If possible you may even want to have your resume with you to refer to, if necessary.
The goal for a candidate in this step is to be respectful, communicate your experience, qualifications and genuinely express your interest in the opportunity. Always get the interviewers name, phone number and gain an understanding of the specific employers hiring process to be aware of what to expect and how to follow-up throughout the interview process.
Michael DeSafey is a leading executive recruiter for professionals in the construction, engineering and environmental industries. He is currently the President of Webuild Staffing (www.webuildstaffing.com) . To learn more about Michael or Follow his Blog please visit www.michaeldesafey.com