Behavioral Based Questions: PAR

Employers are looking for  individuals who are problem solvers. They are looking for individuals who are able to find issues that may be detrimental to the employer’s success.  These individuals should not only find issues, but also be active in  finding the solutions to those issues.  Many organizations have developed behavioral base questions to determine how a job candidate has resolved issues in the past.  These questions are normally asked during a phone interview or a fact-to-face interview.  To be able to answer any behavioral base question, one must  simply state the following: 1) what was the problem that needed to be solved? 2) what actions did one take? 3) what was the result?

Let’s discuss what problems a person might need to solve. According to dictionary.com, a problem is “any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.” In other words, a problem that you will discuss during an interview should not be considered easy to solve. The problem can be very specific and can usually be a time when you helped out an individual, team or an organization solve a issue that seemed implausible to solve effectively without your assistance.  Problems are bound to happen in life and in business. Employers want to know that you have encountered challenges that test your abilities.

Another important part of answering behavioral questions is being able to state the action. The actions have to show that you, the problem solver, took a positive step to solve a problem. State at least one or more actions that have been taken, as a result of making an effort to solve the action at hand. The key here is to use strong action verbs: led, conducted, scheduled, initiated, advertised, build, created.  Saying these action words is crucial, because employers do not want to hire people who are laid back and are not active participants in solving issues. They want individuals who are able to grab the bull by the horns and are able to be the solution to the problem.

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The last step in answering the behavioral question is results. The results should always end in a positive note. It must show that you had positive results: increased awareness, increase business by 10%, average 25% more contacts, learned from a mistake etc. There are times you might be asked about a time when you had failed on a project or had to deal with a difficult person. This is not a time to be negative and say that you failed at this project or you did not like a specific person. Even if you had difficulty solving a problem, you can always state what you have learned from having those difficulties that were not solved and how that experience will help you in the job that you are applying for. Let’s face it. We are all human and as human beings, we all make mistakes. Employers hire people and not droids. However, Always remember to end the results portion on a positive note.

Behavioral based questions are a way that employers can see whether you are able to solve problems. It is a crucial time for the candidate to display to the interviewer that he/she has encountered problems that caused the candidate to act, and that those actions had results that were either positive or that there was something to learn from those results. If you want to be successful at interviewing, answer all behavioral questions this way.

The Power of a Smile

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I believe it was Louis Armstrong that first said “When you are smiling, keep smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” I think Louis was definitely on to something.  The power of a smile is so infectious that this technique will increase your chances of getting the job that you want.

You need to portray a sense of friendliness when you are networking.  People do not want to help out someone who looks sad and timid at social networking events. Often times, those who do not smile are seen as social outcast or not approachable.  So, the majority of people that approach individuals who do not smile may be somewhat intimidated and probably won’t help that individual with their career endeavors.  Whether you are going to a networking meeting or meeting a contact for coffee, you have to remember to smile on a consistent basis. This will make you seem more friendlier.

Another great opportunity to smile is during the phone interview.  I know that many people might think.  Huh?  Why should I smile during a phone interview?  One may say, The interviewer can not see me.  How would they know my body language or mood based on hearing me on the phone.  Trust me.  A recruiter, even one with a week’s worth of experience, can tell the difference between a happy candidate and a depressed candidate.  It’s okay to feel down and depressed, but you should never under any circumstances display this emotion, during the interview.  People want to hire individuals that are enthusiastic.  Not smiling is the worst way to portray this.  If you smile more on phone interviews, not only will you sound more energetic, but this will increase your chances of getting a second interview.

One of the most important times to smile is during an in-person interview.  Yes, I said it; you need to be able to smile when you are trying to impress a company while persuading the hiring manager to hire you.  I know many of you are thinking.  But what if I am nervous that day?  Well, it is normal to be nervous during the interview. However, you need to calm your nerves and smile.  Even when you are smiling while you are a little timid, you won’t look as nervous. People who smile give the perception that they are pleasant to be around.  People who don’t smile give quit the opposite impression.  Sometimes not smiling can give a false impression of the candidate: not a team player, anti-social, or mean.  Despite the fact that many hiring managers may not smile during the interview, as part of a Jedi mind trick  that many recruiters like to use to make interviewees uncomfortable, you need to smile during interview.

When you smile, you become more likable and more people will tend to like you too. So, lose that frown and start smiling more.

80% Of Jobs Are Found Through Connections

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80% of jobs are not found through any website.  So, if you are like over 90% of job seekers, you are wasting a lot of time searching for positions that everyone else wants.  You might as well go out and buy $100 worth of lottery tickets this weekend with the hope of believing that you have a chance of winning millions of dollars.  Of course, I am only being sarcastic about buying lottery tickets, but I just want to point out how much of a time waster it is to solely apply to website post alone.

I have spoken to a few people that have spent many years searching for a job.  It pains me to see so many people unemployed in this economy.  Quite a few people believe that they can just ride out this economy and wait for jobs to open up or just keep aggressively searching for positions online.  Sadly, these same people will be searching for a position for a very long time if this is the only job tactic that they have.

The key to tapping into the hidden job market is to rely on people that you know or you have met to get you into the next level in your career.  It may seem very tedious at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become second nature to you.  The people that will help you are the very people that know you by name.

In the past 7 years, I have had a total of three jobs.  Getting these jobs would have been extremely difficult if I did not know someone who had a contact within any of these companies.  The first position that I got was from a Director of Hr who happened to be a close friend of a former professor, who I was introduced to at a coffee shop.  I obtained the second career opportunity through a referral from a friend for a position at Fortune 500 manufacturing company.  The third position was obtained through a referral who knew a corporate recruiter who was looking for a regional recruiter.  Guess What?  Only one of these positions was actually posted.

In order to find the job of your dreams, you can not solely rely on job postings on a company website.  If you wait until the job is posted on a website, you might be too late.  The people that you call friend, family, associate, or even acquaintance will help you with your job search.  If you just rely on applying to company postings, you may be frustrated.  Do not be like the majority of those who are only using online postings as a resource or you might be waiting a very long time to find your dream job.

How to Network Internally

When doing a career search internally, within your place of employment, remember that no one cares more about your future than you, not even your supervisor. This might seem to be common sense, but it is surprising the amount of people that I have spoken to that actually thought a supervisor really cared more about their career than they did.

Of course, there are supervisors that want to see their employees get better and possibly go to the next level within the organization. However, these supervisors are a rare breed. Ultimately, the purpose of the supervisor is to ensure that the department or team that they are responsible for is doing a great job and delivering results. Obviously, there are very subjective reasons for this.
First, the supervisor will be commended by her manager and secondly, this can lead to a pay increase got that supervisor.

In order to do a career search internally, you have to be willing to go on your own and do your own networking. You might want to start out by having lunch with decision makers of departments or teams that you want to be a part of. It wouldn’t hurt to have about 20 questions memorized that you would like to ask during those meetings.

How do you find these decision makers? You can either be introduced to them via other coworkers, which is the best option or send an email to them stating your interest in the department and that you are interested in learning more about their individual department. This might seem very uncomfortable, but please remember that to be successful you have to get out of your comfort zone.

You have to be very active in your career search. Do not expect your supervisor to assist you with going to another department. If you are an excellent worker, more than likely your supervisor will want to keep you in your current position. True success lies in ensuring that you take your career search by the horns and ensure that you direct your career the way that you want it.

You and Your Economy

The other night I was watching the Democratic National Convention (DNC). During the DNC, many of the president’s supporters stated that he has given 4.5 million jobs to the economy. Without any other facts, this is very impressive! However, if you look at the actual details, the jobs that he has given were primarily from the private sector.

This is not a post about political views, actually I like this president. However, I want to instill in you that only you can change your economy, not your mom, dad and certainly not a president. If you sit down and do nothing, guess what, you are going to have nothing.

The government is great for many things, but not for helping people find employment. How do you find jobs? You have to network, post to job sites (sparingly), and get out of the house by being productive.

Get out there. What are you waiting for?

An Introduction To Networking

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The best way to find employment in this job economy is to Network, Network, Network! Many of us have heard about how important it is do so but many of us do not really know how to do it. Well, you are just in luck. I would like to give you a brief introduction on networking. Whether you are new to networking or are a seasoned networker, you can learn a lot by reading this blog.

First of all, we must talk about what networking is not. Many people have the perception that networking is all about going to some job seekers meeting or industry association meeting while passing out business cards and that’s it. Yes, this is a form of networking. However, it is not an effective form of networking if you do this alone. Networking is not about making superficial connections with no follow up at all. If you only intend to meet or connect with someone once, then you are not networking.

The heart of networking is connecting with people. In this economy, those whom individuals will like to help out in their professional endeavors want to network with people that they can see as a friend not some perfect stranger that they’ll only meet once at a job seeker or industry association meeting. In order to be an effective networker, you will have to meet the person that you would like to network with various times. The truth of the matter is that people will probably not be comfortable helping you with your career search unless they have connected with you on three occasions.

In order to get your contacts to feel comfortable with helping you professionally, you have to build a level of comfort. After you have met a potential network contact, it is essential to reconnect with them shortly after you have met them for the first time. My general rule is that you should not wait longer than 3 days to reconnect with someone, because if you wait longer than this, your contact might forget about you. Normally, the best way to reconnect for the second time is via phone with the intentions to schedule a phone appointment, office meeting or break, lunch or dinner meeting.

When you connect with your contact for the second time, he or she will be more comfortable and see you more as a friend rather than a stranger. This is crucial! A contact will not help you unless they see you as a friend.

Remember, in networking, it is not about who you know, but who knows you. Start Networking Today!

About Myself

Hello Everyone,

My name is C.T. I am a HR professional within the Atlanta area and your personal career coach. I currently work for a Fortune 500 company located in Atlanta, GA. I am a Recruiter responsible for various regions within the United States.

Putting Americans back to work in this economy is my primary focus. How do I do this? By providing real world advice on how to find the job of your dreams and helping people to get out of dead end employment or underemployment situations. If you apply the techniques I teach, you can land that dream job.

This is not your average blog. I am about providing real world advice in a changing economy. The methods you would have used 10 years ago to find a job will not work in the current economic environment. Hence, the name of this blog…RealCareerAdvice.

It is for real people, seeking practical solutions and sound advice in these changing times.