Four weeks into my job search and I have a little more advice to impart. While I am in the Executive Assistant world, most of these recommendations are applicable in a majority of situations:
- The first interview will probably be a request for a 15-minute call from the HR recruiter. They received hundreds of resumes and picked you. If you took my previous advice, your resume was correctly formatted and truthful. Respond as requested (usually email) selecting the earliest time you can sit at a quiet desk for the call. Make sure your phone is charged and the ringer turned on (duh!)
- Immediately go online and learn everything you can about the company. This is your chance to make a great first impression, and knowing nothing about their company isn’t the way to do it.
- Have the company information, their job description, and your resume in front of you for reference.
- Prepare answers for questions about why you are looking, your current salary, and your expectations. Keeping this under the vest until you are offered a job no longer applies, particularly in administrative positions. In fact, most job sites ask for your salary during the application process. If you want more than your last job paid, be prepared to justify the statement (I was just short of an annual raise, for instance.)
- At the end of the interview it is ok to ask “What is the next step?” You need to know the timing if you are working on several opportunities.
- Send a thank-you email and express your interest in the position. A nice phrase is “your needs and my skills seem to be a good match and I am really looking forward to meeting the team.”
- Assuming you move forward, the next interview may still be on the phone, with the HR manager or head of a department. Be ready for the “best/worst job, boss, co-worker, experience” questions. Prepare those answers before being asked. Good responses are all over the internet.
- At this point, start responding to questions as if you already work there. Use “we” answers. Talk about departmental co-operation, how your skills apply to the specific job description, and how you will contribute to the bottom line. Ask again about the next step.
- At last, the in person interview. All of the above applies. And for heaven’s sake, dress for success. Even if the company is in jeans, you should be dressed respectfully and conservatively. Overdressing is as bad as underdressing. Lose the excess jewelry, strong makeup, and short/tight/low anything. Wear flats or low heels. Guys – a suit, if you have one. Sport coat, long sleeve shirt, and tie if you don’t. And shave!
- Once an offer is made, a background check may be done. If the check will expose anything negative, play offense, not defense. Call the HR manager or recruiter when you sign and return the authorization forms, and explain it in the best possible way. We all have something that may show up – including getting fired at one point in our career or an ex-husband that forced us into bankruptcy.
- Lastly, comparing offers: consider salary, benefits, and the balance of your work/personal life. Once an offer is upcoming it is perfectly all right to ask for a benefits matrix. After all, you want to give the offer as much due diligence as they are giving you.
Good luck on your search and I hope you have received benefit from my experience.