How to Get the Job you Want – 6 Simple Tips
As an ex-contractor I have attended many job interviews for contracts so I thought I’d list six steps to help you be prepared for leaving a lasting impression on the interviewee.
- Do your research
As the old saying goes, “fail to plan and plan to fail”. There are certain questions that you are bound to be asked during an interview. Obviously, as a freelancer or contractor you are going to be asked about projects you have worked on and the skills you have but you may also be asked what you know about the firm you are looking to work for. So, be prepared, talk to the agent that is putting you forward for the contract if there is one, look up the prospective client on the Internet before you go to the interview and find out what they do, how big they are and so on. Also take a look on the web for developments relating to the industry that your prospective client is in. - Practice your answers
As mentioned above, you are likely to be asked about your previous projects and experience you have. While some of the projects may be confidential (depending on the industry you have worked in – finance for example) there are many ways you can tell people about the projects without giving too many “secrets” away. You should also have thought about your answers to questions about your personal strengths and weaknesses and well as being able to explain why you would be the best person for the job. - Look the part
It doesn’t hurt to dress well for the interview – make sure your shoes have been polished and your clothes fit. Also take a look at our article on smelling good at work as you should also make sure that you don’t overdo the perfume or aftershave. remember that the interview is likely to be in an office or meeting room and you don’t want to overpower the interviewer. - Stay calm
If you have prepared well it will help you to stay calm in what is a stressful situation. Remember to breathe deeply and if you need a moment or two to think of an answer to a question say so, don’t be pressured into answering quickly as you will start to “umm and err” and this makes you look indecisive. Another good tip is to double check the time and place that the interview is (and the date – I know someone that turned up for a job interview a day early, although he did end up getting the job) and plan the route so that you know how long it will take you to get there. - Ask questions
When doing your research think about the questions that you might want to ask the interviewer. These could range from questions about the firm you are hoping to work for, the project that you will be working on, about the team you will be working with, and any
deadlines that there may be. I’ve read in the past that it’s a good idea to aim to have a list of 5 questions ready to ask. - Communication
Remember to speak clearly, smile and greet the interviewer with a firm handshake. Make sure that you maintain eye contact with the interviewer. Having said that, make sure that you mirror the actions of the interviewer – if they are business-like and sit upright in their chair make sure you do the same thing, but if they are laid back and relaxed then you should be able to relax a little as well. Finally, don’t forget to thank the interviewer for any help and their time.
Of course, you may be lucky and be in the situation where you know the interviewer, they know that you can do the job and they want you to do it so the interview is a formality, but most times this will not be the case and I hope that the about hints will help you get the job.
Managing Customer Expectations
This blog post has been inspired by a friend who rescues animals and gives them a “for-ever” home. The time came when her “pet room” needed to be re-organised as the number of cages had exceeded the space available.
Having spent time looking around on the net and saving money she placed an order for 5 double cages (the equivalent of 10 cages – yes, she has that many pets) and was told that the items were on back order and should be delivered to her on the 26th March, about 3 weeks after the cages were ordered. She accepted this date, handed over more than £1,000 to get the cages and started to plan the layout of the room with the new cages.
Imagine her disappointment when the 26th came and went and she got an email saying that the cages would now be with her on the 13th April due to “the manufacturers not delivering the cages yet”. Once again the 13th came and went and a new delivery date of the 16th was confirmed. On the 17th she phoned up to see where the cages were to be told that they had been delayed coming in “yet again” and had only arrived that morning and they would be delivered “tomorrow or the day after”. They finally turned up just after 5pm in the 19th (the day after) much to her relief, and just before she was going to contact the credit card company and ask if she could dispute the charge as the goods had failed to arrive.
As you can imagine when the cages were first ordered she was excited and told all of her family and friends about the cages and told people about the site that she found them on. Because of the way that the process went on the comments left on Facebook and made to friends took on more and more of a disappointed tone which can then lead to poor customer testimonials (not something that any business wants) – see our page on why testimonials work for reasons why you want good testimonials.
If you think about this story you can see that with a little bit of pro-active handling by the company involved and managing her expectations a little better, the comments, upset and risk of bad publicity would have been greatly reduced.
If you run you a business that deals with customers ordering items ask yourself this question – is it better to promise something will be done by the following Monday and then not be able to deliver it until the Wednesday or would it be better to promise that it will be done by Friday and then contact them to say that it’s coming in early?
I’d love to know what you think about this and how you manage your customer expectations, just leave a comment in the form below.
Company Car MOTs and Servicing
It struck me recently that many people driving business vehicles run the risk of forgetting when a service or the annual MOT is due. I know that I tend to forget when my service is due and only remember my MOT date when I turn the diary over and see that it’s marked on the next page and I suspect that many business owners are the same – there are just too many things to remember when you are running your own business.
Part of the problem is that its the vehicle owner’s responsibility to ensure that the due MOT test is carried out on time as there is no official reminder for MOTs unlike the tax disc reminder that you get from the DVLA.
Remember that, as you can see at this page on the direct gov site, the penalty for driving a vehicle on the road with an expired MOT certificate is either a fixed penalty notice from the police, currently £60, or a court fine up to a maximum of a £1,000 (something that would most people would baulk at).
This gave me an idea for a business venture so I decided to to a little bit of research in the coming months to see if anyone else had come up with the same idea and get a feeling for the possible market.
Then, today I got a new twitter follower @GoodGarages as a result of a tweet that I had made – as I always do with new followers I checked out their profile to see what they were about and to see if they were “worth” following (it’s amazing how many people follow just anyone without thinking if the person they are following worth it, almost as if the idea is to get as many followers as possible and the only way to do this is to follow anyone). When I looked as their website I was a little disappointed, but not surprised to see that someone else had come up with an MOT reminder service and had implemented this.
So… for me it’s back to the drawing board but if you are a small business that runs a car or van it might be worth you looking at the good garages site to see if their reminder service would be of any use to you.
