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johnny sack posted:My question is: what do HR people think when they see someone who runs their own small company and is now applying for a job? How do I, as an applicant/interviewee, handle that on both my resume and when answering questions? I hope others can chip in on this but: I wouldn't see it as a problem, provided it was spun right. People work from self-employed to salaried all the time, and you could say things like "it was very useful at the time to run my own company in terms of taking care of the the family but now I want something different in terms of work etc. etc." Make it look as if it was a considered decision and you're not going to fly back to the company after a few months. Now, my own question: I'm in the job market again (having taken redundancy a few months ago, yay me) and so old interview questions keep popping up in my mind: * A few years ago, I applied for a fairly senior but non-management position. It was a surprise therefore when the HR rep started asking me all these questions about management techniques: "how would you manage a project", "how to you keep things on a schedule" etc. I work in a field (science / academia) where most management is frankly done by people without any special training, so this caught me off guard. I answered fairly well, using mostly common sense but (1) what sort of things should I look to say, (2) what could I study to brush up on this sort of stuff and (3) why would they have asked me this? * Similar situation but a different interview: I was asked how I would prioritize tasks from two separate groups. I replied that I would ascertain which was the most urgent, and the reply was that they were both equally urgent and both critical. This flatfooted me and I stumbled out that I'd look at the consequences of either task being delayed and then make the judgement. But I can't help but feel this was a trick question. Any ideas?
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Jun 19, 2013 11:57
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Looking for interview advice or impressions. I've snipped a lot of the details from my experiences, not so much for privacy but just to get the generic details down. I figure others must have encountered this sort of thing. I work in a technical / scientific field that's in demand and on the rise. Call it FooSci. A year ago, I was called in to interview as the core FooSci expert for a government research institute. Last week I was called in to interview as the head of a core FooSci an another institute. Pretty similar positions with pretty similar needs. Did the more recent interview better than the last, but was successful at neither. Both jobs sported the description of "FooSci is on the rise / we need more of it / what would your vision be for how you'd run it / how would you see the future of FooSci here". So I prepared and delivered a talk on the ever growing need for FooSci, how I'd deliver expertise with limited resources, how I'd do education and construct services to empower staff in FooSci tech. Seemed logical to me. In both cases, I got fairly tepid responses: * "You're right, it's what we need, but it will never happen." * "We don't have the time or resources to do this. We need to solve our FooSci problems now!" * "What do we need with all of this, we have plenty of FooSci expertise here already." * "How will you find the time to do any of this, our FooSci capacity is stretched to breaking!" * "This will take ages and we need an instant solution." (Note the contradictions.) Some of this is, no doubt, the usual interview questions that can't be answered. And part is maybe employers looking for a solution under impossible conditions. But advice on how to handle this would be appreciated.
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Dec 1, 2013 20:28
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Bisty Q. posted:Basically it sounds like you aren't giving them enough detail to make them feel like they can trust you to DO the job right now and that instead you are selling them ideas rather than answers. I'd focus more on short-term stuff even in your vision rather than giving a long-term goal and talk about how you specifically can help solve a short term pain point. If they don't list one, ask for one; that is allowed. You may have a point there. It's hard (nearly impossible) to work out their "point of pain" from the outside, but I'll see what I can do.
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Dec 2, 2013 21:20
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I just landed a job after an extended period of part-time / casual work and consulting. Admittedly my work is a bit unusual (scientific and academic) but I figured people might get some value - or comfort - out of my experiences: * You could drown under the all the advice people will give you about job-seeking and interviewing. You can't do or pay attention to it all and it's not all good. So don't get stressed out about it - look for the common points, the sensible ones, do that common 80%. * There is an incredible amount of bullshit out there: jobs that don't actually exist, jobs that are earmarked for someone already, jobs that are not what they were advertised as, jobs that are trying to get million-dollar skills for dime salaries. That's just the way it is. But there's a positive spin to this - your failure to get the job is often not your fault. * There's a few jobs that just keep getting advertised again and again, sometime for years. Rejoice in this - they can't get anyone to take their piece of crap or keep anyone in the position. * I automated my job search as much as possible with RSS feeds, mailing lists, alerts and so on. Then once day a week I went through all the results and selected out the ones that were worth pursuing. It means the job search isn't on your mind all the time, but when you're working on it, you're working on it. * I was reasonably liberal about what jobs I looked at or applied for. I figured that a job ad is an imperfect reflection of the actual job and in any event, the job will adjust the person employed. And indeed the job I eventually took didn't look so good on the initial ad. * T-format cover letters rule. It makes things severely easier for HR and anyone trying to make a shortlist. Use a T-format cover letter and you'll increase your rate of shortlisting. * Holy crap there are some terrible electronic application web systems out there. Explain how you are suited to the position in question, with reference to your skills, education and job history (300 characters maximum). * I frequently ignored questions they asked on application forms. What marks did I get at school? That's not relevant. What was my salary at my last job? Leave it blank. Didn't seem to harm my odds. * Interviews suck. A wise friend of mine made the observation that most are little better than show trials: looking for evidence to justify decisions that have already been made, consciously or subconsciously. And I had some toxic ones, ones that were adversarial or outrageous or betrayed how terrible the job was. One interviewer asked me detailed questions about how to do a particular piece of work ... while making notes not on me but on what I said. He was using me as an unpaid consultant. * Conversely, I think interviews can be very informative. Bad workplaces, relationships and problems will bleed through, particularly if you ask about them. Always ask, What's the worse thing about working here? Good, helpful bosses will be good and helpful in the interview. And an interview is at least practice for the next interview. nonathlon fucked around with this message at 22:59 on May 4, 2014 |
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May 4, 2014 18:25
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timp posted:Good information, thanks for that. I have an interview tomorrow and if I don't get this job I'll be officially "between jobs". Yikes! Be strong. They may be assholes, but you can use the interview for practice if nothing else.
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May 4, 2014 22:57
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Susical posted:What is a T-format cover letter Something like: "I'd like to apply for X job. Here is a comparison of your requirements versus my skills" Then a two column table with entries like "experienced with Y" vs "I used Y in building a major ..." It makes it easy for you to write a cover letter and it makes it easy for HR to see why you should be shortlisted, rather than having to excavate that information from paragraphs of blather. Try it, it's a good idea.
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May 5, 2014 10:55
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Zenzirouj posted:What should I do with my resume if I'm at the exact same job but with two different companies? I work at a CDC lab that's contracted to be run by an outside company. I was with the old company who lost the contract last year and was let go by them, then was rehired by the new company. I have a new title, but that's really the only difference. In similar cases, I've either used a slash between employers (e.g. 2007-2014, Bottle Washer, GlobalTech / BigBiz) or just listed the most recent employer (e.g. 2007-2014, Bottle Washer, BigBiz), treating it as a single job. The position and duties is the most important part and you just want to be informative. quote:edit: while I'm at it, I've been wondering for a while whether I should list things like how I'm an eagle scout. One one hand, people tell me to keep it on there because nobody's gonna think it's bad and it might run across the desk of another former scout who it would stick out to. But on the other hand I feel like a shithead who thinks something I did as a kid 10 years ago is somehow relevant to anything I do today. It's one line right at the bottom of my resume so it probably gets skimmed over anyway, but I'd be curious what other people who aren't my parents think. There's a real divide on this. I was always told that you include only pertinent info, and cramming in hobbies and "experiences" from years ago looks weird, smacks of trying to fluff up your CV, and makes it harder for people to find the important stuff. But I've met the occasional HR or career advisor that advocates for it. And you'll hear stories of people claiming they got their job because they mentioned their love of D&D / Nascar / tennis / TGIF. But my general feeling is unless it's directly applicable, don't list it. (It may be a cultural thing - here in the UK, we occasionally get applications from Americans that brag of the spelling bee they won in grade 2, talk of their aspirations and dreams and the moment they realised they wanted to be a Bottle Washer Class 2. And these look really weird next to the "just the facts" European CVs.)
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May 5, 2014 17:24
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GobiasIndustries posted:Next question: applied to a job last Monday, haven't heard anything yet and my job application status is still at 'In Progress'. Is there any good way to send an email just to see what's going on and what they are expecting the timeline for interviews to be? I applied for a job at a university 5 years ago, using their online system. Last time I looked, it was still "in progress". Another time, a university came back to me a year after I'd applied to say they were "still deliberating". Outside the wacky world of higher education, things will probably move faster.
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Apr 30, 2015 07:38
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Had an interview yesterday but it was cancelled with 3 hours notice. Que sera. On the upside, there were two headhunters in my mailbox this morning, with possibly relevant positions. Searching for work is a severe drag.
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May 8, 2015 10:30
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Not a good day on the job search: saw a very interesting job, with the deadline today. And today I discover that the deadline meant not t_today_ but _by_ today.
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May 15, 2015 11:43
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Which seems like a good place to drop this anecdote: I know this guy, a German scientist, who heads a lab in a UK university. A nice guy but pretty German - non-demonstrative, phlegmatic, stolid. We were talking one day and he started to rant about the job applications he gets from "Americans": * CV's that list prizes for spelling bees won in kindergarden or school awards with titles like "The Cedric P. Fogelmeyer Award for Young Pioneer Eagles" * A cover letter that ended "It has always been my dream to work in X. Will you help my dream come true?" * People who list hobbies, pastimes or other out of hour activities like D&D or surfing * CV's decorated with clipart He finished, drew a big breath and said, "Seriously, what is this poo poo? I just want someone to work in a lab ..."
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May 28, 2015 13:15
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Had a very promising phone interview today. At the end came this classic question: "Do you have any other applications pending with other companies?" I was honest and said yes, but none of them were at an advanced stage and I wasn't in any rush to take just anything. What's the thinking on how to answer this? A brief google find contradictory advice.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:34
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C-Euro posted:That's what I figured, though at the same time I had someone call me about a different position with a pharma giant that wanted an MS but was only going to pay $20/hr, I told him "At that price, no thanks" but he sent me the job anyway. I've had two recruiters over the past month try to push jobs onto me that were lower paying than my current job. Lower-paying by up to 10K. Sure, it's low now but once you're on board, who's knows what could happen? Yeah, once I'm on board, I've lost my position for negotiating, rear end in a top hat.
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Jun 16, 2015 13:25
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ge.hale posted:Is it appropriate to talk about why I'm leaving my current job on a cover letter? I'm still currently employed by my company so it may not be a big deal now but if I'm still applying to jobs after becoming unemployed I feel like it would be a good idea to address it. Unless your CV makes no sense without that knowledge, no. People look to leave jobs for a variety of reasons. If they ask specifically about it ("why are you looking to move?"), then you can answer. The only exception would be if your period of employment was super-short (say, 6 months or less) and so the job looks wierd on your resume. p
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Jun 23, 2015 12:42
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So, a recruiter called me up a few weeks ago, gave some vague details about a job and asked whether I would be interested. I was pretty lukewarm (the location is terrible) but said I'd like to hear more. She calls up yesterday and tells me I've been shortlisted and to finally give me the job details. It is not what I want and I'm scheduled to give a presentation and tour of the facility. I may still do it - I could use the interview practice. (Edit: just read the full job description. It's like a laundry list of everything I don't want to do.) nonathlon fucked around with this message at 10:51 on Jun 25, 2015 |
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Jun 25, 2015 06:56
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 20:32 |
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I've been venting in the Lab thread about a job that I was really keyed up for, with the process running for months (multiple phone interviews, a full day on site, etc.). And I just got the "sorry but we've chosen someone else" call. At least they called, which is becoming increasingly rare, but there was also feedback which was a little strange. They said my two failings were "I was uncomfortable working with X" and "they weren't sure if I'd work well in a team". "X" was a quite strange technical complaint that I don't remember coming up during the day (literally mentioned once and I said "that's interesting") so I can't figure what to do with it. Garbled by HR maybe? As for the second? I figure I should try and try and work on that impression, although again I feel it didn't really come up during the day. I was asked once about how I currently work, and I replied about a variety of projects with a variety of work styles, some in teams, some alone, blah blah. I even said that I thought teams were good for mutually checking each others work. I figure maybe I should get the "I'm good at teams" message out in front in future interviews, but it's a frustrating issue. Any advice?
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Aug 11, 2015 10:39
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