Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr
- Heading to a job interview?
- No matter the company or industry, these 10 expert- and science-backed tips will help you land the role of your dreams.
- For example: Speak candidly about your professional weaknesses and flaunt your growth mindset.
For the more anxiety-prone among us, job interviews can be a total nightmare.
You’re sitting across from the hiring manager, trying desperately to convince her that, despite your sweaty palms, shaky knees, and palpitating heart, you are in fact the perfect person for this position.
Most experts will tell you that it comes down to preparation — knowing in advance how you’ll answer tricky questions and reflecting on the direction you want your career to take.
Below, we’ve listed some of the best advice we’ve ever heard on wowing your interviewer, no matter how nervous you feel.
Career advice expert Amanda Augustine: Do some research to figure out how to address your cover letter
Courtesy of Amanda Augustine
So the hiring manager’s name isn’t listed in the job posting. Don’t panic.
According to Augustine, you just need to do some sleuthing. One strategy is to use the email address provided to search for a name. You can also look for the person who created the posting if it’s on a site like LinkedIn.
Augustine said you’ll always want to direct your cover letter to a specific individual (unless the posting is anonymous). Otherwise, you might give the impression that you didn’t put any effort into your application or you don’t pay attention to detail.
Read more.
Harvard Business School professors Ovul Sezer, Francesca Gino, and Michael Norton: Avoid humblebragging at all costs
Courtesy of Francesca Gino
HBS research suggests that "humblebragging" — aka boasting concealed by a complaint — is actually a turn-off.
In one experiment, more than three-quarters of participants humblebragged when asked to write down how they’d answer a question about their biggest weakness in a job interview. The most common humblebrags included being a perfectionist, working too hard, being too nice, and being too honest.
But research assistants said they’d be more likely to hire the participants who answered honestly. Candid responses included sentences like, "I’m not always the best at staying organized," and "Sometimes I overreact to situations."
Meanwhile, "Ask a Manager" columnist Alison Green wrote on The Cut that you should speak candidly about your weaknesses.
Before you head into the interview, she wrote, you should reflect on your work-related weaknesses and what you’ve done to address them so they don’t affect your work as much. That way, you’ll be prepared to answer thoughtfully and honestly if and when the question comes up.
Read more.
The Muse HR exec Toni Thompson: Explain that you’re leaving your current job because you want to grow in a different direction
Courtesy of The Muse
Staying positive gets tricky when the hiring manager asks why you’re leaving your current job. But Thompson gave an example of how to answer this question honestly, without badmouthing:
"Let’s say that to get where you need to be, you need really great social media skills and you just aren’t given the opportunity to do that in your current role because someone else is doing that … That is a perfectly valid reason as to why you might be looking for another opportunity at another company."
You can replace "social media skills" with "technical skills," or "editing skills," or whatever it is that you’re hoping to develop. Above all, you want to explain why the job isn’t giving you the chance to grow or to take your career in the direction you’d like.
Read more.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- The White House will get the Mueller report before the public does in case it wants to make redactions, Barr says
- JCPenney is closing 27 stores — see if your local store is on the list
- UPS just beat out Amazon, FedEx, and Uber to make America’s first revenue-generating drone delivery
SEE ALSO: 19 head-scratching questions bosses have actually asked at job interviews
Source: Business Insider – slebowitz@businessinsider.com (Shana Lebowitz)