Ever want to get interview advice straight from someone who has been hiring candidates for years? I just did. I attended the Lorain County Community College’s Career Services “Transitions” workshop yesterday where we heard from guest speaker, Recruiter, Nancy Borgia. She provided a lot of great advice for the job search. Nancy was excellent and captivated a full house of job seekers who were very eager to hear her presentation. The most beneficial advice I got out of the presentation were the following points that I noted:
“It’s not always what you know, now it's only about WHO you know.” She explained that now, great candidates are losing out to candidates who get in the interview process by knowing a contact at the company. Nothing surprising about that but hearing it from someone in HR makes you realize that networking is everything today.
Nancy also recommended not to take it personally when it gets down to being a final candidate and not getting the job. You never know why someone else got the position. Sometimes an internal candidate comes forward or the other candidate may be an employee referral and get the job because of that.
She also stressed that 70% of the people she interviews do not take the time to review the website and read the content on it. She said as a recruiter she does not move those candidates forward in the process. So know about the company!
How to get past the phone interview: The #1 thing according to Nancy that recruiters look for is your energy over the telephone. Have high energy and smile when you are talking because recruiters can hear it in your voice. Other great pointers she gave includes:
Being friendly to the receptionist because she might be asked about how you treated her (or him).
Ask good, detailed questions in the interview process- it shows you did your homework and took the time to learn something about the company.
Know your audience and make sure your questions are appropriate for the audience. Something you ask a president of the company would be different than something you ask the hiring manager or HR.
Don’t lie about having multiple offers to speed up an interview process if it is not true.
Be yourself and be as relaxed in the interview as you can. A hiring manager wants to hire someone they like and feel they can work with- someone who is a good fit. Just be yourself! About Transitions Transitions is a free networking group for area business professionals. Meetings feature short seminars on topics relevant to a successful job searches, job leads and support and networking. The group meets the second and fourth Monday of every month from 7-8:30 pm in the Spitzer Conference Center at Lorain Community College.