Getting Started: Job Interviews That Get You Hired (page 4)

Gathering Your Resources, Networking, and Embarking on Your Job Search

IT SHOULD COME to you as a tremendous relief to learn that looking for a job doesn't need to be a daunting proposition. In fact, the process can be exciting and fulfilling. And, ultimately, it is a process you can control. Many of the skills and disciplines that you learned in college, and that served you as a student, will come into play when you start looking for a job. In other words, you should feel confident not only that you are equipped to find the job you want, but that the process itself will be an enlightening and memorable one.

The most important step in the job-search process, of course, is to land an interview. But for many recent graduates, this step is the hardest. One of the biggest obstacles is the erroneous belief that getting an interview is a matter of chance. In fact, the process of getting an interview is more like solving a statistics problem than it is a matter of luck: The more resumes you send, the more likely you are to get an interview. It's as straightforward as that. It also means that the more resources you use, the better your chances will be of getting an interview for the job you want.

The process that leads to a job interview may actually start with an interview: an informational interview that you conduct to gather information from a human resources manager, recruiter, or a network contact.

What are Your Resources?

Before you begin to devise your strategy to find a job, you need to consider the resources available to you:

• What are they?
• How can they be best used or accessed?
• Which ones will bring you the highest degree of success in landing an interview?

The next sections of this chapter offer some guidelines on how you can make the best use of newspaper ads, career centers, recruiting firms, and the Internet in your job-search process.

Newspaper Advertisements

Most people begin their search with a careful look through the advertisements in the Help Wanted section of a newspaper. This is one of the easiest and most useful ways of researching interview possibilities.

However, want ads can be misleading. In the career world, the best jobs often don't reach newspapers, which means that you get a limited sense of the jobs available. Also, because employers are conscious of the cost of advertising, they tend to put only bare bones information in their ads. Therefore, if possible, try to obtain additional information about the company and the job advertised. Most companies large enough to advertise in a major newspaper will probably have a website, so start by Googling the name of the company to see what you can find. Essentially, what you want to discover is what the company's products or services are, how large it is, what its annual revenue is, and so on. By researching advertised positions ahead of time, you can eliminate jobs unsuitable to your needs.

Better yet, try to talk to someone who already works for the company in which you are interested. Your college career center may be able to give you the name of a recent graduate who has gone to work for the company, particularly if the firm recruits on campus.

You may also be surprised to find that you already have a connection to the firm. This is where your network of peers, or people you know who are already in the working world, comes in handy. Ask your parents, friends, relatives, and peers if they know anyone who can tell you more about a certain company or field. You will enhance your chances of making the right choice about a company and presenting your credentials most effectively if you talk to someone who already works there.

It is a good idea to call someone you know at the company for which you are interested in working, but it is not a good idea to call the company if you do not know anyone working there. Most newspaper help-wanted ads actually specify, "No phone calls, please"—so do not ignore this request. Obviously, a company that is advertising in a major newspaper is likely to receive hundreds of resumes, so its HR department (or even its receptionist) could not possibly be able to handle hundreds of phone calls from eager potential candidates. Therefore, you should respect and honor that request, try to find information about the job through some other source, and then simply mail, e-mail, or fax your resume (however the ad specifies).

Career Centers

By the time most college or university students have reached their junior year, they are familiar with the career center on campus, where they can either access information about jobs from a database or receive guidance from a career counselor. However, information about the kinds of jobs available is sometimes limited by the relationship between a college or university and certain employers. For example, some schools are known for a certain specialty, such as placing their graduates in nonprofit organizations or in financial services. Consequently, they tend to attract employers mostly from those areas.

The key here is to understand your career center's objectives. With whom does it have relationships? If you are not interested in any of the employers that come to your campus, you will need to investigate other options.

Even if your career center does not focus on industries that interest you, it may still be a useful resource. Most career centers have resource centers or small libraries in which you can find brochures, contact lists, annual reports, and other information. Your career center should have information about public sector jobs, such as the FBI or other government positions, and it may have industry-specific information, such as a list of all the law firms in a particular state. Career centers may also conduct resume or cover letter workshops. Finally, career counselors should be on hand to give you advice on finding jobs and preparing for interviews.

Another on-campus resource is your school's alumni office. Often, this department keeps a list of alumni and their current careers. It's worth the effort to go through this list. If an alumna works for a company that interests you, you may have found a key person to put in your network. Networking will be discussed, in detail, later in this chapter.

Recruiting Firms

The best thing about recruiting firms is that they advertise jobs that are actually open. And they are highly motivated. Recruiting firms earn their income from the placements they make. Therefore, they are eager to find the right person for a job.

The downside is that recruiting firms generally like to make placements happen as quickly as possible, because more placements mean more revenues for the firm. Also, because recruiters are hired by a company, they are trying to find the best person for the job in question, not the other way around; in other words, they are not working primarily for you, helping you find a job. If you have the right qualifications for the job they are trying to fill, they will be delighted to recommend you to that company and arrange an interview. It's more expedient for recruiters to match round pegs with round holes—people who have the exact experience listed in the job description in front of them. If your employment experiences are not an exact match for the positions available, you may have difficulties using a recruiting firm.

For instance, suppose you and your friend, Amy, are both interested in an administrative position at a small public relations firm. You ran a summer camp for children out of your backyard, while Amy spent her summer working as an administrative assistant at a large law firm. Even though the two of you may have developed similar organizational and interpersonal skills, Amy will be a more appealing candidate to a recruiter, simply because her office experiences will be perceived as a closer match for a job calling for "at least three months of administrative experience."

The bottom line is: Do investigate recruiting firms and work with them, but don't use them exclusively.

The Internet

Using the Internet is another good way of getting your resume "out there." However, there are some important things to keep in mind about the Web. First, competition is extremely stiff; most of the large career sites boast of millions of users per month.

You should also note that your resume might need to be written and presented in a particular way. If you are submitting electronic resumes to individual firms, you will have some leeway in terms of format and style. Many companies accept electronic submissions of resumes created in word-processing programs like Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. If you use one of these software packages to create a resume, pay careful attention to the format in which the finished document needs to be saved before sending it to an employer. Most employers prefer to receive resumes in ASCII or Rich Text Format, although some may accept.doc files (documents saved in Word format).

Many career-related websites provide a resume template. The majority of online resume templates that you will see on various job-related sites (and on sites hosted by individual employers) follow the same basic format as a traditional chronological resume. You will be prompted to enter each piece of information (from your resume) into specific fields, and most likely will be limited to a certain number of fields.

Rather than targeting out specific companies, some people allow the companies to seek them by posting online resumes that can then be scanned by any firm looking to recruit new employees. When employers scan resumes on the Web, they look for specific keywords.

Keywords are the backbone of any good electronic resume. If you don't incorporate keywords, your resume won't be properly processed by the employer's computer system. Choosing the right keywords to incorporate into your resume is a skill that takes some creativity and plenty of thought. For example, each job title, job description, skill, degree, license, or other piece of information you list within your resume should be descriptive, self-explanatory, and among the keywords the potential employer's applicant tracking software looks for as it evaluates your resume.

The keywords you incorporate into your resume should support or be relevant to your job objective. Keep in mind that employers generally scan online resumes for nouns rather than verbs. Whereas traditional resumes tend to use strong action verbs, a scannable resume should include precise, specific nouns. Also, you should avoid using abbreviations and symbols in scannable resumes: Type "Doctor" instead of "Dr." and "percent" instead of "%."

If you plan to circulate your resume electronically but don't know how, get advice from a friend who does, or seek assistance from your college career office. You might also want to get a copy of one of the many books on this subject, such as Learning Express's Resumes That Get You Hired. A good resume book will provide step-by-step descriptions for writing any type of resume, including online resumes. Finally, the Web itself is a great place to look for tips. Many career websites will provide detailed information about the best ways to use their services. Exhibit 1–1 lists a few of the largest.

Choosing a Strategy for Getting an Interview

The best strategy to get a job interview is to use all strategies. Don't just rely on ads or your college career center—avail yourself of any opportunity or resource that might bring you closer to your goals.

After a couple of months of experimenting with different methods of getting interviews, do what any president of a corporation would do: Analyze the results. If you've made little or no progress with ads or the database in your college career office, you need to reinvest your energies in more successful strategies. This might involve using a combination of new and old networks, reworking your resume (to give yourself an edge on the Internet), and using the services of more than one recruiting firm.

You also might want to try new ideas, such as:

• Going to events sponsored by companies or industries that interest you—such as nonprofit fundraisers—with the express purpose of meeting new people with whom to network.
• Volunteering for a few hours each week in your area of interest; for instance, if you are interested in education, you might volunteer at Literacy Volunteers; those interested in healthcare might volunteer at a local hospital, and future accountants might devote their time to the Association for Accounting Administration.
• Making business cards to hand out while networking (including a private phone number with voice mail and an e-mail address).

Recognizing the X Factor

On the other hand, some strategies for getting interviews in certain fields are known to be particularly effective. For instance, Internet and technology companies are more likely than other types of firms to use online career sites (such as monster.com or hotjobs.com) to recruit employees. So, if you're interested in working for an Internet firm, check online sites for job listings. However, if you're more interested in working for a small, traditional accounting firm, you might be better off networking or applying for a summer internship with a particular firm.

But no matter the field in which you are interested, it helps to know that a number of variables—or unpredictable factors—come into play when looking for a job. The business world has its own rules and idiosyncrasies. For example, you might think you have a good shot at a position in a particular company, but someone else, who seems just as qualified as you, may have an even better chance. Why? The other candidate may have a personal reference from someone who already works at the firm or may have presented his credentials more effectively during an interview. This is another excellent reason to spread your net as far as possible, so you can increase the number of interviews you land. The more interviews you have, the more likely you are to get hired!

Networking

One of the most fruitful resources to tap is the people you know: college peers, friends and family, or people from your past, such as high school teachers or community leaders. Even the contacts you made in certain clubs or activities in high school can help. For example, it might be possible that the former editor of the school literary magazine or newspaper is now in a position to help you find a job in publishing. The beauty of asking people you know to be resources is that they are easy to talk to and know something about you and your strengths; they will also be genuinely interested in helping you.

Once you begin networking, you may be surprised to discover how many connections you have. Your Aunt Rita's tennis partner may just happen to have a son who knows the editor of the magazine for which you're dying to work. Or, your high school principal might tell you that his wife has an opening for a paralegal at her law firm. And even if all of your friends work in the computer industry, you may find that some of their friends are artists, editors, accountants, brand managers, or investment bankers.

The biggest obstacle to using networking as a resource is resistance. Many people, even seasoned executives, are shy about networking. To them, it seems like asking for help without giving anything back. But networking really isn't about asking someone for a job—it is simply a means of getting information and gaining a little visibility for you at the same time.

One drawback to networking, at least in the beginning, is that it restricts you to the limitations of other people's connections. If they don't know many people, or if the people they do know aren't in a position to help you, your research will be limited.

Despite some of the obstacles associated with networking, it's important not to underestimate the value of talking to the people you know about their careers. Even if your high school principal's wife, the attorney, isn't looking for any new paralegals, she may be able to talk to you about the field of law, in general, or the job of a paralegal, in particular. These discussions can help introduce you to industries with which you are not familiar or eliminate certain fields from your list of possible career choices.

So, talk to the people you know. Next, make a networking list based on the people they know. Then start making calls. See Chapter 3 for more information about networking; the following sections, though, will help you get started.

"I don't think I would have gotten my job if I hadn't put so much time into networking. I was very interested in working in a museum, but those jobs are hard to find, and you have a much better chance of landing one if you have some connections. I must have called everyone I knew—and everyone they knew!

It took dozens of calls, but I finally found the contact I was looking for: My uncle's golf partner's wife was a curator at a large, metropolitan museum—and it turned out that she was looking for a personal assistant! If I hadn't invested the time into making those calls, I never would have found this job."

—NATHANIEL, PERSONAL ASSISTANT

Be Proactive When Networking

Never wait for a potential contact to call you. If you write a letter, remember that you will likely have to follow-up. This will also be true if you've asked someone else to make the initial contact.

If you leave a message for a contact and do not hear back, don't be afraid to call again. Your contacts are busy people who have deadlines and obligations to meet. They may forget to call you back, but that doesn't mean that they are unwilling to speak with you (though don't call too often: You don't want to besiege your contacts). This is your job search, and you should expect to do most of the work.

Learning to build a network is a skill that will serve you for life. Networking's primary objectives are:

1. To get general information about the industry, company, or field in which you are interested
2. To get specific information about a job or career
3. To raise your visibility in the job marketplace
4. To expand your professional network that you will rely on for ideas, resources, and support throughout your career

Making the Call

Okay, you've thought about what you want to ask—you know what you want to know about—and you're feeling confident. Now's the time to pick up the phone and call someone on your target list. You will be surprised how well things go, especially if you've thought about what you want to say. Once you've introduced yourself, you can get into the purpose of your call.

But first it's important to build a little rapport; you want to start a conversation, not an interrogation. A good way to do this is to ask the person a few questions about his or her life and career, such as:

• How did you choose your field?
• What advice would you give to someone starting out in this field?
• What made you successful?
• What mistakes do people make in your field?

When the person to whom you're talking tells you about his or her career path, listen with one ear, but with the other, try to make connections between your experience and this person's. Instead of immediately launching into the next question, look for a natural place to interject yourself: If you can say something about your own life that relates to the experience of the person with whom you are conversing, so much the better.

For example, if the person you are interviewing—say a CFO—tells you that he or she started as a bank teller, it builds rapport to tell this person that you are working part time as a teller yourself. Or if the person you are speaking with happens to mention that he or she owned a business before going into corporate life, it would be apropos to say that it was your job to put the checks in order when your mother started her business a few years ago. This exchange of stories is valuable, because it helps build a connection.

Another way to connect with your contact is to smile, even though you're speaking on the phone and not face to face. Smiling will make you feel less nervous, and your voice will sound warmer and friendlier.

Of course, you don't want to be overly personal—find a balance between self-revelation and conversation. Don't lose sight of your objectives, which are to get information about the company, the industry, and available jobs. You're also raising your visibility in the job market and doing your homework to find the right career for yourself. The challenge is to convince the person with whom you are interviewing that you have the skills to succeed while you are getting information.

This is what makes the conversation strategic. You want to present your credentials, while simultaneously garnering information from the other person. That's what's going to make him or her call a friend or colleague and say, "Hey, I just spoke to this terrific person over the phone who wants to be a financial analyst. Do you have some time to talk with this person?" In the meantime, go ahead and ask a few good general questions. For example, if you are interested in investment banking, you might ask:

• Who are the major players in the field?
• What's the difference between them?
• What is your company's niche?

Next, narrow your questions down:

• Do investment banking firms hire recent college graduates?
• How important is a graduate degree?

If the person to whom you are speaking has had the benefit of seeing your resume, ask him or her:

• Do you think my background is a good fit for this industry?
• Do I need any other skills or work experience to make the fit better?
• If you were me, what would you do next?
• Is there anyone else you feel I should talk to—either inside or outside the company?

One final bit of advice: It is crucial to keep your call to around 10 to 15 minutes. If you meet in person, try to keep it to half an hour, unless the person with whom you're meeting has more time. You want to get all your questions answered, but you don't want to annoy your contact by using a tremendous amount of his or her time. Review your questions before you call and make sure you haven't included any that are extraneous or redundant.

Once you're on the phone, stay focused. Even if your friend Hal helped you make the contact, don't spend half the conversation talking about what a great guy Hal is. This will waste both the contact's time and yours. Be attuned to what you hear on the other end of the phone. If your contact sounds frazzled or is being constantly interrupted, arrange to speak with him or her at another time. It is often helpful to start the conversation by saying, "This will take about ten minutes. Do you have the time to spare right now?"

Answering Questions during an Informational Interview

Just when you think you have it made, the person you've been questioning suddenly asks you a question. Will you be prepared to answer him or her if you are asked, "What are your career goals?" or "Why did you choose this particular industry?"

The best way to prepare for this eventuality is to think of your answers ahead of time and practice saying them aloud. Remember that the person with whom you are networking has also interviewed people, so the questions he or she will ask over the phone will be similar to those you might hear on an interview. Just watch out for the dreaded question: "Where do you want to be in five years?" And be prepared. (Take a look at Chapter 8 for other tough questions you might be asked.)

Finally, bear in mind that the person who asks you these questions is probably genuinely interested in helping you and actually needs to know the answers. He or she is only trying to learn more about you in order to give you the best advice.

Sample Questions and Answers

Here are some questions that you might hear from one of your contacts, along with sample answers. Remember that networking is not that different from interviewing: You should be prepared to sell yourself and be able to speak clearly and concisely about your skills and interests.

Why are you interested in investment banking?

"I'm looking for a job that will let me use my quantitative and analytical skills. I took a number of advanced math courses in college, and I've honed my abilities to work with and understand numbers. I think that investment banking will allow me to further develop these skills and give me some great hands-on experience in the business world."

Do you have any experience in advertising?

"I've spent two summers working as an intern at the advertising firm of Grouper & Trout. During that time, I worked closely with account executives, and I was able to observe and study the process of taking an idea and turning it into a successful ad campaign. I've also taken a number of computer classes, including desktop publishing, Quark, and HTML. I think that my computer skills will be valuable to agencies."

What do you know about this law firm?

"I know that the firm is the third largest in the city, and it specializes in corporate mergers and acquisitions. This is the largest office, and you're a global firm with offices in London, Madrid, and Hong Kong. I read recently in the Wall Street Journal that you handled the merger of DEF Telecommunications and GHIMail.com. I'm fascinated by how the law applies to growing technology markets, such as the Internet and telecommunications, so I was particularly interested in that aspect of your firm."

Exhibit 1–3 offers a sample script to help you think about questions to ask during an informational interview.

What You Can Learn during an Informational Interview

Mary learned quite a bit during the conversation shown in Exhibit 1–3. This information will not only help her when interviewing with John Elia's firm, but also with any other corporate firms.

It's important to analyze the information that you receive and record it in a notebook. When you get to Chapter 4, which helps you prepare for an interview, you will want to make a link between what you've learned during the informational interview and how you will present your credentials.

Get a pencil and write down all the pertinent information that Mary can use during the next phase of the interview. Now compare your list to the following:

1. Qualifications for a paralegal in a large and small corporate firm require a strong GPA, good communication skills, and organizational ability.
2. Responsibilities include document management, requiring attention to detail, organizing and prioritizing, using tracking systems, and interacting with different attorneys, as well as editing, preparing exhibits, and routine clerical functions.
3. Some colleges have paralegal training programs.
4. The national average salary can be $35,000–$46,000, plus overtime. (It is important to ask the average hours of overtime per week so you can determine your total compensation package.)

After Every Networking Call, Be Sure to Follow-Up

Now, the interview has left you with a list of to-dos. Pretend you're Mary, and write down a list of to-dos. Then match them against the following:

1. Send a thank-you note to John Elia. (You may write or e-mail this note. In any case, it's helpful to get John's e-mail address for future correspondence.)
2. Fax a resume and cover letter to his attention.
3. Tell your brother you spoke with John Elia. (John may speak with your brother, and you don't want him to be caught off guard.)
4. If you don't hear from John in one week, call back to follow up.
5. If John sets up an interview with you, read Chapters 4 and 5 right away.
6. See if you have an opportunity to interview on your campus. Go to your college campus and see when the large law firms are recruiting. If you've missed the date, ask for the name of the contact person at the law firm and send your resume.
7. Find out if your GPA is competitive with students who have been hired by other law firms. Your college career center may have the GPAs for alumni who have found jobs in law firms.
8. Determine whether you would be happier in a large or small law firm. Go to your college alumni office. Ask for a list of alumni who work for corporate law firms. Pick a couple from a large firm and a couple from a small firm. Talk to those alums about the advantages of each.
9. When speaking with alums, take the opportunity to ask them what they felt was most useful in landing their current job and if they could introduce you to the recruiting person in their firm (provided you're interested).
10. Research which colleges have paralegal training programs; investigate whether or not firms will require you to have further training and whether or not your chances of being hired increase if you have taken some classes in the field.

After every call, you should write a thank-you note to the person you've just spoken to. Formalizing your thanks on paper is not an empty, leftover practice from the Victorian era; it is a perfectly healthy convention that is alive and well.

It doesn't matter if you handwrite or type your note, or send an e-mail message. A thank-you note will show your contact that you genuinely appreciated the information he or she gave you. It will show that you are polite and professional. And, as a reminder of your interest in that field, your note may go a long way toward influencing your contact to provide you with more information, names, and so on.

If the person you spoke to over the phone gave you the names of other people to contact—and you got in touch with them—write a second note, thanking the person for giving you the contacts and reporting on the outcome of your conversations. This is an elegant way to close the loop—and it speaks volumes for you. Following up on leads shows initiative, but sending a thank-you note each time one of those leads pays off is an indicator of uncommon courtesy.

Going the extra mile can confer all kinds of extra benefits. For example, during the course of a telephone interview, the administrator of a large urban pediatric hospital mentioned that he liked fly-fishing to the young woman who was speaking with him. At the moment she didn't know what to say. She knew nothing about the sport. But two weeks later, while she was on vacation in Colorado, she picked up a magazine and, lo and behold, there was an article about fly-fishing. She photocopied the article and sent it to that administrator with a little note that said: "I remembered how much you like fly-fishing and thought you would enjoy this."

Years later, the administrator to whom the young woman sent the magazine article continues to stay in her network. Anybody would respond positively to someone taking note of his or her interests. The young woman didn't have to follow-up with a magazine article—it wasn't a requirement. On the contrary, sending it was an act of grace— a clear sign of her willingness to give something back.

One of Your Contacts Could Become a Mentor

Mentoring, when an older or more experienced person takes a special interest in someone who is younger or just beginning a career, can occur in almost any field. However, it is not appropriate to ask someone to mentor you if you haven't already established a strong connection through a mutual friend, a colleague, or a member of your family, or on your own. The job of mentoring is rarely taken lightly: It involves a sizeable investment of time, as well as commitment to someone else's career.

Mentoring sometimes develops between colleagues and has many benefits. For example, if you are just entering the field of fabric design and another colleague takes a special interest in you by sharing his or her training, experience, and creativity, you will have a distinct advantage over others. This is especially true if your mentor just happens to be a leading light in your field.

But mentoring doesn't have to be that dramatic to work. Often, it boils down to being given the strategic advice we all need to learn to do our jobs better, get promoted more quickly, or move to another department, company, or field.

Sometimes we talk with people and we just click. Recent grads can find mentors during the job-search process. If you've met someone with whom you'd like to maintain a professional relationship, you can ask, "Given my background, would you be willing to make an introduction on my behalf?" or "Would you mind if I kept you up to date on my job search?" And again, remember to send a follow-up thank-you note.

Networking Can Help You throughout Your Career

When you become part of the business world, you will continue to need a network for three critical things: ideas, resources, and support. If, for instance, you're having difficulty implementing a particular strategy for your company, you may need to call on one of your contacts who has had experience implementing a similar strategy in his or her firm. Or, if you receive a promotion that entails a number of new responsibilities, you might want to speak with someone in your network who can give you some advice on troubleshooting. No one is successful alone.

And once you start working, it will be much easier to find other jobs and opportunities if you've maintained your contacts. In fact, your list of resources is like a client list, which makes your network of business contacts a valuable asset to any company. Treat it as such. And when you get that first job, send an announcement letter to all the people in your network. Tell them where you are and thank them for everything they've done.

Conclusion

Now that you've finished reading this chapter, you should know how to use your available resources to secure your first round of interviews. Don't forget to read the help-wanted ads in the newspaper, search online, check out your college career center, and talk to a recruiter. Remember, when you make critical use of all the resources at your disposal, you will learn even more about available opportunities, and your chances of landing an interview will be even greater than if you used only one resource.

Furthermore, don't forget to use your network. Call everyone and anyone: It will be a pleasant surprise to discover how many people have helpful information or advice concerning your job hunt. Your biggest goal should be to spread the word everywhere that you are searching for a job—the network you begin to build and use now will be one of the richest veins to tap for resources, ideas, and support in the future.

An Interview Should be a Conversation, not a Monologue.

"I interviewed one recent college graduate who was intent on selling himself to me—even if that meant not letting me get a word in edgewise. I could hardly get out a question before he would launch into a long monologue about his qualifications. I knew in five minutes that I wouldn't hire him—we need individuals with good listening and interpersonal skills. Of course, I want to hear about candidates' skills and abilities, and I like to hear stories that illustrate their claims, but an interview is a two-way street. You can't just come in ready to talk. You also have to be ready to listen, and you have to prove to your interviewer that you can conduct a conversation with grace and professionalism."

—JOAN, HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR