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9 out of 10, the problem is YOU. Yes, the problem is you.
I have been doing a lot of hiring lately. I really wish most of them have gone through some interview training. Most would have been hired if they learn how to say the right thing and know to keep the mouth shut.
When you are called to an interview, the employer WANTS to hire you!!! You, on the other hand, just keep screwing it up. :-(
Passing an interview is like trying to navigate a minefield without blowing up. One wrong step and you are eliminated.
Not fake-enthusiastic/fake-cheerful enough? You aren't hired. If it becomes obvious you are faking cheerfulness/enthusiasm, you aren't hired. Say one wrong line at any point in the process? You aren't hired.
Make the interview too personal/not personal enough? You aren't hired. Don't answer the asinine "why should I hire you?," "what are your strengths and weaknesses?," "when have you had a disagreement with a co-worker and how did you resolve it?" types of questions the way the interviewer would like (whatever that is), you aren't hired.
9 times out of 10 when you aren't selected it is because the interviewer does not LIKE you. It has nothing to do with how well you could perform on the job.
Passing an interview is like trying to navigate a minefield without blowing up. One wrong step and you are eliminated.
Not fake-enthusiastic/fake-cheerful enough? You aren't hired. If it becomes obvious you are faking cheerfulness/enthusiasm, you aren't hired. Say one wrong line at any point in the process? You aren't hired.
Make the interview too personal/not personal enough? You aren't hired. Don't answer the asinine "why should I hire you?," "what are your strengths and weaknesses?," "when have you had a disagreement with a co-worker and how did you resolve it?" types of questions the way the interviewer would like (whatever that is), you aren't hired.
Interviews are ALL about trying to find a reason to NOT hire a candidate, and 9 times out of 10 it is just because the interviewer does not LIKE the candidate. It has nothing to do with how he will perform on the job.
I have interviewed hundreds of people and reviewed thousands of resumes. I can tell you from my experience and from my peers' experience, what you said is completely false.
Hiring, next to firing, is a very unenjoyable part of the job. Why? Because it's tedious, repetitive and unrewarding. I have to repeat the same questions over and over, I have to spend a lot of time to talk to candidates, and I have to weigh whether or now I can work with the potential problem a candidate shows. In the end things may still not work out. Nobody, once having gone through a few actual hiring, would say it's fun. Look at me, I am reading resumes and calling candidates on the weekends and week nights because I have no other time to do so.
Believe me, I never want to find the reasons not hire you. Instead, I want to find reasons I can hire you.
I called up this candidate with the full intention to have her come in for an interview. She's been out of job for 8 months. I asked what she has been dong since she was laid off last year. Her answer:"Nothing. You know just doing a little traveling and family stuff."
Are you kidding me? I work in a highly technical world. 8 months out of touch would be a serious dent. It also shows how much initiative she takes when even facing the possibility of potentially being out of food.
For those of you who don't know, badmouthing your previous employer is the ultimate sin during an interview. Even you hint it slightly, I would never hire you. If you get hired even you said bad things, I can only say that your employer is stupid.
So this candidate complained to me about not being respected for his professional opinion at his previous workplace. He gave me an example of a dispute between his boss and him on a tool they were trying to decide.
I looked up his resume when he said that. He got 5 years of working experience, no education beyond high school and no certificate of any sort. What professional opinion are we talking about? His boss was trying to use a professional tool that is well respected in the industry.
I called up this candidate with the full intention to have her come in for an interview. She's been out of job for 8 months. I asked what she has been dong since she was laid off last year. Her answer:"Nothing. You know just doing a little traveling and family stuff."
Are you kidding me? I work in a highly technical world. 8 months out of touch would be a serious dent. It also shows how much initiative she takes when even facing the possibility of potentially being out of food.
Maybe she didn't have to work. She could have had a lot of money saved up and just wanted a break. I know that's just so awful, actually wanting to take a break from the working world for a while to *gasp* enjoy yourself.
Maybe she didn't have to work. She could have had a lot of money saved up and just wanted a break. I know that's just so awful, actually wanting to take a break from the working world for a while to *gasp* enjoy yourself.
I have no problem with that at all. :-) I did let her continue enjoying herself, didn't I?
Just to my point, that was just beginning part. Next I asked her what tool she used to use on a daily basis to do her job, she couldn't tell me the correct name, which ended my last hope to even ask her to come.
For those of you who don't know, badmouthing your previous employer is the ultimate sin during an interview. Even you hint it slightly, I would never hire you. If you get hired even you said bad things, I can only say that your employer is stupid.
So this candidate complained to me about not being respected for his professional opinion at his previous workplace. He gave me an example of a dispute between his boss and him on a tool they were trying to decide.
I looked up his resume when he said that. He got 5 years of working experience, no education beyond high school and no certificate of any sort. What professional opinion are we talking about? His boss was trying to use a professional tool that is well respected in the industry.
Here's my only problem with that:
If they don't want to hear anything bad about our last job, then stop asking the question:
"Describe a time you and a co-worker had problems, how did you work it out?"
You can't NOT say anything negative to answer that question. The very question REQUIRES you to say something negative.
That can be a tough one, and I agree to an extent.
However there are situations in which some truth about the employer is necessary.
I once had a candidate (who is still at the company I hired her for although I am not) who got through the process to the references. At that point she told me that, if I went off the reference list and contacted her previous boss, the response would bot be good. The candidate quit to go to school. Apparently the corporate people were already investigating/suspicious of her store manager, so they pulled her into an exit interview in which she was honest about some legal and ethical violations she had witnessed. The manager was demoted and blamed the employee who "turned her in". I know this because out of sheer curiosity, I called the woman. So, the employee telling me this information allowed me to know that the woman was bitter for reasons that had nothing to do with the work. I was also able to confirm the candidate's story, as the woman said he quit and then turned her in with made up lies. So, in this case it was good that I heard the bad about the former employer.
Also, there is a difference between saying "I didn't feel that I was a great fit" or something similar. Or that you did not feel that the former employer had the same goals. All sorts of things. It is when it becomes a long tale of woe about how horrible the other job was that it is an issue
If they don't want to hear anything bad about our last job, then stop asking the question:
"Describe a time you and a co-worker had problems, how did you work it out?"
You can't NOT say anything negative to answer that question. The very question REQUIRES you to say something negative.
This is not what the OP means. (Well, I guess I am speaking for OP but it is not what I mean when I say not to speak badly about the former employer). OP likely means not to trash your boss, your job, the people you worked with or the company. An occasional negative comment is fine...you are no longer there/looking to leave so we know there is a reason. But keep it to job related, don't go on a tangent, and keep the negative comments to a minimum.
What I do not want to hear is something along the lines of (and I will paraphrase an actual interview)
"I am so excited about the opportunity here, as I am so ready to leave my current job. I am bored, they don't care if I am bored. My boss is rude. I try to leave early as I am bored, and my boss has issue with that and tells me to stay. I guess he just wants me to sit there and look good"
She was the front office receptionist.
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