Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter explains how to answer two tricky questions that are often asked on second interviews.
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Today, I want to talk with you about two questions the rest on second interviews pretty regularly. They aren’t difficult but, because of the stress and tension that is often associated with a second or third interview, people sometimes panic and blow the questions.
The first one is, “What have you learned about us so far?”
This requires a certain amount of good preparation for you because it will help coalesce your thoughts and opinions of this firm before the interview. You may be on a second or third interview. Each interview, you probably have spoken with different people or different groups of people that give you impressions about the job and the organization. You may have visited the website at some point before the interview.
Answer by starting off with an overview of the position as it is been discussed with you. When you get to the end of your description, pause and say, “Have I described it accurately because if I haven’t, I want to get the correct description of the position.”
Then talk about each of the people you’ve spoken with so far, what your sense of the personalities is and how they presented themselves to you ALWAYS IN COMPLIMENTARY TERMS, of course. Speak about the firm, what it’s standing is in its industry, what it does. That will come from the website and any other research that you’ve done.
So, that’s the easy question to handle. Then, there is the follow-up, “how would you proceed if you were hired for the role?”
Some people talk about it beginning from day one. I suggest talking about a firm before day one.
You receive the offer; you accept the offer; you give notice. You speak with your future manager about what their expectations are starting the role. You do that right after you give notice. In this way, you can lay out some plans, perhaps schedule some meetings not long after you come on board. Perhaps they have an idea of what your early schedule will be like, but it is best to talk about this proactively before you start, rather than beginning with your first day.
“On my first day, what will wind up doing is walking in and… ” Whatever
these are very simple questions but because of the stress associated with second or third interviews, you want to demonstrate that you have done your homework well.
And the second question (the one about preparing for when you start), that one is an easy one because what you are doing is showing that you are go-getter, aggressive, you are hardcharging and that you are getting yourself prepared even before you start.
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Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.
The skills needed to find a job are different yet complement the skills needed to do a job.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.
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