Monday, January 29, 2007

Does The Day of The Week Really Matter?

In a word .. absolutely! Really!! Again, absolutely! Okay so let me ask you this. What kind of frame of mind are you in on any given Monday morning? Unless you’re the workaholic who’s been waiting for Monday since Friday .. you’re like most of us, the Monday blues is kind of the norm. You will simply not be sharp on Monday and neither will the interviewer. It’s simply the human condition, a programmed behavior pattern long since scientifically proven accurate. Friday is also equally bad. You may be in a great frame of mind on Friday but again the interviewer may not be totally there. His or her brain left the building and is on weekend time, again a human behavior.


The best days for anything business is Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday. Monday and Friday work well only when dealing with people we already know well. Otherwise avoid Monday and Friday where possible.


Your feedback is always welcome on the blog.

The Job Interview – Be The Real You!

I’ve probably said this before. Today, HR is no longer looking for anything that resembles a template, either in your cover letter or having template or pat like answers for your interview questions. Today, recruiters are looking for REAL people more than ever. To be REAL the solution is amazingly simple and still difficult. The solution is to be yourself, not what you expect they want to hear, but who the REAL you is. It’ll always come through that you are being sincere, genuine and thus a REAL person. REAL people make mistakes. They laugh and get nervous and say I’m sorry can repeat that question. You are not perfect, stop trying to be.


All that said does not allow you to go in to an interview totally REAL and yet unprepared. You still very much need to rehearse your answers so that you do sound REAL and properly express what you know is already in your head, just not completely comfortable yet, when spoken in sentences, in front of unforgiving strangers. Easy thoughts flow in your head no problem, but when asked to express it, well .. we all tense up and become really bad communicators and yet, in our everyday lives we express ourselves pretty well. In the interview you can do very well also, it just takes practice.


Stop assuming you don’t need to rehearse out loud. I’m also not suggesting some totally concocted answer that isn’t really you at all, but just finding the best words to use when actually saying exactly what you want said. It still needs to be the REAL you behind the words.


I consult people by phone regularly who want to practice their interview skills. Sometimes you only have a 20 minute interview and they may never see you again. Practice what you truly want to say & do it out loud every chance you get, it’s a terrific confidence builder. And just when you find you’ve really nailed a question with a well thought out answer be prepared for them to say “Can you give us an example of that” Be prepared that they could ask for an example after any answer you give.



Just a few more thoughts to consider in your job search success plan. If you haven't yet joined my newsletter, I do hope you will today.