According to today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, 195,000 jobs were created in June, which is a sign of solid improvements in the labor market. Added to last month’s BLS figures, 370,000 new jobs have been created during the last two months! Furthermore, anecdotally, I have noticed that many of our clients have significantly ramped up hiring in the last few months (especially technical positions such as engineers and IT professionals). Unfortunately, few candidates are prepared for this hiring surge.
As a result, we recommend that many candidates, who have given up looking, may want to now sharpen up their job-hunting and interviewing skills. Research shows that one can exponentially improve their interview performance by first practicing on videotape. Like any other skill this can be improved with repeated practice. Furthermore, there are some distinct interview preparation behaviors that can be isolated for job hunting improvement. To assist job seekers, we have developed a comprehensive system of interview preparation strategies; please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/real-benefit-exercise/introduction.php to view.There are many valuable tips in this interview preparation strategy, but a few that standout are: 1) numbers, numbers, numbers, which means to include a lot of quantitative information (e.g. dollar savings or patents) in your presentation 2) sell, sell, sell, which means that every chance you have you need to sell yourself as a solution to the employer’s needs and 3) arrive at least 15 minutes early for the interview.
Many books, tools and tapes exist for interview preparation. Unfortunately, most focus on a set number of interview questions. Instead, the most important theme of the Real Benefit Exercise is to practice on videotape. This is the case because research shows that you are the best judge of your performance. Therefore, by seeing yourself on videotape, you can see what you did right and what you did wrong. This will allow you to quickly correct your mistakes.
