May 04, 2006
Welcome to Interview Answers: May 4th 2006
What’s New?
The Apprentice - make sure you avoid the job interview mistakes the candidates made this weekDoing Your Homework - don't throw away your chances of a job offer by not researching the company
Cover Letter Secrets - how to create a cover letter that doubles your chances of an interview - in just 5 minutes
The Apprentice
How to make sure you avoid the job interview mistakes the candidates made this weekDid you see The Apprentice last night?
(If you missed it, you can see it on the BBC's The Apprentice Website).
The final 4 candidates are fighting for a job with Sir Alan Sugar with a 6 figure salary.
They were subjected to a series of seriously stressful job interviews.
What did you think of their job interview performance?
Do you want to know how to avoid the job interview mistakes they made?
We've done a full analysis of the high and low points of each candidate. There's a summary below, or you can check out the full article on today's blog: The Apprentice - Job Interview.
Summary Of Performance
Paul
He threw away his chances of a job offer.
He carried on with his jokey, informal style, treating the interviewers as though they were in the pub.
He had mistakes on his CV and openly admitted he lied.
He didn't provide any evidence of his skills and expected the interviewers to believe his claims that he was "brilliant" and "the best".
Ruth
Well, we knew Ruth has a forceful streak and, boy, did we see it last night!
Her body language and tone of voice were so aggressive that she had the interviewers cowering back in their chairs!
The claims on her CV were so impressive they weren't believable. She couldn't prove them and lost credibility.
She showed a complete lack of understanding of job interview etiquette by barging into the interview room without knocking.
Ansell
Mr. Nice Guy did a great interview performance.
He remained calm and professional, backing up his claims with evidence.
The only thing that let him down was he wasn't quite convincing enough. He didn't seem to have the passion and drive of the other candidates.
We're sad to see him go.
Michelle
She surprised everyone with an excellent job interview performance.
She built rapport with the interviewers, she provided evidence of her skills and she didn't react when they accused her of lying and tried to stress her out.
Her job interview made up for her lack-lustre performance in the show so far.
For a full analysis, read today's blog: The Apprentice - Job Interview.
Doing Your Homework
Don't throw away your chances of a job offer by not researching the company
The biggest mistake made by all the candidates in The Apprentice was that they didn't research the company before the interview.
They're trying to convince Sir Alan Sugar that they're desperate to work for him, yet none of them could name his products or give any information about his businesses.
If you're serious about working for a company, it's essential to do your homework before the interview. Without it, you could be throwing away your chances of a job offer.
It shows a lack of preparation and integrity if you claim to be passionate about a company but know nothing about it, aside from its public image.
Paul used the excuse that they had only had 3 weeks' notice of the interview.
Well, checking out the internet and asking the press office for the company's last annual report would have taken just a few hours.
In reality, all four candidates would have been rejected on this basis.
Researching the company is critical, before you go to the interview.
As a minimum, you should try to find out about:
- Their product range
- Their main customers
- The number of employees
- Last year's turnover (gives an indication of the size of the company)
- What's happening in their market
Cover Letter Secrets
How to create a cover letter that doubles your chances of an interview - in just 5 minutes
If you're not yet at the job interview stage and you're still sending off applications, then here's a piece of useful advice you might not yet have considered.
Did you know that less than 10% of applicants write a decent cover letter to go with their CV / Resume / Application Form?
In fact, there are techniques you can use to at least double your chances of getting a job interview, just by making minor tweaks.
The good news (for you!) is that very few job hunters bother to focus on their covering letter. They rattle off the usual "Dear Sir / Madam" with a few awkward paragraphs, to fill the space. For them, a cover letter is secondary to the CV.
How?
It's essential that your cover letter piques the reader's interest. It's your chance to stand out from the crowd as a strong candidate. It has to get them interested in wanting to meet you.
It can be a bit daunting, thinking about how to write a cover letter that wins interview offers. So Jimmy Sweeney has developed the Instant Cover Letter Creator, which does the job for you in less than 5 minutes.
So you don't have to spend hours fretting over wording and you'll soon have a job application cover letter that does justice to your skills and experience, rather
than being a potentially forgettable introduction to your new employer.
Want to know more about Jimmy's Instant Cover Letter Creator?
Tell us what you think!
We'd love to hear from you.
So if you have any feedback on this e-zine, a story to tell or ideas for topics you'd like to see in future issues, just reply to this email.
I personally read every reply to this e-zine and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Good luck with your job hunting!
Clare Jaques
On behalf of the Interview Stuff team.