Interview Essentials: Skills to land Entry-level to Mid-level jobs

1. Interview Essentials Introduction: Welcome to the course interview essentials skills to land entry-level, mid-level jobs. My name is Ken deja Abdul Hakim. I'm a business owner from Texas in the United States. I own a marketing company called this lead generation. And over the years I have been on both sides of the interview process. I have been both the interviewer and the interviewee eat. As the course title indicates, I'll be sharing insights too. It's primarily with the interview E side of the interview process. Be sure to check out the supplemental resources you'll find attached and some of the sections as well. In this course, we're going to cover the introduction which I'm doing right now, as well as interview skills, job application and resume, your internet presence. How to dress for success. Tips for common types of interviews such as phone interview, virtual interview, or in-person interview. Preparation for the interview. What's it do the day before the interview, day of the interview, as well as during and after the interview. Examples of common interview questions and examples of common industry specific interview questions, it as well. And then we'll wrap up with a conclusion. See you in the course. 2. Interview skills: Interview skills. What our interview skills, they are skills or actions that allow a person to be more effective throughout the interview process for a new position. According to indeed.com, Wire interview skills important? Well, they can be the determining factor for whether or not an interviewee is able to effectively present themselves in such a way that enables them to land a job. Interview skills do you need to bring to an interview? A few of them would be communication skills, organizational skills, presentation, interpersonal interviewing, analytical, research, preparation, listening, self-confidence, and other relevant job skills that you may want to brush up on. Those are a few. And there may be more depending on the type of job that you're going for, but those are some of the key ones. Get a little bit more specific. I've shared some best practices for each of them as well as some things not to do. Starting with communication skills, you want to have clear relevant communication. Have a good tone of voice and a good volume so that you're not too loud and not too low either in your volume. And have a conversational type of communication during the course of an interview, while of course, maintaining professionalism. It also want to avoid mumbling or talking too fast or too slow. Then for organization, consider making a to-do list of the tasks you need to complete and to structure your efforts in this process in order to ensure you don't miss anything. Some things not to do is not structuring your efforts would be an idea that's not good. It can cause you to forget to complete certain key elements of the process. And it can cause you to feel disorganized and maybe even create a certain amount of anxiety during the process of the interview. When by knowing that you're not fully prepared, then presentation is another skill. If you want to represent yourself well. And again, preparation is key there. Things not to do when presenting yourself as answering questions in a way that is robotic or unnatural. Interpersonal skills is another important. We want to be sure and build rapport with your interviewer. Things not to do is not connecting with your interviewer. Analytical skills. Particularly this comes into play and is important when you're answering behavioral questions. You want to give them some thought and answer them appropriately. It as well as being sure to read the job description thoroughly. I'll go into greater detail about what exactly behavioral questions are. So we'll make a little more sense in another section. Things not to do. Not thinking about what the interviewer is asking you and answering the questions inappropriately, off topic or not an irrelevant manner. Preparation. You want to be sure in research and practice for the interview in advance. Things and not to do would be not practicing and causing added nervous system during the interview because of the lack of preparation and other skill that's listening, pay attention to what your interviewer is saying and respond authentically. Things not to do is not hearing in that thinking about what the interviewer is asking you. Self-confidence is another important skill. A few ways to express that are with eye contact, your body language, your handshake, and your posture before, during and after the process. Things not to do or not making eye contact or having droopy shoulders that can give the impression that you're lacking in confidence. Mumbling, again, last but not least, brushing up on relevant job skills for the specific position that you're applying for. Are there any additional skills you can obtain or improve upon in order to make yourself more marketable. Things not to do is not having the basic requirements of the job or the basic job skills or, and or not having effectively expressed that you have the skills that are needed to do the job during the interview. And that covers interview skills section. I'll see you in the next section. 3. Job Application: Job application. What is a job application? It's an application for employment that is a standard is this document that is prepared with questions deemed relevant by employers. It is used to determine the best candidate to fill this specific role within the company. Some of the general information you might see on a job application might be name, contact information, work experience, education, position applied for references, etc. Some best practices on filling out a job application. Deciding to would be to choose the right jobs to pursue, only apply for the job if you qualify for it and you want to do it. Read the job application fully to ensure you are following all the instructions. Fill it out completely if a question doesn't apply to you, right? In a for not applicable, share information that may otherwise leave on an unanswered questions, such as gaps in employment, reason you left your last job. Misdemeanors and felonies, be upfront and transparent. In some cases, these things won't automatically Is qualify you. However, attempting to hide the obvious will only make you look untrustworthy and hurt your chances, not help them. Don't rush through the application to help avoid making errors. When possible. Apply on the company's website or LinkedIn. Many third-party job sites are inundated with so many applications. You can give yourself better chances with these options instead, in some cases, while the company's website might get many applicants, in some instances, this steel can allow you to eliminate the middleman with some of the third party sites. Also if possible, request an introduction from your contexts. If you have any with accompany you're applying for B tact. Oh, if you do so, don't ask them to get you the job, requests that they give you an introduction. So you can hopefully increase the likelihood of the opportunity for you to earn the job on your own merits and potentially draw attention to your application from decision-makers via your contexts assistance. Ensure your resume matches the job description you're applying for and accurately outlines your skills, experience, etc. Use mirroring in your resume by using similar terminology and language from your research of the company's language from their website and other sources like social media. Remember, people like, people like them. Write a cover letter that shows you understand the company's offerings and included with your application if possible in the desired salary section, put negotiable are open so that you can determine the best amount in agreement with accompany later. This can help you avoid being rejected before you ever reach the opportunity to get an interview for requesting an amount that may be perceived it too much, or end up low balling herself by accepting far less than they would've been willing to pay you by putting in a mouth is too small. The availability section ensure that you consider all relevant factors when listening you're a bit availability. Do you have other family or personal obligations that limit your availability to work on certain days or during certain hours. Are you in school? Do you have extra curricular activities? Another job? Do you have transportation during limited hours? Be transparent to avoid issues later on. In some applications, have a quiz or assessment, or in some cases, multiple assessments. Don't stress over the assessments. They're generally just seeking to learn more about your personality type or your thought processes or other aspects of your thinking. They don't usually require much, if any, preparation. They just want you to answer honestly so they can learn more about you to determine if they think you're a good fit for the company and, or the role. A quiz may or may not be a requirement depending on the company and the role you're applying for, and whether or not you're applying for the job online or offline. In some cases, a quiz would generally be testing to see if you have certain skills, you may be expected to have to successfully perform the job you're applying for. Some examples are typing skills if you're applying for a receptionist position, or IT skills if you're applying for a certain information technology position, or coding skills, if you're applying for a web development or another related position. Also, if it's an offline or paper application, be sure to write neatly and keep your application clean and and wrinkled. Use black or blue ink depending on the instructions. Double-check your spelling and grammar in your application, resume and cover letter before submitting for whichever documents that are applicable for the application. And last but not least, follow up your job application submission with a phone call or e-mail or both with a recruiter or hiring manager of possible be polite, professional and determined. That's the section on job applications. 4. Resume: Resume. A resume is a document created and used by a person, so present their background skills, and accomplishments. Resumes can be used for a variety of reasons, but most often they are used to a secure new employment. Some best practices on a resume include, put your current contact information at the top of your resume. You can otherwise be pretty difficult for a potential employer to reach you if there's a wrong number there or some other type of contact information that you don't check frequently at all. Also include an appropriate email address. You want to ensure that it's something that sounds fairly professional. You don't want anything that's too outlandish. That might also hurt your chances because of causing you to be perceived in a way that may be less than positive if it's something exceptionally unusual. Also, for your resume, you want to use a font size between ten to 12 points. Left. Align your content. Do a spell check and grammar check. Use appropriate formatting. Use a professional and readable font. Include action verbs, input your achievements and quantify them whenever possible. Include all relevant information and omit any unneeded information. Tailor your resume to each job you apply for. Use keywords on each tailored resume, referencing the job description. It helps to serve as a bit of a guide. Be sure to include details that confirm your excellent for the role you're applying for. And then here is a sample resume. I just kinda has some of the basics on their example of your name and contact information at the top, followed by an objective education experience, as well as awards and acknowledgements. That's just a very, very, very general exception or excuse me, very general example. It doesn't have to be exactly like that at all. There's many different variations. Just a high-level idea. And that's the resume section. Thank you. 5. Your internet presence: Your Internet presence. Research revealed that 65% of companies said that social media posts have helped them research thoroughly on their applicant's qualifications. According to online bachelor degrees.com, 48% of hiring managers will look at candidates. Social media profiles said they've discovered information that caused them to reject a candidate according to SHRM, that or some factors to consider when managing your online social media profile to hopefully avoid that type of issue is considering, Do you have any social media profiles that have content that may cause you to be rejected by a potential employer, that you have a Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, et al. It's a good idea to have a presence depending on the type of role that you have. It's just important that it is representing you in a way that will assist you in your goal of landing that potential job. Are any of your profile pictures or verbage on your profile, overtly or extremely sexual, hateful, or so far outside of societal norms that it'd be perceived as crazy by a potential employer. When in doubt, ask a friend that you trust to give you feedback on any one of your profiles that may be in question that you anticipate could potentially be viewed by future employer or future potential employer. Now your friend could be, it could be someone in human resources at a company or just a friend you consider to have good professional and career-related judgment. Does your LinkedIn and other profiles that are designed to house work-related content or in history. Do they have information about your job history and other details that coincide with the resume you sit in for the job or jobs you've applied for, or do they contradict what you have on your resume? It's important to be honest, be transparent, and to ensure that your information is up-to-date so that you can ensure you are representing yourself properly and that your internet presence helps you and doesn't hurt you. That's the section on internet presence. 6. Dress for success: Dress for success. Here are some best practices for the interview. Your attire should match or compliment the company culture for the company that you're wanting to join. Generally, that will be either business casual or business professional for the interview, depending on the type of job that he is, as well as in several other factors, starting with business casual. Here's some examples of business casual attire. Keeping in mind that this is subjective and it can vary depending on the company location and other factors. For ladies in general, business casual means slacks, pants that are not genes, and a blouse or a nice top, not crop tops, T-Shirts or cotton tank tabs, skirt or address. Some offices allow genes and Polo's as part of business casual, and others have eaten looser definition. For man, appropriate business casual attire is dress slacks or Chicanos. A button down shirt, dark socks, and dark shoes. Shoes usually you'll be tie up shoes, dark leather shoes and loafers. You'd want to avoid printed shirts, Rip jeans, denim, sandals, boots, sportswear, t-shirts, tennis shoes and hooded sweatshirts. You want to avoid all that for business professional. Here are some examples of business professional attire. Or this tends to be a bit more consistent than business casual. But there's still maybe some variances on, based on a few different factors. For ladies, do you typically want to go for a classy, lean, polished professional and a sheikh appearance. So again, clean clothes, iron clothes, appropriate fit. If possible. If you're wearing a suit, you want to have a tailored. And if you have, if you're wearing a blazer, you want to professional blazar. If you're wearing a pencil skirt or dress, make sure it is at least Nieuwland or longer. If you're not sure, if you're ever not sure about dress expectations for the interview, it's better to be dressed overly nice then under or unprofessional and overly casual. So that's the way to err on the side of more of a nicer look then unless, of course, if you happen to have a contact or know someone at the company or are able to research and find out in any way or just ask somebody, you can always do that. But if that's not an option, just go take that as a general safe rule. No one's ever gonna see you show up at an ADA interview, dress professionally and nice and have a problem with that. Or in most cases under normal circumstances, it will be looked at as a positive and that you have an interest in actually making a good impression on the company by taking that extra step to be very professional and nice looking for an interview. Keep that in mind. Additionally, also for ladies, you went to where neutral colored clothing, ideally, black gray, navy white colored top or blouse. Other color tops and Suit Colors are optional. Just avoid extremes or anything that is overly asked sensations as a best practice, aim for a solid color suit. Close TO Black Hills or flat, moderate to low hills knows the Leto's polishes. You want to keep your hair neat and clean, ideally, either down or pulled back. For the business professional look, makeup is optional. You can probably go with a neutral, simple makeup, nothing over the top or extreme colors. For jewelry, you want to keep it to a minimum but nothing to gati. If you are going to wear jewelry. If you're wearing earrings, it's preferable to go with studs instead of hoops or other small class earrings. And also in reference to choose, which I mentioned a moment ago, heels, flats, loafers, booties, for fingernails. You want to keep those neat and clean from men. For a business professional, we want to go with a classy, clean, polished professional appearance and appropriately fitting suit. Again, if possible, have the suit tailored. Go with simple black dress shoes that fit appropriately pile the shoes where it's high if wearing a suit and button your jacket before going into the meeting makes your hair as neat and clean. As mentioned already, the dress shoes, the way to go for the shoes and for fingernails. Fingernails needs to be clean and neat as well. Things to avoid. Avoid displaying tattoos, large hoop earrings, loud, ostentatious colors, and our extreme styles. You don't want to be unclaimed. Be clean. You want to ensure that your hairstyle isn't blocking your face. You don't want to appear unkempt or shaggy or sloppy. Having extremely long fingernails or any aspect of your appearance appearing to be not neat and clean. You also want to avoid controversial verbage or any other attire with political or religious verbage that could be controversial. Then there are, of course, those examples that I've mentioned a moment ago of business casual as well as business professional. And that is the section on dress for success. 7. Tips for common types of interviews: Tips for our common types of interviews. Here's some best practices to keep in mind for a telephone interview. Smile as you greet the interviewer. Even though they can't see you. You can actually hear a person smile in their voice. Focus and cut out all distractions. List in and don't dominate the conversation. Slow down and take your time. Take it as seriously as an in-person interview. For a virtual interview. Schedule the interview for a time when it will be quiet in your home. Make notes in advance as a reference, but don't rely on your notes completely. Think about your responses before you give them. Make sure you have good lighting and check it and your camera positioning. Before the 15 minute window of the time when your interview is expected to start. Check your visual and audio prior to the 15 minutes in advanced window to ensure you aren't struggling with it at the last minute. Last-minute issues can cause anxiety at time, so try to avoid them by planning ahead. Also check your Internet connection. If your Internet connection is unreliable, consider setting up a wired connection specifically for the interview and advance. Tests your upload speed by doing an internet speed says via Google search. Be fully online and ready to start the interview 15 minutes before the time the interview is scheduled to start. Have Zoom or whichever platform that is being used for the interview, downloaded ahead of time and make sure your equipment is working. Look into the camera when speaking to make eye contact with the interviewer. Have a professional clean background, don't have family members, friends, or overly personal effects visible during the interview. I'm trying to make sure you're in a situation where you're sitting upright. In a professional setting, don't want to do any interviews while laying in your bed or I'm sitting in bed with all of your personal effects in the background. You want to avoid that. Then for an in-person interview, you want to build rapport with the interviewer. Potential employer wants to see your personality along with your relevant qualifications, smile and make eye contact. Be professional. Pay attention to nonverbal signals. Express your enthusiasm and use all relevant interview ideas already shared for the other interview types, as well as these suggestions in the previous types of interviews as well, where applicable. That includes that covers the best practices and tips for some common types of interviews. 8. Preparation for the interview: Preparation for the interview. Some best practices are to start off by making sure you do your homework, do your research before the interview. This will help you answer the question, why do you want to work at this company? Preparation is key to avoid sounding scripted and to avoid appearing and prepare. Learn what the company is about having an online presence, social media. In an earlier section, you may be applying for several jobs. So be sure to remember the core competencies of the row and the requirements for this specific job that you're getting ready to go interview for. If this is an entry-level job you haven't held before or position you don't have direct work experience at another job doing before, but it's a job with work you've done before in another capacity, be prepared to share that experience. Some examples might include that although you haven't done it in a job capacity before, because he may be new to the workforce. Perhaps you've done volunteer work that's similar or the same as the job you're applying for or tasks that you've done at home. Very similar to this or similar work experience you've gained at school. For instance, if this is your very first job and if you're applying for a job as a bagger at a grocery store, for instance, you can mention if you bag groceries for your mom when she's brought you to the grocery store in the past and gone shopping, or if you're applying for an entry-level IT support job and you volunteer to help with fixing different computer issues at home or your school, maybe you can mention that. Or if you're applying for a management position or organizational role for the first time, maybe you can mention instances. You've done similar work and volunteer position at your school with student council or the honor society or on a sports team. Also, if you're applying for management position or a leadership position, you can reference times you've worked in a leadership role in various school-related organizations and other organizations outside of school you may be affiliated with. And just make sure you're being honest about your specific experience in situation. And think about these things in advance so that you can communicate them effectively. And also, as mentioned before, research, research, research. Research before the interview. The skills and experience accompany values. Key players of the organization, news and recent events about the employer, the company's culture, mission, values, client's products, services, research the company, use glass door to get some ideas. Glassdoor.com and other sites. And they are personal website Bowen at personal website, but their company website. If you can research the person interviewing you, you can do that as well. Then also what is the company's financial health look like? So these are all things to think about and that covers preparation for the interview section. 9. Day before the interview: The day before the interview, here are some best practices. Make sure you know how to get to your interview location so it's easy to get there the next day. Select your outfit for the interview and if you haven't worn it in awhile or at all, try it on early in the day so you can make sure there's no surprises and you don't need to make changes or replacements that you won't have time for if you find out the day of the interview, instead, review the job description again, review your practice questions in your practice answers. Make sure you write down your questions that you'll ask the interviewer At the end of the interview, set out all of the items you'll bring to the interview, your notebook, pn, close resume, cover letter, copies, minimum of your resume, as well as other items that should bringing it in paper documents and go to bed early. And that covers the day before the interview. 10. Day of the interview: Day of the interview. Best practices. First impressions are very important. Have confident body language. Speak with confidence. Use good posture. Have your shoulders back, your head up, and smile when greeting people you encounter. Have polite professional interactions. Have a professional handshake. It should be firm but not a vise like RIP. Be sure to arrive to check in 15 minutes before the interview is scheduled to start. Don't chew gum during the interview. Avoid putting on excessive amounts of perfume. Try to keep it to a minimum or leave it out altogether. Don't plan excessive amount of commitments on the day of your interview. Before and or after the interview, such as a doctor's appointments and various other appointments. You want to minimize stress. So try to keep your schedule is open as you can on that day so you can concentrate and be as relaxed as possible. Don't overeat before your interview. Please don't experiment with new types of foods before your interview. Interview that could cause you to have an upset stomach. Take a few deep calming breaths before walking in for your interview. And those are a few tips best-practices for the day of the interview. 11. During and after the interview: During and after the interview, best practices. During your interview you should be polite, accommodating, and professional. If you get a question and you feel stuck or unsure, feel free to ask a follow-up question to get clarity if needed. If done properly, this will help ensure you're answering the question within appropriate understanding of what you're being asked. It will also buy you some time to think through your answer. While showing the interviewer you have a desire to do things correctly based off the right understanding. Use this sparingly if needed during the interview. As mentioned earlier with your resume in a previous section, use mirroring in your interview also by using similar terminology and language from the research you've already done. That would have given you an idea of the company's language, perhaps from their website. News articles, or other sources. Practice this in advance while becoming uncomfortable answering some of the common interview questions you've found to help ensure it comes across as natural. Have your questions ready for the interviewer At the end of the interview. If you still don't have any from your previous preparation and you still need ideas. Think about what is important to you in a job that you still don't know yet. Also think of anything you may want clarity on that specific to your role or to future career opportunities with accompany or overall company questions or questions about the company's culture. Try to include open-ended questions to help you gain greater insights. And use this opportunity as a way to further build rapport during the discussion with the interviewer. Also towards the end of the interview, it's okay to probe to get an idea of what your chances look like for this job opportunity. Instead of waiting with no idea of where you stay in for days. I'll share some examples in the next section of what types of questions you might want to consider using to do this. After the interview. You want to be sure to write a personalized thank you e-mail to each person that interviewed you within one business day of your interview. Be specific about what you enjoyed, about your discussion with them. Remember to be both positive and professional. Please don't be a stalker. Wait at least a week after your follow-up e-mails to reach out again if needed, you don't want to start trying to contact your interviewers on a daily basis after the interview. Because you can come across as desperate and or stock are issued if that's a real word, There's a line between following up and being thorough versus overdoing it and coming across looking crazy. Now this is specifically the case only if your contact follow-up communications become completely one-sided. Where you are doing all of the reaching out to them repeatedly and receiving no response to initiate further contact from the employer. Now, on the other hand, in some cases, employers might request more information or initiate additional reasons for you to reach back out after your initial interview. Aside from just your thank you note. And if that's the case, it's perfectly fine to respond and interact with them accordingly and with whatever frequency makes sense based on the nature of the employers requests and or interactions. So use your best judgment and remember to just be polite, professional, and timely with your responses throughout the process. 12. Examples of common interview questions: Examples of common interview questions. It helps to become familiar with common interview questions before the interview, I'll share different types of questions for awareness. Mostly, you don't need to memorize the different types of questions or the answers I shared with them. Your answers in your interview needs to be unique to you and your situation. The important takeaway from this section is becoming familiar with techniques and ideas on how to answer different types of questions. You can adapt to whatever questions are asked and answered them effectively while making a good impression on your interviewer with the goal to land a job. The question is I cover here on aren't an exhaustive list. Google can help you with that. So do a Google search and skim through the list of common interview questions, then do additional practice with the techniques and ideas I share. Having familiarity and practice with the techniques are key to being able to incorporate them well during your interview naturally. And you want your interview to flow naturally like a conversation. Here are some common interview question types. Behavioral communication, performance-based brain teaser, and situational. Behavioral questions are interview questions that focus on how you've handled various situations in the workplace. And they reveal your character traits, abilities, and skills. Communication questions are questions that are asked during a job interview to measure and test a person's ability to communicate in various settings and communication styles, performance-based questions or those and interviewer asked about a candidates past accomplishments. These questions are created and used to help the interviewer gauge how successful potential employees will be in the future. Brain teaser questions may come up during some technical job interviews. They are less about identifying the actual answer than they are about sharing your thought process. Situational questions are asked in a job interview to allow the hiring manager to get a feel for how you'd handle particular situations in the position. These questions involve assessing a circumstance and responding with how you'd handle it in a solution-based away. During the interview. There may be occasional yes or no questions, but the majority of them you'll find are usually open-ended. The brain teaser questions are unlikely to come up during an interview with the exception of certain technical roles, as I alluded to earlier, in order to help with answering questions that require you to articulate results. Use the star method. S-t-a-r. Star stands for situation, task, action, and results. When using this method, after you're asked a question, you share the situation relevant to the question, the task you were faced with, the action you took to resolve, improve, or otherwise change the situation for the better the results you achieved from your action. It's a plus if you're ever able to quantify your results as well. But if you can't, it's okay, just try to share specific improvements that were the result of your action in this situation, there are several ways that questions can be answered impressively well during an interview, I'll just be sharing some ideas to help with how you can answer these questions. Instance, if you've never worked a job before, think of times when you've worked with people on projects or assignments in school, on sports teams, in school clubs. And if you've ever done any volunteer work, you can maybe even pull from that. Or any instances when you've helped others with tasks or projects in your life. If you have worked before, then you want to pull from those experiences as much as possible. While you can still use some of the other options as well. Being able to pull from work experiences is a good idea when sharing ways that it can be relevant. The role that you're applying for. Just remember when you're answering these questions. Always tie your response in to express how you're an excellent fit for the role you're applying for. You also need to be listening closely to what your interviewer is saying during the interview. So you can adapt your responses to incorporate additional concepts the interviewer may bring up during the interview. Here are some examples of questions to get started. For behavioral questions, you might get, Tell me about a time when you handled a challenging situation. This a great opportunity to use the star method here for this question as well as for other questions or statements or whatnot. Tell me about how you work under pressure. That's another one. So for something like this, you'll want to consider sharing how you handle the pressure. And if you were able to successfully adjust to the pressure in a positive way and create a positive outcome for your company, Department, team or yourself using the star method. Good idea for that one. Another one is describe a time when you struggled to build a relationship with some unimportant. How did you eventually overcome that? Again, star method. The other one is tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn't very responsive. What did you do? Another one is describe a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer. How did you handle it? Using the star method? Here's a possible example, a scenario. Maybe the situation is customer was upset because the product they want it was out-of-stock for several months and they needed it right away. So the task is you need to get the customer what they need as soon as possible. The action would be, I found a suitable substitute that performs the same as that of the out-of-stock items. Once I identify the item, I ship the substitute rush overnight so the customer can get it as soon as possible. And then the results might be that customers happy and satisfied and as has since sent new customers, customers to me, resulting in over $10 thousand and new business revenue this year. So that's one example of how you could potentially take an example from your life or your work experience and be able to incorporate it into an interview and just separate out those different pieces, the situation task, the action that you took in the results, because it helps to organize your thoughts and being able to help you present yourself in a way that is able to be perceived very well during an interview to an interviewer being able to show those results. So that's just an example. Of course, you have your own, you pull from your own experiences. The next one I'm going to go through is communication questions. These are more open-ended questions. One common one is telling me about yourself. When you get that question, you want to think of this as a way you can provide a shorten conversational recap of your resume. Essentially, you'll want to share your work experience, education, certifications, and other details relevant to why you're excellent for the role you're interviewing for. And then, of course, if any questions additional come up in reference to tell me about yourself. Question or statement. It's just a matter of adapting and just listening to what the interviewer is asking you for and just adding more information, providing more information based on what you get from your interviewer. So another one is how would you describe yourself? You want to be sure to think about this question in advance. Think about what characteristics you already possess that are ideal for the role you're interviewing for. And if you include other details, that's fine. Of course you want to just make sure everything is professional that you include. But you want to always tie it back to the role that you're applying for and how you're an excellent fit for it. Then the next one is describe a difficult work situation or project and how you overcame it. This is a question that Let's see interviewer get a glimpse of your thought process and your ability to stick to a project without giving up while making adjustments or changes to solve a problem and move forward. This is another excellent opportunity to use the star method in order to show the breakdown of what it would exactly was the situation, what's asked involved the action that results Poland yard, so they help to organize it. The next one is gonna be performance-based questions. So an example is tell me about two suggestions you have made to your supervisor in the past year. So again, you want to use the star method to share the positive results of your suggestions and relate it to how you're qualified for the role you're applying for. Next question, statement. And describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved. So here maybe you've had to negotiate with an unhappy customer to come up with an agreeable solution to solve a problem. Or maybe you negotiate it with your sports teammates or school club members about something and came to an agreement. Or maybe he negotiated with a family member about something that will be appropriate for you to share in an interview. Another one is describe a situation where you are responsible for getting others to make a change. You can think of the same types of relationships as mentioned in the previous question or others, whatever is relevant to your specific situation and is relevant and appropriate for the job interview for you to share. And just remember to use the star method if possible. It helps you, as I mentioned earlier, to organize your response. It helps you articulate your thoughts in a professional and effective manner. And the other one is the brain teasers. And again, these are not very common in most interviews, with the exception of some technical job interviews, not all, some. And so an example of a brain teaser question will be explained the Internet to someone coming out of a 30-year coma. So here the interviewer is likely not looking for you to go into excruciating detail of exactly what the Internet is, but maybe share an explanation that reflects your ability to teach others that are likely of a much lower technical aptitude while not talking over their head and explaining a technical concept at a level that's easy to understand. That's just one thing to think about with that. Another one example of a brain teaser question is teach me how to make an omelet. So it's okay. When you get questions like this, ask clarifying questions because it's very, very open-ended and not very specific at all. So you might, for this scenario asked pay, where am I located while making this omelet? Or what tools do I have available for this? Where am I? Just want to find out? Because your interviewer might have one picture in mind, you might have another. And so it helps to be able to kind of close that gap so that you're able to kind of meet in the middle and make sure you're creating and putting together, providing an answer that is going to be ideal for what your interviewer is looking for. So you want to, you might need to ask a few more questions so that it doesn't come across where your interview was thinking one thing and you're thinking something completely different and then it till, in any case, again, these types of questions are more about trying to understand your thought processes. Unless about that there is only one right answer because obviously there's not one right answer for something like this. But just to give yourself the best chance possible, you get something like this. You're not sure. It's okay to ask clarifying questions. It can help you to be able to get more feedback and even have a nice conversation of sorts as professional with the interviewer, that it helps to break the ice as well. But that's just an idea for that. Another one example of a brain teaser is what is the sum of the numbers one to 100. So it's okay to speak out loud while you're working on figuring it out. Remember this type of question is intended to reveal your thought process or ability to think through challenging questions. Then we go on into situational questions. So this one is telling me about a time you went above and beyond for work. You may want to share a time when you received a customer service kudos if you're in customer service for instance, or even if you're not, but you do an excellent job on a project since I handed you might still get some positive feedback from a customer or another idea might be to recall when a previous manager complimented you on your work. Or think of a time when you helped a coworker when you didn't have to and then share what you did and what were the results or if you've never worked before, recall a time when you received an award at school and what you did to receive that award or recall a time when you helped another student or students that you didn't have to help and share what you did and the results that came out of it or positive. Then another example is describe a time when you had two mini to-do items on your list, how did you solve the problem? So you want to use the star method for this question or statement. The next one is tell me about a time you've reached a big goal at work. Again, use the star method. An example might be a situation such as you successfully completed a high dollar project that asks maybe that you live the project. The action could be organized, initiated, and manage the project to completion. The results of project was successfully done. You generated over a $0.5 million in sales. Or maybe you created X number of jobs due to the success of the project. Maybe or maybe you helped by having completed this priority successfully. Then the business was expanded into new regions and acquired X number of new customers in the database. This can go a lot of different directions, a lot of different ways. So these are just some very general descriptions and this is just for like the training purposes, the way I'm kind of worried in this, whenever you are sharing something like this, you want to make sure you using complete sentences and just Inoculating yourself as thoroughly as possible to your interviewer. So another common question would be, why did you leave your current job or why are you leaving? For this question, you want to focus on the positives of the new job. Share why you're interested in the new job and don't focus on the negative of the last job if there are any. Another question is, why do you want to work at this company? This is very common. For this question you can pull from the research you've already done that was discussed in a previous section of this training. You've done your research on the company. And here you want to just share something along the lines of what are those elements that you've researched that appeal to you the most, that maybe some of the things, for instance, you might feel that the culture and values of the company align well with your own. There may, there may be other admirable qualities you've discovered about the company that you appreciate is accompany one of the top performing companies relative to the role you're applying for. So share your thoughts and be specific, whatever it is that you liked the most about the company. Just poor from that your research and then go from there. Another common question is, what's your greatest weakness comes up quite a bit for this. Some people like to answer this question by trying to use a strength and kind of disguising it as a weakness to make in order for it to maybe not be perceived as a negative thing. However, it can sometimes come across as a bit disingenuous because since ends with this question, somebody says, What's your greatest weakness? Somebody might say, Well, I'm a perfectionist or I worked too much or something like that. And so it's kind of one of those things that just doesn't come across as being a legitimate a weakness or something that they might have been looking for. And in some cases somebody might be perfectly fine with that. I don't know. There's always that possibility, but there's a better and more effective way to answer that. So that you can provide the interviewer with information that they're looking for and also provide something they may come across a little better. So a better way to answer this more effectively is to share an actual weakness, which can be scary, but it's okay, It's perfectly fine because the way you do it is you provide a weakness, but not your biggest weakness. And not a weakness that is directly related to the job you're applying for. However you are providing a weakness and you can share how it impacts you and how you're currently working to improve it. By working to improve it apart is one of the key elements that helps to make work well and be a positive that you are shells that you're self-aware and you're working to enhance yourself, which is a positive thing. The weakness you share is situational. One of the keys here is that as I mentioned a moment ago, you want to be sure and show growth. So an example might be, let's use an example you're applying for a job as either a copywriter, a data entry clerk, or a lab technician. And then you're in the interview. You get the question, what's your greatest weakness? Let's say your weaknesses that you're shy, so you're not very outgoing. While this is a weakness, being outgoing is not a critical skill for any of the roles I used in this example. So it's not a big deal. However, it shows that additional self-awareness if you recognize this weakness and you're working to overcome it by taking action to improve yourself in that area. Fiber hips, by perhaps stepping out of your comfort zone and introducing yourself to people you don't know in your accompany. Maybe at your old job or if you're new to the job market, joining groups to meet new people at school or other areas of your life. Then if you're also able to share that by tackling this weakness in this way as an additional side effect, if you've been able to help learn helpful things, you've been able to share with others in your department at your old job that helped improve your work to be done more efficiently or improved work processes, then that's just icing on the cake. If you're able to do that. When your interviewer asked if you have any questions. At the end of the interview, definitely ask questions pulled from the questions you've already prepared if needed. And if any additional questions come up during the interview, write them down so you can remember to ask them when this opportunity comes up. If for some reason they forget to ask you which they usually don't, they usually remember. But if they forget to ask you, if you have any questions at the end of the interview, then ask them if it's okay. If you ask a few questions. When you ask well thought out questions, it makes you appear to be a more high-value prospective candidate. And it shows you are more carefully making a decision about where you want to work, rather than being willing to take anything you can get without putting. It much thought into it. Here are some ideas for questions you could ask at the end of the interview to your interviewer When they ask you if you have any questions. One might be, what exactly is this company value the most? And how do you think my work for you will further these values? This type of question can show that you're forward thinking. Another question might be, how is job performance evaluated? This will give you insight into what to expect if you get the job and help you to know what they prioritize as important in your job performance. Or another question could be, what does success look like in this position? And how do you measure it? Kind of a spin-off of the previous question. A different way of asking that perhaps this shows you're interested in being successful in the row and helps set the expectations of how you can succeed in the role. Another question is, what type of candidate is most successful in this row? This can give you ideas on what they are looking for. You can self-assess to see if the candidate that your interviewer describes sounds like you. So far as the traits and skills that are mentioned, you can also identify for your own personal knowledge areas you may be able to improve on, not for sharing purposes at this point from you to your interviewer, but just for your own knowledge, if you hear something and think, oh, that's interesting, that there might be a skill I want to work on as their name and off some of the things that make us successful Canada and in that role. And of course, as you, of course, already picked rows that you meet all of the minimum qualifications for anyway. So that's not what we're discussing, but just in general, there's extra things that will help you to stand out. That's where you want to keep in mind and make a mental note, okay, I might want to work on that as well. Also, the good thing about this question is it can give you an opportunity to address if there are any of these aspects that maybe you haven't already articulated, your skills are the qualities that they've shared that they're looking for as additional positive things in this row that maybe hasn't been discussed already during the course of the interview, you can either take that time to share as well, maybe what skills you have additionally, because they've maybe shared that there's something that wasn't discussed, are there wasn't maybe an opportunity for you to maybe share something that came up this relevant. So just to order, in order to be really thorough, you may be able to pull something from that. Although that's not the primary purpose of this question, but it's just some things to think about. Another question might be, what do the day-to-day responsibilities of the role look like? Again, this helps you to know what to expect. Another question might be, where do you see the company in five years? This can provide insights into future plans for the company. Another question, maybe what are the next steps in the job process? This again helps us set expectations. Let you know what could potentially be coming next. If you're selected for the robe or selected to move forward. A few things to think about. Now here are a few things not to do. What you don't want to do during your interview, initial interview. Don't you don't want to ask questions that you can otherwise find the answer to online, such as asking what does the company do? That should be something that you've already answered by the research you would have done, then you are preparing for the interview like in a Google search, we should already know what the company does before you go into the interview. Also, you don't want to jump the gun and asked questions that won't need to be addressed until both you and the company have ascertained that you're the right person for the job you're interviewing for. During the interview, you don't want to ask for time off from work, certain salary, certain benefits, special favors, like do I get my own office or can I work from home? If the position doesn't already indicate it's a remote position, your initial interview isn't the appropriate time to make that request. Depending on the role, your job performance and other factors as possible. Some of these options could become available later, but don't assume anything and leave these alone during the interview. So you don't come across as entitled or off putting or your initial interview, It's time for you to be able to both learn about the company, as well as give the company an opportunity to learn about you. And you're really trying to sell your skills, sell yourself and get that opportunity to move forward to landing a job. So then if you want to get an idea to find out whether or not you have a good chance at getting the job. If you want to probe to find out what your chances to look like for this job opportunities sooner rather than later. Here are some ideas of questions you could ask to get an idea of where you stand. Um, this should probably be one of the last questions you asked. Where's the end of the interview? After the interviewer has finished asking you questions and you've provided clarity on anything needed. After you've asked your questions. Those questions that, you know when they asked, Do you have any questions you ask those already. Now you're at a point where you're almost towards the end wrapping up. As like one of your last questions you might want to ask something like if you don't offer me this job, what would the reason B, and again, you want to be conversational at this point, you've built rapport with your interviewer. You know, at this point, of course, very professional. And you've done a great job on your questions if you use the different skills and techniques and everything that we've discussed, you're just getting a better idea of where you stand. Another way to ask that might be based on our conversation today. Is there any reason you wouldn't offer me this job? Another way to ask it might be based on our discussion today. Is there any reason you may be hesitant to bring me on board? So this does a few different things. This will give you an opportunity to address any lingering questions or areas they may feel uncertain about the interviewer, if any. In it also shows that you're both willing and able to receive feedback. It lets you know if the answer is that they don't feel you're a good fit for a reason that you may not be able to change. It will save you time and possible stress. Wondering for days whether or not you got the job. Then you're, you can then move on to the next job opportunity and focus your energy and time somewhere else instead. On the other hand, if, if they are interested in bringing you on board, you might be able to find that out a bit earlier. Although quite often there's a few more steps involved before they're able to just offer a job outright. But there is a possibility if they're still interviewing other candidates or whatever the response is. Steel follow-up with a thank you note as a professional courtesy, as mentioned in a previous section, that is the section for examples of common interview questions. Thank you. 13. Examples of common industry specific interview questions: Examples of common industry specific interview questions. I'm going to focus on just a handful of industries for this section. Starting with sales and business development, information technology, medical and health services managers, indication and Engineering. I've researched some potential industry specific interview questions. There's no guarantee that you'll see all or any of these questions in an interview. However, it's a good idea to try to be as prepared as possible. And whether you're a specific industry has mentioned and not be aware of. The focus is more on the techniques used to answer the questions which quite often can be transferable across industries to a certain degree depending on the question. If you practice getting the techniques down, it will help you regardless of what actual questions you get during the interview. So starting with sales and business development, some common questions for certain roles and not all would be, are you comfortable making cold calls? Have you consistently met your sales goals? What motivates you? How did you land your most successful sale? How would your colleagues describe you? Sell me this PN. What are your long-term career goals? How has your background prepared you for sales? How do you feel about working targets? Excuse me, how do you feel about working two targets? Have you ever lost an opportunity to do business with an important partner? Pick something in this room and then sell it to me. And what is your ideal customer look like? Answer honestly and get comfortable essentially bragging on yourself in a tactful way when sharing yourself. Successes. For this specific type of Rosales. Confidence is very, very important, is very important. It's important in general that you appear confident in an interview. With sales, it becomes even more important. Another good thing that will be helpful for you is that you want to research the consultative sales process, do a Google search for additional information and consider using this technique if you're asked by the interviewer to sell them something. In a nutshell, it's in research, ask, listen and form, and close. Just a high level overview of that process, although there's more to it. Do your homework and you'll be familiar with it. When you close. Be sure to ask for the sale. Sometimes people forget that step or don't quite do it. So you just want to be sure and just ask outright for the sale. Look at the different types of closing techniques that are available online. You can find there's numerous different types of techniques you can use. Your soft closes, heart closes is all kind of different things. And so you just want to kind of gauge the situation, practice, practice, practice, and then when the time comes, it'll help tremendously so you can do that effectively. Then of course, as I mentioned, just Google ideas and practice this if it applies to you for the type of job you're pursuing. Here's some examples of questions you might ask for this type of role. When it reaches the point that the interviewer asks you if you have any questions, you might want to know, how do your managers interact with the sales representatives? How do you train new hires about your product or service? And what has been your teams greatest challenge this year. So those might be a few. Then for an IT position or information technology. One question might be what interests you about this position? So it can shoot it. Consider sharing what interests you and following up with how you are good at it and how you can add value with whatever it is you're interested in if it's a skill, if it's skill-related. So here are some more that are pretty straightforward. What certifications do you hold? What automated build tools have you used? What development tools that you use with languages have you programmed in? What online resources do you use to help you do your job? How do you keep your technology skills current? Just think about how frequently you may get certified or what tools and resources you use to stay up-to-date on your tech skills. Those are a few ideas. Some examples of questions you might ask might be, what does the company do to stay on the cutting edge of technology? How does your team approach problems? How do you test code? How do you track bugs, how you integrate and deploy changes? Is your infrastructure setup under version control available as code? How do you prepare for disaster recovery? This lets your interviewer know your forward thinking and it also gives you insights into how thorough the company is with handling potential challenges proactively. It can also help you make an informed decision on whether or not this is the type of company you want to work for. And it gives you a basis of comparison if you're interviewing at multiple companies for this type of role. And you need to decide between which one you want to join later on if that comes up. So another industry or type of role that I'm gonna discuss as medical and health services managers. Some questions might be, how do you stay up to date with healthcare advancements? Why do you want to work in the healthcare field? Would you see as the future of health care as a healthcare administrator? How would you communicate with other teams within the organization? How do you handle the workload that has competing deadlines? So a related question, especially if you are new to nursing, is about why you want to work in the healthcare industry. It's great if you have a sincere desire to help people feel better, That is always a good thing. And it's good if you have a desire to help certain populations such as the indigent diabetics or the elderly. And maybe why that kind of thing. Some examples of questions you might ask when S, If you have any questions would be, what are your expectations for this role during the first 306090 days? Can you describe the culture of the department which changes or differences would you like to see in the department in the next five years? And then another industry will be education. So some questions might be, why did you decide to become a teacher? In this case? Do you love teaching kids? Do you just love teaching people in general? Have you always wanted to be a teacher where you motivated by one of your teachers growing up. Do you have a teacher in your family then inspired you? Another question is, what is your teaching philosophy? Start with one or two sentences that neatly encapsulate your thinking in reference to your philosophy. Then elaborate on what your philosophy means in practical terms. And then you want to be able to share examples for how it's applicable within the scope of a classroom. How do you use technology in the class? Or maybe another question, what technology do you use? Then if you're new to teaching with technology, are you familiar with that? You may have volunteer teaching experience with? Have other teachers shown you how to use any type of technology in the classroom that you like in plan to use that you could share at this point. And then another question, maybe describe your classroom management structure and you want to just share your preferred classroom management style here. Be able to show how adaptable you are, two different types of situations and also share different examples and just highlight what it is that you do in the classroom or what you would potentially do in the classroom as your style of managing a classroom, so to speak. So another thing is if you're interviewing for an ESL or English as a second language teaching position, you may want to become familiar with the total physical response or a TPR. This is a form of teaching by doing that works very well and is commonly used when teaching small children. Another, another language. There are lots, there's others as well. Other types of teaching styles with S1. Help you get started. You just want to be sure and do your research. I know that when I was interviewing in the past for this type of role, that was one of the teaching styles. It came up quite frequently. Of course, things are always changing and evolving. So you want to just make sure you're doing your research to find out what might be the best teaching style for you and what may be the most effective for the students that you are potentially be teaching or whatever the case may be. So another question may be, how do you incorporate social, emotional learning and your lessons? And you may want to share your teaching style is centered around classroom engagement and just help to be sure to articulate your capabilities. And just try to be as conversational, professional and relatable as possible. Remember, the interview is just like a professional conversation is more or less what it is. So just want to express your style to your interviewee. And then some examples of some questions you might want to ask would be, what are the other teachers like? How is the interaction between the school and the parents? What would my goals be for the first year? Was the average classrooms, AIS. What's the culture like? Do you have an active PTA or a parent-teacher association? And there's more. I just want to add a few to get you started if you'd like. And then another industry would be engineering. This one. Some questions might be, what do you enjoy most and least about engineering? Where do you see yourself five years from now? For this question, do you have future career aspirations with a company that you'd like to share? What are your professional goals? You definitely want to be honest. You also don't want to discuss plans to leave the company during the interview. You're considering that you want to be forward thinking so far as, you know, in the long-term, what is it that you're aspiring to do with the company if you're able to get on board. What new engineering skills have you recently developed? Tell me about the most challenging engineering project worked on. When discussing the project. You always want to include the positives about the project. What successes did you achieve on the project? How did you grow? What did you learn? And what way were you able to help someone else with the experience and knowledge you gained from a challenging project. Describe a written technical report or presentation you had to complete. Again, what did you learn? What benefits were derived from it that helped you company, your team, your school, or whoever it was four. It can also help to pull from your previous or current work experience or educational background some examples of questions you might ask. When you're given the opportunity to ask the interviewer questions might be what would my goals be for the first 30 days? Well, my first priority be in this position. What can you tell me about the team and what, what metrics goats success are used to gauge success in this row? Those are a few questions on examples for a few specific industries. And that's it for this section. Thank you. And then we'll get ready to go into the next section here in just a bit. 14. Conclusion: You've reached the conclusion. Thank you for joining the course interview essentials, skills to land entry-level, mid-level jobs. In conclusion, we've covered a variety of skills to help you and succeed in the interview process. We've discussed how to complete your job application, best practices for your resume, your internet presence, how to prepare and dress for the interview. Best practices for answering some common interview questions. And a lot more. Consistently work to improve your interviewing skills and use these skills to help new, open, new doors to new opportunities for you by taking action with the things you've learned. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions and all the best to you in your future career endeavors. Thank you for joining me. Take care.