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370 articles by Peggy McKee · showing 50

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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions – Q86

Who was your best boss and who was your worst? This job interview question tests several things about you and gives a lot of information to the interviewer: Are you adaptable? Can you get along with a wide variety of people? Do you carry grudges? Do you fit their company’s cultural style? Do you fit your potential hiring manager’s leadership style? How do you react to negative situations? Your overall goal to keep in mind is to stay positive and communicate that you can work with any boss in any situation.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q61

What excites you and scares you about this position? This is a tough question. I think it sounds like another version of “what are your greatest advantages and disadvantages?” or another way to ask about your strengths and weaknesses. They’re looking to see if you’ll tell them about any issues or problems you might have, while they’re assessing your enthusiasm and approach to the job. As with most job interview questions, you need to keep it as positive as you can. I don’t normally have a fear when I go into a job and I don’t think that you should voice one, either.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Fastest Way to Find a Job - Tip 25 Offbeat Ways

Offbeat Ways (Sandwich Boards, Dating Services, Your Child’s Ball Games, and other Desperate Job Search Measures ) If you’ve been out of work for a long time, you’re ready to try anything to find a job. Some of today’s suggestions are a little tongue-in-cheek, but some of them could be crazy enough to actually work for the aggressive job seeker…and I thought you might enjoy them. Sandwich board

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Informational Interviews Using LinkedIn

One of the many, many fantastic applications of LinkedIn is that you can use it to land informational interviews. Informational interviews are just what they sound like: they are interviews that you conduct to gather information, usually about a job or a career field you’re interested in. They last 20-30 minutes, and give you an opportunity to get answers about what a typical day is like, what the person likes or dislikes about the field, and what it takes to be successful.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

The Importance of Questioning Skills in the Interview

It might surprise you to know that asking questions of your own during your job interview is just as important as answering them. Candidates spend a lot of time on interview preparation, and they should. Doing your research on the company, bringing your 30/60/90-day plan, and preparing compelling answers to interview questions (as well as having some stories to back them up) are guaranteed ways to have a good interview. But one thing that will make you stand out from other candidates is asking questions. Asking questions tells you what you need to know.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q49

What are your hobbies? Asking about your hobbies and interests seems like an odd interview question, but companies are asking more and more of those ‘personality’ type questions these days in an effort to make sure that you’re going to be a good cultural fit for the organization. And the indirectness of this question is also sort of a fishing expedition for them to see if you’ll reveal things about yourself that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q24

How long would you plan to stay with us? Asking about your future plans in this way is really not asking you about your future plans. You don’t have to go into your 5-year life plan or your career goals. It’s a brief question that requires only a brief answer. Personally, my response to that question would be “How long would you like me to stay?”

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q40

Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it? If you’re interviewing for a management-level job, you will almost certainly be asked this question at some point. Nobody likes to give negative feedback, but if you supervise anyone, it’s a necessary evil. Managers have to deliver both positive and negative feedback on almost a daily basis, depending on the size of the company and the group who reports to them.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q36

Situational Response Question: An airplane landed in the parking lot. What would you do? Most situational interview questions are like behavioral interview questions. They have some direct relation to the job…like, “You are introducing a new policy to the group and facing opposition. How would you handle it?” Or, “How would you handle a situation in which a subordinate was not performing to expectations?”

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Fastest Way to Find a Job - Tip 11 - YouTube

YouTube Posting a video on YouTube to try to find a job might sound like a desperate, last ditch effort, but think again. If you’re on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus, or other social media networks, why wouldn’t you be on YouTube? There are lots of things you can do on YouTube that you just can’t do through anything else. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Maybe a video is worth ten thousand. So what can you do on YouTube to find a job fast?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q4

Describe a time when your workload was heavy and how you handled it. Asking you to describe difficult situations (and your reactions to them) is a favorite tactic of interviewers. It’s called behavioral interviewing. Behavioral interview questions get way past your basic skills and qualifications and get to the heart of “how will you act once you’re hired?” Past behavior predicts future behavior better than anything else.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Fastest Way to Find a Job - Tip 8 - Previous Co-Workers

Previous Co-Workers People you have worked with in the past are a big networking opportunity for you in your quest to find a new job. (1) They can pass on job leads to you. People in your career space will naturally hear about job openings and happenings in other companies. If it’s not something that interests them for whatever reason (wrong skill set, wrong location, happy where they are, etc.), they can tell you about it.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Offbeat Ways to Get a Medical Sales Job

Medical sales has a well-deserved reputation for being extremely competitive. The path to get into the field is littered with job seeker casualties: “not enough sales experience,” “not the right kind of experience,” “no experience in the medical field,” and so on. But there are ways to get your foot in the door even if you have no experience at all. You’re going to have to work for it, but it is possible, and it’s very worth it. So here’s a few offbeat ideas for you to get into medical sales:

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q16

How do you deal with difficult customers? Dealing with difficult customers is a fact of life for a TON of jobs: sales reps, customer service reps, retail store clerks, receptionists, restaurant waitstaff, and a hundred other service-industry jobs. The people in those roles are in the front lines. They are the face of their respective companies, and have a tremendous impact on the company’s image, which directly affects growth and revenue. You want your answer to make it very clear that you understand how important your role is and you take it very seriously.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions – Q73

What type of work environment do you prefer? The best answer to this job interview question of what work environment do you prefer is the same answer you’d give to “What’s your ideal job?” The correct answer is: “This one.” Of course, you need to respond with the type of work environment that they have, or at least close to it, or you’re not going to get the job. But, you don’t just want to get the offer, you want to get a job that fits you as well.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q66

What is your ideal job? In a personality test, this question may not be so easy for you to answer. But in a job interview, it’s one of the easiest questions you’ll be asked. Question: What’s your ideal job? Answer: This one. As far as they are concerned, your ideal job is the one you’re interviewing for right now.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q5

Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them. Job interviews are like very intense speed dating. They’ve got to get to know you well in a very short time. For many companies, talking about your resume and what you’ve done is just not enough. They need to know how you’ll behave on the job, how you’ll react to situations. To get to the meat of those issues, they use behavioral interviewing.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q57

What do you consider to be your most significant accomplishment? This is a fantastic job interview question. It sets you up to shine a giant spotlight on yourself as the ideal candidate for this job. Never, ever answer this question by talking about something you achieved or accomplished outside of work. No stories about your kids, or how you climbed Mount Everest. Always focus your answer on work-related accomplishments.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Job Interview Tip: What To Do If You Got the Offer, But It's Not From the Company You Wanted

It’s a little rough-and-tumble right now in the job search, and it’s not uncommon for a candidate to receive a job offer that’s not quite the one they wanted. Often, the candidate then feels like there’s a decision to be made, but it’s not the decision they think. Candidates weighing a job offer aren’t weighing it against the offer from the company they really want to work for—because it’s not there. Even if you think it’s a done deal because of your verbal discussions with the hiring manager, it’s never over till the written offer is extended.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions – Q90

Why did you take a job that seems to be outside of your career path? So what happens when your potential employer is reading through your resume and they come across the job that doesn’t make sense? You have a job in your history that doesn’t fall within the logical progression of jobs in your field. And they want to know why.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

College Seniors Need a LinkedIn Profile Now

If you’re a college senior, you’ll be a jobseeker soon. Students traditionally use on-campus job interviews as a way to get their first post-college job, but according to one article, less than 1/3 of college students find jobs from companies that hire through career services. So what’s a bright, enthusiastic, newly educated wannabe wage-earner to do? Use social media. Recruiters are using connections through Twitter and Facebook to find candidates. More specifically, get a LinkedIn profile.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions – Q68

What kind of money would you be interested in making? Hiring managers always want to know how much you’re going to cost them, so they will ask the salary question a hundred different ways: “How much did you make at your last job?” “What are your salary expectations?” Or this one, “How much money do you want to make?” As much as you would like to say, “I’m interested in making as much money as I can!”, you can’t say that. Even if it’s true. (Wouldn’t we all?)

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Fastest Way to Find a Job – Tip 3 – LinkedIn

LinkedIn I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: LinkedIn is great job search resource. Why? It’s packed with information and potential connections, and it’s entirely business-focused (unlike Facebook, which is socially-focused). Everyone there is interested in making more connections and growing their network to further their careers. That means that you can, too. On LinkedIn, you can find people, you can message people, you can find people who work at companies you would be interested in working for. There are no limitations.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Phone Interview Tips – Number 25: How to Get the Face-to-Face Interview

What’s the point of a phone interview? A phone interview is an inexpensive, time-saving way to determine whether or not you are worth the time, effort, and expense of a face-to-face interview. That’s it. For the employer, it’s a screening process: Do you merit further consideration? For you, it’s an obstacle: How can you get past this phone interview and get to the face-to-face?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Job Seekers: Here’s Your “Video Guide to Getting Hired”

Here are links to 22 videos designed to guide you through the job search and interview process and give you your best chance for success. I’ve put them in order for you here, so that you can build your knowledge as you go and see how it all fits together. About Medical Sales If you’re new to medical sales, or thinking about transitioning from one area to another, you need some general information. What are the different areas available? How is, say, laboratory sales different from medical device sales different from pharmaceutical sales?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Interview Follow Up: What’s the Next Step?

If you’ve had your interview and you’ve sent your thank you note, what do you do now? If it’s been a week (don’t wait longer than that), you need to call the hiring manager to see what’s going on. Where are they in the hiring process? Are you being considered? What do you need to do to prove that you’re the one?r

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Phone Interviews Tip 7 – Use Cheat Sheets

The very best thing about phone interviews is the fact that they can’t see you—which means, you can use as many “cheat sheets” as you want to. So what’s a cheat sheet? Cheat sheets are just what they sound like: Notes that help you do better on the test, which in this case is the phone interview. Phone interviews don’t have many advantages for you, but this is a big one. Make the most of it with these cheat sheet ideas: Your Resumer

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Phone Interviews Tip 4 – How To Keep Your Focus

Does your mind ever wander, even slightly, when you’re on the phone? I think we’re all a little guilty of that…I mean, it’s not like they can see you, so we very often feel a little more freedom to look around the room or even complete another task while we’re on the phone. We’re not as visually tied to the person we’re talking to. In other words, we don’t have to concentrate on looking them in the face while we talk to them…so we mentally wander.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Military Vets - Top 3 Tips To Get a Civilian Job

When you take the big step out of military service back into civilian life, the last thing you need to be worrying about are the difficulties of a civilian job search. It’s true that veterans’ unemployment rates are higher than average, and it’s true that there are specific obstacles in your way…but the good news is that there are 3 sure-fire solutions you can implement that will get you hired quickly. Obstacle (and Solution) #1: Civilian employers don’t understand how your training and skill sets will benefit them.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q51

What are your pet peeves? Why would they ask about your pet peeves in a job interview? They can actually find out quite a lot about you by what you choose to say when you answer this question: Do you get irritated easily? (How long is your list?) Will you be a good fit for their company culture? (If you hate being micromanaged and they’re very focused on being ‘involved’ with employee projects, then chances are, you won’t.)

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

How to Answer Interview Questions - Q64

What is good customer service? This job interview question will generally be asked in interviews for retail or customer service jobs, but there’s really a wide range of jobs that have contact with customers, or people who pay money for a good or service. Engineers, accountants, and manufacturers can have contact with customers, too. I think that the best explanation of “good customer service” came from a recruiting client of mine who wanted to hire a good customer service rep. When I asked what that meant to them, they said, “Customer delight.”

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Job Interview Tip: Create a 30/60/90-Day Plan

If you’re searching for a sales job (or any job), you want every advantage you can get, right? Which means, you’ve probably put a lot of effort into your resume, you’ve found the perfect suit for interviews, and you’ve gone over your answers to potential interview questions. Want another advantage? Create a 30/60/90-day plan for the job you want. What is a 30-60-90 day plan? And how do you use it to get a job in sales? Why does it help? A 30-60-90-day plan is an outline for what you will do when you start the job.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

What Should You Wear To The Medical Sales Interview?

What to wear for the interview can keep medical sales job seekers up at night because it’s so subjective. It’s not like other hard-and-fast rules of interviewing, like “always bring your 30-60-90-day plan,” or “always close for the job.” But your interview attire is just as important as those things. How you dress for your first meeting creates an impression of you in the hiring manager’s mind and sets the tone for your future interactions.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Do Recruiters Help You Put Together Your 30/60/90-Day Plan?

The short answer is yes. A recruiter can and will absolutely help you put together a 30/60/90-day plan, especially an external recruiter whose paycheck depends on you getting the job. The longer answer is also yes, but you have to do your part in making sure that happens. A good recruiter can point you in the right direction for your research on the company. But you also have to ask the right questions to get the recruiter to share with you what they believe and know about the company and the job. What are some basic things you need to know to create a killer 30/60/90-day plan?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Selling Your Business? You Can Get A Great Sales Job!

Have you been your own boss for a while, but now you’ve decided that enough’s enough? Are you ready to move on to a new phase of your life? A great sales job is within your reach. Former business owners have a unique advantage in the job market for sales. They’re used to finding new markets, building customer relationships, and working independently. Those qualities also make great sales reps in a variety of industries.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Best Job Interview Thank You Letter Format

Many people have heard that they should send a thank-you email to an interviewer, but a surprisingly large number of job seekers don’t bother. And they’re wasting the perfect opportunity to show that they respect the interviewer’s time, that they’re enthusiastic about and highly interested in the job, and that their skills are a perfect match. You stand out with your good manners AND you get one more shot at selling yourself for the job. What could be better?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Job Interview Thank You Email Guidelines

Never underestimate how important thank you notes are to the impression you make on the company in your job interview process. But the most critical factor of all is speed. For that reason, every thank you note should be a thank you email...sent within 24 hours of your interview. Why? Because hiring decisions can be made quickly, and you don't want to miss your chance to influence it. It's that simple.

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Dear Career Coach-- I Need a Job!

Dear Career Coach: I’ve been out of work for a while, and it seems that it’s getting harder to get an interview. I keep applying for every job I can find, but I’m not getting any response. I think that my unemployment is hurting my chances, and it’s getting worse the longer it goes. What can I do? Signed, Job Seeker Joe Dear Joe,

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Send a Follow Up Email After Your Job Interview

Fast follow up emails after the interview are better than handwritten notes. Lots of job seekers underestimate just how important it is to say "thank you"....for the time, for the conversation, for the opportunity to meet. And it's also important that you get it to your interviewer fast: within 24 hours of your interview. A handwritten, snail-mailed note just won't do that. Send an email. Why is it so important?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Good Interview Questions to Ask and Answer

Getting a job in this competitive market requires that you up your game. You have to come at the most basic interview elements, the questions and answers, with a thoughtful strategy for success. With that in mind, I have for you two things you should always ask to have a job-winning conversation, and two responses to typical questions that will knock their socks off. What you should always ask: What does your ideal candidate look like?

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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By Peggy McKeeRecently published1 topic

Fastest Way to Find a Job - Tip 16 - Social / Civic Events

Social / Civic Events Not all social or civic events are hotbeds of job search networking…I’ll give you that one. Networking events are better suited for that. However, I believe that any gathering where someone might ask you, “So what do you do for a living?” is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to say, “I am a ____ who’s in between jobs and looking for a new opportunity.”

Primary topic: Interviewing Skills
Interviewing Skills
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