We are going into week 3 on the unemployment front. I am starting to get a bit nervous. I have interviewed and applied everywhere I can think of and nothing is coming in. I get temp offers that pay $8 an hour. That would pay my rent but not much more. I know these job recruiters are just trying to do their job but it is really frustrating when they only call you with jobs that are worthless. Or they tell you call in everyday you are available and then you never hear from them again. At this point I am just frustrated to a point of just moving home and living with my parents. So what is this post about then? Well I know alot of people read my blog; more people than I actually thought did. And these people work in the business world and at one point or another they may partake in the process of hiring someone and if that happens I want to give them advice on what to do and what not to do from the interviewee's point of view.
1) If you are not planning on hiring anyone for several weeks. Don't interview until you are ready. Do you know annoying and frustrating it is to go on an interview and then be told "Well we are going to be looking at making a decision in 2-3 weeks." Do they really think the people they interview will be available in 2-3 weeks? I get so mad when I hear this, they had me dress up, drive over and in some case wait awhile and then tell me "We will call you in a few weeks with a decision." I am looking for a job now and if I was not I would not be interviewing. The applicants are up front about when they can start a job and the employer needs to be as well.
2) Why do you want to work for our company? Unless you are willing to accept the lies you will be told by the applicant. Don't ask this question. We want to work for your company because you have an opening. Now if I was a specialized Heart surgeon and you were the best heart hospital in the world you have the right to ask this question. But if you are just a regular for profit company looking for a secretary don't ask this question. Because then I and everyone else I know are inclined to lie like a rug and say something stupid like "Your company brings light to the community by offering your services to citizens of our town." Just assume we want to work for your company because we submitted our resume and everything requested by you including jumping through the ring of fire to test our fear level.
3) I know you want $15 an hour but this job pays $8 This is a HUGE problem with me. First off I am 40 years old not 18. If I tell you I will not accept less than a certain dollar amount it is because that is what I need to survive on. I am not being snotty and thinking my skills are so great that I deserve to be paid a million dollars a week. It is because like you, I have bills and obligations that must be paid every month and in order to do that I have to have a certain amount of money in the bank. To have an agency call and say I have a great job offer and they tell you everything you will be doing (and it is always a lot) and you are all excited. Then I say those few words "What is the pay rate?" Silence....coughing....shuffling...stammering...I ask again...silence...then the meek little voice "It starts at $8.00 a hour but it could go up if you hire on perm." Most places will look at taking you on perm after 90 days. So that is 90 days of making half of what you need to survive. Then they want to lable you as being difficult because you have to maintain a certain level of income to survive.
4) Let me show you around the office. Unless you are willing to at that moment make a job offer don't give us a tour of your office. Most of the time this tactic is to waste time while they are waiting for someone else. But what it does is it gives the applicant a false sense of security. We start thinking that if you are going to the trouble of giving us a tour you must be ready to offer us the job. WRONG. Do you know how many office tours I have been given. Really people I don't need to know where the bathrooms are if I am not working there. If you need to fill time just let us know most often we bring something with us to do because half the time we are kept waiting.
5) We are calling to tell you we chose someone else. If we don't hear from you it is a given that we did not get the job. But there is nothing worse than getting a voice mail message that sounds so urgent and we stop everything we are doing to call you back and get told "I just wanted to let you know that we offered the position to someone else." Okay, I now feel like crap. Don't do that, don't tell us how difficult of a decision it was for you to make, don't tell us how much you really wished there were 2 jobs open, don't tell us any other excuses to ease your mind. Just don't worry about it. Trust me we don't stop looking for a job just because we interviewed with you and got the tour of the office. We are know the chances are not always in our favor that you will give us the job. This is just par for the course. But to get a call and make us stop our search to be told "We don't want you" is just maddening. If you must communicate your rejection send us a nice note or card, perferably with a check paying us for the time we took to interview and drive over. If not just with a note of thanks for coming in. That is all we need. No phone call necessary.
6) Put what the job pays in the ad and be honest. This sort of falls back on #3, but unless you have done a job search lately you have no idea how time consuming it can be. If you are wanting a new employee you already know how much you are willing to pay. Why do you want to waste time interviewing people who will not accept the position because it does not pay enough. I know it is not PC to list what you are willing to pay in the ad but it makes life so much easier if you do. As a general rule the applicant is not suppose to ask what the position pays because that makes us look like all we want the job for is the paycheck. And god forbid the employer think that his employees are there for something other than a paycheck. So if you are only able to pay $8 an hour then be honest and interview those who can work for that. Definately do not say you will pay $32,000 a year and when you get an interviewee in your office tell them "Well really the job pays $16,000 a year." Because what does this do, it makes the interviewee mad and it makes you look like a boob. Why, because you may end up needed someone with their skills and qualifications down the road. You call them and remind them that they interview in the past and want to see if they are available for this position. They are not even going to give you the time of day, because they don't trust you. You tried to pull the wool over their eyes once why would they give you the chance again. So please be honest and unashamed of what you are willing to pay. Also remember the old say "You Get What You Pay For" meaning if you are only willing to pay $8 an hour that is the type of skills you are going to get. You are not going to get an executive secertary for that amount. So keep that in mind.
So the job hunt will continue until I find a job and I am sure that will happen sometime in the future I just don't know when. Hopefully my misadventures will help someone else when they are starting to look for a new employee. Remember we are unemployeed not stupid and we are worth our weight in gold. Once you hire us you will find out.
FYI: #6 actually happened to me with the DA's office. The job was listed as starting out at $32,000 a year and during the interview they mentioned that they job only paid $8.32 an hour that is $17,305.60 a year. BIG DIFFERENCE.
1) If you are not planning on hiring anyone for several weeks. Don't interview until you are ready. Do you know annoying and frustrating it is to go on an interview and then be told "Well we are going to be looking at making a decision in 2-3 weeks." Do they really think the people they interview will be available in 2-3 weeks? I get so mad when I hear this, they had me dress up, drive over and in some case wait awhile and then tell me "We will call you in a few weeks with a decision." I am looking for a job now and if I was not I would not be interviewing. The applicants are up front about when they can start a job and the employer needs to be as well.
2) Why do you want to work for our company? Unless you are willing to accept the lies you will be told by the applicant. Don't ask this question. We want to work for your company because you have an opening. Now if I was a specialized Heart surgeon and you were the best heart hospital in the world you have the right to ask this question. But if you are just a regular for profit company looking for a secretary don't ask this question. Because then I and everyone else I know are inclined to lie like a rug and say something stupid like "Your company brings light to the community by offering your services to citizens of our town." Just assume we want to work for your company because we submitted our resume and everything requested by you including jumping through the ring of fire to test our fear level.
3) I know you want $15 an hour but this job pays $8 This is a HUGE problem with me. First off I am 40 years old not 18. If I tell you I will not accept less than a certain dollar amount it is because that is what I need to survive on. I am not being snotty and thinking my skills are so great that I deserve to be paid a million dollars a week. It is because like you, I have bills and obligations that must be paid every month and in order to do that I have to have a certain amount of money in the bank. To have an agency call and say I have a great job offer and they tell you everything you will be doing (and it is always a lot) and you are all excited. Then I say those few words "What is the pay rate?" Silence....coughing....shuffling...stammering...I ask again...silence...then the meek little voice "It starts at $8.00 a hour but it could go up if you hire on perm." Most places will look at taking you on perm after 90 days. So that is 90 days of making half of what you need to survive. Then they want to lable you as being difficult because you have to maintain a certain level of income to survive.
4) Let me show you around the office. Unless you are willing to at that moment make a job offer don't give us a tour of your office. Most of the time this tactic is to waste time while they are waiting for someone else. But what it does is it gives the applicant a false sense of security. We start thinking that if you are going to the trouble of giving us a tour you must be ready to offer us the job. WRONG. Do you know how many office tours I have been given. Really people I don't need to know where the bathrooms are if I am not working there. If you need to fill time just let us know most often we bring something with us to do because half the time we are kept waiting.
5) We are calling to tell you we chose someone else. If we don't hear from you it is a given that we did not get the job. But there is nothing worse than getting a voice mail message that sounds so urgent and we stop everything we are doing to call you back and get told "I just wanted to let you know that we offered the position to someone else." Okay, I now feel like crap. Don't do that, don't tell us how difficult of a decision it was for you to make, don't tell us how much you really wished there were 2 jobs open, don't tell us any other excuses to ease your mind. Just don't worry about it. Trust me we don't stop looking for a job just because we interviewed with you and got the tour of the office. We are know the chances are not always in our favor that you will give us the job. This is just par for the course. But to get a call and make us stop our search to be told "We don't want you" is just maddening. If you must communicate your rejection send us a nice note or card, perferably with a check paying us for the time we took to interview and drive over. If not just with a note of thanks for coming in. That is all we need. No phone call necessary.
6) Put what the job pays in the ad and be honest. This sort of falls back on #3, but unless you have done a job search lately you have no idea how time consuming it can be. If you are wanting a new employee you already know how much you are willing to pay. Why do you want to waste time interviewing people who will not accept the position because it does not pay enough. I know it is not PC to list what you are willing to pay in the ad but it makes life so much easier if you do. As a general rule the applicant is not suppose to ask what the position pays because that makes us look like all we want the job for is the paycheck. And god forbid the employer think that his employees are there for something other than a paycheck. So if you are only able to pay $8 an hour then be honest and interview those who can work for that. Definately do not say you will pay $32,000 a year and when you get an interviewee in your office tell them "Well really the job pays $16,000 a year." Because what does this do, it makes the interviewee mad and it makes you look like a boob. Why, because you may end up needed someone with their skills and qualifications down the road. You call them and remind them that they interview in the past and want to see if they are available for this position. They are not even going to give you the time of day, because they don't trust you. You tried to pull the wool over their eyes once why would they give you the chance again. So please be honest and unashamed of what you are willing to pay. Also remember the old say "You Get What You Pay For" meaning if you are only willing to pay $8 an hour that is the type of skills you are going to get. You are not going to get an executive secertary for that amount. So keep that in mind.
So the job hunt will continue until I find a job and I am sure that will happen sometime in the future I just don't know when. Hopefully my misadventures will help someone else when they are starting to look for a new employee. Remember we are unemployeed not stupid and we are worth our weight in gold. Once you hire us you will find out.
FYI: #6 actually happened to me with the DA's office. The job was listed as starting out at $32,000 a year and during the interview they mentioned that they job only paid $8.32 an hour that is $17,305.60 a year. BIG DIFFERENCE.