3.28.2004

Common Interview Questions - and the right answers

1. Why did you leave your last job?
   I will be leaving this job (or have left this job) in order to find greater professional challenge. (If pressed further, you explain that you've done all you can at your current or last job, and you need to grow professionally.) (This is the only acceptable answer in a hiring manager's eyes, BTW.)
2. Give me an example of your proudest accomplishments.
   Pull a bullet point out of your resume where you saved the company a lot of money. Then also point to it as an example of teamwork because you coordinated it through so many different departments.
3. What features of your last job did you dislike?
   Trick question. Tell them there wasn't really anything you didn't or don't like, and that you regret there aren't more opportunities for you in a company of such limited size. Then you say you've remedied that by looking for positions at bigger companies.
4. What is your greatest weakness?
   You say that you have a tendency towards perfectionism, and that sometimes you tend to work too hard on things. Companies are naturally greedy and love to hear stuff like this so much they never even think to question it.
5. What are your greatest strengths?
   Whatever the key skills are needed for this job - if they want Oracle, then that's one of your greatest strengths. If it's Unix, then you love Unix. Also mention fluff qualities like being a team player, that you can't measure and won't ever have to be accountable for.
6. I'm a little worried about your lack of--
   This one is difficult. They're generally just probing. Counter with a question - why are they concerned? Gently but firmly pin them down as to in what context they would have a concern about whatever this is. If it's a professional skill, tell them you take ongoing classes in it. If it's a personal quality, tell them a story about your on the job prowess that shows how you use this quality. Emphasize how much of a team player you are, and that with training and teamwork, there is no deficiency you have that cannot be overcome.
7. What is your current salary?
   Tell them that their stated range for the job is acceptable for you to be considering the position. Tell them that you don't discuss numbers until the offer stage. If they're bastards about it, they push you on price, or won't go any farther in the process until you cough up a number, then quote market rate plus 5% for the position. You should have done this kind of homework if you're gotten all the way to the interview stage. Shame on you if you haven't. The problem is, these people will want you cheap or not at all. If they aren't jerks about it and will defer the discussion of actual numbers, then you have a chance. Tell them that this is still the stage where you see if you like them and if they like you. Tell them that if it does come to an actual offer, you're sure theirs will be fair and reasonable. But never ever be the one to toss out a number first. She who does so loses.
8. Describe a difficult coworker you've had to deal with.
   This is a ploy to get you to talk trash about former job situations. Tell them you've somehow or another gotten real lucky and you've always had very professional and courteous dealings with your colleagues, even if you didn't always see eye to eye on things.
9. Tell me about a recent mistake you made in your last job.
   Tell them about something minor you did, but that you fixed it in time and it wasn't a problem. Make sure you tell them that you caught it because you always double-check your work. If you make the mistake of saying that you never make mistakes, then you come across as arrogant, and that's a red flag to them.
10. Can we check with your current employer?
    Tell them that it's OK once you have a written offer letter from the company at which you are interviewing. C'mon, how stupid do they think you are?

Ten commandments of financial happiness

Getting Started with RSS

You'll need two things. They're both free; you can upgrade to someone's fancier version of each if you want to later on when you get more sophisticated. But for right now, try these two free products that help you read articles published by Really Simple Syndication. JobFairy.com publishes its front page article with RSS every week. If you have one of these readers, then all you have to do is click on the "Get" or "Refresh" button, and the latest headlines will appear in your reader. You'll click on them and read them with little effort. Download a zipped copy of RssReader here. But how are you going to know who has an RSS feed for you to add to your collection? Use the Planet Hood RSS Explorer. Click here to download and install RSS Explorer. Exit your browser, then launch it again, and in the Views, Toolbar section, check the one that says "Planet News". Now whenever you visit a site that has a valid RSS feed, it will show up in that little address bar. If it validates, and you want to read it again, then add it to your collection. Saves lots of time and energy. Start by visiting Syndic8.com for feeds to add to your collection. Happy syndication!

"Outsourcing doesn't always save money, recruiter says

Chicago Tribune March 15, 2004 
By Carol Kleiman

The term puts fear into the hearts of workers who know their bosses can contract with someone outside of the company - and often outside the country - to do their jobs for lower pay and no benefits. But as devastating as outsourcing may be for workers in such professions as information technology, real estate, product development, manufacturing, human resources and accounting, employers may not always realize their goal of saving money, according to Richard D. Goulet. Goulet has an undergraduate degree in organizational theory and was an outsource consultant from 1992 to 2003. He now is president of Goulet & Associates Inc., an executive recruiting and career consulting firm in Naperville. "A 2003 study of chief financial officers shows that 80 percent of the CFOs of real estate companies surveyed report they went to outsourcing to reduce costs," said Goulet. "And 83 percent of the time, the savings were less than 10 percent or actually a higher cost. My point is if you tell good managers to save money, they can do it without outsourcing." The recruiter, who now specializes in management and professional staff for commercial building contractors and facility managers, is director of career services for the International Facility Managers Association/Northern Illinois chapter. He recently gave a talk to its members titled, "Outsourcing: Friend or foe or both?" It can be all of those things. "In the beginning, there were some aspects of outsourcing that made sense," Goulet said. "I support hiring agencies that come in and do jobs that the company can't do itself, such as cleaning and repairs and running child-care centers. Outsourcing works when it's in a highly specialized area and there is day-to-day involvement by the company and the outsourcing agency." But that's not always the case, his research shows. "In the last three to five years, I realized that outsourcing was being used to reduce costs with no commitment to quality," he said. "And I've foundthat companies that outsource are no more valuable in terms of the stock market than those that don't." Another problem: Outsourcing may mask real management problems with staffing. "Outsourcing doesn't make sense as a cost-cutting procedure because you're treating the symptom, not the disease," the executive stated. "In that situation, outsourcing isn't rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. It's buying new chairs for first class while steerage is going under." But outsourcing, which is becoming more common, has its supporters. "Outsourcing provides two main advantages for businesses - economies of scale and time," said Jim Mack, Midwest-area president of ADP TotalSource, a Miami-based outsourcing firm with 36 offices in 16 states. "It allows companies to offload administrative tasks that are not core competencies, such as payroll and benefits, call centers and information technology, and free up time to focus on manufacturing products or providing services to clients. Having a vendor handle the tedious administrative aspects of employment can save hundreds of hours each year." Mack, who is based in Chicago, has been in the outsourcing industry for more than a decade. "The most effective outsourcing relationships create value," he stressed. And Goulet agrees that "outsourcing can work if you're looking to get higher quality. But when quality falls apart, you lose sales and profits.""

<Note from JobFairy.com: There are really two different kinds of outsourcing. One is the smart kind - going with a professional web hosting company, or hiring a company to do your payroll processing. The other is the not so smart kind - sending jobs overseas because it's allegedly cheaper. Or outsourcing your entire IT department to a contract company because you'll look better as an executive having reduced headcount. These strategies, if they can be called that, just shift the cost elsewhere, or worse yet, rack up additional costs and subtly hide them where they won't be noticed until it's too late. I think within the next couple of years, there's going to be quite the backlash and all these previously outsourced jobs will come back to the U.S. However, that's going to be small consolation to those who have lost their houses and careers in the meantime.>