Sirona Says

The Candidate and Company Recruitment Disconnect

 

 


 Only one word to add to this image on behalf of candidates and recruiters everywhere - FRUSTRATION!

If you like reading this blog, then click on the orange RSS icon here and get the latest Sirona Says posts delivered to your RSS reader or your inbox the moment they come out.

 

 

 

The 30 sales interview questions you need to be able to answer, if you are a salesperson

 

Last week I posted a comprehensive list of interview questions. They proved to be popular, both with job seekers for interview help, and with recruiters and HR people for some interview question inspiration. So I have produced a couple of extra posts with some further questions - this one today is for sales interview questions, and another coming soon is for management positions.

So if you are in sales, and have an interview soon, or you recruit for sales people, I hope this series of Sales Interview questions proves useful to you. Or, if you are in sales and fancy a challenge, then try answering them to yourself (honestly of course!)

So here you go, see if you can answer all these sales interview questions:

Targets and Marketplace

What is your sales target and how is it established?
How much time do you spend developing new business?
How do you target new accounts for prospecting?
How do you acquire new sales leads?
Who are your major competitors and why?
What business trends do you see developing in the market?

Your approach to sales

What makes a successful sales person?
How do you define a new customer's needs and expectations?
What kind of problems do you have to solve as a salesperson?
How do you get a reading of people upon first meeting them?
How do you approach understanding your customer's needs?
How do you establish rapport with a stranger on the telephone?
What do you consider the most crucial part of your job?
What kind of rewards are most satisfying to you?

I bet you can't answer all these!! Is this the most comprehensive list of interview questions you have seen?

I was going through one of my old websites yesterday, and I came across this extensive (if I say so myself) list of interview questions I had on the website. They are aimed at both companies looking for interview help, and for candidates looking for some help to get through interviews.

So you reckon you can answer an interview question or two? Or are you interviewing people this week, and are a little short on interview question inspiration?

If either is the case, then have fun with this long list - there are over 125 interview questions here!

Achievement
Tell me about a time when you went beyond the call of duty.
Tell me about accomplishments of which you are the most proud.
What challenging experiences have you had?
What do you consider to be your most important accomplishment and why?
What is the most difficult task you have undertaken?
What is the most stimulating thing you are looking for in a job?
What were your most memorable accomplishments with your last employer?
What was your greatest disappointment?

Motivations
How important is recognition to you?
How important is responsibility to you?
What makes you put forth your greatest effort?
What motivates you in accomplishing difficult tasks?
What has your last employer done that motivated you to work harder?
What challenges are you looking for in a job?
What motivates you to be successful in your job?
How important are promotions and advancement to you?

Sense of Self
Describe situations in which you are most successful.
How do you define 'success?'
How would you describe your standards of performance?
What are some of the reasons for your success?
What does 'failure' mean to you?
Tell me about your recent successes.
Why are you better than your colleagues/co-workers?

Weaknesses
How could you have improved your progress?
What weaknesses have you overcome when accomplishing difficult tasks?

Behavior
Describe a conflict with an employee and how you handled it.
Describe a (recent) situation in which you had to quickly establish your credibility and gain the confidence of others. What did you do ?
Describe a (recent) situation when you didn't know who you needed to speak with in an organisation to get something done. What did you do ?
Describe a (recent) situation on your last job that you did not handle as well as you might have.
Describe a time when you simplified or clarified a situation by putting your finger on the key issue.
Describe how you work under pressure.
Describe how you would handle rude, difficult or impatient people.
Finish this sentence: Successful managers are the ones who....
Given a situation when you disagree with your supervisor, how would you deal with it?
What role do you take in a group situation? Give examples.
Your supervisor tells you to do something in a way you know is ineffective. What would you do?

Should recruiters or hiring managers take 'job mashups' or 'portfolio careers' more seriously?

The recession is really impacting on many people's lives in a big way. And in the job market this is absolutely true. There are millions out of work, with some areas of the countries fairing better than others. While some people are lucky and find a new job - albeit it takes a little longer to get one - many are not so fortunate!

What has started to happen, both by choice and necessity is that people are stringing together a number of smaller jobs together, just to survive financially, because jobs paying the required salaries just aren't there at the moment.
These types of job mashups are known as portfolio careers - you no longer have one job, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions. Instead of working a traditional full-time job, you work multiple part-time jobs (including part-time employment, temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment) with different employers that when combined are the equivalent of a full-time position.

These people that hold down these portfolio careers and succeed need to be applauded for their attitude towards wanting to work. They are actually showing many traits that employers should be looking for going forward. However, my fear is that both recruiters and hiring managers will steer away from them when they come to apply for a individual higher salaried jobs.

With the available pool of talent being more representative of a flood currently, recruiter and hiring managers, will be looking to find the most obvious matches, and the easiest routes to a placement/hire. This is bad news for candidates with a CV showing their portfolio career!! Job seekers with multiple shorter duration jobs on their CV's will be swept to one side by the deluge of people with "stable" job histories with fewer, longer duration jobs on their CV.

So by working hard, wanting to make sure they are working, and paying their bills the best they can, me fear is that these portfolio career workers could actually be setting themselves up for a longer term job problem!

Are the (unfortunately) harsh realities of clients and recruiters alike - specific requirements and available talent - going to seriously hamper these portfolio career job seekers?

I for one, applaud the attitude of these workers, I just wish more people had the same attitude towards work!!

What do you think?

Ten ways for a job seeker to REALLY upset an interviewer!

It is pretty safe to say that you will have attended at least a few interviews in your life so far. They are not always the best experience, but they are there to serve a purpose - to try and help get you a job.

In this current climate there are fewer interviews going around, so it stands to reason that you would want to try and do your best at an interview, wouldn't you? Well, judging by some of the candidates that I have personally interviewed over the years, as well as the many clients interview de-briefs I have listened to, 'doing your best' is a VERY loose term!

If you have sat on the other side of the interview fence, then what I am going to say will make perfect sense to you. You may even be able to condone my 'thinking' on this.....then again maybe not!
As a recruiter I, (like many interviewers) have developed a way of dealing with candidates that seem to go out of their way to really ****me off during an interview. I put my right hand under my desk, bring out a large axe, and then embed it in the centre of the forehead of the said candidate!
While I obviously don't really do it (honestly I don't), the thought of the process is strangely therapeutic! So what will a job seeker have to have done to 'warrant the axe'?
Here are my ten ways that a job seeker can really upset an interviewer and warrant having their head cleaved with a metaphorical Woodman's axe:

1. Don't turn up late to an interview and offer no apology whatsoever. This is just blatant rudeness and will not be tolerated at all. If they can't even acknowledge being late what hope have they for working for you?
2. Don't turn up smelling like they have just smoked 20 cigarettes in the last five minutes. Sometimes it is even worse - you meet them from reception and they still seems to have a smoke cloud around them! Makes me question nerves and addictions immediately and gets me reaching for an early axing!
3. Don't be overly arrogant or blatantly rude, especially to receptionists, secretaries or PA's. Interviewers don't hire cocksure bullies whose ego is bigger than Mount Everest! (Exception to the rule are Investment Banking City Traders; their default requirement is an ego the size of Africa!)
4. Don't display a complete lack of motivation or laziness. If you can just about to be bothered to get you ass out of bed to get to the interview, then quite frankly don't bother! Even worse, if during the interview you utter those immortal words....'I dunno', 'yeah, whatever'or 'the Job Centre told me I had to apply', then expect the interviewer to buzz through to their secretary to send them down to the local DIY shop for a real axe!
5. Don't continually complain or moan about previous employers or employees. While there may be a fragment of truth in your previous issues or grievances, don't air them at your interview. It makes you come across as an angry, embittered person, who is not able to look forward and take the positives out of a previous situation. If the interviewer just happens to know the people you have been slagging off then you will have finished the interview before you have got started!
6. Don't lie. Get caught lying and the axe will be out quicker than you can say 'Gordon Brown's a Loooser'. If you have been stretching the truth on your CV then make sure you know it inside out and are prepared to be challenged on it. Quiver, shake or say 'umm' too many times and you will have given yourself away and got caught committing a cardinal sin.
7. Don't show a lack of respect for either the interviewer or the company you are sitting in front of. Do no go to an interview without doing the basic research. You WILL DEFINITELY be asked the question, 'So what do you know about our company?' Failure to be able to answer that question  - after all even if you just read their website you could answer it - is tantamount to high treason, of which there is no excuse.
8. Don't forget to put deodorant on. Turning up to an interview with a strange smelling aroma about your person, is an embarrassing situation for both you and the interviewer. Under stress and duress, the human body will sweat - that's only natural. Make sure you are prepared, make sure deodorant is used and avoid the potential nightmare.
9. Don't drink and interview - they just don't mix! Dutch courage should be left in Holland, and shouldn't be taken prior to any important meeting, especially an interview. I am not sure if there is anything more annoying to an interviewer, to know that the person has had to go to a pub or bar to get the 'strength' to attend the interview. No excuse at all.
10. Don't take the interviewer for granted. When you get up to leave, shake the person's hand and thank them for the time. Even ask them if they have been successful at the interview. But don't leave the room without doing both of these things, remember, that is the last thing the interviewer will be thinking about you.

I am already thing of having to do a second list -  a sort of Part 2, but I will save that for another day :-)

Just for reference though:

No, I am not undergoing anger management classes
No, I don't really have an axe under my desk - just a metaphorical one!
No, I am not a vindictive, mad axe murderer
No job seekers were harmed in the research for this article

.....and Yes, I do have a vivid imagination!

Obviously there is a little fun involved here, but the mistakes are only too real. if you are a job seeker, please see through the humour and take not, after all, jobs are hard enough to get at the moment, without alienating the interviewer immediately!

Should job seekers be turning to their drama teachers to improve their interview chances?

With more people than ever going to job interviews with a need to succeed (thanks to the damned recession), has the time come for a new breed of coach to enter the stage? With so many people attending interviews for each job, it is now how you present and portray yourself at the interview, that is as likely to get you the job, as is the content of your CV. Is now the right time to tap up your old drama teacher for some hints and tips?

I am not talking about transforming yourself from Frodo the Hobbit into Brad Pitt; or from Hannah Montana into Kate Winslett. What I mean is improving the way you present yourself, and the delivery of your information at the interview itself.

The unspoken message that is transmitted through speech and body language is now as important as the content of your carefully presented presentation in interview. A growing number of people in business now are turning to drama and voice specialists to help them improve their delivery and boost their confidence when faced with a crucial presentation. So why don't job seekers look to this route as well? Well, this seems to be becoming more prevalent in the interview marketplace as more and more career coaches, life coaches and interview coaches are now turning to advise job seekers around the delivery of the interview more so than the content of the interview itself.

Personally, I've been doing some of this for year's with candidates, although some of its quite basic: don't mumble, speak clearly; don't stare at the ground; smile at the interviewer; make sure you have good eye contact. I guess you would call these things 'stating the obvious', but nevertheless, so many job seekers make these basic mistakes all the time.
Is now the right time to start considering talking to experts that teach drama, about how you present yourself an interview?  So many 'experts' - career coaches, interview coaches, career guidance etc -  focus on the content of an interview to make sure you say the right thing. While they might get you to say the right thing, many times it is the behavioral aspects of the actual interview that will be the real difference in deciding who gets the job. It could be what you have worn to the interview, the way you walked in the interview room, your handshake your own demeanor and your initial level of confidence that really make the difference in interview.

The top drama teacher Kenneth Rea who directs plays and teaches acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama has five tips for people who are terrified or who wants an extra confidence boosting when it comes to interviews:

1. Use positive body language, eye contact and a good firm handshake. Concentrate on giving off enthusiastic energy so you appear upbeat and confident.

2. Try to exude effortless authority: be animated that economical, without fidgety gestures or superfluous mannerisms.

3. Speak clearly with energy and variety. Loss of confidence comes out in a voice which trials away becomes a monotone as we stopped breathing. Consciously practice taking energy in the voice through to the end of a sentence.

4. Listen carefully to what is said. People like to talk about themselves, so focus on others not yourself, and to paraphrase President Kennedy "ask what you can do for people, not what they can do for you", an attitude that helps you build up a network of influence.

5. Put yourself in a positive frame of mind. If you feel down, this comes across in body language and voice and it's hard to listen to ideas expressed in a downbeat way. Enthusiasm is attractive and infectious so be positive. It's obvious that often hard to deliver in practice.

These are great tips from Kenneth Rea, but should job seekers really go all the way and engage voice or drama coaches to improve their chances? I for one think it is a brilliant idea - if people can afford to do it - as we all need to improve our delivery and presentation skills. can it be a bad thing to want to improve your interview chances?

OK, so what DO you have to wear to the interview to get a job then?

Is it a sign of the times that 76% of British bosses will make a decision on your suitability for their job,  based on what you are wearing when you sit in front of them at the interview?

Is this really a surprise? I don't think, so as employers have been doing it for years. In candidate driven markets they have had to 'scale down' their expectations and would overlook dress codes (especially when recruiting gen Y'ers). But now the landscape as changed (albeit temporarily), and the hiring companies feel that they have the control back in the interview, which of course they do!

According to this recent Ladders survey of 500 senior bosses from UK companies, over a third of interviewers have cited bad interview appearance as a primary reason for candidate rejection!! Blimey!!

So what should you avoid wearing at an interview?

Ok Men here you go with your no-no's!

1. No tie (52% say fire)
2. No jacket (50% say fire)
3. Chinos (50% say fire)
4. Polo shirts (66% say fire)
5. Jeans (82% say fire)
6. T shirts (88% say fire)
7. Leather jackets (70% say fire)
    

Here you go ladies, don't feel left out...

1. Short skirt (60% say fire)
2. Low necklines (95% say fire)
3. Sports shoes (91% say fire)
4. Dangling jewellery (99% say fire)
5. Bare legs (94% say fire)
6. Big shoulder pads - ala 80's style - (97% of bosses say big shoulder pads are wrong for interview)

I haven't finished yet, as there are more no-no's.....

1. 59% of interviewers, stains and dirty marks will see you out of the interview room immediately
2. 36% of interviewers see co-ordination of colours and styles as an important indication of the candidate’s personality
3. 75% of interviewers will look at whether your clothes are “appropriate for the circumstances”
4. 33% of interviewers said they would consider whether the candidate’s style suited their organisation
5. 95% of interviewers said orange was an inappropriate colour to wear to an interview, with red (84%) and pink (83%) coming in closely behind orange

What have the interviewers got against the 80's? People did get jobs then even with the fashion mistakes you know!!

So after all that, what should you be wearing to your interview?

1. Tailored navy single breasted suit (51% hire)
2. White or blue long sleeved shirt (48% hire)
3. Black leather shoes (56% hire)
4. Black socks (77% hire) (too right here, seen white socks making a comeback again !!)
5. Low key tie (35% hire)
6. Cufflinks (37% hire)
7. and no handkerchief (35% hire) (Come on, who wears a handkerchief in the top pocket any more?)
8. A mid-length black skirt or dress (64% hire) (women, obviously....)
9. Long sleeved and collared shirt or blouse (42% hire)
10. Tights (94% hire)
11. High heels (69% hire)
12. Pearls (56% hire)

Well it seems that we have returned to traditional boring conservative Britain again!! 

The sooner the employment market gets back to normal, and the gen Y'ers can (and maybe the gen Z'ers) can start to break the mold the better! Seriously, do we all have to dress like shop dummies to get a new job?
Well obviously at the moment, while the companies have control, then I am afraid if you want your next job, you better get shopping!!

Do you know what happens to your CV when it arrives on an Employer's or a Recruitment Agency's desk?

As a job seeker looking for a new job, do you know what the primary purpose of your CV/Resume is?

Is it:
a)  Ammunition for the office 'bin basketball' competition?
b)  Paper airplane material?
c)  A guarantee of getting a job?
d)  Something to make the reader of your CV laugh out loud?
e)  A route to a work permit?

Well, if you hadn't already guessed, it is none of the above!

The primary purpose of a CV is to get you an interview with an employer. That's it!
The CV won't get you the job - YOU do that. It just gives you the opportunity to get a job.

As a job seeker, do not send another CV until that has sunk in, because it has massive implications on your job search. Your task in the CV is to just achieve this, so if some of the information on your 8 page CV could be classified as ' would this get them excited enough to invite me for an interview', then get rid of it now!

Here are some other important things to consider before you send your nice new shiny CV off to an employer or recruitment agency:

1. When an employer or recruitment agency is going through CV applications for a role, the average time spent on looking at a CV is no more than 10 seconds (and for many recruitment agencies it is, unbelievably, less). Tip one:First impressions count.
2. At the initial selection stage, your CV will only ever end up in two piles - 'reject' or 'read more'. You will only ever be filtered out at this stage, nothing else.  Tip two: Don't waste your time applying for jobs that just aren't suitable for what your CV says you do - otherwise your rejected applications will grow and grow!
3. Many companies(surprisingly) don't have skilled (and in some cases dedicated) staff carrying out the recruitment process. Tip three: Do all you can to help by making it very clear at the beginning of your CV what you do and what you want to do, in a well written profile.
4. The majority of recruitment staff (and this goes for both companies and recruitment agencies alike ) are not technically minded. So don't try and bamboozle them with technical data and gobbledy-crap - it won't work. Tip four: Explain in legible easy to read and accepted business speak, not techo-geek anachronisms.
5. Many recruitment consultants within recruitment agencies have become CV blind. They see literally 100's and 100's of CV's a day (both incoming and via their CV databases). For this reason they (understandably sometimes) miss good CV's due to the volume they receive. Tip five: If you have sent a CV for a job (making sure you can actually do the job in the first place), don't make the cardinal sin job seekers make by not following up the CV with a phone call.

In this current recessionary climate, there is no doubt that trying to find a job has become a numbers game - don't be under any illusions about that. You will suffer rejection again and again - the thing to remember is not to take it personally. The interviewer doesn't know you, hasn't yet spoken to you, doesn't even know anything about you. All they see is one or two paragraphs of your CV (more if you are lucky), and then they make a decision......the 'reject' or 'read more' pile. As I said it isn't personal!

If you would like any more of my 'words of wisdom', then you can get a free 12 pages pdf of valuable job seekers tips here.

So here are some of my tips for job seekers regarding sending CV applications, but what would you add? What other nuggets of advice would you suggest based on your experiences?

Arrgghh! Why are candidates still being muppets at interviews?

This a mini-rant is born out of frustration and disbelief! Yesterday I spent the day with a client during one of their interview events. What I witnessed at the actual interview stages, was both unforgivable and unbelievable - from the candidates being interviewed -  in this current climate of large amounts of unemployment.
As a 'recruitment dinosaur' (someone who has been in the industry for 20+ years!) I have briefed more candidates than I care to remember on interview techniques and expectation - you could say, I tend to overbrief candidates - although you can never give a candidate too much information! So when I sat there yesterday listening to the responses to some standard 'every interview has them' questions, I was completely stunned with the answers given....or rather lack of answers!! And bear in mind here, that 99% of the candidates interviewed all had 2:1 degrees and above, and all really wanted it as their dream job!

There were three questions that nearly every interview asks, and yesterday was no different:

1. What are your strengths and/or weaknesses?
2. What motivates you? (or What gets you out of bed in the morning?)
3. Why do you want this job?

The answers varied from bad to awful to zero (Yes! One graduate couldn't even unbelievably answer the second question!!)

So my message is a simple one - if you are attending interviews for a new job, make sure you PREPARE FOR THE INTERVIEW otherwise you are completely wasting both yours and the company's time by even attending in the first place. You might as well just go and sit on a park bench and talk to the ducks, for all the good it is going to do!

Don't be a muppet - you know these questions (and other obvious ones) will be asked of you, so make sure that have thought about it, and what you are going to say in reply. These are basic, bog-standard interview questions, they are not exactly a curve ball question - but many many people sitting in an interview screw them up time and time again!  If you are really stuck (or being really thick) then Google it - many others have written the perfect answers for these questions.

Answer them well, and it will impress the interviewer;  answer them badly and you can go back to talking to the ducks - again, again and again!!

Innovation or Madness? New Recruitment company, Playfair and Noble, pay 50% of their fee to the successful candidate!

Do you ever get emails from companies looking to 'sell you' their company? Probably like you, I get a fair amount arriving in my inbox each week. So you could probably say that I am a little sceptical (too long in the recruitment world, I am afraid!!)

So it was a really pleasant surprise to see a recruitment platform (from non-recruitment people I might add) that is daring to be different and placing its big kahuna's right there on the middle of the recruitment table to be chewed at!! (Metaphorically of course!)

Now before you think I am over dramatising this a little, let me tell why it is so different - This company actually pays the successful candidate  50% of the fee they get paid from their clients!!  And before any of you recruiters say it won't work (like I did before I spoke to them), they have done their maths, and they believe it will.

Now that I have your attention let me tell you the company - Playfair and Noble - and with a name like that, and the offering they are proposing, it won't surprise you to guess that ethics are a HUGE part of what they stand for.
Basically they have a real issue with recruitment agencies.