Questions which a candidate can ask in an Interview

A candidate can assess the employer as he/she needs to be convinced that the job would fit. In order to determine if you’d be happy working for this employer, and to know whether your goals are aligned with the company, there are a few questions the candidates can ask, after the conclusion of an interview. This will impact and change the dynamic of the interview and enhance the perception of a candidate in the eyes of the hiring manager. It is a great measure to reveal interest, intelligence and engagement also. One needs to ask smart and thoughtful questions and we have come up with a few to guide the candidates to success.

What do you like most working for this company?

The answer reveals the sense of companionship and a desire to know its culture.

How do you describe the company culture?

This reveals the cornerstones and broad views on the corporate philosophy of a company and their stand on prioritizing employee happiness.

Who is the ideal candidate for this position? How do you think I compare with that?

This question provides an assessment whether our skills align with what the company. If they match up, the time is better utilized.

What is the big challenge faced by company today?

There are several challenges and by joining in you can get a measure of how the company overcomes them and measures success.

Are employees given education and training opportunities?

This shows the importance of education and training opportunities, and the programs undertaken to do it.

Please give the details of my team members with whom I will work.

The size, composition and the place of the candidate are decided by the answer given.

Who would I report to?

This will reveal the hierarchy, the place of a candidate and the equation to be established before accepting the job.

Who are the major competitors?

This question shows that that the candidate is thinking about dealing with competition, the strategies to use, and the steps to help the company to meet its goals.

Do you have any reservations about my qualifications?

This expresses confidence, and the mind to discuss your weaknesses, with your potential employer.

What are the core values of the company?

This question expresses a proactive attitude and throws a light about the internal workings of the company.

Please give the details of my day to day responsibilities.

This will chalk out the share of responsibilities to embark on the road to success in a company.

How do you evaluate success?

This question shows that that the candidate is keen to succeed and desires to know about the relative success and adapt the necessary measures.

When this is done the candidate can rest assured that the job is nearly his/hers. Being smart always gives good results.

Decoding Workplace Attire – The importance of your workplace attire

The major reason why dressing in proper business attire is important for every business professional is because it presents a visual image and sends a message that the employees are professional.

As we turn young adults we discover the perfect style of clothing that suits us. We become highly knowledgeable on how to dress for particular occasions. A person’s success begins the moment someone looks at them and their appearance. Thus one has to learn the art of making an impression on people by their attire and looks. You must thoroughly plan how you want to look and how to act accordingly to acquire a specific reaction from those who look at you. When you master in the art of making an impression, it surely has a positive impact on your career and business. From the below dress for success tips learn how to dress for success and generate a professional image.

1. Business Formal. The business formal attire means the highest type of workplace dressing. No less than a quality Custom made suit is required to complete the look.

Style tips. Men: A suit in neutral solid colors (grey, navy, and black) with white button-up collared shirts and subtle patterned ties are necessary for the business formal dress code. Complete the look by pairing it with a black or dark brown oxford shoes.

Style tips. Women: An alternative to a skirt suit is a pantsuit in neutral colors that flatter every woman such as navy, beige or brown, and classic black. Pair this with a white button up collared shirt and neutral closed-toe heels or pumps. Nothing flashy and absolutely no flip flops for a business formal attire.

2. Business Professional. A business professional dress code is a notch down from the stringent business formal. However, the business professional remains conservative with some touches of color. A professional look is still required every day for this traditional dress code.

Style tips. Men: In the business professional attire, you can now play with subtle patterns, such as checks or stripes in the bespoke tailored suit as well as in the ties. Keep it professional, so steer clear of brightly colored and flashy ties. The recommended shirts are white and collared button-ups in standard colors such as blue, grey, or purple. Complete your attire with oxford shoes or loafers in black or brown.

Style tips. Women: Women can opt for a pantsuit, skirt suit, trousers with jacket in neutral colors ranging from black, beige, or navy. Pair this with a collared button-up dress shirt in pastel colors. Complete your look with neutral shoes such as pumps or loafers.

3. Business Casual. The business casual is one of the most popular office attire as employees can be more creative with their clothing choices at the same time respecting the company’s dress code. Khaki pants are recommended as well as open-collared shirt, knit shirt or cardigan. Steer clear of flip flops or sandals. Invest instead on close-toe shoes such as loafers. It’s best to note that each company has a different take on business casual so to avoid confusion, ask your HR manager about the dress code.

Some Firms Use The Practice Of Requesting Salary History

The Top 10 Business and Recruiting Reasons for Requesting Salary Information

All buyers want to know the possible price range of their expected selection. It’s a standard request in all business transactions, including recruiting. In addition, many firms request salary history also because their recruiting competitors do. And that is why many firms support the ban because it will guarantee an equal playing field across all firms. So if you want to fully understand why firms find it valuable, how they use it, and how in some cases it can even help the candidate, here is a comprehensive list of those justifications, uses, and benefits to the candidate.

How firms use salary history (plus how revealing it can actually help candidates)

The top 10 salary history uses are listed here, with the most impactful uses listed first.

1. Growth in salary is an indicator of continued performance improvement — in many cases an applicant’s actual pay is less important than the fact that they received frequent pay increases and even larger bonuses. Because this compensation progression is evidence of the candidate’s performance, their growth, and their career trajectory. And because a continuing increase in performance is an important selection and hiring criteria, revealing constant salary growth will make an applicant a top one.
2. It might indicate that someone is a hungry candidate — salary data for each major firm is readily available on social media sites like glassdoor.com. And as a result, many firms assume that smart applicants already know that by joining their firm, they are likely to get a significant salary bump. So if an applicant’s current salary reveals that they are paid less than what the target firm offers, by applying for a job, it demonstrates to the recruiter that the applicant is hungry for a “salary bump.” And being hungry may by itself cause an applicant to be considered a “top candidate” because that hunger will mean that an applicant is likely to stick with the hiring process until the end. And even if the firm takes a long time to make that higher money offer, the applicant becomes an even more prized candidate because they are much more likely to accept our offer.
3. It provides an outside/second opinion on a candidate’s value — it’s a common practice in business to gather data from multiple sources. So by providing an applicant’s salary history, it provides the firm a second “outside opinion” on what they are worth. And this second data point may keep this firm from undervaluing a candidate when they do decide on what to pay.
4. It reveals if a candidate can successfully negotiate — asking the candidate to provide their salary history is in part a test of their negotiation skills. Good negotiators are highly valuable to a firm, regardless of the position they are in. And firms have found that the best negotiators will be able to withhold their current and future salary expectations until the end of the hiring process. So the question reveals if a candidate is highly desirable because they found a way not to reveal this strong negotiating point until the very end of the hiring process.
5. It quickly reveals those that we can’t afford — providing it quickly reveals whether a candidate is even worth considering because they are too expensive. And eliminating “little chance candidates” early on saves the firm time and money. From the candidate’s perspective, of course, a salary history or current salary expectations might get the applicant rejected early. But on the positive side, an applicant won’t have to wait for months to find out that they really had no chance from the beginning. And some individual applicants might want the opportunity to accept a cut in pay. But from the firm’s perspective, that can be a too costly chance to take when there are so many other qualified applicants without major salary issues that are hard to overcome.
6. It shows that compensation matters, which attracts money-driven people — some of the most desirable candidates, especially those applying for sales jobs, are strongly driven by money. Making it clear that a firm cares about money (by demanding salary history) can help to attract those who care a great deal about it. And because money-driven candidates can easily recall and in some cases they are proud of their salary history, asking for it is not an impediment. So merely asking the question aids in identifying the desirable money driven people, while it simultaneously drives away others. If a candidate is driven by compensation, firms that focus on salary history may be their ideal target.
7. The question shows how a candidate can handle stress — hiring individuals who can handle stress is important for most jobs. As a result, some firms wait to ask their salary-related questions until the interview. Because the question is a highly stressful question when asked in person, asking it can reveal how well a candidate can handle pressure. If a candidate demonstrates that they can handle stress well by providing a quick and clear salary history or expectation answer during an interview. It may improve their chances of getting an offer.
8. Knowing the history of both genders allows a firm to take proactive action to fix inequities — when a firm collects salary information from both genders, it allows managers to quickly see the difference between the salary histories of applicants from both genders. Seeing the inequity can raise awareness and increase the probability that the firm will take proactive action to ensure that they actually pay new hires of different genders the same. Gathering salary histories also helps a firm to supplement its salary survey data. And in aggregate this new data can help a firm adjust all of their pay levels to meet changing market rates for that job.
9. Recruiters will guess anyway and that may hurt candidates — if a candidate doesn’t reveal their salary history, recruiters will be forced by their hiring managers to guess their current salary anyway. And they may guess too high, which will lessen a candidate’s chances of moving forward in the hiring process. So accurate salary information rather than being intrusive may actually help a candidate’s hiring chances.
10. It helps recruiters refine the firms they target – after receiving multiple salary history data. Recruiters can adjust and drop some firms that they had been targeting once they realize that they can’t compete with them. By reducing their list of targeted firms, this saves the company a great deal of time and money. Although narrowing down the field doesn’t help candidates, it does allow recruiters to spend more time with the candidates from firms that they can compete with.

Job Interview – Do’s and Don’ts

It is always important for any job seeker to make sure his or her interview goes better than well and they get the job. But mostly people tend to ignore simple and small things that make a big difference.

Here are some do’s and don’ts to take a note of:

• DO Be Punctual

The best way to avoid the embarrassment and anxiety that builds up. We know how important it is to be punctual; it shows your seriousness and your dedication to get the job.

• DO Research Well

Make sure you research well about the job you are giving the interview for, about the company that is hosting it and skills as well as thorough knowledge of the subject. This is something most people do, but it is a point to be made that just going through the pages and understanding them are two different things. You must know about the company you want to work for as it will also increase your confidence.

• DO Enquire About the Location

People take this to be a tiny thing, but it can get you in great trouble. One should make sure to either visit or enquire properly about the place where the interview is going to be held. This can help you to be punctual; you can be assured of the time you have on the way and can prepare for small bits. Also, you can make sure the place is comfortable for you.

• DO Practice

As it is said “Practice makes perfect,” it is necessary that you practice interviews or questions that could be asked by the interviewers. You can talk to current workers or any other person who has gone through the interview process to understand it better; if not, you can go through videos or online support for practicing or gaining knowledge about interviews, even past experiences can help. You can also ask someone else to play as the interviewer for you to get it more on point.

• DO Maintain Eye-Contact

Eye-contact is a sign of confidence and honesty. It is good to maintain eye contact with the interviewer to showcase that you are well prepared and you are sure about whatever you say making you look more professional.

• DON’T Lie

The interviewers can always know it when you are lying, so it is better not to. Dishonesty will make you seem unreliable thus losing the chance of getting selected. Also, honesty will build your image and showcase your self-esteem.

• DON’T Reply with Short Answers

Answering in just yes or no will show your disinterest even if that is not the case. Be sure to give brief answers to the questions, keep it small but mention the needed details. Don’t exaggerate as well, be accurate and on point with what you say, if not small not even irrelevant.

• DON’T Use Your Phone

Obvious but necessary, avoid checking your phone every other while or picking up calls during the interview no matter who that is. Keep your phone on silent or better to keep on airplane mode to avoid any hassle.

• DON’T Use Informal Language

Never use slangs, foul words or way too casual words during the interview, use formal language to show your professionalism and leave a better impression on the interviewer. This will also interpret good behavior and etiquettes.

• DON’T Be Soft Spoken or Aggressive

Never be too soft-spoken during the interview this will give an expression of self-doubt, speak with confidence and strong voice this will express your good self-esteem. Don’t be harsh or rude either; be polite in speech so that they don’t misunderstand it to be over-confidence. Greet everyone who helps you or supports you in the office, from the receptionist to the employers; this will mark good impression and showcase ethics.

So, make an impression on the interviewers by following the above-mentioned points. Be confident but stay in control. Hope this could help you. Best of Luck.

A New LinkedIn Feature Makes Job Hunting A Whole Lot Easier

One of the biggest challenges in launching a stealth job search (a job search you conduct while you’re working) is letting recruiters know you’re open to new opportunities.

You can’t very well update your LinkedIn profile to say “I’m looking for a new job” while you’re still working at your current job!

If your manager found out about your job search, you could be terminated for the crime of job-hunting.

It’s shameful that in the U.S., employers have the right to fire employees for job-hunting or for no reason at all, but that’s how our employment laws work here. Stealth job-seekers have to keep their job-search activities quiet.

If they don’t, they could be out of work before they find the new job they’re looking for.

LinkedIn has launched a feature that makes it easier for stealth job-seekers to tell recruiters they’re  open to learning about new opportunities.

If you flip the switch on LinkedIn to let recruiters know you’re job-hunting but you don’t hear from recruiters, that’s a signal from Mother Nature. It means your LinkedIn profile isn’t showcasing your talents and experiences as well as it could be.

Here are steps to take to update your profile so that it does a better job selling you to recruiters and prospective employers.

Once you begin alerting recruiters that you’re open to hearing about job opportunities, it’s time to get your job-search engine up and running!

Here are 10 ways to do that:

1. Get a black portfolio, the type artists carry around with them, and begin filling it with samples of your work. A visual representation of your projects is a powerful way to share your career triumphs with a recruiter at a coffee meeting or with a prospective employer at a job interview. For example, Marisa is an Office Manager. She filled her portfolio with samples of the newsletters she’s created, the calendar of company events she designed, a few pages from the employee handbook she wrote and other examples of her work. Marisa’s portfolio makes a big splash wherever she interviews, and she’s got competing job offers already!

2. Add a Power Point presentation, images, a video or other visual elements to your LinkedIn profile. You can upload these elements to show visitors to your profile page what you’ve produced at your past and current jobs and even how you present to groups.

3. Make a Target Employer List for your job search. Don’t rely on any one job search channel, including third-party recruiters, to get your new job. You can reach out to your hiring managers directly, whether they are working with recruiters or not.

4. Tell your friends you’re job-hunting, and tell them exactly what kinds of jobs you’re looking for.

5. Go to at least one group networking event a month. Since you’re employed, you won’t introduce yourself to strangers by saying “I’m job-hunting.” Instead, you’ll introduce yourself this way: “I’m working at Mutual Bank downtown, and I’m doing some independent consulting, too.”

6. Sit down for coffee or lunch at least once a week with someone you know well, and fill them in on your job search. They will give you ideas and moral support — two things every job-seeker needs! You’ll do the same thing for them, whether they’re job-hunting or just trying to get through the week like everyone else.

7. On the job, gather as much resume fodder as you can. Seek out any new challenge that will buff up your resume and that you can talk about on your upcoming job interviews.

8. Read job ads to learn about the skills and experiences employers are looking for. If you decide to respond to a job ad, don’t do it by completing an online job application.

9. Write your Human-Voiced Resume to bring across your power and personality for the benefit of hiring managers and recruiters who don’t know you.

10. Finally, get a journal and start writing in it every day or whenever you have a moment. Writing in a journal helps you capture your good ideas and clarify your thinking. A journal is a job-seeker’s best friend, if you use it often!

If you’re bored or frustrated at your current job, there’s no good reason not to start a job search right now!

Imagine how amazing it will feel to walk into work one day and tell your manager “I’m giving my two weeks notice.“

The sooner you launch your stealth job search, the faster that day will arrive!

Blue Collar Jobs – Offering Opportunities Like Never Before!

Every job in this country is grouped under certain a certain category to provide ease in differentiating the type of work each profession entails. Blue collar job is a term everyone is accustomed to and can be used to define any profession that involves manual labor. People who are into the blue collared jobs are paid by the hour, and there are few who get paid according to the project they have been hired for. Some of these workers may even be provided with the regular salary. Globalization has now led to the increase in the number of blue-collar jobs in the country.

Blue collar jobs encompass a wide range of professions and include the people working in construction, production engineering, mechanical and electrical works, home development and other household related needs. In the recent years, the level in the number if blue collar jobs in India has risen considerably and has been offering opportunities to every person who is in need of a job. Thanks to efficient rural development schemes and immigration from different states within the country, the need for manual labor has grown exponentially. With people moving to the cities from villages in search of jobs, this seems to be the most preferred and flexible job opportunity that they can make use of.

Growing Opportunities for the People

In the previous years, if you observe the people hired for the blue collar jobs, you might be able to notice that many of them lacked the basic education, unlike the others. But today, nearly more than half of the manual labors have either completed a Diploma or formal education before taking up such blue collar jobs. This in turn has increased the salary paid to each of the workers who have completed formal education. The living standards of the people in the cities has also had an influence on the rising opportunities for the workers in the blue collar jobs sector.

With every single aspect of life getting digitalized, companies and manpower agencies in search of hiring workers for such blue collar jobs now have an easy time in reaching out to the people. Likewise, even the people in search of a job can now get regular updates about the job vacancies in their area of expertise. There are apps and websites that list the various blue collar jobs having vacancies in the particular fields of work. Needless to say, with the availability of low-cost smartphones for the laborers, one can easily make use of the apps and the websites to search and apply for the jobs when in need.

Many of the job portals make use of a database system that stores the resumes obtained from the job seekers. In this case, they can contact the person when a vacancy opens up in the particular job sector mentioned by them in their resume. Many have benefitted from such job portals, like Just Jobs and companies and households can hire people for their blue collar jobs with ease.

How to take better brakes improving your quality of working life ?

A lot of professionals think that being chained to their desk all day long is a translation for being more productive. The longer you are glued to the chair, more work you are generating. However, that’s nothing but a fallacy. Let’s be honest and ask ourselves. Is it humanly possible to maintain the same level of concentration and productivity throughout the nine hours we spend at office? Most of the time we are just staring at the screen and only pretending to work.

So, it’s time to drop the notion that not taking breaks means more productivity. Because it’s actually counterproductive.

To further support that ton of research has been conducted on how taking breaks actually increases the output. The human brain can only concentrate at anything for so long. After that it craves rest. It’s not a luxury, but a necessity. Unfortunately not most of us know the art of taking breaks, and feel guilty when we do take one.

This blog is an attempt at debunking some of the myths associated with giving our minds a rest during work hours and what’s the right way to do it. Take a look

Time to reframe the way we look at breaks

Most of us think of taking a break as a waste of time. Or, the time when we are being just idle. But, what we fail to realize is that it’s during that idleness when our mind wanders through the garden of ideas. That’s the time when we can come-up with some really amazing and creative ways to do our work.

The fact that we let our brains rest does not mean that our brains’ activities have gone dormant. In fact, researches have shown it’s during this time when brain activities actually improve.

According to Kimberly Elsbach, a management professor at UC-Davis – never taking a break from very careful thought work actually reduces your ability to be creative.

That probably explains why some of the best ideas come to our head while taking a shower, or just before going to bed. The biggest ideas that we label as the breakthroughs are a result diffused mode thinking. It’s safe to say that idleness and innovation go hand in hand. So if you plan on introducing innovative ideas in your work life, you might want to start taking breaks.

It’s time to change the way we look at breaks and not think of it as a luxury or indulgence.

The science behind taking breaks

A break is basically a brief interruption that allows us to resume our work with improved focus.

University of Illinois psychology professor Alejandro Lleras says that, “Deactivating and reactivating of goals allows you to stay focussed.”

But, before we go ahead and put a pause to our work, we must understand why do we even need a break to begin with? Well, there’s a reason for that and this will explain it all –

Remember those certain moments when you are totally in the zone. The ideas are flowing, you are feeling great. You are fully concentrated and productivity level is through the roof. But, you also know it does not last for very long. After a moment you are bound to feel interrupted or zoned out or just not as focussed as you probably were few seconds ago.

That’s because evolution has hardwired human brain in a way, which forces it to observe the changes going around in order to survive better. That explains why staying focused at one thing consistently for hours does not look like something we are going to master any time soon.

What constitutes an ideal break?

We are talking about giving our mind some rest. And, when it comes to questions related with human mind, there’s no one straightforward answer. And so, everyone will have to find a way of their own to take an ideal break. But still, here are a few suggestions to take better breaks that you might want to try –

1. Daydream –
   Daydreaming improves creativity. It let’s you go beyond the obvious and think of the unthinkable. Just close your eyes and let your mind go anywhere that it wants to go.
2. Draw –
   Drawing tends to have therapeutic effects on the mind. It does not matter whether you are great at it or whether you suck at it. The goal is to get involved in something that requires little to no thinking so that the brain could better process the information you have fed so far and figure out excellent ways to use it.
3. Take a stroll –
   Strolling is a good way to increase the blood flow towards the brain. It boosts the functioning of the brain. Even a 20-minute stroll can improve your cognitive functioning and performance. This is what Urbana-Champaign researchers at the University of Illinois found out.
4. Read something engrossing –
   Pick up a novel and get started. Do select something that will keep you engaged. Something that will make you forget everything else around you. You must have noticed that while reading an interesting novel, we feel connected to some entirely different world. The one far away from reality. A good read is another great way to make the best of your break time.

” Those were a few ways to take a healthy break.

However, you don’t need to limit yourself to these options only. Be creative. Come up with your very own way of spending that free time. It could be anything; be it meditation, gaming, or something else. Basically anything that will relax you. Do something healthy that you can think of during free time. “

And believe me, it will go a long way in improving your quality of work life.