Want to get the inside scoop on what it’s like to interview at Microsoft? Check out this post from a recent new hire.
Archive for May, 2007
Job Jive
Next time you are listening to your iPod to pass the time on the bus or the train, consider working on your job search simultaneously by listening to podcasts on job opportunities or interviews with various career professionals. Jobs in Pods and CollegeRecruiter.com offer some great resources.
Use Your GPA to Show Your Value Add
If you are a recent college grad, your GPA can be a great way to show your value add to a potential employer. Include your GPA on your resume if it is above a 3.5. If your overall GPA is lower, but your GPA in your major area of study is a 3.5 or higher, use that average instead.
If you do not have an outstanding GPA, focus on key internships, community service, volunteer work, leadership roles in fraternities, sororities, and sports teams, or summer employment to differentiate yourself from your competition.
Tell Me About Yourself and Other Tough Interview Questions
Over on the Good Recruits blog there’s an excellent post with 25 of the most difficult job interview questions. The top question on the list is “Can you tell me about yourself?” The open-ended nature of the question leaves a great deal of room for interpretation and some of the biggest mistakes that job seekers make when answering that question is talking for too long, offering answers that focus on personal attributes over accomplishments, and diluting the value of their core message by including too much extraneous information.
Focus on current competencies and link those competency statements with strong examples of how you have successfully managed those competencies within the context of a current or previous job. Keep your answer to under 90 seconds. Give your audience a teaser of information that encourages conversation and additional questions. With this question, less can be more. Craft a succinct and memorable message and you will quickly captivate your audience.
Too Many Tasks Make Jack a Dull Boy
Most people’s resumes have exhaustive lists of job tasks but never chronicle how those job tasks contributed to the bottom line for the company. Without an accomplishment focused resume, your document is bound to get lost in a sea of mediocrity. Stand out from the crowd by showcasing examples of how you help the companies you support make money, save money, and save time.
An exercise to help you think of your experiences in terms of accomplishments is to identify the problems or challenges you faced on the job, the actions you took to overcome the obstacles, and the results achieved by your actions. By creating these stories, you capitalize on what makes you unique, rather than dwelling on the tasks that are part of many people’s jobs that make you forgettable.
Like a Fine Wine, Your Resume Needs to Breathe!
Good content helps make a good resume. But sometimes people include so much content in the resume that they sacrifice design and end up with a document that has so much text that it suffocates the reader. Chose a font size no smaller than 10 point and break the text up by using bullets and spaces rather than big blocky paragraphs. Keep the margins to at least .6 on all sides. These strategies will make your document more “user friendly” and encourage the hiring manager to read on.
Use a Professional Email Address on Your Resume
Your email address is part of your professional image and a critical piece of information on your resume. Email addresses that are cute, silly, provocative, or difficult to key just won’t cut it with hiring managers. Chose an address that is some combination of your first and last name and avoid using long strings of numbers or letters that don’t form a word. Email addresses are part of your professional persona. You want to stand out from the crowd because of your unique accomplishments, not your unusual email address. Keep it simple and professional and you will quickly elevate your credibility with hiring authorities.
