• Actively manage your career
  
  In the same way you manage other aspects of your personal life you should actively manage your career if you want to improve your chances of being successful. No one else cares as much about your career as you do and so no one else should be in control.

• You own your career – your employer owns your job
  
  When you find a job and at any stage of your career it’s your employer that pays you and they “own” the job and it’s their decision to improve it or remove it or find someone else to do it. They own it .But, you own your career and what you do affects what happens to it and so you must take responsibility for managing it.
• It’s better to be employable than employed. Always ensure you have transferrable marketable skills so that in the event that you become unemployed you will be in demand and can become employed relatively quickly.
• If in doubt about your career direction choose options that keep your options open.
• Keep yourself up to date with what’s going on in the economy, your sector and profession, your company so that you take advantage of opportunities or make other relevant career decisions.
• Ensure you complete an annual career audit to review your career and answer 3 questions:

1. Where are you now? Review yourself – your strengths & weaknesses, achievements and roadblocks and be able to describe your work preferences.

2. Where do you want to go? Articulate your career goals and aspirations 1/3/5 years out and why you want your career to move in that direction.

3. How will you get there? What do you have to do this year to get ahead? Invest in yourself by adding new skills/experience every year.

2 What’s your value proposition?

• What is it that makes you unique?
• Analyse yourself – your preferences, strengths, knowledge, experiences, dislikes – know everything about yourself.
• Ask your friends, family, work colleagues what they think your strengths and weaknesses are.
• Develop your proposition to the world – know what it is and develop it refine it and be able to communicate it. It could be technical, social or practical or a combination. Whatever it is – find it and articulate it into a headline proposition which you can use to promote yourself on your resume, in interviews and in discussions with your referees and network

3 Work on improving your people skills

On almost every finance and technology role we work on our clients request strong people skills. They want to know that you can communicate effectively in written reports, face to face, one to one, or presenting to groups and very importantly that you’re able to mix socially with work colleagues and develop trust and respect from them.

If it’s not a skill that comes naturally it’s one that you need to work on and develop as the most successful professionals have all mastered the art.

4 Network and promote yourself

The word “networking” evokes the image of selling one’s soul to a crowded room of suited aggressive professionals which leaves most of us, me included, cold. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Successful networking involves meeting with and speaking with a range of friends, business colleagues past and present, and fellow industry professionals to develop a network or portfolio of 20 or 30 people that you know reasonably well and whom know many others. It’s worth you keeping up to date with them every 6-9 months through coffee catch ups telephone calls so you stay on speaking terms.

Also attend when you can relevant industry or professional events so that you meet like-minded people. This network becomes very useful if you need to reach out to people if you have a professional or employment opportunity or issue. Using the professional networking site LinkedIn can also help you build a wider, less intimate network.

Paul Lyons, Ambition, November 2011

1) Can you do the job?

Do you have the skills, knowledge, experience and values required to perform some or the entire job to a consistently high level. Ideally you want to be able to “trade” with the employer 70%-80% of the role you can do to a high level in return for 20%-30% you have had little or no skills or experience in but believe you want and can develop the expertise over a period of time. This keeps you interested and motivated for a period of time until its time for the next move.

2) Will you do the job? Does it make sense for you to make this move and what will you get out of the move?

This follows on nicely from the first question. If your move is logical in that it builds your portfolio of skills knowledge and experience then it increases the likelihood of you being happy and engaged and likely to stay

3) Will you fit into the team?

Your values and team fit are really important to the success of your selection. Are you likely to be able to work well with your team mates, do you relate and agree with the values of the organisation. If you do or think you do then you’re more likely to be selected and more likely to be successful once in the role.

4) Are you worth the investment?

In the current climate this is a key question on both sides. Organisations have budgets they are reluctant to exceed even if you are absolutely the right fit whilst you may have commitments that necessitate a certain minimum salary. Generally you have a much better chance of negotiating a higher package if all three of the above questions are ticked positively.

It’s important to select a role that provides short and long term benefits. You need to choose a job that you are going to enjoy doing, one that is challenging and satisfying in the aspects that you feel are important. It should be a job and company that will help you develop your skills and provide you with marketable experience.

While the Interviewer will hopefully give you some information, asking questions can provide a greater insight to the company and the job itself enabling you to make a more informed decision.

There are two benefits in asking good questions; firstly you get the information you need and secondly; if they are good questions asked in the right way you will impress the interviewer as someone who is thorough, analytical and professional. Delivery is as important as content. Sometimes you’ll need to phrase the questions in a certain way or use humour to ensure that you don’t project yourself as arrogant or hard faced.

You should ask questions about those aspects of the job or the company that concern you most. Since you rarely get the chance to ask ten questions in one go you should use those that appeal to you first.

I have included ten of my favourites in four sections and you can also prepare for interview questions and learn how to sell your skills using our interactive tutorial.

About the job itself

Assuming that you have a job description and/or the interviewer has described the job in some detail you will want to ask questions that will give you more information about the key issues. Three possible questions are:

1) What are the reasons that the job came about – if it’s an existing job why did the person move on? If it’s a new job why has it been created?

What you are seeking here is clarity ie does the Interviewer /Manager really knows the reasons for the job AND are they logical. For example if it’s a new role you need to be convinced that the rationale for creating the position is sound and that you are going to have the support and resources required to do the job properly. If the job is a replacement job why did the person move .It’s a great sign if they were promoted to a new role in the same Company – not so good if they moved on from the Company after a short period of time. If they are still with the company it may be worth asking if you could speak with them about the role. Its an unorthodox request but can provide you with another perspective on the role and the issues and challenges associated with it.

2) What are the key challenges in the first few weeks and months of the role?

Often the answer to this question will give you the meat of the job – and will outline the immediate issues and challenges. If this is different from what has been described you need to resolve the differences. If it’s the same it gives you some confidence that the role will be as described.

3) How will you assess that I’m doing a good job? What will I have achieved in 6 months or 12 months?

In understanding how your performance will be assessed you better understand (again) the key issues of the job and what factors will be used to appraise your output. This is a reasonableness check for you. If you think that the job is too easy or too hard and the appraisal mechanism or resources available don’t reflect this then this should affect your decision on the job or at least provide you with further questions.
You also get an idea of what achievements will be noted on your resume in 6-12 months and whether this aligns with your goals.

4) How and where does this position fit into the structure of the department? Do you have an organisational chart?

Sometimes jobs have titles that portray a certain level of responsibility. If you ask the Interviewer to show an organisation chart and describe just how the people in the department or division work together with a particular emphasis on your role you will get a better idea of how you will fit in and whether it’s a role you want.

About the Organisation

In building your career it helps if you are working for an organisation that has a clear vision and good values and one that emphasises the importance of developing its people

5) What is the organisation’s Vision and values?

If the Organisation is large with a web site you are likely to have researched this question prior to the Interview. However it’s still useful to ask possibly with reference to the division -what is its vision are what are its values? You can then deduce whether they correspond with yours.

6) I have noticed from reading your last annual report that your organisation faces the challenge of … in its key business sector? What other major challenges does it face in the near future?

Again your research may have revealed that the Organisation competes in a business niche or sector with specific challenges and issues which may be positive or negative. By phrasing the question as above you indicate that you have done some research and understand some of the issues but are interested to learn more -all good traits to display in an interview.

7) Assuming I have tackled the role successfully in 2-3 years what other opportunities would be open to me and do you have recent examples of people moving on within the organisation?

The nature and seniority of the role will determine the way you ask this question but essentially you are trying to understand whether it’s usual for the Organisation to promote from within. You want to hear both reassuring words about the Organisation’s commitment to you and your career AND have recent examples to back it up

About your manager

Issues and conflicts with one’s direct manager are one of the key reasons that people want to move jobs so it would be helpful to understand more about their pedigree and perspective on work

8) Can you tell me about your background and how and why you joined this organisation?

This is a great question to ask. You want to learn about the pedigree of the person who is likely to be your mentor for the next phase of your career and from whom you will need to learn. Most managers are only too happy to talk about their background and you can often deduce all sorts of traits and qualities from their answer

9) What do you perceive as your strengths and what are the qualities you do and don’t like to see in your team members?

This is more of the same and is really three questions in one – you’re asking them where they see their strengths which is obviously important for your ability to learn from them and to see if there are any unexpected issues arising from the qualities response

About the assignment process

10) What is the next step in the selection process from here and when should I expect to hear from you next?

This is obviously helpful to you in understanding the process and time line’s involved which maybe important with regard to other opportunities you are considering.

Here are 10 tips to improve your interview skills before, during and after the interview.

Before the Interview

By conducting thorough research you have a better chance of success as you identify issues and practise questions that are likely to be asked.

1) Research yourself, your skills and experience

At least half of the interview will be about you, particularly your skills, experiences and career goals. It’s therefore essential that you know everything there is to know about yourself and be able to answer any question confidently and concisely. You are likely to be probed about your profile and so you need to be able to describe and portray yourself in a positive and balanced manner. Review your career to date and understand your key skills and strengths, your reasons for making a move both now and previously as well thinking about your short and medium term career goals.

2) Research the company, its products/services, culture and vision

It’s important to research the company for several reasons. You want to know for your own purposes that it’s a company you want to work for in a sector you want to work within. For the purposes of the interview you may also be asked a question or wish to ask a question.

A popular interview question is “How much do you know about our company?”. It helps if you can respond with a brief summary about the company. It shows that you are someone that does their research which is a positive feature.

During the course of your research you may also unearth an issue or two about the company that you want to clarify which may, for example, be related to their trading performance or a new product or service.

3) Research the job

It’s important to spend time analysing the job specification for two reasons. Firstly, is it a role that interests you and why and can it help advance your career? Secondly, how can you use your skills and experience to add value to the role? The interviewer will be focusing heavily on this latter aspect so it helps for you to be able to answer this question effectively.

4) Research likely questions and answers

There will be questions back and forth on both sides and it helps if you have an idea about both the questions to be asked by the interviewer and the questions you wish to ask of them. It’s a similar process to knowing what the questions are before you take an exam. The questions asked are likely to be related to you and your profile and your relevance to the role and how you can add value in the future.

During the Interview

5) You never get a second chance at a first impression

Ensure that you are professionally presented and have maximum impact. In the first five minutes, your interviewer will form an impression about you that is rarely overturned so it’s essential that you are wearing the right clothes and your handshake, eye contact and smile all portray a strong image. Be prepared to conduct some small talk before the body of the interview.

6) The interview should be a two way conversation -

It’s preferable for the interview to be a dialogue rather than a monologue or a quick fire question and answer session.

Some interviewers are good at achieving this, others are not. This means it’s partly your responsibility to ensure that it’s a pleasant informative conversation. If the interviewer enjoys the meeting they are more likely to think positively about you. Whatever the style of the interview you want to ensure that your answers to questions are thorough but concise.

7) Expect the unexpected

Often interviews don’t go as planned and something goes wrong with the timing, location, numbers of people interviewing or the questions asked. Expect the unexpected to happen and take such events in your stride because if you remain ‘calm in a crisis’ this will be to your advantage. Your prospective employer will view you as someone who can cope with unusual issues.

8) Ask questions of the interviewer

You have researched the questions you want to ask and you should ask them. If you can, ask as part of the dialogue or a specific Q & A session. Your questions should be about the job and the company, the sector and a good one is to ask the your prospective manager about their background and why they would be a good person to work for. Often if you can get the interviewer to talk about themself you not only learn more about them but they feel better about the interview and about your performance.

9) Confirm your interest in the assignment and the company and ascertain the next step in the process

It always helps you if you finish the interview in a positive way. This is the reverse of the first five minutes. Thank your interviewer for their time and reaffirm your interest in the position. Even if you’re not interested, it is better that you have the option to proceed once you have “thought” about it. Try and ascertain the next step and by when that you should hear. A firm handshake and eye contact is necessary here.

After the Interview

10) Follow up calls and emails/letters

It adds weight to your application if you can follow up your meeting with a short thank you email or letter. This is both common courtesy but just serves to confirm your interest. If your interviewer has given you a decision timeline feel free to politely call them if that time has passed.

Fundamental differences exist between contract and permanent interviews. The focal areas for a permanent applicant tend to around the value adds, cultural fit and your career plans and there tends to be a longer more diligent process involved in securing the role. Below we list 5 key areas which will most certainly be covered thoughout the process, regardless of how informal or short this may be!

5 focal areas covered in a contract interview

• The employer is looking for an immediate solution.

If you are successful, the business will want you to start on short notice. You should have thought through your availability prior to the interview: know when you can start and for how long you are available to work for. You will find that in your offer or contract, you are required to provide only a short period of notice should you choose to end the contract early and the same will apply to the employer. Such flexibility is usually advantageous for both parties.

• You will be paid an hourly rate or pro rata salary

You will be paid an hourly rate plus superannuation but will not be paid other entitlements (unless otherwise stated). You will find that some businesses will therefore pay a premium. You may be required to work longer hours or weekends to ensure you meet the proposed deadlines. Given this, expect to be asked about times when you have had to work to meet tough timeframes and be prepared to be asked about your rate and flexibility on this.

• You will be required to “get the job done”

The employer will be looking for someone who has the skills able to work autonomously and/or source resources required to get the job done. This is why questions will tend to focus on “what you have done” not where you are looking to go. This is often why some contractors end up with an area of specialization.

• You will be required to “hit the ground running”

This may mean that the work is already building and you may need to firstly manage a backlog! You may be replacing someone who is on leave, your job is to ensure everything continues to tick over with little, if any training. If this is the case, do not be surprised to find you start the role one day and there is a deadline to meet within the same week. The ability to perform in this type of role will be tested at interview through behavioral based questions. Competencies you should expect to be able to demonstrate include prioritization, efficiency and flexibility.

An example “Give me an example of a time when you were required to meet a deadline without all the available resources as hand. What did you do and how did you do it?

• Shorter interview process

Generally for a contract role, the process will entail only one interview which may last for even less than one hour! Whoever you meet and however short the meeting is, you need to provide maximum impact. Personal presentation, an appropriate level of understanding about the company and job and strong confident answers are all essential. Many believe that due to time constraints, you may receive some “benefit of the doubt” Certainly, do not rely on this! Judgment is still made and you will still be compared against other applicants and predecessors in the role so make sure you are impressionable.

Your resume

To give yourself the best chance of success your resume should fit the contract description. It should show clear reasoning if gaps exist between roles and you should try to highlight or develop a theme through the key strengths and responsibilities you document. This may actually require you to remove detail for some of your roles or some projects you have done which seem completely irrelevant to this position.

Your trusted adviser

Ensure that your recruitment consultant or the employer clearly understands your availability and where you have had experience in a similar type of role.

The final tip is to keep both your employer and agent up to date with how the contract progresses and whether you are on schedule so that plans for an extension can be negotiated if necessary or so you can begin to start the job search again!

1. Can you do the job – what is the level and proficiency of your knowledge skills and experience?
2. Do you want to do the job – do you have sufficient drive and motivation. Also does this move fit logically into your career plan?
3. Will you fit into the team – do you have the right values and style?

Many interviewers now use behavioural based or ‘targeted’ questions which are trying to understand how you tackle situations that are similar to those that will face you in the job. This style of interviewing is based on the premis that past performance is a good indicator of future performance.

Popular Questions

Tell me About Yourself?

This is usually used as an opening question and you do need to proceed with caution. Be concise but informative in your response. Depending on your career stage it should take 2-4 minutes and include the “highlights” (and lowlights) and be predominately focused on your professional career although include significant personal events and experiences if they have impacted on your career. You can also start with ‘where would you like me to start?’ so to get an idea of what they are really interested in.

What are your three key strengths and can you give me a recent practical example that illustrates each strength?

In almost every interview a question about your key strengths or skills will arise. Whether or not you are in job seeking mode you should know how and why you are different and (preferably) stronger than your contemporaries. You should be striving to make yourself better and stronger.

What value have you added to your company in your current role and what value have they added to you?

This is a double question so you have to remember both parts. Beginning with the first part, with employers seeking ‘added value’ it’s important to be able to identify and quantify what value you have added to your company. Identify ways you have increased output or the responsibilities attached to the role and how you have benefited the company.

In the second part of the question it’s important to be able to identify how you have progressed and what skills and experience you have added to your profile. Employers like to meet people who are aware of key issues and perceptive of changing situations and so this can be an indicator. This question often complements the previous question.

What are you most passionate about?

Most Interviewers are seeking that special ingredient ‘X’ in their new hires. Someone who is passionate about what they do and this often can be outside as well as inside work. Indeed you should make the point that you are passionate about work and about being the best you can be but that you do have a special passion outside work in whatever area this may be.

Tell me about a time when you displayed (characteristic or quality) X. What was the result? What was the outcome?

This is often related to the skills and abilities required for the role as indicated in the job specification or advertisement and so before each interview try and construct an answer related around their specific requirements. They are looking for recent real life examples.

Is there anything you would have done differently in your current role?

This is a chance to outline mistakes you may have made or lost opportunities and often it’s prudent to do so. You can portray your human side but ensure that your observations don’t portray you as negligent or careless. It’s a delicate question and requires a well considered answer.

Why did you make the move from Company X to Company Y?

Employers are looking for new hires that make well-considered logical decisions and career moves can be indicative of one’s broader behaviour. They will like the fact that you made a considered move to gain broader skills. Increasingly employers are rejecting candidates who’s motives have been purely financial. If you have a series of quick moves on your resume, you need to be prepared to provide some logical reasons.

What are your career goals over the next 3-5 years?

You should for your own well being have a well thought our career plan. You should know what skills you wish to develop and how this translates in terms of job title and company and sector. Having a medium term career plan again reinforces the fact that you are a stable and ‘considered’ individual.

How would you describe your relationship with your current manager how would they describe it?

You are likely to have at least one question on how you relate to people particularly if the job involves contact with others. The interview itself will portray much of what the interviewer wants to know about your personal and social skills but you should be able to describe your relationship with your manager and contemporaries and if relevant subordinates. If you do have an issue then you need to provide a balanced rather than a one sided assessment

What did your latest performance appraisal highlight about your recent performance?

This is a good question and you should be able to discuss the contents critically. While you will want to portray the good points you should also be prepared to discuss some of the issues that were raised if any and how you are overcoming or improving on these.

Summary

Whichever questions the interviewer asks, they wish to form an impression of you as a capable, ambitious and a likeable person. This is true however senior, junior, specialist or generalist the role. In all your responses you need to provide answers that accurately portray yourself in that way. Thinking about the answers you may give prior to your interview will be a valuable investment.

Here we look at how you can work through this and be more prepared, next time.

Start with your strengths, find your weaknesses

First consider your strengths.

To get to these think about how other people may describe you. Let’s say that you would be described as:

• Team Player – you like to work with and towards team goals
• Driven – you plough through your work with out any nudging along

You have a couple of strengths, now let’s think about the impact of having these strengths in the way that it could be expressed as a weakness.

Following on the example above, you could describe the impact as:

• Having to work on your own – you are more motivated by working as part of a team
• Impatient – You could be impatient at times as you know what you need to do and how to get there

Here you make reference to the strength again, what does the employer remember?

Your weaknesses from people close to you

Another way to consider what your weaknesses is to think what those closest to you would say (i.e. your partner, children, good friends). Take these weaknesses and then put a spin on this to make it relevant to the workplace.

“My partner would say I am impatient and when I think about this in a professional environment, it is simply because the accountant in me wants to meet the proposed deadline.”

“My friends would say that I do not hold back on my opinion which in a professional environment means that I can share my thoughts on a decision where appropriate, of course.”

This example allows you to apply a bit of humour and lightness to a question that usually trips people up.

Using feedback from performance reviews

Consider your previous performance reviews, across your career. Is there something that keeps cropping up as an area of development? So long as this is something not too worrying – i.e. not hitting targets, upsetting colleagues etc then you should be able to make a positive comment about it

“One of the things I have been working on is being more patient with team members encouraging their development, whereas in the early days of my career it was easier to just do the work! This will help build my management skills”

“During my performance reviews my manager has told me to raise my profile within the business so I have been trying to be more visible at meetings by preparing and contributing more”

Here you are able to show you can reflect on your areas of development and what you are doing or have done about it.

Summary

In summary you need to spin the response to reflect on your strengths or how you will be making progress with that particular weakness. This question should not be a deal breaker – the more you have thought about this the easier this question gets!

If you have any thoughts or suggestions please feel free to comment. Practice makes perfect!