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No two interviews are the same, so you can’t plan exactly how the interview will go, but it is important to have a Interview Strategy. It is imperative that you face the interview as a selling meeting; meaning building personal chemistry and establishing an open dialogue for free information exchange.

Tells Nokia…… why  interview clear aapne na kia?

Anil Mahajan

Back to Mr. Disaster

Lemme continue with Mr. Disaster attending a mock interview session with me.

Now, I am sick of this man & shoot a question to him. “You left company XYZ in January 1984 & joined company ABC in October 1985. What were you doing all these months? The man, who was no longer slouching, starts tapping his foot more furiously. This is fidgeting. It is criminal to indulge in fidgeting like playing with your hair, clicking pen tops, tapping feet or unconsciously touching parts of the body. Nobody likes others indulging in fidgeting & rejection in the interview is guaranteed 100%.

I have been trying in vain to make eye contact with him for the last 25 minutes. You must build chemistry with the interviewer by looking the interviewer in the eye. You don’t want to stare, as this shows aggression. Occasionally, and nonchalantly, glance at the interviewer’s hand as he is speaking. By constantly looking around the room while you are talking, you convey a lack of confidence or discomfort with what is being discussed.

The bugger is nervously giving incoherent reply to my question on the gap in service again without eye contact. Check your CV for possible gaps! Make sure you know how you are going to explain time gaps on your CV. Write down and practice possible questions! Writing them down and practicing them with someone will make it easier to remember when you get to the interview.

Mr. Disaster is nervous? Neither being nervous nor being incoherent helps. Both these unwanted traits drive the final nail into the coffin. Take a deep breath and remember you’ve already passed the first test, generally a screening of your resume by either a placement consultant or HRD fellas or by both. You better know they’re interested or they wouldn’t be taking the time to interview you. Therefore, go into the interview knowing you’ve already got them on the hook. Be confident, yet not boastful.

I think space constraints signal me to sign off now.

No two interviews are the same, so you can’t plan exactly how the interview will go, but it is important to have a Interview Strategy. It is imperative that you face the interview as a selling meeting; meaning building personal chemistry and establishing an open dialogue for free information exchange.

Success is not necessarily what you say, but how you say it.

By Anil Mahajan, MBA PGDIT (IIFT)

He has made pioneering contributions in the field of Resume Writing and Resume Management.

Courtesy Jobnet Magazine issue 108

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the Author

Posted under Job Interviews

Today, the job seeker’s fear is focused not just on finding jobs, but more on missing out on one.

Lima Sehgal

The intrinsic nature of the job market is chaos. But that’s no assurance for someone who is trying to maintain balance with a surfboard on a tidal wave.

And we worry about how savvy we can get?

We’ve learnt to look for jobs world-wide on the internet with easy elan, but we continue to be as unplugged as ever. And yes, we can juggle hundreds of placement firms with confidence. But it doesn’t mean that they have a fish to catch.

One squeak and there are a million hands to help. What with the proliferation of placement firms and other services that promise to polish, groom and sell you, and those that promise to zap, zoom and shoot your resume to every corner under the stratosphere.

Today, the job seeker’s fear is focused not just on finding jobs, but more on missing out on one.

Though their neon lights can be quite bewildering, definitely the support systems for job seekers are useful. We must grow up enough to know whom to blame for not getting job offers. It’s may not be faulty resumes, defective personality packaging or ineffective mass resume distribution — there just might be no vacancies.

Déjà vu? Of course it’s the same old problem. Only, since the last generation, the paper has been replaced by Power Point.

Try and try again isn’t applicable only in Kindergarten.

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 103

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Courtesy Jobnet’s Directory of Placement Firms

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Never before has a placement firm been so heavily bombarded by jobseekers — literally, physically and virtually.

Lima Sehgal

The public focus is usually on the job seeker rather than the placement industry that goes hand in glove. So, one wonders about these times, when the issue of the future prospects of the placement industry is being raised.

One wonders why, when the placement service is not just a support service, but the marrow of the job market.

Perhaps, the enormous volume of pressure from job seeking candidates is taking its toll. Never before has a placement firm been so heavily bombarded by jobseekers — literally, physically and virtually.

One is getting to hear from jobseekers, with alarming frequency, about the de-personalization in handling an individual. On the flip side, the very existence of thousands of agencies in itself has become the icon of hope for jobseekers. What feeds them?

That thought provokes the scramble to try them all out. Which in turn has resulted in a mass circulation of candidates on an unprecedented scale. Compounded by the bombardment by the job-sites, the effect has been bewildering.

With the result that, today, even simple patience and PR with jobseekers requires time and infrastructure. A business issue that has to be wrestled with by individual placement consultants.

One wonders if, in the near future, individual response will still be in vogue.

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 102

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Courtesy Jobnet’s Directory of Placement Firms

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

The treadmill effect is rampant in the job – seeking process in India

Lima Sehgal

Ever since the list of holidays has become longer than the list of working days, business has boiled down to taking pot-shots. Oops! I thought that was the prerogative only of Bush and Saddam.

Though everyone in the job market claims to be working harder than before, one admits that the treadmill effect is rampant. Lots of sweat, but reaching nowhere.

One of the reasons for it is that the job-hunting process has moved from hi-tech to primitive. The all-fangs-and-claw technology is the only one that has, over time, proved to be unfailingly accurate.

Competition for jobs has taken new dimensions. The glamour and gloss will not entice any more. No pussy-footing any more. And those who complain about learning new tricks have forgotten that they were the same old ones.

Publications, and especially job websites unable to cater to the hunger of the masses of job-seeking professionals are in danger of closing shutters. The placement firms are surviving only because the job-seeker has become wiser — than them. Luckily, head-hunting and networking is keeping both of them inter-twined.

A few months later, the shape of the job market along with it’s lifelines and information systems, will reveal an alien landscape.

Change is always a raw deal. Especially when it is too premature to pluck or cook. All we can do is wait for it to ripen.

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 98

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Courtesy Jobnet’s Directory of Placement Firms

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Though the volume of jobs looks like it’s on the rise, any seasoned jobseeker knows that it is only the averages that count.

Lima Sehgal

Currently, optimism in the job market is as fluctuating as the weather. And just as unpredictable.

The complaints are justified. We would like to pin a reason to trends or seasons — knowing that nothing qualifies. Any one out job-hunting still feels the squeeze.

Though the volume of jobs looks like it’s on the rise, any seasoned jobseeker knows that it is only the averages that count. It is the duplication of vacancies that is the problem. It’s causing a quickening of pulse amongst placement firms. But more smoke than fire.

Jobseeking professionals who circulate get to know the ropes. They are aware that the websites, publications and placement firms are wooing the same clients and are bound to come up with the same offers. The end result is that the pipedream of exclusivity cannot withstand the daylight of competition. Also, one realises that only the time-tested counts, and post mortems qualify more than rainbows.

Yes, the Indian professional is getting street-smart. Whatever the market conditions are, one always has the option to sow a few beans to get a magic beanstalk.

So, I think we can all look forward to an unpredictably happy new year!

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 96

Republication or dissemination of the contents of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal

Jobseekers in India are now demanding authentic services for real needs. There is more to the job search than mass mailing resumes by proxy or getting job alerts.

Lima Sehgal

Over the past two years, the Indian Professional has discarded many misconceptions about the job market. For better or for worse, the perspectives are clearer.

It is a big relief to know that the grass is no greener on the other side of the fence, and the competition out there is competing just as hard.

Reality, though unsavory, is preferable. It comes as a relief to know where one stands – even if one is not standing on one’s own two feet.

The guilt of not trying enough, or not knowing where to try became the gullibility on which service organizations mushroomed. There is a very fine line between giving help and giving jobs. Jobseekers need more than a formula that works only if all the ingredients are right. Anyone knows that it needs more than that to bake a cake.

But, now, there are diminishing takers for resume mass emailing services, for registration of resumes on websites, for training programs to motivate your soul, or for the ‘How to succeed in an interview’ toolkit.

Jobseekers are now demanding authentic services for real needs. Not just a packaging and props industry.

The Indian jobseeker has developed a unique self confidence, born not from the discovery of a niche or from the acquisition of job offers, but from an understanding of what really does not work.

This sixth sense has now become an instinct. Realizing that in the ocean, the predators are not the only competitors is sometimes the one single chance we give ourselves.

Copyright © 2011, Jobnet magazine, issue 90

Republication or dissemination of the conte90nts of this article are expressly prohibited without the written consent of the publishers of Jobnet magazine

Posted under Articles by Lima Sehgal