I apologize for all the quoting that's about to happen. Somehow I missed this thread until now...
Also, what's the story behind the AOL e-mail address? Why does it matter?
Using AOL indicates basic computer illiteracy. If you're interviewing for a job working in technology, your employers don't want such a drastic indicator of incompetence with it. At least, that's what I'd guess.
You mean erotomaniac9@aol.com won't get me a job?
It's staggering how many people can't seem to admit they don't know the answer to questions.
Very true. I think you come off worse if you try to pretend you know everything. I am getting pretty good at being honest about not knowing things. It's especially easy now since I'm an intern and learning; everyone knows this and expects me to ask questions, etc. I said "I don't know" to one of my patients a few weeks ago (an old woman with dementia on hospice) and she snapped at me, saying "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"... then her face changed and she said "I'm sorry, I'm a little angry."
My supervisor said "I don't know" is the best answer you can give sometimes. When dealing with people in a professional way, sometimes it helps to say "But I could find out..."
And while I'm at it:
How long should I wait before getting a response? A week? Two weeks? And how long should I wait before sending a follow up email to ask if I'm still in consideration?
I don't want to badger people and be a pain in the ass, but I also would like to know where I stand and if I should keep wasting my time checking on the status of my application.
Here, my first piece of advice would be to ask
at the interview approximately when you should expect to hear back from them. That way, if they don't get back to you by then you won't be annoying if you contact them, you'll just seem like you care, which is a good thing.
Shoes Shoes Shoes.....its amazing how many people look at shoes first. Nice shoes. Polished or buffed.
This isn't totally true because my shoes suck but I've done quite well in interviews
-Seeming unqualified: If you have a diverse work background, use it to your advantage...it can illustrate adaptability and that you're a quick/enthusiatic learner.
Absolutely. You can make almost anything applicable. I put a goddamn liquor store job on my resume while looking for social work internships and was told by the people at one of the hospitals that they really liked the fact that I put that on my resume and applied it to the field. You can find a way to work it. Working in a liquor store helped with my people skills, but mainly exposed me to all types of people with all types of issues and further inspired me to go into the helping professions because of the stuff I encountered (alcoholic customers, depression, coworkers going through domestic violence and girlfriend's lethal drug overdoses, etc.). I put this eloquently on my resume because I had very little direct social work-related experience and people liked it.
You're under no obligation to disclose that it was a family business...unless they outright ask, in which case, you don't want to lie. I don't think many people would assume that working for the family business is a cake job. In fact, I think many family businnesses push people harder, as there's the sense of family obligation along with the usual employee responsibilities.
The only slight complication I could see is when it comes to references...if it specifies no family members, that could be complicated. In which case, I would simply ask the relevant HR person how they want you to approach it, since your boss was a family member.
Sounds like you should have an ass-kicking resume.
I've also been asked to name a time I've failed and been complimented for my maturity when I've been honest about it, because many people won't do this in interviews.
Definitely. I try to be as honest as possible without making myself look too terrible.
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
How do I answer that without sounding cheesy and fake?
I think being honest without sounding like a complete pessimist works. I usually say I have no idea
There's nothing wrong with that IMO. I think some people might see it as not being driven/committed enough or whatever, but some people might also see it as being flexible. Because I don't know what opportunities will present themselves to me in the next five years, and I'm willing to go with the flow.
I have a question for you all.
I'm 19 and I need a job to help my parents pay for college. At the moment I'm just hitting up fast food places and small markets looking for a small parttime job.
Unfortunately, I have no work experience.
When asked about work experience either on the application or in person, what is the best thing to say?
It seems that a person with no work experience is almost instantly disqualified.
I think it depends on the job, but maybe talking about relevant qualities you have would help... or use your experience in school? I think just being honest and saying you have no experience but you need to get it somewhere might work. As long as you can show you have the motivation/work ethic and ability/willingness to learn. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I think presenting yourself as a person with desirable qualities might help. For fast food and those kind of jobs, I don't think most places are
expecting a lot of experience. Because usually the duties are pretty simple and can be taken care of with a little bit of training, like learning how to work a cash register which is pretty friggin' easy usually. They're not expecting people with a shitload of experience and it's not going to be an inconvenience for them to train you because every register is different and every company is different, so people are going to need to be trained regardless of the amount of experience they have. I've worked 4 retail-type jobs and each register, etc. was completely different so I had to be re-trained every time.
Topic: Job Interviewing - Do's and Don'ts (Read 73598 times)
