Feature Article: Job Interview Post-Mortem: Deconstructing Your Job Interview's Highs and Lows
Special Feature: 10 Tips for Writing a Job-Search Interview Thank-You Letter
Bonus Feature: Mind Mapping: A Tool for Job-Interview Prep
Extra Feature: Follow Through: Strategies and Scripts to Keep You in the Interview Game
Fifth Feature: Job Interview Checklist
A Quintet of Quick Questions: QuintZine's Q&A with a Career Expert
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
Latest Additions: What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
Boy, oh, boy, do we have a jam-packed job-interviewing issue for you.
In addition to FIVE feature articles, we're announcing a bunch of new interviewing tools.
Three of our features relate to interview prep -- an article on how to get the interview, an interview checklist,
and an article on mind-mapping. The other two are about what happens after the interview -- conducting
a post-mortem on the interview and writing your thank-you letter.
If you expect to be interviewing soon, set aside some time to really digest this issue and all it has to offer.
--Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy@quintcareers.com
Feature Article: Interview Reviews
Job Interview Post-Mortem: Deconstructing Your Job Interview's Highs and Lows
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Is there any point in reliving a job interview you've just gone on? Can any good come from analyzing it and ruminating on it?
While it's tempting to feel that there's no reason to cry over spilled milk, conducting a post-mortem exam on your interview
serves at least two purposes:
The analysis of what went right and what went wrong will help you structure your thank-you letter (and yes, you
do need to send one).
Your review of the interview will help you in your next interview.
Many career experts recommend composing written responses to Frequently Asked Job Interview Questions
as a way to prepare for interviews. Composing responses in writing helps you solidify effective answers in your mind
so you won't be caught off guard in the interview, making you sound exceptionally prepared. Practice writing your
responses to these NEW common interview questions -- for both experienced job-seekers as well as recent college graduates
(and receive via e-mail a set of excellent responses for each):
* Our Personality Questions set is still in beta testing. Feel free to help us test our questions, and your
response(s) could be chosen for publication (with your permission):
Practice Interview Beta: Personality Questions.
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succeed in their career goals.
10 Tips for Writing a Job-Search Interview Thank-You Letter
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Many job-seekers put so much energy and focus on succeeding in the job interview that they overlook a key element that comes
right after the interview -- writing thank-you letters to each person you interact with during your visit with the employer.
QuintCareers has launched a new blog and revamped 3 existing ones:
The Career Doctor Blog:
Especially for those who miss our former regular feature, Ask the Career Doctor, this blog each day features a question and answer from The
Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD.
One of the biggest tricks in job interviews is being prepared with responses to possible interview questions. You don't know
exactly what will be asked, but ideally you have a body of content in your brain that you can draw from based on your skills, experience,
accomplishments, and knowledge of the employer you're interviewing with (as well as your fit with that employer). The real feat is being able
to keep all that information organized in your brain so you can easily access it as you respond to the interviewer's questions.
I've written about one excellent technique -- composing written responses to frequently asked interview questions. A similar method
-- but one especially geared for visual learners -- is mind-mapping.
Find out how to use this tool to prepare for interviews.
Extra Feature: Interview Follow Through
Follow Through: Strategies and Scripts to Keep You in The Interview Game
by Susan Britton Whitcomb, Career Coach Academy (excerpted from Interview Magic, 2nd Edition, JIST, 2008)
The word "succeed" comes from the Latin succedere -- to go up or follow after. Succeed is a verb, indicating action. To succeed
in your search, you will need to act and follow through, often well beyond what you think should be required. One of the biggest
mistakes job-seekers make is thinking that "the ball is in the employer's court." The fact is, the ball is permanently in your
court. Rather than being passive, be persistent!
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., and Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Are you going on a a job interview soon?
Use our thorough checklist
to guide you through the interview preparation process and move you closer to successfully attaining the job you seek.
QuintZine's Q&A with a Career Expert
QuintZine's Q&A with a Career Expert: Wendy Terwelp, president of Opportunity Knocks
The No. 1 question candidates have the toughest time answering is, "tell me about yourself," said Wendy Terwelp in the Q&A
interview we did with her. "People get tripped up, and it's usually an interview opener," Terwelp
said. But Terwelp has discussed this interview "question" with executive-level decision-makers and recruiters and
discovered what they're looking for in response to this query -- and she shares that info with readers in our Q&A.
Read more of Terwelp's advice, including interview trends, the advantage of recruiters searching for passive candidates, and the
value of networking both to uncover job leads and as a more effective job-search method than online job boards,
in our full Q&A with her.
GetThatGig.com enables young job-seekers (16-21) to find cool summer jobs and internships, as well
as learn about extraordinary career paths in all types of industries, from entertainment and education
to healthcare and marketing -- and many others. Users can also search for jobs or post resumes.
An awesome feature is the Day in the Life section that profiles people in such jobs as
trapeze artist for Cirque de Soleil, digital cover coordinator for Marvel Comics, and a
senior zoo keeper.
Careerjet.ca --
a job-search engine for Canadian job-seekers, where you can search
job postings gathered from almost 60,000 Websites (by keywords, location, industry)
or browse listings by industry or location. No cost to job-seekers.
Environmental Jobs --
a job site in which job-seekers can find environment-related job and internship listings from
both government and private sector employers. Geared mainly toward students, entry-level, and
mid-level job-seekers. No cost to job-seekers.
icrunchdata
-- a job and networking site for information technology/computer/technical professionals, where job-seekers can
browse job listings by posting date or search job listings (by keyword. job category, job
type, and location), post your resume, and network with other job-seekers. No cost to job-seekers.
Smuz.com -- a job-search engine with a twist. Not
only does this site collect job listings from other sites, it also encourages employers to post
job listings at no cost. Job-seekers can search for jobs and post your resume. No cost to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
CPGjoblist, a division of Synchronicity, Inc., a Business Network and Resource Center and
national network of resources for companies and candidates, offers a superb resource called
Sample Interview Questions that features:
Recommended Answers to Usual Questions (these are not so much answers as strategies to approach answers).
The Inappropriate Questions and Possible Responses
Richard Bolles, the ultimate guru of the job search by virtue of his perennially best-selling What Color is
Your Parachute? writes: "There is a simple thing any job-hunter can do at the end of a hiring interview that
will greatly increase your chances of being offered the job. And that simple thing is: at the end of the interview, ask for the job.
It doesn't seem to matter how you ask for the job. That is to say, the actual words don't seem to matter. It can be something simple,
like: 'Can you offer me this job?'" Read more:
Bolles goes on to explain the psychology of asking and
how he came across this approach.
The Interview Coach, Carole Martin, who is to interviewing what Bolles is to the overall job search, offers a
strategy for responding to the interview question, "When have you been most motivated?"
Writing at HR.com (no-cost registration may be required),
Martin says this question is "about knowing what you want." She suggests an exercise for getting at the answer:
"Begin by making a list of the tasks at your last job -- the tasks that you were particularly proud of, or were
energized by. In other words, 'when your job turned you on.'" Martin says to continue the exercise for all past jobs.
Then: "Take this list of motivating experiences and script an answer to the question, 'What motivates you?' Scripting
answers prepares you and also makes you sound more confident."
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entity has a Web site, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
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send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
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Link to Us page.
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career, and job news? Interested in learning more about Quintessential Careers?
Our Press Room
is your one-stop location for getting the information and resources you need.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming issues of QuintZine:
* Credit Reports and Job-Search
* Hiring Decision-makers' Top 30 Peeves about Executive Resumes
* 10 Critical Interviewing Tips
* Study Skills
* Academic Success
* Wheel of Wellness
* 3 Generations of Workers: Y, X, Boomers
* Employee Healthy Benefits
* College Financing
* Scholarship Do's and Don'ts
* The Academic Job Search
* Perks of Working in Higher Ed
* Signs Your Job is in Jeopardy
* Blogging Way to New Job or Holiday Job-Hunting
* Office Politics
* Maternity Leave
* Jobs on the Cutting Edge
* Job Search IQ Quiz
* Resume Bullet Points: Before and After
* GLBT Job-search Issues
* The Value of Internships Abroad and Study Abroad
* Top 10 Fears of Job-seekers
* For Job-hunting Success, Develop a Detailed Job-Search Plan
* Keep Your Career Dreams Alive
* MBA Career Portfolios
* Pre-Hire Background/Credit Checks
* Financial Aid/Scholarship Timetable
* Build Confidence and Avoid Insecurity in Job Interviews
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* Lifelong Networking
* Networking for the Shy
* Working Night Shifts/Odd Hours
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
