Supervision is hard. Developing a coherent supervisory style is even harder. And explaining your supervisory style in an interview? Really, really hard.
On tomorrow’s episode of The Grill, at 11 a.m. ET, John Mayo and I will be discussing how to approach questions about supervision and your supervisory style in a job interview.
As usual, we’ll throw a few typical interview questions on “The Grill,” and discuss:
What an interviewer is really asking (the question within the question–i.e., what they really mean)
How to approach answering the real question
Good ways to answer
Bad ways to answer
And then, hopefully, we’ll take your calls. Call us at 1 (347) 989-0055 to take a stab at answering the questions, and we’ll offer you a live critique and our honest feedback. If you’d prefer, you can also Skype in from the episode page on BlogTalkRadio, by using the Blue “S” click-to-talk button on the page. And whether you listen live or not, we’ll continue the discussions on the Cook Coaching Facebook page, where you can also check out past questions and try your luck at answering those, too. And a few times each day, I add some interesting posts there, and you can discuss any past articles from the website.
Since we did not have a live segment last week, anyone who listened to the previous episode, What Comes Easy and What Comes Hard, will be welcome to call in and give a shot at those questions. I had a few people express interest, and had hope to schedule a follow-up teleconference, but some other business details got in the way this week. So please feel free to call in and answer those questions, too.
Please join us as we throw this week’s questions on The Grill. We’re looking forward to talking to you!
Did You Enjoy This Post?
Please take my reader survey and tell me what you think about Higher Ed Career Coach. It’s 11 questions and shouldn’t take long. Also, SurveyMonkey will be selecting one recipient at the end of June to receive a $25 Amazon gift card. So give your feedback and get a chance to win!
In any job, some things come easy, and some come hard. This is definitely true for positions in higher education, even at the entry level, but even moreso as you move up the ladder. This week on the Grill, John Mayo and I will be discussing the right ways and the wrong ways to answer questions in your interview about what you think will come easily in a new position, and what will require a steep learning curve.
This weeks we tackle two thought-provoking and tightly connected questions that ask you to share your thoughts about how your strengths and weaknesses match up to the position you are applying for.
“Given your current level of education, skills and experience:
What part of the position will be easiest for you, and why?
What part of the position will require the steepest learning curve and how will you approach closing the gap?”
The show today is pre-recorded and due to a minor disaster here in Athens (see photo), we will not have the live call-in portion of the show, as a storm blew down a branch onto my house and cars and I am working on cleanup and insurance-claim-related stuff.
Do job interviews make you feel “dragged over hot coals?”
When preparing for an interview, it’s important to approach every question critically, and read between the lines. In “The Grill,” Higher Ed Career Coach Sean Cook and co-host John Mayo, Jr., Area Coordinator for Traditional Housing at Western New England College, will discuss the “questions behind the questions,” and help job-seekers plan their approach to common questions.
In today’s premiere episode of “the Grill” on the Higher Ed Career Coach show, Sean and John discuss the ever-popular first question: “Tell Me About Yourself.”
As we deconstruct this week’s question, we’ll talk about:
The Question (What they ask.)
What the interviewer really means or wants to know.
Ways that you can answer (that are probably wrong.)
Ways you might answer (that are better)
We’ll also take call-ins from listeners who want to take a stab at this week’s question. If you are still out there looking for your next step, call (347) 989-0055 around 11:30 a.m. Friday and we’ll listen to your answer, give you a critique, and help you refine your approach. Maybe you’ll even get heard by your next employer!
Do you like this article? If so…
Have new items from this blog delivered to your inbox, so you won’t miss anything! Plus, get special subscriber-only content, special offers and discounts. Click here to subscribe
Every once in a while, you meet someone who has a definite impact on you. It could be because they are kind and encouraging. It could be because they are damn smart. In the case of Ann Marie Klotz, it’s both.
I had a great opportunity last week to interview Ann Marie, a doctoral student from DePaul University (and Director of Residential Education at that institution) about her thoughts on a couple of great topics. The first topic, “Trusting the Job Search Process” was the subject of last week’s podcast, and it was well-received by listeners and came well-recommended by several other higher ed aficionados, including Eric Stoller.
Our conversation covered a lot of ground, and I was able to ask her about another article on her blog, annmarieklotz.wordpress.com, related to her doctoral dissertation research, which examines roadblocks that women commonly experience in climbing the ranks toward a university presidency. “Understanding Our Impact” delved into ways that higher education professionals can reflect on the ways our influence stays with students well beyond their college years, and is based on Klotz’s reading about the reflections of female university presidents on their college experiences, and the role of mentors in supporting or discouraging their achievements.
Yesterday, we talked about ways that candidates can prepare for interviews by anticipating questions and preparing their answers. As mentioned in that article, questions and answers can be seen as the “currency” of interview. This may have left some of you asking “Where’s the Bank?”
Good news! We’re opening a “question bank” at HigherEdCareerCoach.Com and the Cook Coaching Facebook page. We’ll post links to past episodes of “the Grill” and their associated blog posts, and open up discussions on Facebook on questions and how to approach them.
To get started with the question bank, I’m soliciting submissions from other student affairs professionals, career coaches and human resource professionals. On today’s BlogTalkRadio show, I’ll be talking to our first contributor, Meghan Harr, who shared her list of questions to ask the interviewers. So many candidates overlook the value of asking good questions, but doing so can differentiate you from others in the process. This segment was pre-recorded, due to some professional travel I have scheduled for today. It will air at 11 am Eastern Time and be available for download to iTunes and for streaming afterward.
In my discussion with Meghan, we had a great, free-ranging talk about how she assembled the questions, how she used certain questions to understand not only the position, but the institutional culture, work environment, and her possible “fit” in different positions. You’ll gain some valuable insight that should help you in upcoming interviews.
Meghan also shared a little with me about her involvement in the #saGrow mentor program and how being a mentor has helped her grow as a professional. Please listen to the show by clicking the BlogTalkRadio icon below, and download a .pdf of her questions here. If you’d like to receive other resources like this, directly to your inbox, sign up for my e-mail list by using the Hello Bar link at top, or the pop-up form. You’ll get this information, regular blog updates, newsletters, special list-member-only offers, and my promise that your information will never be sold or shared without your permission.
Questions and answers are the currency we trade in job interviews. They help us evaluate the parameters of a potential working relationship, and to feel out whether the various pieces of the picture will “fit” together into a coherent whole.
In preparing for interviews, candidates often spend the bulk of their time anticipating questions and practicing how to answer them. Toward this end, I’m introducing some new features here on the site and as part of the BlogTalkRadio podcast, and tying them in to my practice’s Facebook page.
The first of these features is going to be a cooperative effort between me and John Mayo from Western New England College. We’re calling it “The Grill,” after a Twitter-hashtag fueled mock interview that John and his colleague Mike Hamilton from Landmark Leadership did for their friend and my former client Jenna Magnuski that they tagged as #grillJenna.
The Grill will have three parts:
The introduction of one interview question each week on the blog, with tips on ways to approach answering the question.
An invitation to share your responses and get feedback and tips in the comments for that week’s question.
A call-in segment of the next podcast, devoted to letting people call in and answer the question, and get live feedback on how to refine their approach and their answer.
Another important aspect of the interview is the opportunity to ask questions of the interviewers. Tomorrow’s article will be about this important part of the process, and will give tips on how candidates can use questions to imply their motivation and readiness for a job, and to assess the possible fit between their interests and the position. That article will be a lead-in for Friday’s BlogTalkRadio show with special guest Meghan Harr of Old Dominion University. Meghan shared a great list of questions that she likes to ask during her interviews, that will be available through the website and on my company FaceBook page.
Work with Sean. I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance.
Supervision is hard. Developing a coherent supervisory style is even harder. And explaining your supervisory style in an interview? Really, really hard.
Every once in a while, you meet someone who has a definite impact on you. It could be because they are kind and encouraging. It could be because they are damn smart. In the case of Ann Marie Klotz, it’s both.
Yesterday, we talked about ways that candidates can prepare for interviews by anticipating questions and preparing their answers. As mentioned in that article, questions and answers can be seen as the “currency” of interview. This may have left some of you asking “Where’s the Bank?”
