Social Media has changed the way we look for jobs, network, and do research on our fields of interest. Today, there are many opportunities on the internet to expand your reach, and to leverage the power of your personal and professional networks, but it’s especially important that you have a “socially intelligent” approach to what you are putting out to the world. Now, more than ever, individuals need to be careful about how they present themselves, know what is being said about them, and nurture relationships that enhance personal and professional credibility.
Much is made these days of the topic of “emotional intelligence” and what your EQ implies about your aptitude for certain types or positions and your ability to adapt to new situations and challenges. An increasingly important part of the equation is your “Social Network Intelligence.” This is where emotional intelligence collides with technology and communication, and results in perceptions of your motivations for work, readiness for a new role, adaptability toward new challenges and your general degree self-awareness.
To help you understand the various aspects of “Social Network Intelligence,” and to integrate this concept into your job-seeker arsenal, HigherEdCareerCoach will be offering an online mini-course on “Social Network Intelligence for Job-Seekers” this summer. Enrollment for the first session will be limited to 20 persons.
To find out more about this program, fill out the free “pre-enrollment” form below. When the schedule and cost are finalized, members of this list will receive the first opportunity to enroll. If the course fills from the list, those who cannot be placed will be offered the opportunity to sign up for a waiting list for later sessions.
I hope you will be able to participate in the mini-course. The content I’m developing so far should be really useful and I will be adding some bonuses that will be announced only to members of the list (they’re going to be good!)
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.
Salary negotiation is the one part of the hiring process that people on both sides of the table look forward to it about as much as a root canal.
The key to successful negotiations, I think, is to take emotions out of the process as much as possible. Here are some do’s and don’ts to help you, as a job-seeker, make an effective, objective argument during the process.
Do:
Research salaries and benefits for similar positions, and use this to frame the discussion
Visit the institution’s HR site to understand what benefits are offered and the costs of these benefits. Even though many job seekers don’t consider the costs of their benefits, the employer has no choice but to pay for your benefits. They don’t come from thin air, and today, costs of healthcare have especially impacted the bottom line.
Consider the level of experience you have and be open to hearing what range they can reasonably offer. One way to do this is to ask how they came up with the offer, and how they factored in your previous experience.
Give examples of your experience, and how you will apply it in the job to earn the salary.
Don’t
Talk about your financial needs, debts, or your “ego” needs for a certain salary level (These are your problems, not theirs.)
Compare your potential salary to that of other people you know at other institutions (they are not hiring these people) in other regions (cost of living varies) or other industries (student affairs salaries do not compare with corporate salaries.)
Get angry, act as if you have been insulted, cry, or threaten to walk away (they won’t care if you act that way, anyway.)
Another piece of advice:always ask for time to think the offer through, and a get a solid deadline for getting back to the employer. Even if you want a job, you’ll probably feel better knowing you did your best to be fairly compensated, and you won’t second-guess your decision and feel you “sold yourself short.”
So, you’ve had an interview, and you are really excited and nervous about the prospect in front of you. The suspense is killing you, but the phone isn’t ringing, and your inbox doesn’t have any new e-mails from your contact at the hiring institution.How should you follow up?
Here are some simple tips:
E-mail a brief thank-you to the hiring coordinator and/or members of the interview team. Don’t try too hard to be creative or memorable. “Thanks for taking the time to interview me. It was a pleasure learning more about the position and the department. I appreciated the opportunity.” Going further than that may seem like you are attempting to continue the interview and make your argument. If you didn’t make a good argument in the interview, a card isn’t going to change that. And if you “lay it on too thick,” you risk annoying the interviewer and/or coming across as desperate.
If you didn’t get to ask about timeline before or during the interview, inquire about it in an e-mail to your main contact within the organization.
For the first week or two, e-mail contact is best.
After two weeks, if you’ve heard nothing, call the hiring coordinator. Reiterate your interest and ask about the timeline (or if they told you one, if it had changed as the process went on.)
Frequently Asked Questions:
What’s the typical timeframe for a candidate to hear back after an interview?
Bad news, folks. There isn’t one. So many variables go into an institution’s timeline for following up. Some might include:
Getting in touch with references/having them call back.
Following up on concerns
Conducting a background check
Getting approval from Human Resources
If I don’t hear back about the position, will calling or e-mailing improve my chances (by showing I am motivated and interested?)
While possible, it’s not likely. In most cases, the general impression of your viability as a candidate is set well before the end of the interviewer. So, if you are out of the running, calling or e-mailing won’t help. If you are in the running, and you fumble the interactions with an employer during the follow-up stage, you may actually hurt your chances. In short, it’s easier to get cut from a process than it is to get into (or stay in) one. So be judicious in your follow-ups. Don’t call more than once a week, and every time you do call, ask when would be a good time to call back. If at any point, you are told “We’ll call you,” take that as a signal to move on.
If I don’t get the job, what’s the best way to ask for feedback?
First, and foremost, ask for it only if you can take it gracefully.
Second, go in with the understanding that many employers will not give feedback, or that it will be very minimal, because some legal departments and human resources departments advises against it.
Call your primary point of contact and ask if you could get some feedback on your performance in the interview, how your skills and experience stood up to the finalist, or what factors went into the decision.
One final thought on getting feedback: only ask for it if you are going to use it to better yourself and improve your job search strategy, materials or approach to interviewing.
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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.
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?”
