Support Each Other In Looking For Work?

CompletelyLost

Yeah, that's what I thought. Seems a bit unfair, but oh well... I wasn't sure whether they had more vacancies on the Jobcentre computers, but if their website is all they've got then I'm not missing much.

There's only one new vacancy (in my area) posted on the Jobcentre site today. Hopefully they will add more later.

angel223_2

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Stew68

Morning all,

Good luck to all those with interviews this week and good job hunting for all of us.

Lexilex,

Interview advice from me for what it's worth. Good knowledge of the company is a must, quite often you'll get asked "what do you know about us?" This is your chance to show off your studying powers with what you're read on their website and if you can show some knowledge of how they work and how they fit into their industry all the better. Always have a list of questions in your head to ask at the end of the interview, you'll find that a lot of them are answered during the interview but if you have plenty in your head you should hopefully have one or two left. I always try to have one banker in my head that I know won't get covered during interview. Third and maybe not so easy for somebody of your age try to have some experience stories in your head. A lot of interviewers will ask these kind of experience questions these days. "tell me sometime when you had to do....." "When did you have to show......" and stuff like that. I think i've got a list of example questions somewhere, i'll try and find them a bit later.

Angel223,

I feel your pain, the rejections are the worst part and knock you back. The "got more experience" response is a bit of a cop out in my opinion. You've just got to pick yourself up and throw yourself back into the fight, at some point you'll be the number one choice. I hope you feel a bit better later, good luck to you.

Drea

Morning everyone, I've got so many jobs to apply for today and I have 4 interviews this week (2 on Tues and 2 on Wed) and don't feel like I have enough time to do everything! Getting a bit stressed which is when I mess up interviews so need to try calm down a bit :rotfl:

Angel, that's what this thread is for so don't apologise for having a bad day I'm the same, I'm getting plenty of interviews but not getting any further and I keep getting rubbish "feedback" too, I really wish they'd tell me something more!

Stew68

Drea,

I can't imagine having to prepare for four interviews in two days, i'm struggling with just the one. Best of luck for those.

I can't find the interviewer questions on my computer at the moment, I know they are there somewhere so i'll find them later. I did find a list of questions to ask the interviewer that I copied and pasted from somewhere so i've copied them below, I hope they may come in useful for someone.

Questions to ask.

Below are some ideas. You can adapt them to suit the type of vacancy you are applying for. For example if you are applying for a managerial position it is almost inevitable that you will have some staff reporting to you. However if you are an assistant administrator you will be unlikely to be in that position. Remember only you know the job you have applied for and the answers to some of these questions would be obvious. If that is the case don’t ask them.

Will I be working in a department or in an area on my own?
Who else is in the department and what do they do?
What training will I need and how will I be given this?
Do you train in house or use external courses?
To whom am I responsible?
Which members of staff are responsible to me and what are their roles?
Is this a new position and if so why has it been created?
If it is an existing position, why has the previous person left the post?
What are the opportunities for promotion?
When would you be looking for the successful candidate to start?
Are you interviewing many people for this position?
When will you let me know if I am to be offered the post?
Would I be expected to work in other areas of the business as well as I think it is a good idea to know how other departments work to help move the business forward.
Is the department set targets? Is there an expected growth set for the department in the next 12 months?
Are there plans for future growth?

[Deleted User]

http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/skillsandtraining/reactemployers/redundancyaction/?lang=en

[Deleted User]

Will know this week if my application for VR is successful or not. Fingers crossed. If it is then full scale job hunt for me....

Drea

Questions to Ask:

• Why has this vacancy arisen?
• How do you review performance?
• How was the job handled in the past?
• What would you expect of me in the first six months?
• What do you see as my key long-term challenges?
• What is the expected career path for this position?
• Do you expect me to develop new expertise in any areas?
• What are the characteristics of successful people in this firm?
• Where would I fit into the overall structure?
• Will anyone report into me?
• Who would I report to and what is the line of authority?
• Is any training required as part of this job?
• What are the opportunities for advancement/promotion?
• What is the firm’s long-term strategy?
• Is the firm looking to expand into new areas?
• What is the largest challenge facing the firm at the moment?
• How would you describe the firm’s values?
• Is there likely to be any relocation in the future?

Questions you might be asked:


Questions where you can sell yourself

Tell me about yourself.

• Why do you want this job?
• What would you expect to accomplish here?
• Where do you want to be in five years time?
• Do you consider yourself to be a natural leader?
• What attracts you to this role?
• What does success mean to you?
• What are your career aspirations?
• What have been your major accomplishments?
• How would members of your team describe you?
• What really motivates you?
• What special skills do you have?
• What is your greatest strength?
• What do you do on your days off?

Questions where the interviewer is seeking informative answers:

• What do you know about this firm?
• What is a typical week’s work in your current job?
• Describe your greatest challenge so far.
• What are you looking for in your next job?
• How long have you been looking for another position?
• Why do you want to work for this firm?
• What can we offer that your current firm cannot?
• Do you deal with any of your firm’s top 10 clients?
• How do you determine priorities?
• Why should I hire you?
• How do you handle criticism?
• What makes a good manager?
• How do you run a meeting?

Questions where you may need to turn a negative into a positive:

• Why do you want to leave your current employer?
• What has been your greatest challenge in business so far?
• What are your key strengths or weaknesses?
• What thing irritates you most in the workplace?
• Describe your toughest client.
• How do you work under pressure?
• Describer a difficult work situation and how you managed it.
• What do you dislike about your current role?
• Which tasks don’t you like to do?
• Is there anyone in your current organisation you really don’t get on with?
• Do you make your opinions known if you disagree with a more senior member of staff?
• How do you feel about working weekends?
• Why aren’t you earning more at this stage of your career?
• Why were you made redundant/fired?

Blue-sky questions

• What would you do if you won the lottery?
• If you became Prime Minister what would be the first thing you’d change?
• What do you think of me as an interviewer?
• If you had to move to another industry, which would you choose?

angel223_2

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katkim

Another week! Hope one of us gets some good news by the end of it

I always ask if I can clarify anything or if any have any concerns about my ability to do the job that I can maybe address before the end of the interview.

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I've yet to hear back from two interviews - how long do you think you should wait before you contact them to ask for an update? What's the right amount of time to show you're sill keen, but not appear desperate?