Interview Guide

The interviewer hopes that YOU are the right person for the job. They are under pressure to fill the position so that they can get back to their own work. Therefore you are in a greater position of strength than you think. Concentrate on what you have to offer in the way of qualifications and experience instead of feeling intimidated.

An interviewer has 3 aims:
1) To learn if you are the right person for the job.
2) To assess your potential for promotion
3) To decide whether you will fit into the company environment.

The key to a successful job interview is in preparation 
Be prepared: For the types of interview questions you will be asked
Be prepared: To ask questions yourself
Be prepared: To research the company 
Be prepared: To look the part 
Be prepared: To turn up on time

Job interview questions you may be asked 
Q - How would you describe yourself? 
A - You should describe attributes that will enhance your suitability for the position. Have some ready in advance. 
Q - What are your long-term goals?
A - These should be career orientated. Make sure you have goals to discuss. 
Q - Why did you leave your last job? 
A - This could be for more responsibility; a better opportunity; increased income. Do not be detrimental to your previous employer. He could be the interviewer’s golfing partner. 
Q - Why do you want this job? 
A - Your answer should be: more responsibility or better opportunity or similar. Not: because it is closer to home or the gym. 
Q - What are your strengths? 
A - You should highlight accomplishments and experiences that relate to the position for which you are applying. Also, give examples of situations where your strengths have been demonstrated. 
Q - What are your weaknesses? 
A - This should not be a list of deficiencies. Don’t mention anything that could make the interviewer question your ability to do the job, for example “I am always late for everything.” Instead, discuss a weakness that could also be a strength such as “I am a workaholic!” 

Last but not the least!

You should show interest in all aspects of the job and the company especially if shown around the premises.
Do your homework on the company and the nature of its business.
Take care in how you dress for the interview. First impressions still count!

Know Your Audience: A Tip for New Writers

Nan Levinson speaks primarily to business writers in her book 'How to Sharpen Your Business Writing Skills', but her advice resonates with any writer who needs to share information or perspective about a subject.

Usually business writers, says Levinson, are trying to accomplish one of three things: “To present ideas, recommendations, or decisions; to explain something, or to persuade someone to agree with you or to join you in taking some action.” When you’ve decided what you need to accomplish, you’re ready to ask yourself such questions as “Who are my readers? Usually,” she adds, “there are several” including “higher-level readers, lower-level readers, peer-level readers, and external readers.”

Levinson offers these suggestions to help you tailor your message to your audience:

Consider the Reader’s Point of view
Your first piece of psychology involves identifying the benefits to your readers. Your second is to present your message with their perspective clearly in mind. Focus on readers’ concerns rather than on your own, and make your language reflect that focus. A good place to start is with the word you. Advertisers and salespeople have long understood the value of writing in the second person (you and your)…

Use an Appropriate Tone
Tone is the writer’s attitude toward the reader and subject matter as expressed – intentionally or unintentionally – in the way a message is written. Chances are, you’ve received memos or letter than annoyed or angered you by their tone. They may have been patronizing, intrusive, snobbish, demanding, or too familiar, and your response may well have been to crumple them up and toss them out.

Since an appropriate tone depends on an appropriate attitude, the psychology of persuasive writing begins at home. The key to controlling the tone of your writing is to imagine how the reader will respond and to choose words that will create the mood you desire.

Tips for Self-development

In a short column "Getting to Done", written by Keith Robinson gives some advice of self development. As I read through the points he made, it occurred to me they are good personal-development tips, useful for just about any kind of situation.

Choose to change
Glenda Cloud says, “Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.” We prefer the comfort of where we are to the perceived risk in change. However, if we want to grow, we have to choose to change.

Work harder and smarter
As an employee it can be easy to show up, do what you’re told, then go home. While that is the easy approach, there is a lot of reward in being an extra-mile worker.

Don’t make excuses
Take responsibility for things that go wrong. It puts you in a position to change or correct them.

Master your time
Work smarter; get organized; manage your time and priorities; focus on what matters; plan.

Get out of your comfort zone
This goes along with choose to change. Learn new things. Develop new skills. Learn from the past and use it as a stepping stone to new experiences.

Communicate
This is good advice for any kind of relationship. Go out of your way to make sure people understand what you are saying.

Lead by example
Just because you communicate well doesn’t mean the message is always accepted. It’s easier to motivate and encourage by actions than by words.

Embrace risks
Don’t worry about failing or making mistakes. It happens to everyone. If you’re not risking anything, you’re probably not accomplishing much.

Be flexible
With your time, with your attitude, with your support, with everything except your principles.

Own it!
Be confident. Make decisions and stick to them. Own up to your mistakes.

Don’t settle for average
Always work to your very best. Hold yourself to a higher standard. No one goes far by just doing the minimum.

Stick up for your passions
You will always encounter people who try to boost themselves up by pulling you down. Ignore them! Your mind will question your actions or decisions. Ignore it! Is there something that you are passionate about? Listen to that!

Beat the Block

In their book Yes, You Can! 1200 Inspiring Ideas for Work, Home and Happiness, (Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1996), 101, Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman acknowledge that, "Getting started may be the most difficult task when you sit down to write."

They offer these nine practical tips to help you "Overcome writer's block":

•	Ask yourself why you are writing this report, letter, or chapter. What do you want the reader to do or think about as a result of reading your work? As soon as you have the answer to this question, take a crack at an opening.
•	Skim paragraphs in a magazine, newspaper, or book for an inspiring literary device.
•	Set aside a half hour each day for writing as a means of reducing the overall intimidation factor.
•	Write first drafts freely and quickly with little concern for punctuation, spelling, neatness, or grammar.
•	Construct a storyboard. As ideas about your project come to you, jot them down on 3 × 5 cards and tack them on a wall. As you begin to see relationships among the cards, change their positions. As soon as the shape of your approach becomes clear, start writing.
•	Talk about your project with a friend or into a tape recorder. The more you talk, the more the ideas in your head will arrange themselves into a pattern in your mind's eye.
•	Place "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how" down the left margin of a page, spaced about an inch apart. Write in the answers; then rearrange them into an outline you can work from.
•	Don't try to compose the introduction until the rest of the piece is written.
•	Write the conclusion first; then work on getting there.

Source: Yes, You Can!1200 Inspiring Ideas for Work, Home and Happiness;by Sam Deep, Lyle Sussman; Perseus Books (Current Publisher: Perseus Publishing), 1996. 270 pgs.