Awkward Job Interviews E-Book

Lorenzo Cavalieri

• Herausgeber: Lorenzo Cavalieri
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

How many mistakes do we manage to pile up during a job interview? How many missed opportunities? And the poor or bad impressions? I personally remember myself at my very first real interview for a job in a bank, being unable to refrain from telling the selector that the title of the book I was reading at that time was “Death In The Bank”.Awkward Interviews: What not to say during a job interview is a collection of 16 awkward interviews. It’s a divertissement, a sophisticated way of learning to overcome the anxiety and insecurity of a job interview with a smile. I wrote this book with the intention of giving the reader, with a touch of irony, some relaxation time, and to help wind down before facing the emotional storm that a job interview can be.From the introduction: “A different way to prepare yourself for a job interview that is probably less demanding and certainly more enjoyable. We will present examples of behavior, as they would emerge in real life, amplifying them a bit through typecasting: interviews with the ‘clarifier’, the ‘depressive’, the ‘confused’, the ‘misunderstood genius’, etcetera. We might smile or even laugh during our reading, but we can also certainly learn. In order to do this we will have to look at ourselves in the mirror, with ‘gentle brutality’, and force ourselves to find ‘pieces of us’ within the following interviews. Those who read with a critical eye, finding ‘pieces of themselves’, will learn to perform better in such situations, following the best course: smiling, a bit of self-consciousness, awareness, learning.”Lorenzo Cavalieri has written books about the job market published in Italy and Spain. He has been a personnel selector for many years and headhunter for a well-known multinational company. Lately his main field has been in corporate coaching and career consultancy.

Leseprobe

Lorenzo Cavalieri

Awkward Job Interviews

Lorenzo Cavalieri

Awkward Job Interviews

Edizione digitale: gennaio 2015

ISBN: 9786050348293

Edizione digitale realizzata da Simplicissimus Book Farm srl

Contents

1) THE PROBLEMATIC CANDIDATE

2) THE MUDDLED CANDIDATE

3) THE POLEMICIST

4) THE BANAL CANDIDATE

5) THE MATERIALIST

6) THE CLARIFIER

7) THE HYPERTECHNICAL CANDIDATE

8) THE DEPRESSIVE

9) ISTITUTIONALIZED

10) THE INESECURE CANDIDATE

11) THE CONSPIRACY THEORIST

12) THE VERBOSE CANDIDATE

13) THE SOCIOLOGIST

14) THE POSER

15) THE MISUNDERSTOOD GENIUS

16) THE GOSSIPMONGER

Awkward Job Interviews

What not to say during a job interview

We all know the meaning of the word interview. If we insert the word interview into the Google search bar, we realize straight away that amongst all its possible meanings, the ones referring to the job market are dominant. This is the reason why the word interview has acquired a flavor of commitment, stress and tension in common usage. In fact, if we look into the structure of this particular type of conversation, we can clearly note three delicate aspects:

1) During the interview, we have to talk to a stranger about ourselves;

2) During the interview, we must show the best of ourselves;

3) During the interview, we are mostly judged based on subjective criteria.

On such basis, interviews to hire professionals as well as businesses to be chosen as suppliers have no significant differences. In fact, even in the latter case we sell ourselves along with our product/service. People buy people.

Hence, working means, in most cases, that eventually we will have to experience an interview. This is a fundamental experience, and as such, we wish we had scientific training tools with which to prepare ourselves.

In reality, a job interview is a place of improvisation. A science that can make an interview between a selector and an applicant 100% predictable does not exist. We can certainly prepare ourselves to interact with others, but human interactions are by nature (and, thank heaven) unpredictable. This is the reason why there are no magic words or formula that can “guarantee success”. There are only minor adaptations and good habits with which we can increase our possibility to succeed. Usually, this kind of effective behavior is suggested by manuals: “If they ask you this, answer like this, it should work”.

In the following pages, instead, we will share examples of ineffective behavior - a different way to prepare yourself for a job interview that is probably less demanding and certainly more enjoyable. We will present examples of behavior, as they would emerge in real life, amplifying them a bit through typecasting: interviews with the “clarifier”, the “depressive”, the “confused”, the “misunderstood genius” and many others.

We may smile or even laugh during our reading, but we can also certainly learn. In order to do this we will have to look at ourselves in the mirror, with “gentle brutality”, and force ourselves to find “pieces of us” within the following interviews. Those who read with a critical eye, finding “pieces of themselves”, will learn to perform better in such situations, following the best possible course: smiling, a bit of self-consciousness, awareness, learning.

The examples described may seem somehow exacerbated. If there weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to be amused and to reflect upon them. The situations and the words are realistic, though, the result of thousands of my own personal interviews undertaken in the triple role of job candidate (a few dozen), selector (the majority), and, finally, as a professional who “sells himself” to potential clients.