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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Boost your confidence, ace your interview, and get the job Job Interviewing For Dummies will teach you how to prepare for your next job interview, deal with tough questions, and gain the tools and skills to interview with confidence and poise. This book offers a structured, step-by-step approach for succeeding in virtual and in-person interviews. You'll find information, strategies, and examples to empower you to present your best self to potential employers. Learn how to anticipate and prepare for the most likely questions, regardless of your level or industry, and be prepared for anything--an interview on short notice, explaining gaps on your resume, changing careers, and beyond. With examples and stories from the interview trenches, this friendly Dummies guide will help you breathe new life into your job search. * Gain the poise you need to own the interview room (or the video chat) * Brush up on your interview skills if you haven't done this in a while * Come prepared with impressive answers and questions to ask * Overcome common challenges like resume gaps This book is for anyone interested in finding a new job or helping others in their job search. With Job Interviewing For Dummies, be prepared to hear "yes" more often!
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Seitenzahl: 580
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Job Interviewing For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Job Interviewing For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where To Go from Here
Part 1: Learning to Ace Any Job Interview
Chapter 1: Accelerating Your Career with Interview Skills
Mastering the Simple Techniques to Ace Any Job Interview
Embracing Interviewing as a Life Skill
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Knowledge Is Power
Chapter 2: Understanding the New World of Interviewing
Keeping Up with Trends and Technology
Knowing Your Rights
Dissecting the Interview/Hiring Cycle
Following the New Interview-Etiquette Rules
After the Interview
Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Players and the Rules
Assessing Your Interviewers
Mastering the Various Interview Formats
Part 2: Using the Big Interview Approach to Interview Preparation
Chapter 4: Understanding Your Mission
Evaluating Your Fit
Researching the Opportunity
Chapter 5: Preparing to Impress
Anticipating Questions
Drafting Your Speaking Points
Practicing the Right Way
Chapter 6: “Tell Me About Yourself”
Understanding Why They Ask
Creating Your Elevator Pitch
Benefitting from the Big Interview 3-Part Model
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Sample Answers
Part 3: Acing Common Questions
Chapter 7: “Why Do You Want to Work Here?”
Understanding Why They Ask
Conveying Your Enthusiasm
Handling Special Challenges
Covering the Two Key Factors in Any Terrific WDYWTWH Answer
Chapter 8: “What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?”
Understanding Why They Ask
Selling Your Strengths
Addressing Weaknesses
Looking at Sample Questions and (Excellent) Sample Answers
Chapter 9: “Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?”
Understanding Why They Ask
Discussing Your Career Goals
Sample Answers
Chapter 10: “Why Are You Looking for a New Role Now?”
Understanding Why They Ask
Accentuating the Positive
Answering the Question
Handling Common Challenges
Sample Answers to “Why Are You Looking Now?”
Chapter 11: Mastering Behavioral Questions
Understanding Behavioral Questions
Analyzing Common Behavioral Questions
Preparing for Behavioral Questions
Taking a Closer Look at STAR Examples
Chapter 12: Answering Tricky Questions
Talking About Resume Red Flags
Fielding Questions About Compensation
Staying Cool When You Don’t Know the Answer
Chapter 13: Asking Smart Questions
Recognizing the Power of Good Questions
Preparing Informed Questions
Avoiding the Wrong Questions
My Go-To Questions List
Part 4: Pulling Everything Together
Chapter 14: Your Interview Success Plan
Creating Your Prep Strategy
Outlining Your Key Speaking Points
Practicing Like a Pro
Reducing Interview Anxiety
Chapter 15: Mastering Nonverbal Communications
Dressing for the Job You Want
Improving Nonverbal Communications
Making Eye Contact
Editing Your Body Language
Finding Your Voice
Chapter 16: Overcoming Common Interview Challenges
“Help! My Interview Is Tomorrow and I Need to Prepare Quickly”
“I Haven’t Interviewed in Years and I’m Rusty”
“I Hate Selling Myself”
“I Need to Convey ‘Executive’ Presence”
“I’m Changing Careers”
“I Don’t Have Much Real Experience”
“I Just Got Laid Off!”
“English Isn’t My First Language”
Part 5: The Part of Tens
Chapter 17: Ten Interview Tips from Hiring Managers
“Never Lie to Me in An Interview!”
“Showing Up Is Not Enough”
“Don’t Trash-Talk Your Previous Boss”
“Tell Me What You (and You Alone) Actually Did”
“Always Follow Up”
“Don’t Stop Looking”
“It’s Okay to Negotiate”
“It’s Okay to Be Quiet”
“Interview Them While They Interview You”
“Be Prepared, but Not Too Prepared”
Chapter 18: Ten Red Flags You’re Interviewing at a Toxic Workplace
They Say They’re “Like a Family”
You Notice a “This Is Just How We Do It” Mentality
They Avoid Questions about Company Turnover
They’re Confusing Company Culture with Benefits
They Immediately Dismiss Any Negotiation Attempts
They Ask Inappropriate Interview Questions
Your Future Manager Is “a Character”
They Trash-Talk Former Employees
They Don’t Care to Answer Your Questions
They Take Pride in Their “Fast-Paced” and “Demanding” Environment
Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Landing More Interviews
Invest Time in Analysis
Use a Targeted Strategy
Treat Your Job Search Like a Marketing Challenge
Pay Attention to Your Application Materials
Get Active on LinkedIn
Invest Time in Networking
Start Doing Cold Outreach
Always Follow Up
Make Your Search Visible (If Possible)
Make Your Social Media Profiles Private
Index
About the Author
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Sample Description: Manager, Advertising Sales Team
Chapter 5
TABLE 5-1 Sample Description: Manager, Advertising Sales Team
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Job Interviewing For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Introduction
To win any job offer, you must first pass the intimidating test of the job interview. The good news is that anyone can learn the skills needed to ace interviews with the right preparation. This book is your guide.
About This Book
Follow the guidance in this book and you’ll be fully prepared to make the most of any job interview. The advice and examples are based on my experience as a career-and-interview coach who has worked with thousands of clients over more than 15 years. I know my approach works because I have seen the proof in my clients’ successes. Here’s a walk-through:
I start in
Part 1
with a big-picture overview of the world of interviewing. I walk you through the latest trends, the high-level best practices that have worked for my clients, and a field guide to the types of interviews and interviewers you’re likely to encounter.
Next, I delve into actionable advice to kick off your preparation for your upcoming interviews (whether you have one night or several weeks to prepare). In
Part 2
, you start with analyzing the job description, researching the opportunity, and evaluating your fit. This will help you anticipate the most likely questions you’ll face in your interviews.
Then it’s time to get you prepared to answer those questions.
Part 3
provides deep dives into all the most challenging questions. Each chapter covers a common question type, why interviewers ask it, and how to answer it effectively. I include helpful models for outlining your answers and sample answers for inspiration.
Once you’re an expert on the questions, it’s time to follow the action plan in
Part 4
. I guide you through applying the advice and getting ready to shine in your interview. I cover best practices for outlining your speaking points, communicating confidence with body language and eye contact, refining your presentation through practice, and reducing interview anxiety. I also outline specific advice for common interview challenges — including explaining layoffs and gaps, prepping quickly when time is limited, brushing up on skills when you’re rusty, positioning yourself for career change, and more.
The book concludes with The Part of Tens: ten tips directly from my hiring manager friends, advice on spotting red flags at companies interviewing you, and tips to level up your job search and land more interviews.
Icons Used in This Book
Books in the For Dummies series highlight particularly important text by using these icons:
This book is filled with tips, but I mark particularly important or fresh ones with this icon.
You may have heard these ideas before, but they’re important enough to deserve a shout-out.
Avoid these common pitfalls to ensure success.
Beyond the Book
In addition to the material in the print or ebook you’re now reading, you get a free, access-anywhere Cheat Sheet with even more tips for acing your interviews. To get this Cheat Sheet, visit www.dummies.com and type Job Interviewing For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
I am also offering you free trial access to my company’s Big Interview training platform, a resource trusted by top universities and used by millions of job seekers. Big Interview provides video lessons, an interactive practice interview tool, AI interview and resume feedback, and more. For access and more information, go to www.dummies.com/go/bigInterview/.
Where To Go from Here
You may choose to read this book from cover to cover, or you may prefer to read just what you need when you need it — that’s just-in-time learning. If you prefer the latter method, just review the table of contents and turn to the page you’re motivated to read. In either case, I hope you find this book worthwhile and enjoyable.
Part 1
Learning to Ace Any Job Interview
IN THIS PART …
Recognize the importance of job interview skills
Consider the latest trends in interviewing and hiring
Appreciate your interviewers’ perspectives and how they think
Pick up tips for acing different types of interviews
Chapter 1
Accelerating Your Career with Interview Skills
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the importance of interview skills
Meeting your interview coach
Avoiding common mistakes
Embracing best practices
Are you ready to learn how to ace your next job interview? I’m here to help.
I realize that you’re probably not reading this book for fun. You’re looking for a new job and you know you’ll need to win over a series of interviewers before you can land that offer.
Demystifying the job interview is my specialty, so I’m well aware that most people dread interviewing and find the whole process exhausting.
It’s true that job interviews can be challenging, but I can teach you the skills you need in order to wow any interviewer. These skills will boost your confidence and expand your career opportunities.
Mastering the Simple Techniques to Ace Any Job Interview
I’m here to give you actionable advice and real strategies, not just a lot of theory.
These are the same interview preparation techniques that I’ve taught to thousands of interview coaching clients over the years.
These techniques work. I've been teaching people to land their dream jobs for a long time.
I've also spent more than 15 years working as a hiring manager and human resources consultant.
I work on both sides of the interview table — so I know what interviewers are looking for and what turns them off.
Finally, I’m the founder and chief coach at Big Interview, an online interview training platform that is licensed by more than 600 schools, universities, and government agencies. Millions of users have benefited from our lessons and practice tools.
In other words, I spend all my time helping people with interviews and I want to share this knowledge with you.
Preparing for success
The most qualified candidate doesn't always get the job. In addition to the right qualifications and background, you need solid interviewing skills to compete in today's job market.
The first mantra I want you to learn is that preparation is everything.
Prepare well and you’ll perform better than nine out of ten of your competitors. The trick lies in how you prepare.
If you know how to prepare, you can anticipate the majority of the interview questions you’ll face. You can plan how to answer those questions in a way that will position you as a superior hire. You can practice in a way that boosts your confidence and refines your presentation skills.
I strongly believe that anyone with the right preparation can excel at interviewing.
Projecting confidence
Another rule to live by: Convey confidence, get hired.
If you seem confident in your abilities, you’ll inspire confidence in others.
Confidence comes through in your body language and how you make eye contact, but especially in how you talk about your skills and accomplishments.
Projecting confidence is where a lot of job seekers run into trouble. Most people don't have a lot of practice in the art of self-promotion, so they shy away from the idea of “selling” their qualifications in interviews.
“I’m just not good at selling myself!” This is one of the most common complaints I hear from my coaching clients.
I love hearing these words because I know I can help these clients make a dramatic improvement in their interview game pretty quickly. They tend to be people who are successful and confident and poised, but just a bit too modest when it comes to talking about themselves.
Luckily, you can learn to “sell” yourself without feeling like a sellout.
Take my client Lawrence, for example. He was an accomplished IT professional with an impressive resume and no problem standing up to speak in front of a room full of colleagues.
However, he was struggling in job interviews, and he didn’t understand why. Despite his impressive resume, he was being passed over in favor of other candidates.
The issue became clear in our first practice interview. He avoided bringing up his most impressive accomplishments and then stumbled and generalized when asked about his strengths.
Lawrence was a humble guy by nature and unaccustomed to talking about himself in glowing terms. Also, for the past several years, he had been promoted based on his work and his reputation, so his interview skills were rusty. He wasn’t used to interviewing with people who didn’t already know him and his track record.
If you can relate to Lawrence’s challenges, you’re not alone. Some of my most impressive clients have suffered from this same discomfort with self-promotion.
Like Lawrence, you can learn to work through this issue and start attracting offers.
Confidence versus arrogance
In daily life, people are rarely called on to list their strengths and weaknesses or summarize their proudest accomplishments.
In fact, many people grew up with the conditioning that it’s obnoxious to brag or call attention to their achievements. This is just good manners when it comes to cocktail parties, but it will hurt you in job interviews.
It’s unfair, but great candidates often get passed over for people with worse qualifications but better persuasion skills.
Candidates worry too much about coming across as arrogant — I would argue that if you’re worried about sounding arrogant, you aren’t in danger of actually crossing that line. I’ve had only a few coaching clients whom I advised on toning down their self-promotion. Every other client has benefited from turning up the volume on their accomplishments.
Yes, you should aim to be polite and likable. However, the interviewer also wants you to communicate what makes you stand out from other candidates. That’s why you’re there.
Their job is to pick the best candidate. It’s impossible to get a full and complete picture of any human being from a conversation that lasts only 30 or 40 minutes, so the interviewer must rely on a limited set of data points.
You must clearly convey what sets you apart and how you can benefit the organization if hired.
I’m not recommending an aggressive or dishonest approach here. I’m talking about putting your best foot forward, knowing your strengths, and communicating them in a memorable and persuasive way.
To make sure you don’t cross the line into arrogance, avoid
Trying to hijack or “take control” of the interview
Interrupting or correcting your interviewer
Being condescending
Acting like you’re too good for the job
In a job interview, it’s never a good idea to make your interviewer feel stupid, defensive, or annoyed. You want to make a connection, establish rapport, and make a positive impression.
Despite your expertise and impressive background, people won’t want to work with you if they think you’re obnoxious, demanding, confrontational, or full of hot air. Interviewers will worry that you have an attitude problem and wouldn’t be a good team player.
How to sell yourself in an interview
One way to get more comfortable channeling your self-promotional side is to think about it as switching into Interview mode.
Interview mode is that version of you that’s irresistible to employers. It’s not a fake persona; it’s just a more polished and confident and professional version of you — a version that isn’t afraid to talk about how great you are.
Later in this book, I cover a number of effective ways to embrace Interview mode and “brag in a likable way.” For now, here are a few big-picture recommendations to keep in mind as you read on:
Own your strengths.
Share your success stories.
Make your individual contributions clear.
Avoid self-deprecating comments.
Practice confident, nonverbal communication (posture and eye contact, for example).
Being authentic
The good news is that you can learn to sell yourself in a way that still feels authentic. You don’t have to lie, exaggerate, or act like a scam artist. You just have to do the work of understanding your key strengths and preparing to communicate them in a concise and compelling way.
Never, ever lie in a job interview. Interviewers are good at sniffing out blatant dishonesty; any lies you tell are likely to come back to haunt you. I encourage you to be truthful.
I want to stress that selling yourself doesn’t mean misrepresenting the facts. Interviewers are more likely to connect with you and like you if they see you as a real and authentic human being and can get a sense of your true personality and values during the interview.
Sure, honesty is the best policy, but that doesn't mean you have to reveal everything — just be strategic about what you emphasize and how you present information. When it comes to job interviews, there is such a thing as being too truthful. You don’t have to volunteer every weakness.
Understanding the interviewer’s perspective
Interviewers are not all-powerful, judgmental robots. They are humans with their own jobs to do, with their own worries and goals.
Understanding their perspective will help you customize your communication style to connect with and persuade them.
In Chapter 3, I cover the various types of interviewers you’ll encounter, from recruiter to CEO, and what to expect from each.
In general, your interviewer is responsible for making a qualified hire. If they miss a red flag and hire a dud, it’s a big hit to their reputation (and maybe their performance bonus).
Remember this when they ask annoying questions. They’re trying to get the data they need in order to make a decision and they don’t have a lot of time in a typical interview to get to know you.
That’s why it’s important for you to proactively “sell” your strengths and give them the information they need, even if they don’t know to ask for it.
Keep it concise.
Like the rest of us, interviewers have short attention spans these days. If you bore them, you lose them. As a result, the rule of thumb here is to not go longer than two minutes on any single answer unless you're asked follow-up questions.
Aim for interview answers that are only a minute or two long. At less than 1 minute, you’re probably leaving out something good. If you go much beyond 2 minutes as a monologue, you’ll lose them.
Show some enthusiasm.
The interviewer will also want to see clear signs of enthusiasm about the position and the company. Nobody wants to hire a candidate who's lukewarm about the job. They want someone who's excited, who asks questions, who seems like they would be truly motivated to succeed if they were hired for the position.
So dial back the hard-to-get factor. I've seen many candidates rejected because they just didn't seem to want it enough. Maybe their answers to questions like, “Why are you interested in this role?” were too general or unconvincing, or maybe their attitude or body language made them seem too casual or unmotivated.
Showing enthusiasm also helps you establish rapport. People like to be heard and appreciated, even interviewers. They’re looking for a way to connect with you, and you can bond over common interests related to the position.
Embracing Interviewing as a Life Skill
Right now, you’re focused on how performing better in an interview can help you land your next job. However, you should know that interviewing is also an essential life skill. The time you invest now in strengthening your interview game will pay off throughout your career.
Interviewing helps you hone your presentation and communication proficiency, your ability to think on your feet, and your talents of persuasion. These abilities will serve you in many other aspects of life and career as well.
At the same time, given the rapid changes taking place in the job market these days, you’ll likely be interviewing many times as you progress in your career, consider career changes, and adapt to changing job requirements.
Let’s look at the many reasons you’ll benefit from the information in this book — even after you’ve landed your next position.
Recognizing that job change is inevitable
The average person holds 12 different jobs during their adult lives.
In fact, according to numbers from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, 27 percent of the population with 4-year college degrees or better have held between eight and ten jobs between the ages of 18 and 42.
Change is a constant and the workforce keeps revolving. You never know when the perfect opportunity will appear. Don't you want to be ready?
If you master the process of preparing for job interviews effectively, you will never have to feel trapped in a bad job.
Staying ready to seize opportunity
Sometimes opportunities arise when you’re not looking for them. You want to be ready for those lucky breaks.
Looking for a new job is exhausting and time-consuming. People understandably put it off. (“I’ll wait to start looking until I have time to update my resume and work on my interviewing skills.”) However, that vague feeling of not being ready can hold you back. Imagine the following scenarios:
You’re at a conference or networking event and you run into someone from your dream company who says, “We’re looking for someone with your background. Can you come meet my boss tomorrow?”
A LinkedIn contact reaches out because you seem perfect for a suitable role that just opened up at their firm.
Your manager’s boss approaches you about an internal move that would dramatically increase your compensation.
If you know how to interview well, you won’t have to hesitate to jump at the opportunity.
Bouncing back from layoffs
Unfortunately, layoffs are now a fact of life. They happen at even the most successful companies.
Even great performers in “indispensable” roles can be laid off.
You shouldn’t live in fear, but you should stay ready.
Many coaching clients have found me after getting blindsided by a layoff. They had to start from square one with their job search during a time when they were already dealing with the stress of losing their job.
The good news is that they’ll never be in that situation again, because strong interview skills are easy to refresh once you have them.
Leveling the playing field
You hear a lot about people who landed great gigs because they were connected — they “knew somebody,” in other words. It’s a fact of life that some people (or some people's parents) are privileged enough to attend the best schools and socialize with industry leaders. They receive training and mentoring that the rest of us don’t have access to.
Good interview skills can help level the playing field. You can learn what interviewers really care about and how to speak their language.
Improving your hiring and mentoring skills
Did you know that interviewing is also a critical management skill? I frequently conduct training workshops for hiring managers. I teach them what to do (and what not to do) to empower more effective hiring decisions.
Companies come to me for this because so many hiring managers have never had training in how to interview. As a result, they ask bad questions, jump to biased conclusions, and hire the wrong candidates. Sometimes, they put their companies at risk of discrimination complaints.
You can become a better interviewer and manager by understanding the nuances of the interview process. This will help you choose better questions, minimize bias, and gather more reliable data for making hiring decisions.
Mentoring is another key management skill. You’ll be a better mentor if you can help people get better jobs. You can advise friends, family members, and others in your community.
I can attest to the fact that people are always looking for advice and feedback on their interview skills. In addition to my coaching clients, I have advised relatives, neighbors, former co-workers and employees, and nice people I know only through LinkedIn. I have also volunteered with organizations that help high school and college students with their interview skills.
You can pay it forward once you know the secrets.
Gaining presentation confidence
Interview prep will also make you a better presenter and public speaker.
You’ll improve your verbal communications skills by learning how to persuade with your words. You’ll also develop impressive nonverbal communication skills through practice and adapting your body language and delivery for different audiences.
You’ll learn how to project confidence even when you don’t feel it. This will serve you well in many aspects of life.
Finally, you’ll gain storytelling skills by developing your STAR examples (Chapter 11 covers this useful approach to creating interview stories) and using them to make interviewers love you.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Now let's look at the common interview mistakes that trip up even the smartest and most-qualified candidates.
Skipping preparation
This is one that has brought down many a great candidate. Good preparation includes analyzing the job description, researching the firm, thinking through your answers to key questions, and practicing your delivery.
Once you learn how to prepare properly, you’ll have a major edge over the competition. Most people just do a couple of online searches for common interview questions, skim their resume, and hope for the best.
That’s not enough to get hired in a competitive market.
Lacking professionalism
A failure in this area can knock you out of the running before you even open your mouth. Professionalism means showing up on time, dressing appropriately, using appropriate language, and following interview etiquette (Chapter 2 will educate you on current etiquette guidelines).
Selling yourself short
I see this one all the time. An accomplished, impressive coaching client tells me they’re getting lots of interviews but no offers, and I immediately guess what the issue is.
The practice interview always confirms my suspicions. They’re letting modesty hold them back from promoting their strengths and accomplishments properly. Often, they’re doing “fine” in interviews, but they’re just not standing out, because they’re too humble.
Boring them with generic fluff
When you don’t prepare, your answers tend to be lame. They’re all generalities and clichés: team player, people person, problem solver, great fit.
You’ll lose your interviewer’s attention quickly this way and leave no lasting impression when you leave.
Going negative
Never, ever bad-mouth your current or former managers or co-workers in an interview. Sure, maybe your manager was terrible. Plenty of terrible managers are out there.
However, you must find a way to keep it positive — or at least neutral. Otherwise, you risk raising concerns that you are a complainer or difficult to get along with.
If a situation ended badly, that makes it especially important to prepare some bullet points so that you can provide just enough detail and the right words to avoid sounding defensive or unprofessional.
Rambling
Some people tend to ramble when they’re nervous. They go on and on and on — without saying much of substance.
After a while, the interviewer tunes out and prays for it to end.
Preparation helps you stay focused so you don’t wander off on a tangent.
Dodging questions
If you avoid answering a question, even if you think you’re doing it gracefully, the interviewer will think you’re hiding something.
Nobody wants to risk hiring someone they can’t trust.
Knowledge Is Power
You can avoid all these common mistakes if you follow my advice.
So, let’s get to it. The next few chapters cover everything you need to know about how interviews work and how they’re evolving, and the interview formats and approaches you’ll encounter.
Then, in Parts 2 and 3 of this book, you’ll see exactly how to prepare for interviews using the methods that have worked so well for my coaching clients.
In Part 4, I show you how to turn all that knowledge into a concrete prep plan, help you perfect your delivery, and provide you with the tools you'll need to handle challenging interview scenarios.
Chapter 2
Understanding the New World of Interviewing
IN THIS CHAPTER
Examining how new trends are changing the job market
Leveraging social media and AI in your job search
Fielding questions about new technologies and criteria
Spotting and dealing with discriminatory questions
Gaining an inside perspective on the entire hiring process, from sourcing to onboarding
Following the latest interview etiquette rules
Writing an effective thank-you email
The world of work is constantly evolving. New technologies emerge while old ones become obsolete. New industries heat up, creating all-new job descriptions. Old industries shift, requiring new areas of expertise and automating entire functions.
It makes sense that the world of interviewing and hiring must also evolve to keep up. If you’re new to interviewing or it’s been a while since your last job search, it’s important to stay up to date on what’s new and how you can adapt.
In this chapter, I give you an overview of the trends you need to know about and how they’re changing the hiring landscape. These trends include the rise of AI and ChatGPT, the effects of remote work, and more.
I also provide a primer on your rights as a job seeker, based on the most recent anti-discrimination legislation.
Next, I zoom out to show you how interviewing fits into the overall hiring process — outlining the stages of the typical recruiting cycle from sourcing to onboarding, what happens behind the scenes, and best practices for navigating each stage.
Finally, I touch on the key rules of interview etiquette, how they have changed, and how to avoid making a mistake that could hurt you.
Keeping Up with Trends and Technology
Technology and business trends influence how people work, what skills are most in demand, and how companies recruit and hire.
Change has accelerated in recent years and will continue to keep job seekers on their toes. The COVID-19 outbreak turned the world of work upside down, fast-tracking many changes that were already in the works and creating new challenges.
Remote work became a necessary option for most positions. Video interviews replaced in-person interviews.
Now, many companies and employees are determined to return to the pre-COVID normal, while others continue to embrace new attitudes and ways of working.
Meanwhile, new technological developments, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, promise more big changes for many industries and professions.
In this chapter, I cover the recent trends that have significantly affected the hiring process and give you tips on how to adapt your approach to ensure that you stay competitive.
Looking at job market trends
The job market is always changing. These days, the pace of change is just faster, and everyone is expected to keep up.
The past few years have been a virtual roller-coaster ride. First, the U.S. economy saw a wave of layoffs and job losses during the COVID-19 pandemic as many companies and entire industries struggled to stay afloat. As the economy gradually reopened, companies initiated a rebound in hiring. Hiring shortages in many professions led to more power and choice for qualified candidates. Then, after a period of growth, companies began layoffs as they realized that they had expanded too quickly.
Meanwhile, new trends and technologies are creating new job titles, transforming job requirements and hiring criteria and leading to new questions to prepare for in job interviews.
Read on for brief overviews of each trend and how it’s impacting hiring and interviews. I also provide recommendations to help you respond and adapt to these trends to gain an edge in the job market.
The remote work trend has played a major role in recent job market changes. I examine that trend in depth in the next section.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are revolutionizing business across industries. Most recently, companies have begun replacing many automated support and content-generation tasks with ChatGPT, an AI-powered language model that generates human-like responses based on a vast digital knowledge base.
As a result, demand is soaring for professionals who have AI experience and skills in data analysis, programming, statistics, and algorithms. Companies are hiring for new roles to support AI initiatives, including data scientists, AI developers, AI trainers and interpreters, and AI project managers.
Many of these AI initiatives involve multiple departments, so organizations are looking to add AI-related skills to job descriptions for many traditional roles as well (including customer support, product, marketing, and IT).
Meanwhile, jobs that focus on repetitive and manual tasks may be automated or replaced by AI.
In the short term, it makes sense for all professionals to educate themselves on AI and how it’s being used in their industry. Even if AI doesn’t affect your job now, it probably will eventually.
This educated mindset will help you identify future opportunities and determine whether additional training and/or certifications will make you more marketable. It will also prepare you for new interview questions that might come up to assess your ability to stay current.
Many job seekers have been experimenting with using ChatGPT to support their job search and to save time on repetitive tasks. For example, ChatGPT can help write cover letters, suggest resume improvements, and even advise on interview questions to expect.
ChatGPT has shown great potential, but it’s important to use critical thinking and not accept every ChatGPT suggestion as sacred: ChatGPT gets the facts wrong at times. Meanwhile, managers are getting better at recognizing ChatGPT-speak and questioning information that seems less than genuine.
In-demand skills
Beyond AI, trends in technology use have also increased employer demand for other skills.
Digital skills — including data analysis, programming, and digital marketing — are increasingly valuable.
With AI now automating many routine tasks, soft skills have also become more important. As companies focus on innovation, they face an increased demand for human competencies such as adaptability, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Economic factors
In the current economic environment, there’s no such thing as job security. As market conditions fluctuate, companies are continually reevaluating their workforce needs, leading to cycles of growth followed by periods of layoffs and hiring freezes.
To thrive, you must be able to manage your career proactively. You never know when you will have to pivot, so it’s important to prioritize lifelong learning and develop skills for adapting to change.
How job seekers can adapt to these trends
Change can be stressful, but it can also create opportunity. Let’s review some strategies to help you manage your career in the face of these changes:
Research your possibilities: Expand your thinking about your career future. What is the next logical step on your current career path, and does it have future potential that excites you? If so, how is the job changing? What new knowledge and skills are required for success? Think about how you can enhance your resume to better highlight your qualifications. Then consider what new training or experience you need to pursue to stay competitive.
However, don’t limit yourself to the obvious next step. Consider other possibilities and investigate future career changes. Even if you choose not to make a shift at this time, it’s helpful to identify long-term options and start working toward developing new skills and connections.
Customize your resume: As I tell my clients every day, presenting a one-size-fits-all resume isn’t your best strategy in the current job market. Even job descriptions with the same title can vary significantly. As new skills and competencies become more important, you must incorporate them into your resume to get yourself noticed.
These days, it’s also more common for an individual to apply for multiple types of positions during a job search, exploring different career options where their transferable skills would be valued. You must customize your resume for each target path or risk being dismissed as irrelevant.
For example, I worked with a client who was simultaneously looking at more senior roles in their current specialized career track in finance while also applying to roles in other areas of finance and at tech firms as well. This person’s tried-and-true resume had to be customized for each path (and their speaking points for certain interview questions had to be customized).
Commit to lifelong learning: It’s more important now than ever before to commit to continuous learning. Seek opportunities to expand your knowledge and skills. Consider unconventional career moves that provide valuable learning experiences. Look for training and certifications to help you master new technologies and differentiate yourself in the job market.
Beyond the value of the learning itself, you’ll expand your opportunities by showing your commitment to learning and development. Every new role has a learning curve; you can set yourself apart by communicating your adaptability and a knack for quickly mastering new abilities.
Focus on in-demand skills: Research the skills that are in high demand in your industry and take the time to develop those skills through online courses, on-the-job experience, and other methods.
Don’t neglect your soft skills. These are areas where humans have a distinct advantage over AI algorithms. Companies are increasingly looking for people with the ability to think critically, adapt to change, build relationships, and solve problems collaboratively (among other abilities). These soft skills are valuable across industries and job titles.
Build your network: Now more than ever, it’s important to build a strong professional network, both online and offline. A large and diverse network will expand your reach beyond your current job and location. With nurturing, it can be a source of information, advice, recommendations, and referrals.
Your network can help alert you to new trends, advise you on how to handle them, and then support you in making a change when the time comes.
Charting the rise of remote work
The pandemic kicked the remote work trend into overdrive. Companies that were reluctant to allow employees to work from home were suddenly forced to make it work. For many companies and workers, the shift opened up exciting new possibilities.
Now, while some are eager to go back to the old routine, remote work remains a preferred option for many others. For companies, remote and hybrid work policies allow for smaller (and less expensive) office spaces and the ability to hire talent outside their local commutable area. Companies also have learned they can attract talent with flexible remote work policies.
That’s because many professionals continue to prefer remote work due to its many benefits, including more autonomy, reduced commute time, greater work-life balance, and access to opportunities around the world.
In addition to fully-remote work options, many companies now offer hybrid work models with flexible scheduling and the ability to spend some days in the office.
Remote work has transformed the hiring process by popularizing virtual interviews, online assessments, and video conferencing tools, which are now used by both remote workers and traditional employees back at the office.
When hiring for remote and hybrid roles, it’s necessary to evaluate a candidate’s ability to work without supervision and collaborate remotely. This has led to more focus on interview questions about competencies like the ability to work independently, time management, and online collaboration.
Though some companies have been pushing hard for a full-time return to the office, remote work is here to stay. Some organizations are leaning more toward hybrid models, which some employees embrace as offering the best of both worlds (the benefits of remote work with some regular team time at the office). Other companies have embraced fully remote work for the long term, seeing it as a competitive differentiator and a way to attract talent.
Interviewing for remote and hybrid positions
If you’re interested in remote opportunities, be ready to demonstrate your ability to thrive in a remote work environment.
Increasingly, companies are looking for candidates with demonstrated experience working remotely. Prepare to discuss your successful stints in remote jobs and strengths that make you effective on virtual teams. You also need to be comfortable using the collaboration tools and technologies that are now common for virtual teamwork, such as Zoom, Slack, Notion, and Google Drive. Familiarize yourself with these common tools if you haven’t used them, and look up any unfamiliar technologies mentioned in the job description.
Because remote work enables individuals to work for companies in various countries far from home, you’ll have more opportunities, but you’ll also have more competition. This makes it even more important to develop specialized skills and build a strong personal brand that helps you stand out from the crowd.
Interviews for remote positions are likely to include behavioral questions about required competencies, such as these common ones:
Questions about remote work experience
In your opinion, what is the best part about working as part of a remote team? What’s the worst part?
Which tools or methods did you use to manage remote projects?
What would you change about your past remote work experience if you could?
Have you ever had a miscommunication with someone on your team? How was it resolved?
How did you handle communication across multiple time zones?
Walk me through what you would do if you had a deadline but no clear direction on how to proceed with a project.
How do you organize your workflow?
Questions about remote work competencies
Tell me about a time you had to communicate technical information to a colleague with a limited understanding of the topic.
Someone on your team won’t deliver on time, causing you to miss your deadline — how do you approach this problem?
Tell me about a time you had a tough deadline.
Tell me about a time you had competing priorities. How did you handle it?
Tell me about a time you had to change your approach to an important project.
Tell me about a time you had to adapt to accommodate a new team member.
Describe a challenge you weren’t sure how to approach at first but ended up succeeding with.
Tell me about a time you managed to sway a colleague or manager to your point of view.
Focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion
Another major trend is the increased emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in talent management and hiring. Many companies have invested in diversity recruitment initiatives to create more inclusive work environments.
Studies have shown that diverse teams perform better. At the same time, a commitment to diversity is essential in attracting top talent. Surveys show that job seekers, especially younger ones, consider a company’s investment in DEI a priority when considering a new job.
This push has led to more active investment in hiring individuals from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, genders, ages, sexual orientations, and abilities.
On the recruiting side, companies are actively expanding their candidate pools by leveraging job boards and platforms that reach underrepresented groups.
There is also a push to adopt interview techniques that minimize bias and put the focus squarely on qualifications. Finally, companies are putting more emphasis on nurturing an inclusive culture, which means ensuring that all new hires value DEI.
What does all of this mean for you and your job search? First, you will see that more organizations are including interview questions about diversity when hiring for all types of positions. Here are some common examples:
What is your experience working in a diverse team environment?
Tell me about a time you worked on a team with people from different backgrounds.
In interviews for leadership roles, you might hear more advanced questions such as these:
How have you considered diversity, equity, and inclusion when hiring?
How do you ensure that your direct reports feel a sense of inclusion?
Tell me about a time you advocated for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
These questions are designed to evaluate your culture fit and determine whether your values align with the organization’s. During your interview preparation, it’s important to consider how you would address these types of questions.
If you have limited experience in working on a diverse team, don’t try to fake it. Describe any experience you might have had, and sincerely express your interest in gaining more experience and learning from others in a diverse environment. Discuss what you value about working for a company with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. If you’re sincere, your values will shine through. Whatever you do, avoid pretending you’re an expert or using platitudes such as, “I don’t see color.” Read up on DEI initiatives if you’re not familiar with them.
Beyond the interview questions, you may notice some organizations making other changes to minimize bias and ensure fair hiring. The ones I’m seeing most often include these:
Skill-based assessments to ensure that abilities and talent are properly considered and evaluations are less subjective
Blind resume reviews and anonymizing technology to reduce bias during screening, to prevent reviewers from making assumptions based on names, assumed gender, and other irrelevant factors
Training for interviewers to help them minimize bias by asking structured, consistent questions and evaluating candidates objectively
Diverse interview panels to ensure multiple perspectives are considered in candidate selection
Dealing with video interviews
Companies first embraced video interviews by necessity during COVID. Now, video interviews have become a permanent fixture in hiring across industries and job types.
Video interviews are essential for hiring remote candidates and for including interviewers from all locations in the process. Companies also use video interviews with local candidates at times, often in place of phone interviews during early screening rounds.
For companies, video interviews save time and allow them to reach an expanded candidate pool. In addition to live interviews via video conference, many companies now use asynchronous video interviews, in which candidates record and submit answers to prerecorded questions.
You can expect to spend a lot of time in video interviews during your job search these days. In some ways, they’re easier, but they also offer challenges that can trip you up.
In Chapter 3, I walk you through the details of how video interviews are different and how to prepare to ensure that you make a great impression on video — live or prerecorded.
Evaluating AI for screening
As I discuss earlier in this chapter, AI is transforming jobs and industries. AI and automation are also revolutionizing how companies source, screen, interview, and select candidates.
This news can be positive in terms of saving time and allowing a larger group of candidates to be considered. However, it also presents risks in companies relying too heavily on flawed AI assumptions. To help you gain a better sense of the positives and negatives, let’s look at the various ways organizations are using AI and gauge how it can affect your experience as a job seeker. This list is a good starting point:
Sourcing candidates:
AI-powered tools can analyze massive amounts of candidate data from a wide range of online platforms, job boards, and social media networks. The AI algorithms can match relevant profiles with job requirements and expand the candidate pool to reach passive candidates.
Resume screening:
AI-powered resume screening tools use natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to scan resumes and flag the candidates who are the best matches according to preset criteria. This saves recruiters time but can lead to qualified candidates slipping through the cracks because the wrong keywords were used.
Candidate communications:
Many companies use AI-powered chatbots to interact with candidates and provide real-time information and help. The chatbots can answer questions, identify relevant job openings, schedule interviews, and even ask qualifying screening questions.
Interview analysis:
Some companies have used AI to analyze recorded video answers to recommend which candidates should move forward in the process. Algorithms can identify keywords in answers and assess eye contact and body language. This has raised concerns about bias — concerns that have led some to propose laws that would limit the ability to make hiring decisions based on AI alone.
My training company, Big Interview, created a video AI analysis tool that uses AI to evaluate users’ answers and provide feedback on issues like eye contact and word usage. The goal is to provide immediate feedback on key issues — and also give job seekers an idea of what companies might see if they use AI to assess their answers.
On the positive side, AI may help to streamline the recruiting process and save you time and effort as a candidate. However, the use of AI also raises concerns about fairness.
As of now, the biggest consideration for job seekers relates to resume screening. Considering the increased use of automated resume screening tools, you must customize your resume to ensure that it advances past the AI gatekeepers and makes it to a human reviewer.
The key is to customize your resume for each opportunity and mirror key wording from the job description. If a nurse job description prioritizes triage experience or primary care experience, for example, be sure that your resume contains those keywords.
Careful analysis of the job description will help you identify which keywords are most important. For example, include any requirements listed in the first bullet points in any section of the job description. Skills mentioned multiple times are important.
Consider repeating important keywords in your resume. In some applicant tracking systems (ATS), repetition helps your resume score higher.
Don’t overstuff keywords in your resume. The AI algorithms are savvy to this tactic, and it’s a real turn-off to the humans who read resumes that advance past the automated screeners.
This book isn’t about resumes, so I don’t have room to go into more in-depth advice on customizing your resume to move past AI screeners. However, I have written many articles on this subject that are available for free on the Big Interview website at https://resources.biginterview.com/category/resumes/. The site also features an AI Resume tool that scans resumes and provides improvement suggestions, including advice on how well a resume is customized to match with a specific job description.
I also recommend the book Resumes For Dummies by Laura deCarlo (published by Wiley).
Keeping up with social media
Social media continues to transform the job search process and how companies recruit. Savvy use of social media can open up new worlds of opportunity, but oversharing can get you in trouble.
Even if you’re not a fan of social media, it’s smart to maintain at least a basic presence to support your career, especially (but not only) during a job search. As I’m sure you know, networking is an excellent way to move to the front of the line for job opportunities. In fact, a recent survey from LinkedIn revealed that 85 percent of new jobs were found through networking.
Social media has made networking much easier. Previously, you had to either have the privilege of existing connections or work your tail off to go to events and work the room.
In many ways, LinkedIn levels the playing field for networking. You can find and connect with people you’d never encounter in real life.
Expand your networking beyond the people who already know you well. A classic sociology study indicates that you’re more likely to find a job through an acquaintance than through a best friend. Your closest contacts tend to know the same people you do. However, your acquaintances, or weak ties, as the study called them, usually travel in different circles and can offer access to a greater variety of advice, job leads, and contacts.
Social media is also a valuable tool for finding job listings, marketing yourself to potential hiring managers, and researching opportunities.
My primary social media recommendation is to use LinkedIn to your full advantage. In addition to its networking opportunities, a lot of recruiting occurs on LinkedIn these days. The LinkedIn job board is a top choice for most companies posting job openings, and recruiters use LinkedIn as a primary way to search for and vet candidates. LinkedIn is also a fantastic resource for research and advice.
You’re probably already familiar with LinkedIn, but you may not be aware of all the ways it can help you (or maybe you’ve been reluctant to invest too much time).
First, it’s important to create a professional and compelling profile. Highlight your skills, experience, and achievements. Use relevant keywords to increase visibility to recruiters and hiring managers.
