Have you ever wanted to be more confident when it comes to important occasions but you didn’t think you could be? When it happens, it can be a simple case of the jitters or a more serious case of anxiety, but either way, one thing is for sure: you will start tensing up.

And when you tense up, relaxation goes flying out the window. And with it, other things as well: self confidence, articulation, your ability to think quickly on your feet and in some cases even your memory seems to draw blanks.

Surprisingly, one of the singing tips I got from a professional singer and voice trainer, is that you really, really need your body to be fully relaxed in order for you to sing well. After all, our throat muscles (and other muscles that help with speaking and singing) can only work fully when they are relaxed.

In a nutshell, it’s not only your confidence but also your overall performance in pretty much everything that gets hurt when you’re stressed out and are not relaxing enough.

So its very important for you to be aware of how tense or relaxed you are, and make sure you have some skills you can quickly apply to get yourself back on track, especially for important occasions.

In Kindness,
Brian

Hi everyone,

The next Job Interview workshop I’ll be conducting is as follows:

Date: 18 July 2011 (Monday)

Venue: Seminar Room, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Universiti Malaya

Time: 9.30 am to 4.00 pm

You can download the brochure here:

http://briantech.com/Brochure_UM_18July2011_Workshop.pdf

Thanks!

Brian

Job interview tips and questions are often on the minds of people who are going to attend job interviews. However, what most people do not realise is that it is not these job interview tips and questions that they should be overly concerned about in preparing for interviews. Rather it is the research and mindset part that is more crucial.

What do we mean by the correct research and mindset for job interviews? Well, many job interview tips and questions tend to assume that candidates know how to prepare for job interviews. This often not the case. So, how do you prepare for job interviews?

Firstly, you need to approach the preparation from the mindset of the employer. What would you want to see from a candidate at a job interview if you were the employer? What questions would you ask and why do you ask them? What do you expect the successful candidate to answer?

Once you think like this, then many job interview tips and questions start to make better sense. For example, top interview questions about the company itself will show if the candidate has the passion and real interest in the company. If the candidate is just interested to get a job, then they are unlikely to dig too deep into the company details. This shows they are not the kind of people most employers want.

Secondly, many job interview tips and questions will stress how important it is for you to demonstrate self confidence at the interview session. Now, how do you get this self confidence and show it in spades during the interview? Remember, experienced job interviewers will very quickly spot any lack of self confidence and sincerity in a candidate.

How do you show these positive character traits that interviewers love and look for? Well, again, when you put yourself into the shoes of the interviewers, you will quickly see that they are looking for people who can make their lives easier. This could be in terms of improving their company’s efficiency or bottom line. So ask yourself, what kind of behaviour would somebody like that have? How would he or she talk and carry himself or herself? Would he or she appear calm and relaxed or highly strung up and nervous? And so on and so forth. Now, what kind of job interview tips and questions will you give to such a person if you are the employer?

This whole section on confidence, sincerity, passion and other values is something you will want to search for when you read all those job interview tips and questions. They form the bedrock of a candidate that employers can trust and accept as an asset to their company. Unfortunately, they are a crucial aspect of job interview tips and questions that most people skip. So if you want to succeed in your upcoming job interview, please focus on these areas as well as the common job interview questions and answers.

Final Words:

Job interview tips and questions can be valuable if you know what to look for. So focus on the right things.

Questions asked in a job interview range from the simple to the very complex and even technical. These tend to scare many job interview candidates, especially those who are going for their very first interview. Now, many first job interview tips will list what the authors think are the top job interview tips. However, in reality, you do not need to know most of the questions asked in a job interview because most job interviews will only have time to cover a few of these in detail.

So how do you identify the common questions asked in a job interview that will likely surface in yours? Here are a few job interview tips that may help.

Firstly, if you have friends working in the same industry as the one you are applying for a job in, ask them. You will find that, the questions asked in a job interview for a particular industry tend to be repeated. So by asking your friends who have gone through their job interviews, you will quickly compile a list of most likely questions asked in a job interview. Of course, if you have the privilege of having mentors in the industry you are in, then it is far easier to ask them.

Secondly, there are plenty of books and online resources that lists questions asked in a job interview. What you will want to do is to find those that are specific to your industry. For example, if you are in sales, you will find that an online search will yield many resources that provides you these questions asked in a job interview. Even online bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble have such resources, although you probably have to purchase these.

Thirdly, be aware that the times are changing and the industries are also evolving. Human resources practices are no longer the same as they were. Therefore, what used to be important questions asked in a job interview ten years ago may not be so now. So when you do your research on top interview questions, please check how current the information and resource is. You will want to find the latest in order to ensure that you truly have got the updated questions asked in a job interview.

However, a note of caution here. The important thing about answering the questions asked in a job interview (and this is one of the very important tips for job interviews ) is not so much the answer but what the answer shows. For example, if your interviewer asks about your future plans, one of the things they are looking for is an indication of how long you plan to stay with the company. If they find that you are too ambitious, they may conclude that you may not stay too long. And this could be seen as a liability.

Finally, the crucial point is to get the correct questions asked in a job interview based on the geographical location you are currently at. For example, when you are in New York, you would want to get a book on questions asked in a job interview for New Yorkers instead of a book on questions asked in a job interview for the Phillipines. Therefore, make sure that the author of the book on questions asked in a job interview should be from the current geographical location that you are searching or applying for your prospective job.

Final words:

Questions asked in a job interview are easy to find. All you need is to filter for relevance.

Common job interview questions and answers can be found in many books and websites on job interviews. In fact, these are so common and so numerous that it is often hard to make sense of so many of these common job interview questions and answers at one go. How is an interview candidate who is preparing for a job interview going to remember most of these? If you are looking for questions asked in a job interview, will you want to remember hundreds these? Probably not. In fact, the more you try to memorize these, the more you are likely to come across as unconvincing to the interviewers.

So how is someone who are looking for top interview questions and good interview answers going to be successful at this? Here are a few tips for job interviews you may want to use in your preparations.

Firstly, be clear on what job or industry you are going to interview for. Although there are obviously generic questions that you will be asked in most if not all industries, there are also questions that are very specific to certain industries. For example, if you are applying to be a geneticist, you can expect some fairly technical questions and even tests at your job interview session. So when you go through the hundreds of common job interview questions and answers you can find in job interview books and websites, your mind will be trained to look out for those that are specific to your industry and skip through those for other industries. This will allow you to do a quick filter and save you time. Seriously, combing through dozens if not hundreds of common job interview questions and answers is no joke!

Secondly, going through that many job interview sample questions will invariably show you a recurring pattern of the most common job interview questions and answers that are relevant across most industries. You will naturally pick this up. The questions will be rather similar in such cases although there are likely to be many good interview answers to each of these. Why? Basically, each writer or expert like me who gives you advice is basing that interview advice on our own experiences as well as our own values.

It is even possible that you will meet an interviewer who does not agree with many of these common job interview questions and answers simply because each individual is different. However, it is more likely that you will meet an interviewer who are more in line with the common thinking, so no need to worry about this. Just look for recurring patterns and make a list of the most common job interview questions and answers that you feel will apply across industries. More often than not, many of these will likely be questions asked at a job interview you attend.

Thirdly, if pressed for time, just pick the top 10 job interview questions that seem to be the most common job interview questions and answers that you come across in your research and preparation. Focus on these ten or so sample job interview questions and study them. Find out why they are asked and what the job interviewer are likely to want from them. For example, some interview questions may be asked to gauge your future plans while some others may be to gain an insight on your values. So if you know about these common job interview questions and answers, you can come up with your own answers that still satisfy the purpose of the job interview questions.

Final Words:

Common job interview questions and answers are easy to find. The trick is to filter for relevance to you.

Job interview weakness among fresh graduates come in various shapes and forms. And for some, these even come out during their second job interview sessions, and sometimes the third and fourth job interviews. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s start at the beginning, what are the common job interview weakness traits among fresh graduates?

Well, one is definitely their lack of knowledge (or even laziness?) on how to prepare for job interview sessions. Without adequate preparations, questions asked at a job interview will simply be met with blank looks and ever blander answers from fresh graduates. For example, some of the top interview questions relate to the company itself e.g. what is the core business, how long has it been operating, what are its main products and services etc. Without doing preparing for job interview sessions adequately, most students will very quickly exhibit their job interview weakness for all to see. Even an inexperienced job interviewer will qiuckly pick up on this job interview weakness, what more the more experienced ones.

Another common job interview weakness characteristics of interview candidates is their inability to articulate what they think. This is not because they do not know the answers to job interview questions most interviewers ask but simply because they put so much unnecessary pressure on themselves that they draw a blank in their minds when its time to answer. Sadly, this is a very common job interview weakness that I’ve encountered myself.

What other job interview weakness is commonplace? Let’s see.. another one I can think of now is that fresh graduates tend to try and give standard answers to the common job interview questions. For example, take the question: why do you want to join this company? And many fresh graduates will say one of these things: I want to learn new things or I want to contribute to your company or I want to work in a good company etc. These are canned answers that doesn’t bring out any personality or passion and just shows up as a job interview weakness in the candidate.

Are there more job interview weakness traits? Yes, but for this post, I’ll keep it to these few. It’s rather sad but then again, this is what gives the candidates who does well preparing for job interview sessions an edge over the majority. So if you are about to go for a job interview, don’t be the majority here!

How do you avoid being the majority? Make sure you read up on tips for job interviews (such as on this blog) and find some friends to conduct a mock job interview session to familiarize yourself with the situation. Mock job interview sessions have been proven helpful for many people, so do this. And during these sessions, have your friend ask you the more common job interview questions so you can practice answering them. All the best!

Final words:

Job interview weakness among fresh graduates can be avoided! So, avoid them!

Hi guys,

This is such a common question at job interviews. If you’ve never been to a job interview, you’ll want to prepare yourself for this question.

Now there are two schools of thought about this.

One school.. which I consider the more traditional one… advises you to avoid grandmother stories and go straight to the point… I’m 23 years old, graduated from the University/College of So and So. This is my first job. Oh, and I’m very nervous so stop staring at me like that!

Well, not really, but you get my drift.

The other school.. which I find a bit cooler if you have the flexibility to pull it off.. advises you to use this opportunity to show who you are as a person… When I was in school, fire-fighters came to demonstrate how to put out a trash can on fire, and the Captain looked me in the eye and said in his Tom Sellect voice (hit wikipedia if you’re too young to know him) said to me “Be a fire fighter and you will save lives everyday. You’ll also be super fit and be as popular with the opposite sex”. There and then, I knew I wanted this job.

Or something along those lines. After all, all the dry facts are already in your CV already, right?

Anyway, my take on this is to observe the people who are interviewing you and make a call on whether they are the straight to the point type or if they are actually human and want to know you as a person. And adjust your responses accordingly.

Cheers,

Brian Lee

Job Interview Coach

Think about it, its like a container which has an outlet to let in and out data. So pretty much like shower bases that has an outlet to receive water from the shower head and an outlet (the drainage system) to allow the water to be discharged.

OK OK.. maybe I’m thinking too much and over-mapping-over (can we ever over map over something?) this.. but its a fun way for Brian’s CPU to do some workout of a different variety.. like using shampoos and soaps of different scents and types.

By the way, if you are curious what caused this thinking, take a look at some basic info on shower bases. At least its something to bathe our mental muscles with and serve as a diversion to everyday life, in the bathroom or out!

Cheers,

Briantech

It helps with the drainage as well as ensure there is no leakage all over the bathroom floor. And do you know that there is an art to choosing the types of shower bases as well as even how to install them… what kind of adhesives to use, pipes and tiles etc. etc.

And to think that each day when I shower (sometimes I shower more than once), I didn’t even think there’s a microcosm of fun facts three inches below my feet on the shower floor! Oh well, guess knowledge is everywhere, and the more we bathe ourselves in information, the more we find out… even for small things like this!

So next time when you shower and watch the soapy water wash all over you, from head to toe, and drain into the shower floor.. you might recall this peculiar post about something as common as where you stand when you take a shower!

If you host your own WordPress site and you want a very easy way to embed Videos from sites like YouTube, you may want to test this plug-in:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/vipers-video-quicktags/

Once you have activated this plugin, just click the button corresponding to the video site you want to embed from e.g. YouTube. And past the URL. And Voila! Instant Videos!

Have fun!

Cheers,
Brian