Three Questions That Matter

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” – Arthur Ashe

There are various articles which attempt to describe, understand or reason why people change jobs or careers. You may have read some of those "quoted" statistics indicating people will change jobs five or up to seven times in their lifetime.

For most, the reasons vary widely on why.

You may find you are not a good fit for the job, not enjoying it. Maybe you are feel you are not advancing quickly enough or earning enough to meet your needs. The company itself may have decided to go in a different direction or any other number of terms that are used. It could be for a variety of reason under or out of your control.

Bottom line is you need to find a new job.

This means creating a decent resume that is short, two pages at most. To the point highlighting your skills and easy for the person hiring to read and absorb quickly. It also means making the resume look like you actually know how to use Microsoft Word or other text editors. If you are not good at actually putting a resume together, ask a friend, find an organization, online, or pay to have it done.

You get noticed, next comes the interview.

The interview process can be twist your nerves into a knot. While there are those "tough guy" interviewers that appear to get joy out of making an interview miserable, most are not. In fact, you were selected out of quite a few resumes and applications.

It is about having a conversation and getting to know you better.

The process is simply meant to find out why should we hire you? ...what can you do for us that other candidates cannot? ...what are your key strengths and weaknesses? Again, it is a conversation and you can not predict what questions you are going to get asked.

Preparing can be difficult, but knowing who you are, what this company does and how you can benefit that company are basic to any interview. In fact, you could say there are really only 3 questions.

1. Have you got the skills, expertise and experience to perform the job?
2. Are you enthusiastic and interested in the job and the company?
3. Will you fit into the team, culture and company?

These three questions are at the root of nearly every question you will get asked in an interview. Have the confidence to know you are prepared by answering any question with these three things in mind. Doing so will improve your possibility of getting hired. The rest is out of your control, so feel proud that you did your best.

Although chances are you did get the job.

Stay inspired my friends!