Job Search - Interview Types

     When you are preparing for a job interview nowadays knowing just basic information about the company you are interviewing for may not be enough to impress the recruiter. So you might be asking yourself what are some ways that you can prepare yourself so that you can feel more confident when beginning the interview process. Well one thing that can be extremely beneficial to a person is knowing what type of interview they are experiencing or are going to experience. This can help you plan your approach and mentality way better when you can play along with an interviewers game.
     The first type of interviews you should know about are what are known as a structured and unstructured interview. In a structured interview, the interviewer will present to you a series of pre-prepared questions in a specific pre-set order. This mainly helps the interviewer to compare answers from multiple candidates to see which is best fit for the job. In an unstructured interview the only difference is that instead of having a set list of questions to ask, instead the interviewer will ask questions based on the answers you give to questions already asked.
     The next type of interview that you can have which is also one of the most common types of interviews these days is the behavioral interview. This is where you asked to relate specific incidents and experiences you have had from your past. This interview helps interviewers to determine your potential in areas such as your ability to work under pressure, coordinate with others, and resolve conflicts with others. Another thing this helps the interviewer learn about you is how you handled these experiences in your life and whether or not it reflects what the company's values are. This is where you can gain the upper hand by doing prior research to what a company's values may be so that when asked to bring up experiences you can discuss the ones that are in the context of the company's values. A situational interview is very similar to that of a behavioral interview except the questions focus on how a person would handle hypothetical situations that may arise on the job.  This is where knowing a lot about the position you are applying for will come in handy since these hypothetical situations will most likely be related to the job you are applying for.
      A working interview is the one that simulates the most realistic environment out of all. This is where an interviewer will actually ask you to perform a job-related task during the interview. You may be asked to do things such as solve a problem that the company is having, make a presentation, engage in a role playing scenario, or lead an entire team to come up with a specific idea.
     The last type of interview is probably the one that will cause you the most stress and is rightfully named the stress interview.  This is the type of interview where you will be asked questions meant to make you feel uncomfortable, have to deal with long periods of silence, criticism, interruptions, or even be treated with hostility by the interviewer themselves. The main idea behind this type of interview is to see how well a person can handle stressful situations. This interview is the one where if you realize what is going on and that you are part of one then you understand more of why it is happening and this allows to you to better collect your thoughts for responses.

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More on Interview Types

Job Search - Resume

     When it comes to job searching when you ask a person what they believe is the most vital part of job searching most will probably say it is having a nice well written resume. Many people seem to become nervous when it comes to the idea of having to write a resume, however, a resume is actually just another form of a business message that you can follow the three-step process for.
      In short, a resume needs to tell an employer who you are, what you've accomplished, and most importantly how you can benefit the company that you are trying to apply for. A resume's purpose is not to land you the job by having to give out every detail about yourself, but to get the company interested in you enough to bring you in for an interview. Before beginning to even write your resume it would probably be best to gather as much information as possible to get to know who is going to read your resume so that you can select the best approach for your audience.
     When actually writing the resume make sure that you adapt your skills to your audience. What that means is plan how to word everything you will write carefully so it can catch the recruiters eye's quickly by sticking out. Write down your education and experience in a form that translates your attributes into a way that an employer will find valuable. Also, as with any business message it is vital to write clearly with strong language and a professional tone that is appropriate to the employers you are trying to target no matter what form of communication you are using.
     The final step in writing your resume and a vital one at that is when the resume is completed. It is important to revise the resume as you would any business message to make sure there are no typo's and that it is clear and concise for your audience to understand. Besides the actual text in the document make sure that the design element of the resume also checks out. The layout should be evenly spaced throughout and anything that should be aligned needs to be aligned because this will be noticed by anyone who reads your resume. Another thing that people might notice is if their resume is either too short or too long by the time they are done. This is the step where if there is too much you can look at your resume as a whole and decide what can be cut down or removed completely. If your resume seems to be too short then maybe you haven't put enough information for your resume to be properly evaluated and considered. Lastly, send the resume through the medium that was requested and make sure that it is formatted correctly and will display correctly when being sent through that medium and also most importantly that the receiver can open your resume.

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Job Search Tips - Professional Resume Writing