Getting the job you want

Following are some thoughts by the May 2010 batch of students at CMU about “Getting the Job You Want”:

One of the turning points in a human life is associated with getting the right job to work. In order for finding out right place, a person has to answer some questions by himself. First, the most important issue that he/she has to answer by himself/herself is what he/she wants to achieve, what will make him/her so happy and provide enthusiasm. Second, he/she needs to figure out whether or not he/she fits features or characteristics of the job that he/she asks for. Following that, I think it is easier to find the company that presents the job he/she wants by doing a selective research. Some of the most applied ways to find the kind of company are compromised of company website search, recruiter firms, insider information in the company, internship and ads. To my professional past experience, if possible the most affected way to find your ideal job and related company is to intern in that company. In this way, you have an excellent opportunity to compare your wants with the company’s values and culture and to reach an opinion whether or not it meets your needs.

After figuring out right job in the right place, final step will be associated with how to get the related job interview. Since you need to tell them some solid reasons about why you are good for that job, you have to be well prepared before the interview. Actually, interview will be the place to decide whether they will hire you or not. You must get all related information about the company and the industry in which the company operates. If possible it can provide a close connection with the interviewer if you can find the person who will interview you and information about him. Although it depends on what kind of job you are looking for, you must pay heed to dress neatly and cleanly. It is better to get there 20 minutes earlier with a good sleep. You must bring a couple of copies of one page resume and the resume must demonstrate the solid issues that you succeeded, awards that you achieved other than general things. During interview, interviewee has to demonstrate his/her asset points which show why he/she is right for this job and it is better to tell a story behind every asset point since people love stories. You must be prepared for common questions arise in an interview and have quick and smart answers for those. Some common interview questions are compromised of; “tell me about your background”, “what interests you most about this position”,“ what you can do for us”, “what kind of persons are you, what do you like outside of work”, “what makes you different from others”. Finally, when you mention about your compensation, you have to give range and tell where that range come from.

Fatih Mustafa Cerit

95-718 Professional Speaking

Sources:

- Professor Chris Labash class notes, Professinal Speaking

- How to ace your first job interview, http://www.cracked.com

- http://www.job-hunt.org/findingjobs.shtml

- Ace a job interview, http://www.soyouwanna.com

- Personal experience

Trying to find a job you want is a good way to understand yourself and the job market. At the very beginning, you need to list out all your skills and determine which kinds of businesses and industries need them most. If you don’t know much about certain area, search for it or ask around. Then you will be able to focus on searching those job posts which are best for you and the employer that will benefit from having you and your skills. Besides the public job posts, another important way to get a job you want is through your network. Ask you friends, relatives, and acquaintances if they know any available position that they could recommend.

Once you locate an ideal job post, try to research the company first. Make sure you like the culture of the company and the nature of the job fits your personality and salary requirements. Then if possible, you even could go further to find out information of the team you may join. For example, some technical teams have their own blogs which is a good way to know more about the team.

Then customize a specific resume for the position if necessary. Then send out an email to the recruiter to show your fitness and enthusiasm of the job. If they find you first, don’t miss the chance to know more about the job if they call. An interview will be on the way if they think you are suitable.

Preparation for the interview is the most important step that could determine the final result. Print out your resume. Figure out several stories you are going to tell if the interviewer asks questions related to your experience. Be there early to relax yourself a little bit. Try to make the interview a conversation between you and the interviewer, ask questions during the conversation to show your interest and understanding of the job. Finally you have to give your expected salary range if they ask or just ask in reply what they typically pay someone with your experience and education in this position.

You may ask about the decision date of the job offer at the end of the interview. Some may come out in a few days and some could last for months. Be a little patient with the result. If possible, try to find a part time job during that long waiting period. I have such kind of experience while waiting for the offer of my last job. Although HR and the line manager had made the decision that I was a good candidate but the team was busy with the project on site and the Project Manager and Architect did not have time to arrange an interview. I insisted that this is the job I am looking for so I kept contact with the HR and after two months an interview with the team was scheduled and I finally joined the team.

Sheng Zhao

Getting the job you want: from how to find the kinds of companies you’d want to work for, to how to get the job interview.

Jobs and job interviews are analogous to choosing a life partner - One bad decision on either sideu and you could land up in a very bad situation. Choosing the kind of company you want to work for is pretty much driven by the sort of profile you aspire to get into. The kind of job that would push you to wake up every morning and hit the office with zest and fervour is what one aims for in his/her career.

Prior to appearing for a job interview- one must assess if one is a good fit to the company; to do this one must have a decent understanding of what the firm does and where there is scope for one to fit in. This mandates some sort of a reconnaisance mission on the part of the applicant, since not all the information is available readily (on the internet). The interview process starts way before the actual job interview itself- wherein the applicant will start off with an interview for information gathering- trying to gather as much about the company from an existing employee, or through their professional networks. Key research items include information about the company, basic history/background, details about the work culture and what is expected of an employee etc.


Once all the background work is done, the job applicant can start preparing on the required skill sets that need to be polished for the interview.

Everybody would agree if I were to say that meeting a pleasant person has always been a happy experience. Pleasant appearance and calm demeanor are imperative ingredients to the recipe that can get you a job on the D-day. Brace up for questions like “ What is the reason for working at this particular firm, what makes you distinct, what sort of a person are you” etc. A nicely tailored resume and appropriate attire also makes a good first impression.

Once into the interview- one needs to be relaxed (yes, even for stress interviews!), since a relaxed person has his/her mind open for new ideas and direct thoughts than a cluttered mind. Stories fascinate one and all, hence stories and analogies are the best mechanisms to prove your point. This should definitely pack a punch apart from making the great ‘story-teller’ leave an impression on the interviewer’s mind.

Back to a day before the interview- One needs adequate rest to relieve all the travel stress and de-clutter one’s mind. On the day of the interview, reaching early to the place of interview is the first motive that can guarantee a shot at the title – A few hours too early than a few too late!

Connecting with competitors or just officials/executives at the lounge is a great way to break the ice and make oneself feel at ease (man is a social animal!)

The interview may speed through even before one realizes that it’s over, but make it a point to follow up on the next steps, so that one is aware if he/she can expect a call anytime soon before shooting out pestering emails on the status of one’s job offer. Last and most important step would be to rewind the events during the interview to judge if there were some comments that could be made better the next time, a better way of answering the question/query and asking a right question etc. Re-assessing one’s performance in a previous job interview would always be a valuable step to success in the job interviews to come.

Thejas Sasidhara Varier

MISM 2011

Have you ever paid attention to how some people always get the job they love to do? Some people will say, well it is all about luck or they have it in them and others don’t, which is true to some extent but the good part is, it is something, which can be developed and inculcated in everyone. So, what exactly it is that makes some people stand out of the crowd? Let us explore it step by step.

The most important thing for falling in love with what you do is, knowing what you want to do. It is the foremost step among all other steps on the road to success. It is like deciding the direction to sail in and if you do not get this one right, no matter whatsoever effort you may put in you will never land up in the right place. Most of the time people are so distracted by the options available and the choices other people make that they really can’t hear their inner call. The solution is to be relaxed and to introspect what all one loves to do. This can be done by recalling the past experiences in life and also friends can help in identifying the good and bad qualities in a person as it is them who can see the real projection of one’s personality onto the world. This projection is what will appear to the interviewing firms. After all it is originality and uniqueness, which sells and make us stand out of the crowd.

Once the interests are defined the next important step is to find for the means to satisfy those interests i.e. to look for the right companies. It is like match-making where individual’s interests and firm’s interests are supposed to be aligned well. By the end of this step a tentative list of suitable firms will be ready and a more detailed research for the selected companies is required. This will help the individual in finalizing the companies one should apply to on basis of things like location of job, average remuneration for the interested job profile, work culture etc. The number and priority of these things is more of personal choice and will differ from individual to individual.

The direction and the destination are defined by now, so the next important thing is to sketch the path i.e. the journey. The first step in this journey is to prepare resume and cover letter. A well drafted cover letter and a nicely structured resume can maximize the chances of getting an interview call. The cover letter should be short and crisp and should generate enough interest in the mind of reviewer to have a look at the resume. The resume should be projection of the better self and should give essence of what all you have got as a package. It is like your representative who gets the first chance to meet the company personnel, so it matters a lot to have an impressive resume. It should be quantifiable as facts speak louder than words and wherever you need to tell a story follow STAR (Situation, Tasks, Approach, Result) method i.e. explain the situation along with tasks allotted to you and how you approached them to attain the desired results. It is important to customize the resume and cover letter for every single firm you are interested in i.e. selectively highlighting certain points as per the job profile and the company profile. Keeping these points in mind while preparing a cover letter and resume will definitely improve the chances of getting an interview call.

A sound resume might give you an interview call but its’ not the end of the story. It is an opportunity for the individual and the company to evaluate and reassess each other as against what they have perceived through documents and papers. A lot of people miss this golden opportunity because of little yet important things they miss on. The goal of the company is to hire smart people who are pleasant in their demeanor and add value to the company. The company makes investment on every single selected candidate in terms of personal training and time and it is a loss to the company if an employee leaves, so it tries to select the one’s, which will maximize the return. Thus, it is important to take the interviews seriously and to prepare for them. One should have detailed knowledge about the company’s profile and the important facts and figures such as competitive history, technology used by the company, stock prices etc. Once the basics are over it is time to take as many mock interviews as possible as it will boost up the confidence and will help you focus on your weak areas during an interview.


According to famous author Richard there are five questions and having a good answer to all of them can surely fetch a dream job. The questions are – (1) Why are you here i.e. why this company? ,( 2) what can you do for the company i.e. what skills do you have to help achieve company’s goals? , (3) What kind of person you are i.e. what are your qualities as a person? , (4) What makes you different i.e. why should the company hire you and not the others? , and (5) Are you affordable to the company? The resume and cover letter should be drafted in a manner that brief answers to first four questions are covered in them. The fifth question about remuneration will generally occur during interview and should be answered wisely after researching the market trends on salaries for equivalent job profiles. While appearing for the actual interview make it a habit to sleep well the last night, dress in proper attire and to reach the venue 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. It is a good idea, if possible, to have a visit to the venue one day prior to the D day. During the interview it is important to be relaxed and to be your normal self and to take the interview as an interaction, an opportunity to know each other better. It is a good idea to keep asking the questions in between pauses rather than keeping them till the end. Last but not the least, if you realize that you made a mistake during the interview, it is always a good idea to write a mail describing that and a thanks note, who knows such small gestures end up in getting you your dream job.

Personal Experience

On the final note I would like to add my personal experience to help you learn from my mistakes. I have got an opportunity to work for three firms in three years and to be interviewed by several more during this time. Interviews should always be taken as learning experiences and thus it is necessary to analyze every single interview .The biggest mistakes in interview that I committed was to be very perfect, which demanded a lot of time and in course it made me lose my chance .Actually there is no concept of an ideal candidate for any job its just your approach that makes you the best Fit. You must have seen people from Electrical engineering working as software Developers; it’s only because of their way to hit the problem. We have to keep in mind always that even world renowned Champion Sachin Tendulkar sometimes gets bowled out at zero that clearly reveals the Perfection is a process .Once should appear for the interview with zeal in heart and belief that I am ought to not to know everything in world but I surely know what I can learn and where I can reach. Stay true, methodical, and honest and you will see luck turning your side.

Get inspired by lines of Robert Frost “Woods are lovely dark and deep

But I've some promises to keep

Miles to Go before I Sleep…

Miles to Go before I Sleep

Submitted By: IRA TIWARI

“You are hired” aren’t those the golden words which we all long to hear whilst we are preparing for the interview? So what do we do? How do we start to reach our final destination?

Job hunt can be extremely taxing, a quote that will help us in being more organized is “Get wise and prioritize”. This is because when we start applying for jobs as a student it takes priority over many things such as projects, assignments, presentations etc. In this blog, I am going to discuss the three crucial steps in attaining one’s dream job; Aware, Execute and Deliver i.e. AED.

So, we will make a start with ‘Aware’, this is the quintessential step as we do all the background work here and determine what we are apt for. In a gist, this step involves making three lists. The first list consists of all the positions we are interested in from the pool of opportunities available to us. The second list consists of all the companies which we want to apply to; the last step is the most important, tedious and ongoing. It involves tailoring our resumes that suits the requirement for both the position and the company.

Now that we have our resume(s) in place and the list of companies; we are ready to start the execution stage and begin applying. Even though this stage sounds straight forward, it’s actually highly deceptive. It is probably the most time consuming stage that requires tremendous patience, because out of 100 companies you apply to, the percentage of companies that will get back to you with a positive reply is relatively low due to stiff competition.

After days or months of waiting one day finally you get an email or a call saying that you have been selected for an interview and our final stage comes into play now. We have the brand, we have the skills; it’s time to deliver. It is not Ok to take any interview casually, thus we need to be equipped to be able to handle any sort of question. The basics are to be aware about the position, research about the company and know your expectations.

On the D day, make sure to reach the interview location well in advance and besides that just sit back, relax and be yourself. Some important pointers to keep in mind are asking relevant questions when required, trying to be flexible, relating questions to real life examples and lastly thinking before answering. In the aftermath, on your way back home, try to analyze your interview and make points for future reference (which hopefully you won’t require).

I would like to end this blog by stating two important things: be prepared and be yourself.

Swati Singh

Getting the job you want

Imagine this very popular pair of shoes. Abundantly advertised, endorsed by many celebrities, everybody wants them! It’s simply everything anyone would ever want to walk on. Now imagine you buy a pair of those at very good price, which doesn’t mean you didn’t pay a considerable amount. You take them home and try them on. After a while you realize they don’t fit you well, but it’s ok you’ll get used to them with time or maybe they’ll adapt to your feet. After some days you simply can’t wear them, you have splinters on your feet and you keep stumbling into things when wearing them. You end up realizing that what seemed to be good for everybody is not necessary the best choice for you too.

You don’t want this to happen to you when you are looking for a job. What you want is to find the perfect job, but the perfect job for you! You might say that’s easy, the hard thing is getting that job. Well, on contrary of what happens with shoes, when you find a job that’s a good fit for you, but really a good fit, you will also be a good fit for that job and therefore you are in a very good position for getting that job.

But how do I do this? First start by figuring out what are your main assets. This should be easy; we do it all the time. Then think of what you expect from the place were you are going to work in; what kind of work place, what kind of culture do you like? What kind of schedule you’d like to have? At this point some places may appear into your mind, but still your range is too wide and you don’t have a sure shot.

Your next step will be to ask yourself what are your main drawbacks. This is harder because we don’t usually concentrate in our defects. The good thing is that now you can eliminate those companies or institutions that would demand from you things you cannot deliver. For example if you have trouble adapting to new work environments, you wouldn’t like to be a consultant that changes office every few months. And to complete this process you would like to identify which drawbacks a company might have, that other people care about but you don’t mind. Let’s say if a company needs to send people to China, and you don’t mind living there, you might be a very good candidate for that position.

When you manage to find a place where you fit, both in term of assets and weaknesses, then you can be sure that you will enjoy working there and that you will perform great there. What’s left ahead is accompany your resume with a good cover letter that explains all this and use every resource at hand to get those into the right hands. Then you’ll probably get that interview you need.

Jose Pedro Undurraga