Guest Post - Soundarya Chandar

Soundarya is one of Chris' Spring 2012 Professional Speaking students at Carnegie Mellon. Here she writes about job interviews.

“My heart is in the work” is a famous quote by Andrew Carnegie. This quote is meaningful in so many ways when one is looking for a job. We want to be able to find a job where we can apply our skills whole-heartedly to accomplish the task at hand. Several research studies have been conducted that prove that one’s productivity is directly proportional to the satisfaction he/she finds at work. How does one go about finding the perfect job? How do you go about securing the job you want?

Find your passion

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle” is a famous quote by the legendary visionary of this century, Steve Jobs. His passion was to change the world by creating products that can be used by everyone and needless to say, he was very successful in achieving his mission. The first key step in getting a job you want is to understand where your passions lie. One way to do this is to do a self retrospection to understand what you really care about, what you enjoy doing the most in your free time, what kind of industry news you read, who are the people you find interesting on twitter, what kind of pages you follow Facebook, etc. There are also official aptitude tests to identify your interests, which may then help you find your true passion.

Find the company and make the right connections

Once the passion has been identified, one can start to think about what kind of companies will help them achieve their career goals. For example, if your passion lies in the social media space, you can start to look at social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for job opportunities. Your search however, should not be limited to big companies only. Subscribing to the job boards of various job search websites might also help in identifying smaller companies that are doing interesting work in your area of interest. Once you have identified the company, one must to do some fieldwork and research about the company to understand the kind of work they do, open opportunities, company culture, etc. This will help one understand if they can truly connect with the company and if it is the kind of place they can see themselves in. The next step would be to identify connections within one’s social networks. Another great way of learning more about the company is to network with individuals from the industry of interest to identify opportunities and connect with them to have them recommend you into the company. Networking goes a long way in helping one find the right kind of job.

Prepare your resume and cover letter

Resume is your first chance to create an impression with recruiters. A resume should be representative of your experience, skills, and achievements. A good resume is easy to read and clearly states the relevant skills necessary for the job.

It is important to spend a lot of time making a resume and having it reviewed by several people. Similarly, a cover letter can help one express their interest in the company and describe how best they fit the desired profile. With a resume and cover letter in hand, one must confidently approach the interview.

The Interview

There are a few basic questions that one must be prepared to answer. Are you a good fit for our company? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What value can you bring into the organization in terms of technical and managerial skills? What makes you different from other applicants? What are your salary expectations?

In addition to the above questions, one must be prepared to solve problems, think logically, and provide insightful solutions to challenging problems posed during the interviews.

Final Thoughts

Getting a good job can be a tough task. There will be several obstacles in the way, but one must remember to reflect back on every interview experience to improve on any possible mistakes one might have committed. A good attitude, a strong skill set, and a great sense of confidence will help one achieve his/her career goals and land his/her dream job.