Looking for a new job is a long and arduous process, and as candidates you must commit yourself the entire way. Once you have been through the entire process and end up at the stage of accepting an offer you must realize your current employer may present a counter offer. In Part One of Handling Counter Offers we will discuss how you can better prepare yourself to expect a counter offer.

Be Committed to your Job Search
You started your search for a reason, it could have been because you were looking to grow your career, you wanted new challenges or overall you have job dissatisfaction. Now, whatever the reason may be you have to 100% think about quitting your current job to go for another. It may seem like a simple task but you need to actually think about leaving your current place of work. Quitting is never easy and if you’re not fully committed to leaving, your current employer can sway you with their counter offer and your whole search would be for naught.

Expect the Counter Offer
Now, when commencing your job search you should expect your employer to present a counter offer when you submit your resignation. To better prepare yourself, you should think about all aspects of what your current employer may potentially present to you. If they offer you $5000 will you stay? If they offer you more money and an extra week of vacation will you stay? If they give you a promotion or new job duties will you stay? You have to expect your current employer to use whatever means to get you to stay. However, if you answered yes to those questions it is better to have a conversation with your employer to see how you can improve your current situation.

More money, more vacation, and improved role are all enticing when put into a counter offer. But as someone who initially wanted to leave their job, take a moment to think back to your initial motivation in wanting to leave. If you still feel the same way no amount of money, vacation weeks or improved role will keep you long-term. In Part Two  of Handling Counter Offers we will discuss the employer’s perspective.

The use of behavioural questions during an interview is becoming increasingly popular. This makes it extremely important as a job seeker to know how to answer them.

Companies and employers like to use behavioural questions during an interview to ascertain whether a candidate is suitable for the position. Studies have shown that a good predicator of future job performance is past job performance. 

These types of questions are very useful in helping an employer ask important questions that really dig deep. They are used to assess a candidate’s abilities, thought-patterns and behaviours.  Behavioural questions are especially good in determining a candidate’s soft skills. Successful employees all have similar qualities. Companies like to hire employees who have good teamwork capabilities, client-facing skills, leadership skills, and communication skills. Companies also like to work with employees who know how to cope with failure and other stressors.

Behavioural questions are different from situational questions in that they focus on what has been done in the past. As an interviewee, it is important for you to be careful when answering these questions. Employers want to hear about specific examples of your work. They do not want to hear what you would hypothetically do in such a situation. A good rule of thumb when answering behavioural type questions is to use the S-A-R method. This method stands for Situation, Action, Result and is a good tool in helping formulate your answer.

Communication

Since communication is an integral skill to have for pretty much any job, employers need to make sure that their employees can communicate effectively with coworkers and clients. One type of communication-based, behavioral question could be: Give me an example of a time when you had to explain something fairly complex to a frustrated client. How did you handle this delicate situation?

Teamwork

Employers like to know that all members of their company get along. A team that works well together also leads to increased productivity. One type of teamwork question might be something like: Describe a time when you struggled to build a relationship with someone important. How did you eventually overcome the problem? For these types of questions, you want to describe a good story where there was some sort of team conflict and clashing personalities.

Customer Service

Many roles are customer service oriented,  so if your role is one in which you are helping people and selling a service you can expect to get asked some behavioural questions. One such example of a client facing behavioural question can be: When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers needs?

Leadership

Being an effective leader requires a lot of soft skills that cannot necessarily be taught. If applying for a leadership role, then you can definitely expect to be asked a behavioural question. An example of a leadership based behavioural question could be something like: Tell me about a time that you took the lead on a difficult project? Leaders and Managers at work are expected to upkeep morale and help with encouraging and motivating employees.

Perseverance

Failing and being disappointed is inevitable. Bad things happen to everyone, and they also happen at work. Employers prefer to hire people who are better at handling disappointment and who don’t get discouraged easily. One example of a question an employer can ask is: What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

Welcome back to Part Two of Doing your Homework – Job Search Interviewer Research ! Today we will discuss interviewer research and why it is imperative to do this before your interview.

In Part One we explored company research. There are many different questions you can expect to be asked during an interview. You might be asked why you are interested in working for this company? The information is right in front of you and as a candidate you need to do your due diligence. Adding to this note, there is interviewer research. This is where you take the time to research the interviewer and give yourself a sense of who you are meeting with before the interview. Below is a guideline on how and why job search interviewer research should be part of your interview prep…

Before an interview you are often given information on who you will be meeting with. You may be given just a name, or name and a title. A title makes your job in researching much simpler. However, sometimes it is not that easy and this is when we commission the help of the internet! There are many different ways of finding out information on your interviewer, below are a few ways you can search the internet and conduct job search interviewer research:

• LinkedIn – By now you should have a LinkedIn account! Search for the interviewer’s name in LinkedIn with the company name. If you are lucky you will have a first and a last name. If you only have a first name, not to worry, adding the company name should narrow down the search. LinkedIn is the best way to find out who you are interviewing with. Typically the hiring manager will have a summary of themselves on LinkedIn where you can learn a bit about their background and role. If you are unable to locate the interviewer on LinkedIn there are other options to find them.
• Company Website – Depending on the size of the organization you may be able to find information about your interviewer on the company website. You may find a profile of the hiring manager that offers a bit of insight on how they contribute to the organization. However, if the organization is large it may not be possible to find them on the website.
• Search Engine – If you are unable to locate the interviewer on LinkedIn or the company website you can attempt to find the them with an internet search of their name and company. If the interviewer contributes to a company blog, charities or has a company profile set up somewhere else the search engine will pick it up.
• Your Network – Don’t forget to use your network of people you know. You may have a friend, or friend of a friend who works for the company. Use your network to find out information about the hiring manager.

You may be wondering why you should conduct job search interviewer research? When you take a moment to learn more about who you are meeting with you are offering yourself a sense of ease. It’s almost like a blind date except it’s a blind interview, you don’t know what to expect. If you do your due diligence you will learn things like what position the interviewer holds and how does the interviewer contribute to the organization? You can also find out interesting facts about your interviewer, such as if they participate in charity events or they went to the same post-graduate school as you. Alternatively, you could end up face to face with the President of the company during an interview. Take the opportunity to research your interviewer so you can walk in knowing who you are meeting with, what they do and how significant they are to the organization. Your preparation will not only impress your potential employer but will give you a better chance at landing the opportunity.

Read more about Doing Your Homework – Job Search in part one of this blog on Company Research.

As we all know the interview stage is the most important stage when it comes to your job search. This is where you as the candidate get to be face-to-face with the employer. Doing job search company research will better prepare you for the interview.

There are many aspects to the interview where you will be tested on your knowledge and how much research you have done. Therefore, it is vital before you get into the hot seat that you are well prepared. Today, I will take you through Part One of Doing your Homework, which is job search company research.

As a diligent job seeker it is essential to  thoroughly research the company’s website before the interview. There are three main aspects that need to be covered when you are conducting job search company research.

1. You want to check their ‘About Us’ or ‘Overview’ page. This page will take you through the history of the company, when they started, who founded the company, why they are in existence and what they are doing presently. This area will also take you through the mission statement. The mission statement will show you the company’s goals and values. This will really give you an idea of what they’ve done and where they are headed. Be sure to be an active reader who is result driven. It is not enough to merely skim read it, try to see where you can see yourself fit in and do not be afraid to broach the topic during the interview. Your interviewers will be impressed that you took the time and effort to actually visit their website. Believe it or not most candidates do not do this step and consequentially do not stand out. But make sure that you do not bring it up where it is not appropriate. The best time to show your research might actually be at the end during the chance to ask questions.
2. The next area you want to take a look at is their ‘Portfolio’, this maybe labeled differently depending on the company. Their portfolio will give you access to see the types of projects they have worked on, and what type of work they typically do. In the portfolio section, you may find out who their main customers are or which industry they serve the most.
3. Lastly, take a look at the company’s corporate social responsibility section. Here you will learn about how they participate in voluntary activities to better the society.

An employer will often want find out what you know about them; specifically, what types of projects they’ve worked on, who their customers are and if you know about their corporate social responsibility policy. Be sure to explore anything outside of these three points too, it is important to go through areas of the website that are relevant and learn as much as you can. Employers are not looking to see whether or not you can memorize their website. They are looking to see if you are well prepared to answer those types of questions, and to see how much research you can do with limited resources because not all websites will give you all the information you need.

Taking the time to do job search company research will not only make you seem well informed, but it will show the employer the amount of interest you have and how dedicated you are to landing the opportunity. These are all positive qualities to have when interviewing. In Part Two of Doing your Homework, we will discuss researching the interviewers and why it is important to learn about who you are interviewing with before you meet them.