Don’t let your attire eliminate you from a job competition. 

Choose the right clothes for your next job interview.  Studies show that people make decisions about others based on their appearance in the first few seconds after meeting. Do you look like you could do the job? Use these interview dress code tips to make a good first impression at your next interview.

Interview Dress Code

Find out about the company dress code before your interview. Make sure you dress in comparable or more formal attire than is the norm at the company. Even in a company that has a very casual dress code, it is appropriate to dress up for your first interview.

Clothes

Choose something professional and conservative. Neutral colours such as black, navy or grey are safe choices. Clothes that fit well will leave the best impression. Choose something that makes you feel both confident and comfortable. Invest in a couple of outfits and be ready to attend multiple interviews with a company.

A shirt with a collar is a must for men and can be a good choice for women too. Suits are not as common today, so find out what is the norm before investing in a suit jacket. In the Financial and Legal professions suits and ties are still common.

Shoes

Clean, polished, and comfortable shoes are important. For men choose loafers or lace up dress shoes. For women flats or low heel shoes or boots are good choices. For some positions steeled toed shoes may be appropriate if a plant tour is part of the interview process.

Outerwear

Canadians need to be prepared for all types of weather. Make sure you dress for the weather in clean and appropriate outerwear. Depending on the day, pack a hat, gloves or an umbrella.

Bag

Leave your backpack or gym bag at home. For women bring a professional purse or laptop bag. For men bring a laptop bag or tablet case. If you prefer not to carry a bag this is fine.

Accessories

Keep your accessories simple. Minimal jewelry or a small scarf is preferred to oversized accessories. For men a belt to match your shoe colour is a good choice.

Grooming

Good grooming is a must. Consider a haircut and beard trim before the interview. Fingernails should be clean and trimmed. For women, keep your make up natural. If you wear nail polish make sure it is a neutral colour and freshly applied – no polish is better than chipped nail polish. Many workplaces are scent free so it is best to go without fragrance.

Tattoos and Piercing

The issue of tattoos and piercings is complicated. Tattoos have become common place. Studies indicate that 40% of US millennials have at least 1 tattoo. Data is likely similar for Canadians in this age category. Many workplaces are accepting of tattoos. Body piercings are not as readily accepted. It will often depend on the workplace, the job and even the size and location of the piercing. A small nose ring might be fine, where ear spacers might not be acceptable. Should you hide tattoos and leave nose rings at home? The answer to this question will depend on each individual. If you want to work somewhere where you can freely display your tattoos or piercing, you might want to be up front about your appearance. On the other hand, you might want to get thru the first interview before discussing this issue. 

Final Word about Personal Style

Do I really need to dress this way for a job interview? This advice is useful for many job seekers, but not for everyone. If you work in a creative field you will likely choose to dress in a manner that reflects your personal style. If you are most comfortable in a t-shirt, jeans and runners and you plan to wear this to work daily, you may choose not to dress up for an interview. This interview dress code advice is aimed at giving you a chance to make a good first impression. The plan is to have the interviewer focus on your job skills, not on how you look.

Read more about the types of snap decisions we make about others in the Science of First Impressions.

Don’t let the “Robots” reject your resume. How to write your resume so it will be accepted by Applicant Tracking Systems.

Applying for work? You need to write a robot friendly resume. If you have not encountered an on-line job application where you are asked to upload your resume, you are in the minority. It is common in 2016 for on-line job boards, recruiters and companies large and small to use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to manage job applications. The Applicant Tracking System will automatically transfer the information from your resume, populate a database, and match candidates to positions.

The ATS is a great tool, but you could inadvertently eliminate your resume from the competition if you are not careful. Follow these formatting tips to Write Robot Friendly Resume:

• Use keywords from the job advertisement that relate to your experience
• Name and contact information should be at the top of the page, but not inside a “header”
• Include a “Profile” section with a bullet list of experience, skills and qualifications – make sure to use keywords from the job advertisement
• Use simple fonts such as Arial, Tahoma, Times Roman, Verdana
• Use standard titles – Objective, Profile, Work Experience, Skills, Education
• Use standard format for work experience, beginning with the most recent – company name, job title, dates, description of accomplishments
• If you have an uncommon job title make sure you change it to a more familiar title
• Use proper capitalization, punctuation and spelling
• Word or Text file is better than PDF
• Don’t use headers or footers
• Don’t use images, graphics, logos or tables
• Don’t use acronyms or abbreviations on their own (always use both the short form and the entire word)
• Save your resume file with your name and date. This will help both you and the recruiter keep track of your most recent resume. The most common resume file name used by people is “resume” – wonder why your resume might be misplaced?
• Final word of advice to Write Robot Friendly Resume  don’t use fancy formatting, keep it simple.

It is important that you review your resume before applying to a job. Make sure you include relevant keywords from the job advertisement. Only use keywords that relate to your experience. The ATS will use “keywords” to match candidates to jobs. Don’t be tempted to fill your resume with keywords that don’t relate to your actual job experience and skills. This will only frustrate the recruiter and damage your reputation as a candidate.

If you are interested in a job and feel you are a good match, it is always a good idea to follow up  with a phone call. Don’t leave your fate with the “Robots”.  The ATS is a great tool, but you could inadvertently eliminate your resume from the competition if you are not careful.

Do you have a resume question? Leave a comment here on Fusion’s Career Planning Advice Blog. 

Sit back and let a Staffing Specialist take care of your job search details. Connect with a Staffing Specialist to significantly increase your success in landing a new job opportunity. Learn about the benefits of using a staffing specialist in this two-part blog series – Benefits Working With Staffing Specialist.

Welcome back! Previously we discussed three different ways that Staffing Specialists can help land your dream job. They have access to the Hidden Job Market, they have a common end goal and less competition. Today we continue presenting the Benefits Working With Staffing Specialist. Learn how working with a Staffing Specialist can not only help you land your ideal role but you are now hiring a specialist who will take on the majority of your job search…

Resume and Interviewing Skills

Working with a Staffing Specialist will give you an opportunity to speak with someone who is knowledgeable and experienced within the given industry, client and role. They can take a look at your resume, give you suggestions and assist you with catering your resume based on the opportunity. They have screened through many resumes and can offer you the best advice on how to really make yourself stand out and look desirable to clients.

Interviewing is something everyone always looks to improve upon. A Staffing Specialist will take the time to help you with your interview skills. As mentioned before, both you and the Staffing Specialist have the same common goal; landing the job. A great Staffing Specialist will take time out and offer you interview tips and advice before your interview. They will offer advice on what type of questions to expect and how to field certain questions. At your request, they will sit down with you and conduct a mock interview, all so you can be well prepared and be able to interview as your best self!

Stress Alleviation

Partnering with a Staffing Specialist can and will alleviate a lot of stress from your job search. Often when sending out resumes, and emails you are in charge of keeping track of it all and following up. Well, working with a Staffing Specialist will mitigate all of that. They will present your resume, keep track of it, follow up with the opportunity/client and provide all feedback. All you have to do is sit back and be ready for your potential interview. They do all the work for you, and take away all unnecessary stress that a job search can cause.

The Perfect Role

Most candidates have the perfect skill set for a role, but that does not make for the perfect job. What really makes a role perfect is fit. A candidate ultimately has to fit within the company’s organizational culture for it to be that perfect role. A Staffing Specialist will know the ins and outs of their clients. They will know what type of candidate is ideal and how to screen for the necessary skills and fit. A Staffing Specialist will also know a lot about the candidates. A really good Staffing Specialist will not shoot off questions that match the opportunity, rather they will go through a full profile with you. They will take the time to learn about your job/education history, your goals, strengths, weakness, and your desired compensation. This way the Staffing Specialist really gets to know you and potentially match you to your perfect role.

There are many benefits to partnering with a Staffing Specialist. They are dedicated, ambitious individuals who will work tirelessly to help you land your dream job! Did you miss Part 1 – Benefits Working With Staffing Specialist?

Put your best foot forward, connect with a Staffing Specialist to significantly increase your success in landing a new job opportunity. Learn about the benefits of using a staffing specialist in this two-part blog series – Job Search Working With Staffing Specialist.

As a candidate, throughout your career at one point or another you probably had some form of interaction with a Staffing Specialist. During that interaction, some of you may have begun to question the benefits of connecting with a recruiter. At any point in your job search, connecting with a Staffing Specialist will significantly increase your success in landing a new opportunity. Today we will outline how a Staffing Specialist can help you land your dream job….

The Hidden Job Market

Staffing Specialists are tapped into the Hidden Job Market. Search engines and job boards will have many advertised opportunities listed, however some companies go another route and work with Staffing Firms and keep their jobs undisclosed. We are now talking about several roles that will not be listed anywhere. There are a few reasons for this, the role can be a senior level position that is hard to fill, the company does not want their competition to know they are hiring so they keep it confidential or they just do not want to advertise. If you are looking to access this Hidden Job market, take the time to connect with a Staffing Specialist.

Common End Goal

One commonality between a candidate and a Staffing Specialist is the end goal is the same. The end goal being finding the ideal opportunity and landing it. A Staffing Specialist will walk you through the process and make sure you are well prepared and putting your best foot forward. They will advise you on your resume and interview skills. A Staffing Specialist will also spend time negotiating on your behalf. At the end of the day as a candidate your goal is to find yourself the dream job, a Staffing Specialist can lead you there.

Less Competition

We all know by sending resumes, we are competing with all the other candidates hungry for the same position. One benefit of working with a Staffing Specialist is you will have less competition. You may be up against at most four other candidates. Whereas, when applying through job boards, and search engines we are talking thousands of people. A Staffing Specialist’s job is to find qualified candidates, match them to the opportunity and move forward accordingly. The reason the competition here is less, is because a Staffing Specialist can match skill set quite easily, but what they are really looking for is fit. Whether or not the candidate can fit within the organization. Once the Staffing Specialist narrows it down they only present as mentioned maybe a maximum of four candidates. Partnering with a Staffing Specialist will mean you have a higher chance of success if the opportunity is exactly what you are looking for.

Do you know someone searching for work? Share this blog post – Job Search Working With Staffing Specialist Part 1.

There are many benefits in connecting with a Staffing Specialist. Next time in our blog Job Search Working With Staffing Specialist Part 2, we will discuss how they can help in improving your resume or interview skills, how they can decrease your stress level during your job search and how they can find you’re the perfect role.
 

Job Interviews can be tough. If you want to be in the driver’s seat and control the outcome of your next job interview you need to be prepared to answer behavioural interview questions.

Many job seekers may have heard about behavioural based interviewing, but may not have encountered it. Employers use this technique to uncover real examples of your work accomplishments, skills, habits, management style, initiative and more.  

What is a Behavioural Job Interview?

The behavioural interview question requires you to give a real world example, with details, of how you accomplished a goal or managed a difficult situation. You are being asked to “Prove It!”. The theory behind the behavioural job interview is that past behaviour is a good predictor of future behaviour. Based on this theory, a hiring manager will ask you a question that usually begins with the phrase “Tell me about a time when….” .

The interviewer is looking for a specific example from your work experience. They want to know…

• What was the situation?
• What did you do?
• What was the result?
• Who did you report to?

This final probing question is designed to help the interviewer confirm the details with your manager. The interviewer may want to follow up with this person during a reference check. 

These interviews can be a little unsettling if you are not prepared for this type of question.

What is the best method for tackling these questions?

Be prepared. Last week, the Fusion Career Planning Advice Blog was about the importance of using storytelling during an interview – Interview Tips – Tell Your Story. You need to know your story and practice it, in order to answer behavioural based questions. Review your resume in detail – the skills, abilities, experience, and accomplishments. Be prepared to give specific examples of how you managed many different situations. Revew the job advertisement / description and focus on the key requirements. Come up with your own set of behavioural interview questions and then craft answers to these questions. Make sure your answers are detailed.

What should you do during an interview if you can’t come up with a real example?

Many people start to answer these types of questions by saying “I would…”. This is not what the interviewer is looking for. They don’t want to know what you “would do” if faced with this situation, they want to know about a specific time when you were faced with this situation and what did you do. It is ok to use a small example. Not every answer needs to relate to a major accomplishment. If you can’t think of anything it is best to be honest. Don’t make something up.

Good luck navigating the Behavioural Job Interview!

Are you looking to stand out during your next job interview? Don’t just give answers – tell stories! Part Two Job Search Interview Tips

Past behavior is an indicator of future performance. By telling stories and sharing examples of times that you were put in challenging and interesting situations, you demonstrate your ability to tackle the situation and to produce results in the eyes of the interviewer.

Last week, we spoke about the impact that a story can have on the reader and how you can also use this skill during an interview to increase your chance of landing that ideal job. We have taken a look at how you can frame your story by providing context which can be viewed as similar to setting the scene of a novel or a movie.

Now, we will be taking a look at Part Two of Job Search Interview Tips – the action and result portion to your story.  

The actions and results form the substance of your story, and are critical because they are a likely indicator of future performance.

1. Action: Once you have given your story a bit of context, next you should go into detail about what you did to solve the problem. This should be the bulk of your story and should include your skills and qualifications. Did you use your time management skills and prioritize your tasks to meet deadlines? Did you use your leadership skills to motivate and direct others? Did you learn a new skill to achieve your results? A key thing to remember is that while you can attribute success to working as a team, the interviewer is more interested in learning about your personal contributions and what you can bring to the table. Sell your skills
2. Result: What was the impact of your actions? Was there a positive outcome? Did you fail to improve a situation, but learned from the situation instead? Ideally, a result should be one that can be measured. For example, did you increase the revenues of the company? Did you implement a program in the office that amounted to less waste and more cost savings for your department? Make sure to use key action verbs such as achieved, accomplished, analyzed, delegated, developed, improved, increased, strengthened or other key words that can provide the interviewer a sense of the measureable results. Be sure to mention if there is anything that you would do differently the next time, if you were confronted with a similar situation. Another key pointer is to choose some negative experiences that you were able to turn around into positive outcomes. Review your resume and think about the most significant measureable results and proud moments from previous jobs. 

Follow these interview tips to help you structure your story in your next interview. You can craft yourself into the hero or heroine of your story. Good Luck!

Interested in reading last weeks Blog – Job Search Tips – Tell Your Story! Part One?