7 Ways to Receive Feedback on Your Job Application

7 Ways to Receive Feedback on Your Job Application Getting rejected from a job you’d really wanted is never nice. But there is something you can do to make it seem less of a waste; a way to make it into a good thing for your long-term career trajectory. That thing is simple: asking for feedback. It’ll help you learn areas where you (or your application) could stand to be improved. But it can also help you learn what your biggest strengths are, and how best to maximize them for job applications in the future! Here are the best ways to go about receiving that invaluable feedback. 1. Maintain A Positive Attitude Sounding defensive or overly crushed when asking for application feedback is a huge no-no. It’ll make you seem unprofessional and un-used to the sometimes brutal job application process. Taking it personally is a sure fire way to never learn from your failures. And always remember to thank recruiters for their time â€" if they feel appreciated, they’re much more likely to want to help you out. 2. Don’t Seem Angry Or Sensitive If you want honest (and therefore useful and valuable) feedback, it’s important not to come across as overly emotional or intense. If an employer feels put on the spot, they’re more likely to refuse to give feedback or to give an impersonal, vague response. If you genuinely want to learn where you went wrong, try not to seem defensive or too erratic. 3. Do It Quickly If possible, try to ask for feedback very soon after hearing the news of your rejection. Usually, it’s best to offer thanks for them letting you know, then quickly follow up with a question about what they thought of your application. 4. Have Some Specifics In Mind When asking for feedback, it’s always a good idea to know exactly what you want to find out. For example, you could ask where the employer thought your biggest weaknesses were, what set the successful candidate apart from yourself, or if there were any big flaws or mistakes you made. 5. Know When It’s Worth It Sometimes, you may apply for a job knowing you don’t quite have the qualifications they’re looking for. Other times, nerves get the best of you and a potentially successful interview turns disastrous. Before you ask for feedback, ask yourself if you already know where the application fell down. It’ll help you avoid embarrassment, and save everyone some time. 6. Listen It sounds obvious, but once you’re getting feedback, take it on board. You already don’t have the job, and no amount of clever persuasion will change that. Rather than trying to win your employer round, listen and clarify to make sure you’re getting to most specific and useful feedback possible, to ensure a higher likelihood of success next time. 7. Consider The Long Game If the feedback you receive seems genuinely positive, and your failure was simply a result of a slightly better fitting candidate also applying, consider trying to keep your foot in the door with the company. Be polite during your feedback, and establish your sense of keenness and enthusiasm for the company. You never know when their next position will become available. About the author: Annie Walton Doyle writes for Inspiring Interns, which specializes in finding candidates their perfect  internship.

How to cope when youre in a dying industry

How to cope when youre in a dying industry This is a guest post by  Cassie Boorn. She works with me at  Quistic, and she blogs at  cassieboorn.com.   We are packing up our trunk outside of a friend’s house when he approaches the car. It was late at night. We’d spent all day at a funeral. We were so distracted that we didn’t even see him  walking towards us. We think  it is a joke. We are in a nice quiet neighborhood. This guy couldnt possibly be mugging us right now. He tells  us to get in the car. We see the gun. Everyone is silent. My friend  is sitting in the drivers seat, inches away from this man with a gun. Both of us  stare at him in disbelief. I think about our two boys at home. I wonder if I am going to die. He asks for all of our money. And here is where the real story starts. The one where we dont actually have  any cash to give him,  and we spend twenty minutes frantically trying to find things of value in our car. We have debit cards and checks and a jar of change in between our seats, but no cash. He thinks we are lying. I show him my purse. He calls me a brokeass bitch. So I just sit there, wondering what happens next. Because what do you do when a man with a gun asks for all of your money, but you have none? Do you go to the ATM? Do you run away screaming? Do you try some self-defense moves you saw on TV? I try to think of a solution for getting this man with a gun what he wants. He clearly needs the money or he wouldn’t be mugging us. I offer him my iPhone, but the screen is cracked. No go. I show him my video camera, suggesting that maybe he could pawn it. He passes on that too. As I rack my brain to find something of value in my car, it becomes clear to me that this is a business problem. The only way this guy can earn money is by mugging people, except no  one  in the world carries cash anymore. He is working in a dying industry. I have  prescriptions in my purse. This guy could make a killing with a bottle of Adderall and a few Xanax. I hand him the bottles. He doesn’t want them. I realize this is a new idea for him, so I explain that he could sell these pills for at least $20 each, which means these two bottles are worth a ton of money. I assume if he can mug someone at gun point, he can probably find someone on the street to buy pills. He doesn’t like that plan, and runs off with my debit card and its 4-digit pin instead. I shut the card off within twenty minutes, with just a phone call using the iPhone he wouldn’t take. This is why it is so important to know when you need to pivot. Technology is  shifting every industry in the world, and yet a lot of us keep trying do our lives in the same old ways. I know it is nearly impossible to look at your industry objectively, and figure out when you need to make a change. But you have to try: this can be the most important career decision you can make. Ask  for advice.  Dont be afraid to try new things. And know when to make a pivot. Other guest posts from Cassie: What good mentoring looks like How I manage up working for Penelope

Get Organized in 2013 Giveaway A New Year Wall Calendar

Get Organized in 2013 Giveaway A New Year Wall Calendar I hate flipping the months on my calendar trying to plan out the year ahead.  So  I am excited about finally finding a calendar that fits how my brain works!  This stylish and innovative calendar will be on my wall in 2013.  Will it be on yours?  Christmas is coming early this year and I am giving away a  NeuYear.net wall calendar to one lucky reader. Heres why this calendar is awesome Its BIG. 27 x 39 It shows you the whole year at once. You no longer have to page through a traditional calendar (or on your small computer screen), to see the whole year. You can layout your goals for the year, set future deadlines, and clearly see the passing of time. Also, it has bigger squares so you can write more. NO GAPS. Unlike other calendars, this one has no space between months. The philosophy here is that the week is the currency we think in, so this calendar focuses on presenting 52 weeks, rather than 12 months. This feature helps you plan across months easily, and see clearly the distance/days between any two dates in the year. It will also motivate you to see weeks passing, deadlines approaching and goals accomplished. Its BEAUTIFUL. It combines functional features with brilliant aesthetics. In  Making Ideas Happen, author Scott Belsky says,  The design of your productivity tools will affect how eager you are to use them. Attraction often breeds commitment.  Youll be eager to use this attractive calendar. TWO IN ONE. Not only all this, but its 2 calendars in 1! It has a horizontal orientation that fits perfectly above your desk, or you can flip it over for a vertical orientation that fits perfectly on your door. As the saying goes,  If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This new calendar is a great tool to help you plan your dreams in 2013. If you want one of these calendars for yourself, please include this 30% discount code ClassyCareerGirl  which expires 1/15/2013. To join this book giveaway, here is what you need to do using Rafflecopter below. Each task you accomplish is equivalent to 1 point. The more points the better!  Good luck! Like  Classy Career Girl on Facebook Follow us on Twitter  @classycareer Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you mention @classycareer in the tweet) Leave a comment below telling us what your goal is for 2013. a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is open to US residents only. It begins NOW and ends on December 25th, 2012 at 12am EST. I will be giving away ONE wall calendar so there will only be ONE lucky winner for this giveaway. The winner will be selected via random draw and will be notified by e-mail. You have 24 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. Good luck!

Best Interview Question Ever

Best Interview Question Ever As Ivy Exec’s Vice President of  Executive Search,  I spend a lot of time interviewing high quality candidates, as you might imagine.  Usually, I am most interested in understanding what motivates a person. That discussion generally provides the most relevant information to screening and attracting excellent candidates for executive jobs. Normally, I spend about two hours in total interviewing a candidate. Ideally, these conversations are broken down into an initial phone screen and a face-to-face interview. We cover many topics, including personal ones and a general career history. But what if you don’t have two hours to spend evaluating a candidate? Maybe you only have twenty minutes, or perhaps only five. How do you get the most information in the least amount of time? In short, what is the best interview question you can possibly ask? You must accomplish a number of things to make smart hiring decisions. You need to find out about the candidates’ primary skills, their general experience, their ability to synthesize information, their ability to present well and think on their feet, their people skills, their basic intelligence, and their fit into your organization. In truth, you will never fully evaluate a person until you work together. You can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, though, using this question: What is your most significant professional accomplishment? This question has the advantage of leading to a very short answer, or a very long one. It may put your candidates at ease, or make them sweat. You may learn about your candidates’ values, their self-esteem and their cultural fit. You will certainly learn about their ability to communicate. If you listen well, you may be able to sort out sincerity from pretense. You may be able to tell how they view themselves in relation to a team. You may also be able to learn about the person’s drive to succeed. If you choose this question as a starting point, you create a theme for an entire interview. If there is time, you should dig more deeply by asking questions that qualify your candidates’ response. What was your role in the assignment? What was the overall business impact of the assignment? This is a critical question to assess your candidates’ understanding of the connection between their work and the goals of their clients. Why were you chosen for this assignment? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? Which elements of the project did you enjoy, and which didn’t you enjoy? How did you grow as a person during the course of the assignment? What did you learn from your client, and what did you teach your client? When you begin with a strong open-ended question, you lead with a very powerful analytical tool. You can gather a lot of information in a short period of time. You also create an anchor, around which to base a longer interview. This question makes it easy to structure your interview by introducing a theme for the meeting. Preparing interview questions is always a good idea, but even without an organized approach, you now have something to refer back to. If your candidate begins to wander away from the topic, you will be able to steer the conversation, and learn about the candidate’s ability to stay focused at the same time. The questions you ask are less important than how you listen to the answers. You may find, for example, that a person needs a lot of prompting. This may mean that they have not accomplished much, or it may mean that they are introverted, or maybe they have not interviewed in years and are a bit rusty. At  every opportunity to leave a good impression At the opposite end of the spectrum, you may find that your interviewee cannot stop talking about their work. Most hiring managers respond poorly to people who talk excessively, and with good reason. It shows an inability to rapidly synthesize information, and in the worst cases, may be rude to the interviewer. This question provides you with a firm grounding to begin, and to guide an interview. You should challenge a person, but also make them comfortable enough to reveal themselves. Your questions, and your style give candidates an impression of what it will be like to work for you. Take advantage of every opportunity to leave a good impression. In order to make a good hire, you need to check many different aspects of a candidate’s background, skills, personality, cultural fit and drive. You will need to use different approaches to get all the information that you want. Somewhere in the process, though, you ought to ask this question. You may get more than you expected. This is a guest post contributed by  Ivy Exec Blog. It is an exclusive job site where pre-screened, high caliber professionals find relevant job opportunities with leading companies.   http://blog.ivyexec.com/2012/02/02/best-interview-question-ever/ 7

Ideas on Reducing Risk When Hiring Employees for a Startup CareerMetis.com

Ideas on Reducing Risk When Hiring Employees for a Startup â€" CareerMetis.com To run a business, you always have to go through a fair amount of risks. Entrepreneurship is the risk-taking ability of an individual who uses the other factors of production to generate profits. However, when we talk about startups, the risk increases a lot due to many uncertainties in various business aspects. One such risk is hiring the wrong employees.Employees are considered your key resources to maintain a balance in your daily business operations. If this resource fails, it eventually leads towards a shutdown. However, by establishing the following precautions, you can reduce the risk of bringing new people into your startup business.Avoid Bad HiresevalevalIf you are hiring a fresh candidate, who doesn’t have any work experience, then you are taking a significant risk. For a startup, you should reconsider your decision. However, if your candidate has any prior experience, then it’s better to do your homework and conduct reference and backgrounds checks. These checks will h elp you get a better picture of how this particular person has performed over the years, especially, if you plan on hiring them to manage your startup’s finances.Reference ChecksReference checks are conducted to find out what ex-employers and colleagues have to say about a particular candidate. All employers should ask for at least 2-3 references before hiring someone. All you have to do is make a call to each of these references and ask them a few questions related to the candidate’s performance, behavior and attitude towards work. Also, one question that I believe should always get asked is, “Would you ever re-employ this person in the future?” The answer to this question should pretty much sum it up.However, you need to be very careful about fake references. Many people provide false references as they believe you’ll either never take out the time to contact them, or the reference will cover for them with another lie. Before making a call, check their LinkedIn profiles and consider calling them on the company’s landline number where they used to work.Background ChecksTechnically speaking, merely making calls to the provided references is also considered a background check. However, this investigation can go a bit further by trying to look for credit checks, criminal records and even verification of their educational certifications. Though this process starts with the candidate’s consent, many companies still go with it to play safe.For startups, this is a cost friendly and easy process. Most of the time you’ll only need to go online and check their social profiles. You’ll probably find most of their personal information from there.Comply with Employment LawIt’s essential for companies to comply with all employment laws. Failure to do so can not only force you to pay hefty fines but can also shut your business down. These laws pertain to the quality of employee life like working conditions, compensations, and anti-discrimination practices .It’s pretty standard for startups to avoid taking a look at the employment laws. Therefore, our useful advice for all business owners is to consult a lawyer or attend training sessions that teach how employers should comply with all employment laws. You can even purchase handbooks that have all the codes listed for you to follow.evalOne habit that all new business owners should adopt is to issue an employee handbook. This handbook will highlight all the rules and regulations, and safety measures that need to be followed by all individuals employed in the organization. This method can save you from getting into trouble as you’ve already made it clear to your employees what they’re going to face during their tenure.evalInstitute Fair Practices from the StartStartups and small businesses are commonly known to adopt a family culture within their organization. This type of culture considers a few employees more important than the others. Even if the recruit has no family relations hip with the owner if you are the first one to get hired you may gain access to extra privileges. This may sound pleasing for that first employee, but it’s utterly unfair for the rest.To avoid playing this unfair game, you can opt to produce sound policies that benefit your whole workforce as a whole. These policies can be made for working hours, code of conduct, use of company equipment, working conditions, etc. Yes, some employees may have more privileges than others, but this should only be the case when you are following a hierarchy that has everyone from a senior manager to a machine operator.Fair practices are healthy in keeping your rate of employee turnover low and also creates a robust and efficient atmosphere in which to work. If a business owner fails to follow fair practices, they may even get hit with a lawsuit. On the other hand, unfair practices also lead to employees going on strikes or asking for help from powerful pressure groups.evalFor a startup, the last thing s you would want is to get involved in tackling lawsuits and coming to work with your workers standing outside holding big signs in protest against you.WRAP UPStartups are pretty hard to run as they require double the amount of time and effort that a healthy, thriving business needs. Frequently, many business owners lose the dedication and end up closing down their business due to heavy loses. However, that’s just part of the risk that every entrepreneur needs to take.One thing that you should focus on first is to manage your workforce and make sure you appoint the right ones. Employees are what can turn your small into a successful company. However, they can also turn the tables for you and take your business to the bottom-line if you fail to recruit the right people or fail to manage them properly. With our tips, you can build a healthy work environment and also reduce the risk of startup employees.