Going to an interview does not have to be the most stressful part of the job-hunting process! Because up to 93% of communication is non-verbal, it’s important to go into an interview with confidence and a great attitude. Any fear, anger or confusion you have about the interview or the job itself is going to show. Be prepared, and reduce your stress.

Choose a time that works for you

Don’t agree to an 8 a.m. interview if you’re not a morning person. The time an interviewer suggests isn’t the only time they can interview with you. If you like to have some time to unwind in the morning, set up an interview for a little later in the day. If you are a morning person, by all means, suggest a meeting early in the day.

Leave plenty of time to get ready

Make sure you set multiple alarms set so you don’t oversleep, and take some time to unwind and wake up before your appointment. You should arrive about 5 to 10 minutes early. You don’t want to be more than 10- 15 minutes early, or even more than one minute late.

It’s a good idea to set up everything you need the night before. Plan your outfit, iron your shirt, shine your shoes, do whatever you need to do to eliminate tasks from your list. You don’t want to waste a bunch of time in the morning updating your portfolio or looking for your keys – this will only add to your stress.

Be (over) prepared

Check out our recent article on how to be prepared for an interview, one of the best ways to relieve stress.

Do your research on the company, and be ready to ask and answer questions. Failing to do so will be apparent to your interviewer.

Remember: You are interviewing the company, too

Look at the interview as conversation. While it’s true that the employer brought you in to learn more about your background, this is also a chance for you to see if the company is a good fit. A job description can look great on paper, but if you go in to the interview and everyone you interact with is a jerk, it’s probably not somewhere you want to spend your time. Looking at an interview as a conversation can make you feel a little more powerful – the fate of your career is not solely in the interviewer’s hands.

Don’t over-caffeinate

Stick to just one cup of coffee or tea before you go in – any more can exacerbate stress levels. While you may not notice it on a regular day, in a stressful situation, anything you do to raise your heartbeat can have a negative effect. You don’t want to fall asleep, you just want to be relaxed and lucid.

Have something fun to look forward to 

Having something fun planned when your interview is over can be a great way to relieve some stress, and even give you a better attitude about going in to the appointment. It’s hard work getting an interview, so reward yourself with something nice. If your interview ends up being a success, you’ll be able to go out for drinks with friends and brag about it. And if the interview is a dud, you’ll have something lined up to make you feel better.

Scoring an interview is only half the battle – you also have to land the job. Here is a list of some of the best ways to be prepared if you want to land your dream job.

Do Your Research

Know the company you are interviewing for inside and out, and be ready to ask questions.  A good place to start is the company’s website or their LinkedIn if they have one.  Check out the company’s mission, what projects they are pursuing, and be aware of their competitors.  Ellen Gordon Reeves, the author of Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?, stresses the importance of research: “you need to know as much as possible about the people you are interviewing with”.

Review Accomplishments from Your Last Job

Spend some time thinking about what you accomplished at your last job, and be ready to talk about your position and what your specific duties were. Especially if you’ve been unemployed, it’s always a good idea to spend some time refreshing your memory. Be sure to come up with a few specific problems you’ve dealt with, in order to be prepared for questions.

Know Why You Want the Job

Yes, you want to be able to pay the rent, but why are you really applying to this job specifically? What are your underlying goals and motivations? What do you know about the industry and what can you bring to the company? There are all questions you should have answers to before you go in for the interview.

Be Prepared to Answer Questions

Don’t bet on spontaneously coming up with great answers to interview questions. Have a friend sit down and be serious about going over potential interview questions . It will feel awkward at first, but practice is the best way to ensure that your answers come naturally.

Employers generally want to get a good sense of the following:
- Your background,  experiences, education, and overall qualifications
- Your knowledge of the job,, their company, and the industry.
- Your personality,  work style and social style.
- Your skills
- Your future goals, career aspirations and how motivated you will be in the position.

Be able to talk about this list of things, and you should be able to answer most questions you are given in an interview.

If you’d like a list of common interview questions, you can find them broken down into categories here:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/practice/a/practice-interview-questions.htm.

Be Prepared with Questions for the Interviewer

You should come to every interview with at least three good questions to ask your interviewer. If you’ve done your research on the company, coming up with some questions shouldn’t be hard. Here are some examples of solid questions:

-What performance expectations do you have for a successful employee in this position?
-Tell me about some of the company ( or department’s)  successes in the past few years.
-Can you explain a typical project that I would be working on? What does a day in this position look like?

Look the Part

Don’t feel like you need to go out and buy an expensive outfit, but do make sure you plan an outfit ahead of time so will look put together. For a first interview it is always best to look more conservative than not, even if the company turns out to have a more business casual environment.

Bring Your Resume

It seems obvious, but can be easy to forget. Always have three copies.

Good luck!

In a recent article by Refinery 29, five successful Chicagoans were interviewed on what they think are the best pointers to scoring your dream job. Each person interviewed had varying and helpful answers to the same six questions:

• What is the first step to take when searching for the perfect job?
• What is the wisest piece of interview advice you’ve ever been given/given to others?
• How can readers make themselves stand out professionally among other job applicants?
• What is one job hunt mistake, and how can someone avoid it?
• What are some fashion musts when going on an interview?
• What interview question should all interviewees be prepared to answer?

Try and answer these questions on your own before clicking this link to see the actual interviews.

Some of our favorite points included:

• If possible, gain some internship experience in the field where you’re applying
• Do you research before every interview
• Even if it’s just an exploratory interview, always send a handwritten thank you card
• Understand that there is a fine line between being persistent and being a nuisance
• Try and gauge the dress code of the company and dress accordingly for the interview
• Have answers prepared for the questions – “What can you bring to the table” and “What separates you from the stack of resumes I have on my desk”
• Make sure you emphasize your accomplishments and not your credentials
• Always come prepared with questions to ask the interviewer
• Customize your resume
• Stay positive throughout the interview process – “You’ve got to stub your toe once in a while.”

We hope you enjoyed this post. Have a great weekend!

Designing your resume is a task you should spend a lot of time perfecting. Aside from grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, you also have to think about how you would view your resume, on a surface level, if you received it as a hiring manager.
Loft Resumes, a resume design company based in South Carolina, prides themselves in helping job seekers stand out. The company provides a resume shop stocked with approximately 50 creatively designed resumes.

Loft Resumes says, “On average, they’ll [hiring managers] spend less than 30 seconds looking at yours [resume].”

For just $99 you will receive your new resume in 3 business days. It may seem like a lot, but think about the ROI (return on investment). If someone approached you with your dream job and told you all you had to do was pay $99, would you take it?

Each additional page is $10. You can rush the resume process for an additional $15 for two days and $30 for a one day turnaround.  For an additional cost, you can make updates on content, not design.

After the design process is complete you will receive a high resolution PDF of your resume along with an editable, matching cover letter.

Does this seem like a lot?

It’s not! All you have to provide is:

• An uploaded resume in a common word document
• A theme with a photo, you’ll need to upload your photo (optional)
• The custom color option (optional and extra)

What do you think about this service? Beneficial?  Would you pay $99 for a potentially brighter future?

Visit the site and shop around. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page!

A majority of us have been so nervous in an interview that we’ve “blundered” somewhere, somehow.

Whether you’ve answered something like:

Interviewer: Why do you think you would be a good fit for this position?

You: Because I’d be good at it.

OR

Interviewer: We’re looking to pull the trigger at the end of the month.

You: Well, I hope I get shot.

We’ve all been there.

This post is to reassure you that getting tongue tied, being speechless, and lying by accident, happens to all of us.  While we’re under the spotlight, in front of one or more people, there’s a chance you will crack under the pressure.

Here are some great ways to ensure you won’t leave your interview feeling like a star in some movie’s blooper reel.

• It Takes Two To Tango – As much as you are being interviewed, remember, you are also meeting with this person to see if the position is a fit for you as well. Try and make it more of a conversation than a “grill fest.”

• Deep Breaths - We read on Yahoo! Finance that a girl took  Xanax to relax before an interview. She was so relaxed that the interviewer was actually worried about how slow she was speaking.  Concentrated deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth, work wonders.

• Sleep Tight – Early to bed and early to rise is in your best interest the night before your interview. Whether it’s an early morning interview or an after lunch meeting, make sure you fill the empty time with some activity to get your mind off the nervousness. Focus!

• Mirror Talk – Stand in front of your mirror and practice smiling, making eye contact, and speaking precisely and slowly.

These are just few tips to help you prepare to be calm, cool and collected for your next interview.  Good luck and let us know if you have any questions.

When you are actively looking for a job, your resume is most likely posted on various job boards.  Due to the easy accessibility of your contact information, you must be aware of how, when, and where you answer all private and unrecognizable phone numbers. You never know, it could be your future boss on the line.

Below are some tips on how to answer these calls and make the most of the time you have to speak.

HOW

• Be professional. Do not answer your phone with a “Yo” or a “Hey.”  Something more along the lines of, “Hello, this is insert name.”  Make sure you have a pen, paper, and your agenda – in case you’re asked to schedule an interview. Take down the person’s name, number, and email address. Do not hang up without this information.  If you feel awkward asking for it, simply say:

“What is the best way to contact you if I have further questions?”

WHERE

• If you are not in a quiet and calm place, do not answer the phone.  Find somewhere enclosed, where you know you won’t be disturbed, answer or call back.

WHEN

• Do not answer these calls when you’re in your office or with current co-workers. If you see a private number on your phone step out and answer in a quiet place.

Do you have more questions about how to handle incoming calls from hiring managers? Please post on our wall. Have a great weekend!

Photo by: Inside Job Productions

As we have stated in a previous post, email addresses should be tasteful, professional and work best as your firstname.lastname@_____.com.

This way you are easily recognizable and remembered by hiring managers.

The same types of rules apply when attaching resumes, cover letters and references.

Save your documents under a name that is professional and can be found easily in a search.

DO NOT:

• Include dates in the name of your documents (unless you must, be sure it’s the current date) For instance, if it’s 2012 don’t attach a resume titled : Jane Smith’s Resume 2011
• Title your document with the word “General” in it. For example: Jane Smith’s General Cover Letter

DO:

• Include the title of the job in the title: Jane Smith’s Resume – Administrative Assistant
• Add the current date you sent the resume: Jane Smith’s Resume – January 24, 2012

Either of the “do’s” work and keep you and the person receiving your resume, cover letter, and references more organized.

During this busy time of year retail shops are searching for temporary associates to help with the heaps of shoppers!

The trouble is, unless you work part time and need to make some extra cash, you’re probably searching for a permanent role and don’t want to waste time in a temporary position this season.

If you’re interested in the retail Company and want to get a foot in the door, now is your chance.

Before:

• Ask if there is potential to go permanent at the end of the season if you go above and beyond
• Ask what the percentage of seasonal employees that have gone permanent in the past, either right after their assignment or in the future
• Make sure the hiring manager knows how interested you are in the role and the company

During:

• Prove yourself every chance you get
• Be a team leader
• If someone calls out offer to fill in for them
• Volunteer for every project

After:

• If you aren’t offered a permanent spot, make sure you leave on good terms with contact information
• Stay in touch with the hiring manager
• Make sure to touch base with the manager especially when you read current events on the company

If you’re not working and you have an opportunity to work this season, take it! You never know where it will lead.

In the spirit of Halloween we would like to address an answer to a question that tends to startle our recruiters.

The questions that evoke this scary answer:

“What were you making at your last job?”

“What is your current salary?”

The scary answer:

“I would rather not share that information.”

“Instead of telling you how much I’m making, how about I tell you what I’m looking for?”

In order for a recruiter to one, trust you, and two, help you find a job, you need to be honest and open with them.

Why?

• They are working to help you and without certain information it difficult to network on your behalf
• If you do not provide honest answers it’s hard to pin down the perfect opportunity for you
• All information is confidential. We only ask to better understand your past, present, and successful future

If you have any questions regarding this post please email sbellow@pyramidcg.com. Don’t forget to visit our website for current job openings!

Today, for Monday’s Mentioning’s, we would like to refer to Ere.net’s post about interviewing from anywhere.

One major plus mentioned about interviewing remotely is saving money and the environment.

Companies no longer have to fly candidates to their offices to interview and candidates can save on gas and public transportation. Each party saves on travel expenses while keeping our air clear at the same time. With a webcam (staring at $13 – below) and a decent Internet broadband connection you’re interviewing within moments. You are connected with a click!

1. Logitech Webcam c210 ($13)

2. Microsoft LifeCam Studio 1080p HD Webcam ($47.99)

3. Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF ($86.99)

4. Microsoft LifeCam Cinema HD Webcam ($44.20)

Our recruiters are always conducting Skype interviews in the office. The only important “candidate gage” missing is a firm handshake and a waist! When you’re interviewing via cyberspace you can make up for the missing handshake with strong eye contact and a smile.

For additional reasons about how you benefit from interviewing remotely, click here for the full Ere.net article.

Do you have any online interview success stories? Please share it with us.