As a recruiter looking to return to a corporate environment, you owe it to yourself to first try and find an organization that you can learn from. By looking for a company that offers more than just a pay check, you ensure that your skills will remain sharp, and that your interest will remain engaged well after your peers have gotten bored of their roles.

Times are interesting at the moment. Most companies are thinking of the future now, but are unsure of what to do. The economy is going to turn around…some argue it already has…and the talent pool that is currently HUGE, will quickly disappear. The firms that are left behind are going to be stuck with a major shortage.

The forward thinking organizations are planning ahead, are ramping up slowly, or are putting a recruitment practice in place. With so much recruitment talent currently unemployed, companies are building their in-house recruitment teams to fill roles that they would have previously farmed out. So, if you are a recruiter looking for work, I recommend that you look carefully.

There are 3 main criteria you need to look at when assessing your next employer.

1. People – corporate culture, and the culture/skills/drive of the team you would be working with.

2. Process – a well run recruitment process ensures that best practices are employed, performance is properly managed, and more importantly, rewarded (you can reward what you can track).

3. Technology – the more advanced the Technology the more organized the workflow.

I have found that while most organizations employ a different mix of the 3, very few (if any) are really strong in all three. A team of high potential tends to employ a weak technology or process, while a process oriented organization can afford a “weaker” culture, and/or technology.

It is hard to find the perfect balance, and each organization is different, but when assessing a corporate recruitment organization or function these are the 3 criteria you should judge their effectiveness on.

A few days ago Frank wrote about the need to be prepared for an interview. It’s true. You do need to be prepared, perhaps now more than ever. Sure, there is a lot of competition out there for every job that is posted, but most importantly there is just so much literature on the matter that NOT being prepared is pretty much inexcusable.

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself.
A: uuuh, uuh, I don’t know.

See, it just doesn’t cut it, you KNOW they’re going to ask these questions, so you need to have an answer prepared.

GONE IN 60 SECONDS

So, how to do it? Well, a book I always recommend for is 60 Seconds and your Hired. I swear by this book and recommend it to anyone willing to listen, from administrative support staff to CEOs.
For those that haven’t read it, here’s a quick summation on how to get yourself ready for an interview:

Step 1: Get a paper and pen.

Step 2: Write down 5 adjectives (strengths) that best describe you.

Step 3: Think of an example from your career that demonstrates each one of these strengths, and write them down.

Step 4: Put all 5 of these examples down into 1 short, 60 second story about yourself. Don’t make it sound like a shopping list. It has to sound like a story about yourself, peppered with 5 keywords that an interviewer can write down.

Step 5: Practice, practice, practice.

Oh, now that you’ve practiced it…trim off all the excess fat from the story, and condense it to 1 minute. I know this sounds tough…but, it’s essential, and non-negotiable. 5 adjectives/examples x 12 seconds each = 60 seconds.

LAUGHING IN 60 SECONDS

Once this is done, you are laughing. All answers to the most important interview questions can then be answered using any combination of your stories above.

Q: Tell me about yourself
A: 60 Second pitch.

Q: Tell me your 3 greatest strengths.
A: Pick 3 of the above, and elaborate on the experience for each.

Q: 3 Weaknesses.
A: Pick 3 of your weaknesses, and discuss how you MADE them into strengths using the experiences that you wrote down, in the above exercise.
There is much more to the book then what I have mentioned, but these were the key points. This is what I use to prepare for interviews and what I recommend to candidates to use.

What do you use?

On average, an interviewer will make up their mind about a candidate in the first five minutes of the interview.

This is true. I hear it all the time. That is not a lot of time to sell you or to win a job. Consider that you are going up against at least a handful of candidates that have been recommended by a friend or relative, as well as a few that are more qualified then you are. So how to you get yourself hired? By preparing for the interview.

A FIGHTING CHANCE

The single best thing you can do before a job interview is to prepare for it. Some people actually go into interviews and try to wing it. This is the wrong approach. You may know yourself and your skill set, but most of the time your answers should vary depending on the type of job you are interviewing for and the company that is hiring.

Each interviewer is looking for specific skills or characteristics when interviewing a candidate so you need to go into the meeting well prepared and with a strategy.

For every interview you land, consider the following group of questions and generate short, concise answers based on the information you are able to gather about the company, the position, and the product/service you will be involved with.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO SMASH

When going through these, please remember to keep all answers work related and plug in your skills and experience as often as possible.

• Tell me a little about yourself…

• What are your strengths?

• What areas do you think you could improve on (weaknesses)?

• Give me an example of a past experience where you had a conflict with one of your co-workers. How was it resolved?

• How do your skills make you a good fit for this position?

• Why do you want to leave your current job (why did you leave your last job)?

• Give me a description of your ideal manager/worst experience with a previous manager.

• What do you know about our company?

• Describe your ideal job.

• What are you doing now to improve yourself?

These are just some of the hundreds of questions that you may be asked, but this list should get you started on creating a good preparation plan for job interviews. If you have any more, please send them too me or add them in the comments below.