Why do I hire?

I hire people from time to time. I am a manager only because I have been assigned more work that one person can do. This is the only reason for hiring.

My responsibility is to hire the best person available. The best person may not want to work for me. The best may live in Halifax or the job is not appealing to them. So my search is for the best available person.

Your task is to convince me you are the best candidate available. Understand that I do not care about your needs, wants or hopes.

My chore is to hire someone to do the assigned work. My caring is reserved for my employees, not a stranger.

Brutally put? Perhaps.

Insensitive? Perhaps.

Believe it.

Your Strategy

Every resource and activity discussed here must be used to convince the employer you are the best person available for the job. To do less only proves you are not the best.

There is much more to job hunting than just writing good resume. Much more. Yet preparing for the hunt seems to be centered around the Resume. But many other things are more important.

To understand how to write a good resume you must understand how it is read and the thought process of those who read it. To market yourself you must know your market.

Your Goal

Surprise ! Your goal is not to get a job.

Your goal is to get interviews.

To set your goal as getting a job is very depressing. You can only succeed once. That makes the job hunt very depressing. All the work you do is viewed as a failure since you did not achieve your goal until the very end.

Your goal is to get interviews. You need the practice. Find out what questions are difficult for you to answer, find comfortable answers.

The skilled interviewer can ask some difficult questions. Try this test. With no hesitation or thought have the correct answer roll off your tongue:

Question: What is your biggest weakness?

Tough question! Still tongue tied?

The correct answer is:

With a frown on your face take about three seconds (no more as three seconds is a long pause to the interviewer) and say: "When I get interested in something I tend to become a workaholic."

Nice answer!

Smart aleck answer? In a way. But think. Did you not have to work hard to have such a nice resume, researched interviewing skills and the smart alike answer? The interviewer will notice and appreciate that you put considerable effort into the interview. Is that not demonstrating your ability to work hard?

It takes great soul searching to find comfortable answers to those questions that stump or embarrass you. Read the book "What Color is My Parachute?" for guidance.

Practice in real interviews . Hone your skills in preparation for the job you really want