The lack of employment/Laid off/Thread

jdwud said:
So reading through the information that was sent to me for the interview on Monday, they want 5 references of which two must be supervisors or managers. I have one former supervisor who I know will give a good reference and I have a bunch of former co-workers that also will give good references, do I use my last manager who fired me and will most likely give a bad one or do I find another from my previous employer?
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Can you do both? If a previous manager will give you a good reference, there's nothing wrong with going back to them. So former supervisor (good), former manager (bad), earlier manager (good - hopefully!), former co-workers (good x2). I've been responsible for assessing candidates on references, and one bad out of five wouldn't be a real issue if you interview well and fit the job spec.
 
You use the ones that put yourself in the best light. You're marketing yourself to your future employer just as much as they're shopping for a new employee. Truth in marketing, but you're the writer of your own story (resume).
 
I dunno if its been mentioned here but what should one ask on interviews where they're asked if they have any questions? I know its going to come up tomorrow but beyond asking how many labs the school district has (this is a general it position for a school district) I don't know what would be appropriate.

Would asking if they would allow me to provide 2 weeks notice be ok as well? I guess I could ask about benefits if they don't mention them.

Also, how should I handle the "tell us about your biggest weakness/strength/ time you had a big project, etc." esque psychological questions? These are where I suspect I usually falter. I don't want to give a too clich? answer but a lot of the time that's either something I do or I suspect I'm overly honest and shoot myself in the foot.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
Also, how should I handle the "tell us about your biggest weakness/strength/ time you had a big project, etc." esque psychological questions? These are where I suspect I usually falter. I don't want to give a too clich? answer but a lot of the time that's either something I do or I suspect I'm overly honest and shoot myself in the foot.
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"My biggest weakness? Sometimes I work too hard" :p

I answered that one once with "answering these type of questions". It could work if there's a good back and forth between you and the interviewer, but try to follow it up with something, and not any raging alcoholism issues or anything :p

As for the tell us about a big project, that should be easy if you've worked on a big project. Mention the task to be done, how you did it and how you worked as a team, the outcome and any learnings. Use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) model. If you havent worked on a big project then it's trickier but just mention how you'd apply the STAR model I guess.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
I dunno if its been mentioned here but what should one ask on interviews where they're asked if they have any questions? I know its going to come up tomorrow but beyond asking how many labs the school district has (this is a general it position for a school district) I don't know what would be appropriate.

Would asking if they would allow me to provide 2 weeks notice be ok as well? I guess I could ask about benefits if they don't mention them.

Also, how should I handle the "tell us about your biggest weakness/strength/ time you had a big project, etc." esque psychological questions? These are where I suspect I usually falter. I don't want to give a too clich? answer but a lot of the time that's either something I do or I suspect I'm overly honest and shoot myself in the foot.
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Never ask questions about benefits or giving notice to your current employer, that can be discussed if you are offered the position. Ask questions about the culture of the company if you are concerned about that, like how often the staff meets; the busiest times of the week, month, or year; what are the challenges of the position. The questions I have been getting the best feed back from are the ones that make the interviewer put you in the position, like what reservations do you have about me; is there anything that stands out that I might not be the right fit for the position.

Have an elevator speech, a one to two minute overview of your experience and/or qualifications, try to make it unique and grab their attention. Google elevator speech there are tons of ideas on them.

Like RedBull said star stories really help with pretty much any behavioral question asked, have at least three to five and then you can spin them to fit what questions they ask.

Google really is your friend, also this place had a lot of info - http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewsnetworking/
 
Red_Bull said:
"My biggest weakness? Sometimes I work too hard" :p

I answered that one once with "answering these type of questions". It could work if there's a good back and forth between you and the interviewer, but try to follow it up with something, and not any raging alcoholism issues or anything :p

As for the tell us about a big project, that should be easy if you've worked on a big project. Mention the task to be done, how you did it and how you worked as a team, the outcome and any learnings. Use the STAR (situation, task, action, result) model. If you havent worked on a big project then it's trickier but just mention how you'd apply the STAR model I guess.
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jdwud said:
Never ask questions about benefits or giving notice to your current employer, that can be discussed if you are offered the position. Ask questions about the culture of the company if you are concerned about that, like how often the staff meets; the busiest times of the week, month, or year; what are the challenges of the position. The questions I have been getting the best feed back from are the ones that make the interviewer put you in the position, like what reservations do you have about me; is there anything that stands out that I might not be the right fit for the position.

Have an elevator speech, a one to two minute overview of your experience and/or qualifications, try to make it unique and grab their attention. Google elevator speech there are tons of ideas on them.

Like RedBull said star stories really help with pretty much any behavioral question asked, have at least three to five and then you can spin them to fit what questions they ask.

Google really is your friend, also this place had a lot of info - http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewsnetworking/
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Thanks guys! The STAR statement thing definitely helped out. I wish I could have given more definitive answers to some questions but I think I did ok. I will definitely get a elevator speech prepared if I'm invited back to interview again. I did not discuss anything like benefits or giving notice. I did ask a general question about the number of labs the school district has and that allowed me to gain additional insight into their plans for expansion and such. The asking about things about myself thing sounds good, I may use that next time.
 
Woohoo, made it to round two this Monday.
 
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