Common Job Interview Mistakes to Avoid.

Bring Zen to the interview, dress formal and give clear and meaningful answers! Here’s a list of some key things to avoid when heading off to your next interview!

Explaining gaps on your CV

For an employer seeing gaps on a job seeker’s CV’s can set off warning bells pretty quickly. Here’s some useful and sensible career advice about how to work with these gaps, and sometimes, use them to your advantage.

What to wear to your next interview

It takes less than three seconds for an interviewer to form an impression of us.

Interview questions you will probably be asked (and how to answer them.)

Whether you are being interviewed by an agency recruiter or the hiring manager directly, there are some key questions that you will likely be asked when you go into an interview.

What is your daily routine like?

Time and time again we see articles about how you should plan your day, what kind of routine you should have, how much sleep you need or how little sleep you can work on, when you can eat and when you should sleep. It’s all too much! Why don’t we peel things back a bit and look at things from a more simple perspective. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin wrote about how he would try living his life according to the simple schedule below. "I enter'd upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu'd it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined ; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish," One of the most important things Ben did was ask himself two key questions. In the morning ‘what good he would achieve that day, then at night ‘what good he had achieved.’ Perhaps most interesting is that he never stuck to this routine himself. In the style of perhaps one of the most narcissistic autobiographies ever written he explained that he was far too important to stick to such a schedule. “I found that, tho' it might be practicable where a man's business was such as to leave him the disposition of his time, that of a journeyman printer, for instance, it was not possible to be exactly observed by a master, who must mix with the world, and often receive people of business at their own hours," Nonetheless, if you are sick of reading all the different ways you can possibly make your day more productive and meaningful maybe just give this a go. Ask yourself what you want to achieve and what you did achieve, give yourself meaning and structure. For more tips and advice check out  talentpropellerjobs.com.au | talentpropellerjobs.co.nz

Are you overqualified or underqualified

Time and time again we get people applying for jobs who have experience and qualifications that they believe are perfect for the positions they are applying for.   However employer feedback repeatedly suggests they are either too qualified or under qualified for the position. A prospective employer may decline your application on the basis that you are ‘too overqualified’ for the role. When at the same time another employer may decide the calibre of candidates was incredibly high and that someone else was more suitable for the positon. Either way you simply don’t ‘fit.’ The truth is, if you keep getting told you are overqualified or under qualified then you obviously aren’t hitting the sweet spot of the business you are applying for. What we mean by this, is that you need to understand what you are good at, what you love to do and most importantly, how can you help this business or ease ‘business pain’. The moment you start asking yourself ‘how can I add value to this business’, rather than just work at this business, the more useful and contextualized your qualifications and experience are. Not only will this make you more appealing to hiring managers who are looking at your application or profile, it will help them to position you in their mind.   It’s important that employers can see your skills and aptitude. Not only does it make you stand out, but it helps them to have confidence you have what it takes to do the job. With every application on Talent Propeller Jobs, you can also submit a free skills test. This lets employers see you can actually do the job. www.talentpropellerjobs.com.au  | www.talentpropellerjobs.co.nz

3 MUST Dos on your Cover Letter

Your Cover Letter is literally the first impression you make when you apply for a job. Regardless of whether you submit it in physical form or electronically, your Cover Letter acts as an introduction to you and why you are applying for the job. For that reason you need do the following 3 things. 1. Don’t use a generic cover letter. If you are currently looking for a job and using the same cover letter for all your applications, stop right now. A stock standard cover letter means generic phrases and nothing specific to the company or role you are applying for. You could be including a whole lot of information that isn’t even relevant to the job, indicating that you are uninformed, uninterested and ultimately lazy. Cover Letters are about selling yourself as an asset to the business, how you will bring value to the organisation and what particular skills will benefit the business. 2.Cover Letter: Not Share and Tell Perhaps you’ve had problems with money recently, or you’ve just had a messy break up and want to leave everything behind, or maybe you’ve just had it up to here with Michelle from Accounts who is making your life a living hell and you need to get out. Well, ok we get it, sometimes life is hard. However, it doesn’t mean you need to share this information onto your cover letter. As a general rule, it’s not ok to discuss your personal life, or write about irrelevant details on what is supposed to be a professional document. There’s no point as it definitely will not improve your chances of being employed. Other topics such as reasons for leaving your current job, overly forced and detailed justifications for long career breaks or bad mouthing your employer fall into the ‘do NOT mention’ group. 3. Being Desperate Enthusiasm is great. Desperation, not so much. Your application alone is enough to tell your employer that you are interested in the job, there is no need to go overboard with unnecessary fluff and eagerness. Even worse  is begging for the job,. It is not going to make you sellable, quite the opposite, it will in almost in every circumstance put someone off hiring you. Think of it in economic terms. You’re the product and employers are the market. If it appears demand is low for you then, employers are going to assume that they should not hire you either. Instead, you should be excited about the prospect of working for the business, not dependent on it. Employers want to see positivity and ideas. Worth Mentioning: PROOFREAD YOUR COVER LETTER, don’t overuse clichés, don’t lie about your skills, experience or ability and don’t discuss how much you expect to get paid.

For more tips and advice visit 
www.talentpropellerjobs.com.au  | www.talentpropellerjobs.co.nz