Employers nationwide report soundly that applicants who research employers well increase their employability as much as 25- 40 %. Thus by doing a thorough job of research of the complete industry, employer and job you will have a big payoff. This is most important both for getting that job, increasing your salary requests and later promotion on the job. Remember that first impressions carry a tremendous amount of weight and that ?First Impressions are Lasting Impressions?.
The advantages of researching your career field and potential employers affect the success of your job search in many ways.
First you will have a good competitive edge. Employers view candidates who do not have solid knowledge of the employer's businesses or industry as weak and poor choices for hiring. If you are prepared to discuss products and industry facts, figures and industry trends it will demonstrate that you have made a sincere and solid effort to learn about their organization and the marketplace. Many if not most applicants do not invest energy of their so called ?valuable time? in researching employers. If you do, you will Surely have the competitive edge for getting that job over your competitors.
Secondly you will be in a situation to determine better career decisions. Having current knowledge about employers, industries and job targets, allows you to make informed career decisions and assess your interest in and qualifications for specific jobs.
Next you will have improved ability to market your career skills and get hired. Researching employers improves your ability to discuss specifically how your qualifications match the employer's purposes, goals and needs. Employers are most willing to invest substantial training resources, time and costs to applicants who demonstrate initiative and commitment through their research of the employer and industry.
It is interesting to note that by conducting a thorough job of employer and industry research this will work towards compensating for lack of experience. Industry knowledge helps you compensate for lack of actual or extensive job experience. This is most of concern if you are a ?rookie? in the industry or in the job force and your competition are seasoned veterans. That is seasoned veterans who may not have have complete 10 per cent of the level and completeness of the through and complete job of research that you have completed.
Lastly you will have increased confidence. By being well informed you will feel more confident and communicate much more clearly, effectively and concisely. In effect you will project greater confidence, expertise and experience.
Complete and thorough industry, employer and job research pay off big time for employment job interviews. One last point if the interviewer takes offense at your research and questions this is a very good indication that this is not a good employer or at the least not a good boss to work for.
Consider a position where you desperately want the job. It might be the money, conditions or you just don’t enjoy your current job anymore. The night before you decide to prepare for the interview.
Working through some of the advice on the internet you start practicing imagining the interviewer naked. This works for a while until you get the idea that they might do the same to you. Then your head is suddenly filled with thoughts of hundreds of people with better CVs, family connections or just being able to talk their way into the company. You read through your CV not taking anything in.
You have a restless night, dreaming of turning up to the interview naked having forgotten everything that is on your CV. The next morning having slept in you rush to the company. Being out of breath you wheeze at the receptionist, forget your own name and get the distinct impression that she thinks you are an idiot.
A short wait eventually brings out the prune faced harpy that is to be your interviewer. She attempts a smile and you feel like you are at a funeral. Attempting small talk you manage some glib, obvious comments about the weather, traffic and something your mate told you about a declining economy. Thankfully the interview room is close by.
The prune faced cow offers you a coffee knowing full well you will spill it down your front. After the mess has been cleared her face cracks in to the approximation of a smile and she says “As a gentle start to the interview, based on your CV what can you offer our company?"
You immediately start to worry about what is going to happen when it gets rough. You then realise you didn’t bring any copies of your CV and can’t remember what is on it. A few minutes of you wittering about your favourite holiday destinations and she now things your CV is a fake.
Old Prune Face decides to increase the pressure by asking you what you can contribute to the company. Fumbling for an answer you eventually settle on enthusiasm and working to the best of your ability. Irritatingly she mentions that they expect that from everyone in the company and asks if you have anything else to offer.
In panic you try to think of her as naked…suddenly realise that is not a good idea and then start thinking she might be thinking of you the same way. Now you have forgotten the question and sit there with your mouth opening and closing like a frenzied guppy. And so the interview stumbles on for what seems like an eternity.
On the point of turning comatose the old hag informs you that this is your chance to ask questions as she has finished hers. Trying to appear keen you ask her how soon will she make a decision. Hoping you have got the job she leads you out to the street after answering your question.
Whilst many people will have had some experience of this sort of this imagine an interview where you are so confident that you build massive amounts of rapport with the interviewer as well as take control of the interview. You then answer all the interview questions implanting suggestions that you are the best candidate for the role whilst turning any objections in to benefits. How good would this sort of interview feel?
Sound impossible? Perhaps not, many of these skills are naturally occurring and you have certainly seen others do this as part of their daily lives.
Have you ever met someone just breezing through life always getting the job they want even when not qualified? These are the people using these skills, sometimes naturally, sometimes they have been trained. In the majority of circumstances these skills are learnt quickly and easily in a matter of hours.
If your CV pulled three over four times more interviews than normal would it be worth spending the two hours of CV Writing to add those NLP and psychological techniques? Having the skill to be able to answer interview questions artfully only takes two hours to learn and you will keep that skill for life, as well as learn to apply it in many more situations.
Building rapport, banishing interview nerves and taking control of the interview can be learnt in as little as half an hour even though they don’t seem easy skills.The only question is how much people are prepared to devote to mastering these interview techniques because just a couple of hours is the difference between a great job and just the job you are doing now.
Both Shaun Stevens & Rintu Basu are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Shaun Stevens has sinced written about articles on various topics from Interview Questions, Business Plan and Leadership. Shaun StevensJob Interview Counsellorwww.aceemploymentservices.netwww.ace-training.net. Shaun Stevens's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.
Rintu Basu has sinced written about articles on various topics from Neuro Linguistic Programming, Interview Questions and Business Loans. To find out about Job Search Skills using NLP and Hypnosis you can go to The NLP Company website maintained by Rintu Basu. Scotland Business Community’s Trainer of. Rintu Basu's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.