Game Plans for Work & Life

Job Interviewing as an Older Employee

It’s  unnerving to get caught off guard.  Being unprepared can cause the most savvy person to unravel in an interview.  How to ensure this doesn’t happen to you ? 

 PREPARE.   Fine tune your answers by practicing some of the most often asked and most difficult questions .  Savvy interviewers look for someone who is real, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and interested  vs. an applicant with a grandiose resume and no ability to back up the statements.  While you’re practicing, avoid awkward non-verbal behaviors  such as facial expressions, gestures of discomfort like fidgeting. pen tapping, leg jumps, etc..  How to improve?  Practice, practice, practice.    Try responding to these questions and notice the quality of your answers as well as your body language.  Get candid feedback from a friend who will be honest with you. 

-How would you feel about working for a much younger boss?

-How can you apply your previous experience to this work environment?

-What matters to you now in a job vs. early years in your career?

-Describe a time when… (respond to each of these hypothetical situations): TIP:  Cut to the chase and state what happened and how you dealt with it.

1. You learned from a negative situation…

2. You did the work and someone else got the credit…

3. You turned around a difficult situation, colleague, customer or client…

Think about: What you learned in that situation and how might you deal differently with the above situations now?

-If you were an auto, what make, model and year would you be and why? 

-You’re about to take a “learning vacation.” In  what ways would you like to build your skills and enhance your talents?

- Select one type of flower that describes you.  What characteristics remind you of yourself?   

(interviewers often want to see how you handle the “surprise” of an “off the wall” question).  Tip:  Enjoy the question, have fun with it, and tap your creativity in your answer.  EX:  What a fun question.  Although several come to mind, I’d be a chrysanthemum. All those petals remind me how much I enjoy multitasking in the areas of….

-Describe your strengths and weaknesses.

-I have a concern that you’re overqualified for this position; do you agree?   

-Besides your experience, what do you bring to the job that a younger worker couldn’t?

-Tell me about yourself.  (This question may appear simple; however, it can be tricky.  It’s not an invitation to tell your life story. No one cares if you were born on a farm with goats and chickens and a picket fence.  Get to the point of why you’re an ideal applicant. Keep your comments brief and focused on what you bring to the job that others can’t.   In short, describe why you’re the best candidate.

For additional help, consult these websites for more sample questions and recommended answers. 

Quintessential Careers

AARP

AARP Foundation

 We’d be interested in hearing your comments about your interviewing experience…good or bad.  What questions were asked? Where did you get stumped?  How did you handle difficult questions?

Question: “Why bother job searching at the holidays? It seems that nobody is hiring now. What can I do?

Reply: Abandoning your job search during the holidays may be a big mistake! It’s a potential goldmine of opportunity to connect and have some fun. This season is often the best time to meet new people, enjoy conversation in a festive environment, show interest in their work, and discuss your talents. As opportunities appear, listen intently, be genuine and ready to exchange contact info. Let people know about your willingness to work full time, part time or on a project basis.

Leave your negative story about a former job out of the conversation. You never know who plays golf with whom. If you have a case of   “Dilbert Doldrums,” park it with the car.    In this fast paced world of high speed connecting, you never know “how people may know each other” or who socializes with whom. As a bonus, you’ll inevitably meet a few cool people in the process

If networking isn’t your thing, try a different tactic. Scan the following 10 ideas or find a better way to get involved. Key watchwords: STAY CONNECTED!

Send a greeting card with a personalized note or holiday letter to key people in your field of interest and beyond. Tell them what you’re looking for; be specific as you ask for help. At the same time, show interest in what they’re doing. Tell them how to reach you.

Attend social events; mingle at holiday parties.  Let people know what you want; stay positive about being “between opportunities” rather than “this situation stinks.”

Build a list of people you know who are positive and well connected. From that list, create your own holiday phone-a-thon and follow up early in December. Call X people every week between now and New Years.  That, alone, could add 50 to 100 people to your personal marketing campaign. Tell people what you’re looking for and how to reach you.

Volunteer at a community event; help to organize or participate in church, civic groups, causes that appeal to you (soup kitchens, toys for kids, etc.)

Reach out to others (e.g. people in need, hospitalized, homes for the sick and elderly, etc).   Ask people you meet during the day about opportunities they may know about.

Reach out to social groups. Be there for each other and remind people what you’re looking for…as specific as possible.

Initiate a project yourself. Find an area that interests you and a group of people you’d like to impact. By yourself or with a few others, get involved through established community organizations.

Join a local network, or support a favorite group or community cause.

Attend Job Fairs. Take advantage of planned events that focus on job search. Here’s the next local one this week.

If you have a better idea, tell us about it in the comments below. We’d enjoy hearing what worked for you.  Or, if you have a question, send it to me and I’ll answer it ASAP.