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.
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?
Do you help a talented copy writer but probably could be better placed in a higher field…Would be willing to pay for advise and consultation. He is 43 and presently employed here in Gr. but company seems to be on the brink of closing. Now down to 30 employees!! Firing constantly but is holding on. Would like to move on. Grad.UCONN with high honors ..would like Gr.or Stamford area..He is anxious to move on and do you meet with person….Has all next week (Dec.28th)off..Vacation time left over….Also has written for magazines but prefers steady job..Thank you!!
Comment by PATT SLOCUM — December 27th, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Yes I do this type of work and I’ll reply with contact information directly to your email address. For now, here are some thoughts that may be pertinent to yourself as well as others. JC
First, let’s set the stage. Understand that job search is rarely easy but in this “wait and see” environment it’s even more complicated. Job search can be a full time job itself, especially in this uncertain economy. Still, hiring is taking place with different rules and realities depending on one’s skill and flexibility. However, given your friend’s field, that could work to his advantage. Tell him to think about the questions below and see if he’s on the right track. It might be he just needs to “keep going” with a support team in place when the going gets rough.
To answer your specific question, sure, I can definitely talk with him and possibly expand career options and direction. First, have him answer these queries which I prepared below. They should determine whether a meeting makes sense or if he’s already on the right track . (1) Does he still want to do copyrighting? Why? If not, What type of work could he envision himself doing at this point? If he doesn’t know, that’s an area where I can introduce him to new ideas (2) Is he open to travel and/or relocation? (3) Has he surveyed full time writing options with organizations in southern CT? Is he interested more in full time or free lance, entrepreneurial lifestyle? It sounds like he wants Full Time at this point, yes? (5) Has he connected with established organizations and networks in southern CT? (6) Does he have a plan in place of how to go about job hunting in this geographic area and in his chosen field?
If he feels he’s doing all of the above in multiple career directions, then he may need to just keep on plugging; if, however, he thinks he’s at a standstill, perhaps a meeting would be beneficial.
Comment by Joyce Cohen — January 1st, 2010 @ 2:46 pm