Showing the knowledge in all circumstances. Our weekly column from various Irish newspapers
Q: I’ve always heard that you should impress the interviewers with your level of knowledge about the company. But how can you do that if they don’t ask the right question? Will it not look contrived? (MK, email). A: The whole interview scenario has an element of contrivance about it. You must first of all […]
Thinking ahead pays interview dividends (our weekly column from various Irish newspapers)
Q: I did an interview recently with a panel of four people. It was a fairly structured affair, with each of the interviewers having their own sections to cover and questions to ask. Midway through the interview, the chairperson handed over to a man I shall call Mr Murphy (for that was his name – […]
Try sales – ‘tis nobler than you thought (our weekly column from various Irish newspapers)
Career development has many parallels with the world of sales. So it is important to first of all check your perception of sales. Does the word make your skin crawl or fill you with warmth, or does it sit somewhere in between? To many, sales is a dirty word. They equate it with deceptive people, […]
Too much caution is not a good idea (our weekly column from various Irish newspapers)
Q: I saw you recently advising a sales manager to ‘have ideas’ when he goes for interviews. I once gave a lot of good ideas in an interview – and then I didn’t get the job, and they stole my ideas. I was livid, but there was nothing I could have done. Nowadays I play […]
Audio and video can develop an interview star (our weekly career column from various Irish newspapers)
Practice makes perfect – or perhaps this should be upgraded to the even more clichéd perfect practice makes perfect – and when it comes to job interviews, you may have missed the boat if the first time you articulate your thoughts is in the actual interview itself. With the advances in technology, there really is […]
Today’s lessons can make you a future hit
Q: Today I did my first interview for a job in about ten years – and the interview was much more gruelling than I had anticipated. There were four of them in it, and they came at me from all angles. It felt like they had rehearsed some of it to see if they could […]
Have a go, you might grow on them. Our weekly column from various Irish newspapers
Q: The job spec for a position I am interested in says three years’ professional experience required. Technically speaking, I don’t have any professional experience. But I have done a great deal of similar work (ground keeping) on a voluntary basis for my sports club. I’ve been at it for 20 years or more. I […]
Making sense of your mixum-gatherum career, our weekly column from various newspapers around Ireland
Q: You’ve written on a number of occasions about portfolio careers. I think I may fall into that category. I work as an office manager for a medium-sized manufacturing firm three days a week, and the other two days I divide my time between playing in a band and doing some graphic design on a […]
Self-campaign your way to dream job, our weekly column from various Irish newspapers
Job-searching is the new frontier, I believe. Think of six graduates coming out of college with the same qualification, more or less, give or take a grade here and there. They all have CVs of broadly similar quality. See all six on the starting-line, waiting for the gun, and then the race begins to see […]
Career fog can be cleared
Q: I’m been working in the same place for 23 years and now I want a change. The problem is that I haven’t applied for a job, let alone created a CV, since the day I came in here. This whole area is alien to me – can you give any pointers to help me […]