| Knowing What Not To Say Can Be Key During Job Interview |
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RACINE, Wis. -- With the highest unemployment rate in Wisconsin in about 30 years, landing a new job is tougher than ever. So saying or doing the wrong thing in a interview -- even if you're qualified -- could cost you. WISN 12 News' Joyce Garbaciak has been following a group of students from Racine and Kenosha who went through a job training "boot camp." Part of the course is doing mock interviews to prepare for the real thing. They let her sit in on the process. Even though Justin Sutherland is in the hot seat, what he said there shouldn't burn him. This was just a rehearsal interview designed to teach him and his classmates how to prepare for the real thing. "Hopefully, make all our mistakes now. Work all the bugs out," Sutherland said. Sutherland and 15 others participated in a boot camp program offered by Gateway Technical College. There, they learned not only how to operate certain machines, but how to field questions from prospective employers. And they learned it the hard way. For instance, can you spot the mistake in this exchange between Sutherland and mock interviewer Heather Kosloske? "Tell me, what's your favorite thing about the boot camp program?" Kosloske asked. "Probably the shop time, the hands-on experience," Sutherland answered. "That's also my biggest weakness because I've never done much machining before," Sutherland said. The mistake was using one little word -- weakness. Kosloske, who has years of human resources experience, said don't offer any weaknesses unless you're outright asked. "Don't volunteer a weakness. Don't say, 'Hey this is something I really struggled with -- blah, blah, blah.' If you don't have to say it, don't say it. You know your weaknesses and that's something you can work on," Kosloske said. Then it was Sutherland's classmate's turn. Jody Pitts made two mistakes in her first answer. "How about we start with your work experience? (Are) you still doing that position at Scrub?" Kosloske said. "Currently, no. I stopped working there about two months ago. It was just getting to be too much with going to school 50 hours a week, and I have my son alternate weekends," Pitts said. First, she had an outdated resume. "You want to update your resume. You have an out-of-date resume, and employers really don't like that," Kosloske said. The other warning had to do with Pitts volunteering information about her family. "So many times when we're answering questions, just because we're nervous or trying to be friendly, we volunteer all of this personal information about ourselves and for all you know, I may not be able to stand kids. Or I may have some sort of preconceived notion you're not going to be at work every day. You're going to have sick kids. You want to leave all of the personal information out of the interview as you can," Kosloske said. Another set of interviewers offered more lessons. For instance, when Sutherland answered some questions, his eyes were not focused on the interviewers'. "The majority of the time we did talk, I noticed you were staring at the carpeting and not necessarily our eyes. I think it's always good to make eye contact," mock job interviewer Steve Newell said. "Remember, you're selling yourself to us and we're looking for a person who's confident." He also missed another opportunity. "Do you have any questions for us, Justin?" Newell said. "No, not really," Sutherland said. "Have questions. Don't make us think you're desperate for this job. You're trying to figure out what's good for you," Newell said. Mastering the art of the interview will go a long way toward securing work. Some other interviewing tips include: Don't cut off the interviewer. Be sure you hear the whole question. Never bad-mouth a former employer or any other company. It looks unprofessional. And legally, they can't ask about your age, marital status, sexual orientation, religion or political affiliation -- so don't offer that information. As one mock interviewer told the students, don't give them a reason not to hire you. As far as asking questions of the interviewer, what would be some examples? Various Web sites offer some ideas of what type of questions you ask the interviewer. One example would be, "What would be the qualities of your ideal employee?" or "What's the toughest aspect of this job?"
Up until that point, the conversation would have been centered on you. Be sure to turn the tables and get the interviewer talking to listen and learn. Courtesy of www.wisn.com |