Ace Your Next Interview February 16, 2007
Posted by soniadomain in : Uncategorized , 3commentsHave you ever dreamed on landing that dream job and were lucking skills in resume writing and confidence in presenting yourself to HR person? An information session at BCIT that I attended yesterday was specifically addressing needs of BCIT students and graduates seeking full or part time employment.
Antonio Daluz from Vancouver Sun was presenting on this topic and answering audience questions and I was taking notes. The presentation raised some important questions and took a form of a dialog when answering these questions from the audience.
Do your research first
Research is the main pet peeve of HR. What companies are looking for from you is that you do your research before coming to their door. Company website is a very important tool for you to learn. You should study as much as you can about the company and look at company values carefully and see how they apply to you.
Have a conversation
When coming to the interview, direct yourself in a professional manner, have a conversation rather than questions and answers shootout. You want to know about their goals and expectations in the same manner as they want to know about your goals and expectations. Knowing how to “bragg” about your job experience is also an important skill to have.
Ask questions
One of the most important questions you may ask them is about your future career development pass. Setting your career development pass is very important and can save you a tremendous amount of time and time is the most important thing we all have.
Show your competitive edge
From hundreds of applications companies want to hire only the best people. Companies want to hire a talent, so bring to the table what makes you unique. HR like to put the candidates in a corner with tough questions. Do not be afraid of these questions and stay positive.
Then Antonio answered questions from the audience:
Q: How should I answer a question about my weaknesses and strenghts? I have studied English for the past 2.5 years.
A: Turn your weakness into strenghts and say I studied English for 2.5 years and I improved that much.
Q: How to answer “Why should we hire you? What are your salary expectations?”
A: I can work with people. I am a hard worker and we worked together to achieve common goals. My study is an experience working out real life scenarios. Also give them a range while being asked for salary expectations and most of the time $25,000 with career development is better than $40,000 without career development.
Q: What about references?
A: References are very important. Someone should truly believe in you. Former clients are important references for example, together with professors and past employers. Speak to your references beforehand and give them heads up.
Q: What about a medical condition? I have migraines, which take some of my time.
A: How much to disclose is up to you. You should also look at government booklets (WCB etc.) to find out how much to disclose. Bring it, say I have some downfalls. Also the relevance of this information to this position at hand is very important.
HR provides a very important function of screening hundreds of resumes and subsequently passing top ten resumes to the hiring managers. Then hiring managers select top 3 candidates and interview them for the position.
That was a good event to attend and I learnt a lot just by coming to the presentation, listening to the questions and taking notes.
What is behind BlueFur name? February 4, 2007
Posted by soniadomain in : Uncategorized , add a commentI came across BlueFur proposal to review their new corporate name and a logo while visiting Johnchow website. Without hesitation I jumped right into it.
BlueFur.com as a service provider is new to me, so its logo and and a tagline form firm’s brand in my mind. Two basic questions I asked myself were whether the brand message was clear enough for a first time visitor to enter the site and was it genuine enough for him or her to stay? And I answered “Yes” to both of these questions. “BlueFur” associates with “rare” and “warm” and projects “welcome” to the visitor. Intrigued by the appearance of an unearthy creature, I stayed on a page for long enough to glance over the first four lines : gotcha!
“BlueFur is Canadian web services company…” Now you can laugh your socks off. Wherever you came from, the creature suddenly looks familiar. For Linux guru the creature looks like GNU, while Windows fan may find a beauty in his eyes and recognize an explorer in him. Apachees may be surprised to find a happy buffalo northern of the border. Show them some meat and the resellers will come. For the multinational corporate clients the creature is a viking. He knew his stuff even before Columbus was born. They will find an edge in a double-word name that stands out not less than RationalRose or RealPlayer. Small business clients could be assured with a firm grip on their data ( I assume he holds a server in palms of his hands) and a subtle yet philosophical “Canada, Eh?” smile.
A tagline is massive. It hints, but hides in the same time. It hints just enough to leave you hanging on the edge of a cliff begging for more. And you have to keep reading to experience it. You get closer with every chapter. You can feel it when suddenly.. One thing is for certain - what is hidden behind this tagline is a secret weapon of mass seduction. Did anyone say Global warming?
