Career Advisory postgraduate studies – after the ninth weekend
“Please tell us something about yourself”, “What is your greatest success?”, “How do you handle a stressful situation?”, “What is your biggest failure? What did you learn from it?”, “Why should we hire you?”. These are standard recruitment questions that can be difficult to answer.
Additionally, nowadays, most of the interviews take place online and besides preparing the content, candidates have to prepare the visual part as well – i.e. they need to have a stable Internet connection, good lighting, quiet space, etc. Up to 90% of candidates do not prepare beforehand – they just go with the flow. They don’t read about the company or industry, nor even the content of the job ad they applied to; they don’t know who the person they are meeting is.
During the 9th weekend of our postgraduate studies, Career Advisory, we discussed preparing the client for various types of job interviews.
Preparing the client for different types of job interviews
The first day of the weekend was led by @Lidia Igielska who discussed all of the stages of an “interview”, including those most often overlooked: the “before” and “after” of an interview. Why is this so important? Career Angels’ data shows that 29-34% of candidates (both students and experienced HR professionals) do not respond to a positive response and invitation to a recruitment process! 50% of candidates who pass the test stage successfully, do not show up for the interview. Note: they chose the date and time themselves. Comparing that with data from Indeed: 48% of candidates ghosted their potential employers, and 7% did not show up for work on the first day. Such behavior affects a candidate’s personal brand, that’s why we stress the importance of all stages of the job interview, including the most often omitted ones::
1. Before (selected points):
– land an interview – answer emails, check the SPAM folder
– take tests – we observe a relatively high resistance to taking tests among experienced managers and executives
– find examples in your professional experience for all the responsibilities and requirements listed in the job ad
– prepare answers to all standard questions about successes, failures, situations, etc.
2. After (selected points):
– prepare 2-3 questions for the interviewer
– ask about the next steps
– send a thank-you email with a summary within 24 hours after the interview
On that day, Lidia also discussed the differences between online and offline interviews, drawing attention to visual aspects, such as the background or proper lighting of a candidate’s face.
Then, the students practiced using the STAR methodology which helps candidates structure their answers.
Supporting the client in major changes
The second day of the ninth meeting was led by @Anna Zadrożna. It was about supporting the client in major changes like changing industries or professions, and the difficulty of taking up a job after a long break. The tools and methods that can be used to help clients in such a change were discussed. During the exercises, Anna analyzed specific cases that involved change and the way a given person operates, and the different approaches to creating application documents and strategies.
During this day, we also hosted a special guest – Konrad Zabłocki (HR Director), who talked about what recruitment processes look like from the inside and advised what a candidate who wants to actively look for a job should do. Our guest also talked about where the so-called “ghosting” – no feedback.
Reflections after the ninth weekend
“I was very interested in the topic of recruitment tools and how to encourage the client to talk”
“This meeting inspired me to delve into the topic of warm up tools”
“I think it’s important to remind employers to provide training for all employees regarding the AI tools so that everyone has some knowledge in this area. Not necessarily very in-depth, but applicable to the entire organization.”
“I think that this meeting systematized my existing knowledge in a useful way”
“I found the cases of reskilling, which were discussed during the meeting, very interesting”
“It was also a practical summary of all the topics we had learned so far”
“I really liked the Cvs that were shown; I believe that the cases presented are very valuable”
“I was happy that we discussed the topic of ghosting”
“These were very valuable and creative classes! I liked the different examples of people looking for a job”
“The CV examples were very valuable to me”
We will keep you informed about our students, as well as the progress of our studies.
PS. Read more about previous meetings:
– first
– second
– third
– fourth
– fifth
– sixth
– seventh
– eighth
Are you interested in this field and don’t want to wait until our next edition?
Follow the information about our courses – including in-house – on this page:
https://careerangels.eu/become-a-career-consultant/
