Career Advisory postgraduate studies – after the ninth weekend

Career Advisory postgraduate studies – after the ninth weekend

Career Advisory postgraduate studies – after the ninth weekend

Please tell us something about yourself”, “What is your biggest success?”, “What is your biggest failure? What did you learn from it?”, “How do you handle a stressful situation?”, “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 in addition to content preparation, there is also technical and visual preparation, i.e. a stable connection to the Internet, good lighting, quiet space etc. Up to 90% of candidates do not prepare beforehandthey just go with the flow. They do not read about the company, industry or even the content of the job ad they applied for; they do not know who the person is they are meeting with.

Preparing the client for different types of job interviews was the subject of the ninth meeting of the Career Advisory postgraduate studies.

Preparing the client for different types of job interviews

The first day of the meeting was led by Anna Zadrożna, who focused on the topic of how to prepare a client for different types of job interviews. The job interview stages were discussed, including the most often overlooked, the stages “before” and “after” the 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 the 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, and 7% did not show up for work on the first day. Such behavior affects a candidate’s personal branding, which is why we stress the importance of all stages of the job interview:

  1. Before (selected points):
    • land an interview – answer emails, check the SPAM folder
    • take the tests – we observe a relatively high resistance to tests among experienced managers and executives
    • find examples in your professional experience for all the duties and requirements from 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

On this day, Anna also discussed the differences between online and offline interviews, drawing attention to visual aspects, such as the background or proper lighting of the face.

Then, the students practiced using the STAR methodology which helps candidates structure their answers.

During this day, we hosted an HR Director, who told us which mistakes candidates most often make during job interviews.

Supporting the client in major changes

The second day of the ninth meeting was devoted to the subject of supporting the client in major changes like changing industries, 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 course of action, different approaches to creating application documents and strategies.

During this day, we hosted Wojciech Żytkowiak, who talked about his own career change and its key aspects. He shared what proved difficult for him, what posed a challenge, and what it is like to work in a totally different organizational culture.

Reflections after the ninth weekend

“As an HR Manager, I structured and deepened my knowledge on strategic interviewing and how important it is to ask about someone’s motivation in the right way. I will definitely use this inside the organization to diagnose a candidate’s potential in a much better way.”
“I realized how important the right preparation strategy is for job interviews. It is crucial to remember that your goal is to get the job. Seemingly obvious, but telling yourself this before the interview helps you set the right perspective and can influence the impression you make as a candidate.”
“I leave the weekend with an even greater conviction of the importance of questions in revealing a client’s strengths and motivations. It’s good questions that help us ensure that a client’s desire to change industries or professions is indeed well thought-through.”
“I’ve realized the importance of the STAR method, which helps present key competencies and projects in a strategic and structured way.”
“After the weekend, I came to the conclusion that a job interview is not only what happens during the interview, but also in the “before” and “after” stages of the interview.”
“The weekend has shown me how important it is to know your resume and what you want to accomplish during an interview.”
“I really liked the structure of this meeting: case – discussion, case – discussion: each student saw something different. Sharing the insights was a great experience. It has allowed me to see how varied the perspectives of students coming from different backgrounds are.”
“I leave the weekend with the insight of how important it is not to follow the existing patterns when advising clients on the change of industries or professions.”

We will keep you informed about our students as well as the progress of our studies.
The enrollment for the 2022/2023 academic year has opened:

PS. Read more about the previous meetings:

Are you interested in this field and don’t want to wait until our next edition? Follow the information about our courses – also in-house – on this page:
https://careerangels.eu/become-a-career-consultant/