Previously, I created a post on the secret recipe to absolutely nail “Tell me about yourself”. If you haven’t read it yet, I really recommend you check it out. Today, as part 2 on this topic, I’m going to give you several, concrete sample answers and scripts for different types of roles from a wide range of industries so you can get a clearer idea and, also, save time.

As I mentioned in my last article, the secret success formula to tackling “Tell me about yourself” is to start with the JD and then build your response according to the employer’s needs (instead of starting with your own experience first).

So what I’m going to do today is to review 3 JDs of different types of roles (including e-commerce, accounting, and HR), and go through their key requirements (or keywords). And then, we will draft relevant and convincing responses together. As I’m sure you can appreciate, it doesn’t really matter what JD or role we choose as our examples at the end of the day because we ...

Today, I’m gonna share with you what you absolutely need to prepare before attending any interview if you want to avoid unnecessary embarrassment, make an unforgettable first impression, and maximize your chances of proceeding to the next round. Let’s go!

1. Employer (Main Products and business offering)

The first point is the employer. You must know about the employer, especially their products and the services they offer – basically what they do. But just having a brief idea is not enough. You need to have a sufficiently clear & detailed understanding of the employer’s business in order to have an intelligent discussion on this topic during the meeting. Imagine the interviewer asking you, “What do you know about our firm, and what about our company attracts you?”

To intelligently answer this question with substance, you need to have an idea bout the following:

• The industry they in
• Are they for-profit or non-profit companies?
• Products, business offerings, and/or ser...

Today, let's learn how to pass background checks with flying colors. 

Do you know that passing the interviews, getting the offer, and signing the contract does not guarantee you will have a job?

There is still one more step that could go wrong, and that is: "background checking."

In today's article, I'm going to share with you rock-solid tips to make sure that you pass your background checks with flying colors.

For those of you who are not 100% sure about what a background check is, it’s the process that gets kicked off once the job seeker has signed the contract and is waiting to join the company. Depending on the employer, the background checking process can take anywhere between a few days to a few months.

Usually, this is what the process looks like:

• When the company makes an offer, and the candidate accepts it, the employer asks a professional background-checking company to start off the process
• The background-checking company will ask you to provide a list
...

Confidence is one of the most important aspects of a job interview. Not only does it affect your performance, but it also has direct implications for how the potential employer will view your level of competence. You take two people with a similar level of experience and skill set. The interviewer will always believe that the person with more confidence is stronger in what they do.

But of course, it's easier said than done. We've all had experiences when we were nervous and ended up rambling or saying things we wish we didn't.

It's because confidence is not something we can turn on at will. Confidence is not what we do. Instead, it's an emotional state. Therefore, if we want more control of our confidence, we need to learn to change our emotional state and/or have the right mindset.

Whether it be your interview, an important meeting, a presentation, or even a date, having confidence (the right level of confidence) will often lead to much more successful results.

In today's...

Did you know that this common question, "What are your career goals?" is actually a dangerous one that can cost you your offer if you're not careful?

To understand why this question is risky we need to first figure out the reasons why employers like to ask it. There are two major objectives.

First, employers want to know if you have a goal; By asking this, they can find out if you are a goal-oriented person and have any aspirations for growth.

Second (and this will be our topic today), they also want to assess whether you will likely stay with the new firm for a long time. And in order to determine that, the interviewer wants to know

• if you are genuinely interested and committed to the role and
• if their role can meet your goals within a reasonable amount of time.

Why? Because if the role cannot meet the goals of the candidate (at least the short-term ones) soon, they will likely start looking again.

For the rest of this article, I will dive deep into these TWO...

3 Dangerous mistakes You must avoid in a Job Interview – Interview Pitfalls

Recognizing and avoiding critical mistakes in an interview is just as important as responding correctly to questions.

In this article, I will share with you 3 of the most dangerous interview mistakes you must avoid if you want to be successful and maximize your chances.

1. Lack of Enthusiasm

Lack of enthusiasm is probably the most common reason a company may reject an otherwise qualified candidate. You'd be surprised at how often I have received this feedback during my recruitment career: "This candidate is strong, but we feel he/she isn't interested in the role." Or "He/she seems knowledgeable, but we are concerned about the lack of energy." And as a result, the employer chooses not to proceed.

In an interview, 99% of the time, your attitude is more important than what you say. People remember how you made them feel much more than what you said – and the same goes for interviewers.

Y...

How should you explain being let go from your previous company in the interview?

Being let go can be a tricky subject to discuss during the interview. In this article, I'm going to talk about ways to explain it in such a way so that you can explain what happened in the best light possible.

To start, there are primarily two ways someone can be let go.

One of them is being laid off, which means the employee has lost his/her job due to changes that the company has decided to make on its end usually (though not always) through no fault of the employee. And the other way is being fired, which means that the company considers the employee's actions have caused the termination. In most such cases, there will be a termination letter indicating the same.

We will cover both scenarios in this video.

1. Being laid off

As I said earlier, being laid off means that you lost your job due to decisions or circumstances of the employer. Examples of this could be restructurin...

So much has changed since Covid happened 3 years ago (gosh, it’s already been 3 years!). It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that virtually every aspect of our lives has been affected – I don’t have to go through the details here but one thing about work that is completely different now is the frequency of “virtual meetings”.

Whether it be work-from-home to client meetings to interviews, virtual meetings from home have become the default mode for most of us (even now). And regardless of how covid progresses from here, online meetings are here to stay, and we are going to do more and more online meetings & interviews going forward – which means it is increasingly imperative to master how to look great and engaging on video so that you can always make a positive impression.

So here are the top 10 super practical tips that will help you look awesome in your next VC interview (or any other meeting, for that matter).

1. Quiet Location

There are few things more frustratin...

What if there is ONE question you should always ask during your interview?

Questions you ask serve extremely valuable purposes. They show the employer that you are serious enough to wanna find out more about them, they can show how well-prepared you are, and that you have paid attention during the meeting.

Also, your questions can demonstrate your attitude and values, and most importantly, you can find out key information that you really want to have about the employer that you can use to your advantage during the interview process.  And that is what I'm going to talk about today.

So, what is the one question you should always ask?

It is: “What are the biggest challenges your team is currently facing, and how can I help?

There are other ways to ask this as well, and they are:

• - "If I am given the chance to join your team, what are the most important or urgent things I can do to add value?
• - “If I am given the opportunity to join your company, what are the first thing
...