How Boomers Can Answer Interview Questions!

Aren't You Overqualified for this Position?

The question of over qualification is common for mature job seekers, definitely for those with more than 20 years of experience. To help avoid this problem, I recommend to include 10 to 15 years of relevant experience on your resume. If the question does come up, emphasize your strengths and accomplishments, not the length of your experience - the interviewer may be concerned that you will have excessively high salary requirements or won't be a fit with the company culture. Remember to always stay positive and try to determine and address the real reason why the interviewer is asking the questions.

Showcasing Yourself During an Interview

In the previous post we discussed how to sell yourself during the interview with a potential employer. It's time to understand how to showcase yourself during the interview, and seal the deal to getting the job that you want.

You are probably wondering what the difference is between selling and showcasing yourself during the interview. To put it simply, when you sell yourself during an interview you are covering your skills, experiences and abilities that pertain to the position, and your interpersonal skills. Showcasing yourself is stating why you're a good fit for the position, what you can bring to the table, and why you should be selected for the job.

Every employer wants to know, why you want the job. This allows them to know your reasoning, mind set, and how important the job is to you. Secondly, Why are you a good fit for the position? You should be able to convey to the employer why you should be hired over someone else. So before interviewing, make sure you are ready to answer these questions and sell yourself for the job. If you are applying for a sales position, answer something like: "Once I'm hired for your sales position with your great establishment, I would generate sales very quickly with my excellent relationship building and sales skills........". This is what employers would like to hear in the interview.

Knowing how to sell yourself in the interview is the key ingredient to showcasing yourself for the job. Using these tactics will bring you much closer to landing the opportunity.

Selling Yourself to a Potential Employer

We all know that a good cover letter and resume are the key ingredients to get your foot in the door to interview for a job. But how you express yourself during the interview is what seals or brakes the deal. You are probably wondering, "How do I seal the deal?". The answer to your question is simple, discuss your:

• skills
• work experience
• your key abilities
• interpersonal skills and why they are important (are you the the right fit for the job)
  

Expressing these attributes during the interview is what a potential employer would like to hear. They are not interested in what you ate the night before or anything like that, unless they ask. Yes, employers do make small talk, but when they start asking you questions, you should be prepared to answer in brief detail the correct information about yourself. If you don't, the interview will be cut short and they will call the next applicant.

Present your skills and work experience based on what you have done in your previous jobs and relate them to what the employer is looking for in the position. Understand the job description in detail. Your key abilities include how the company would benefit from having you work for them. What do you bring to the table? why should they hire you and not the next person? Lastly, remember to show your interpersonal skills, which is your personality. The company determines if you are the right fit by your interpersonal skills, what kind of person are you. So make sure to show your personality, smile , show your manners and professionalism. Interpersonal skills are just as important to any job as your skills and work experience.

Now you have some of the tools needed to sell yourself during an interview with a potential employer. No matter what, be yourself, confident, and show that you are the best qualified person for the job.

Thank You letters After Interview or Call.

We all wonder how to write the perfect thank you letter to the person/company that interviewed you or called you about a job. Here is a few thank you letter samples, that will help you along your way:

Here is a free basic Thank You Letter

And here is a great site to use to look up examples of thank you letters that will pertain more to the topic of job that you were applying to: Library Online

Use these resources and others out there to write an effective, professional, and efficient thank you letter, which is part of selling yourself with your resume. The thank you letter will make you stand out from your competition especially since 57% of applicants are not sending cover letters along with their resumes. Make sure to email the letter no later than 24 hours after the interview and it's critical that names and titles of interviewers are spelled correctly.

Don't sell yourself short, send out your thank you letter and see just what it can do.

Using Your Resume To Land The Interview

Which ones have a greater possibility of getting the interview?

With the recession it is harder now to get away with using an single resume and getting the interview. Employers are now looking for a more tailored resume from people. By more tailored I mean:

Well Managed Resume

It has been shown that in 2010 it is very important an crucial as a person out there looking for a job and turning in resumes, you need to have a well managed resume to land that interview.

Now you are probably wondering how do you produce a well managed resume, and the answer to your question is below:

- When turning in your resume, it is now key to make sure the resume is addressed to a specific person, your cover letter will do this for you (so this also means that you need a different cover letter for each job you apply too).
- Objective statements is out of date and employers never looked at it anyway, so no need to use this statement anymore.
- Next you will want to have a catagory that projects an overview of your skills, knowledge, and expertise.
- Your work history should include your accomplishments, for example, did not save the company money or create, and implement a system or project? This is what employers are looking for , not what your duties or responsibilities were.
- Make sure you don't have any run on sentences.
- Using other types of bullets other then the simple black dots to make your lists stand out in your resume. This helps to draw attention to your lists of accomplishments or what ever else they may be.

Just like a lot of things in life, marketing comes into play when it comes to presenting your resume. You have to sell yourself with it. You may wonder how a less qualified person got the job over a more qualified person, it's because the person knew how to sell themselves. So get out there and utilize your resume and sell yourself, get that job you want.