No matter where you are in your career, from entry-level to the top rung of the ladder, one skill that is absolutely necessary to catapult you from one level to the next throughout your professional life is the ability to interview well.

What exactly is the purpose of an interview? What are the goals of both parties involved in the interview, and how does this tie in to receiving a job offer? What is the best way to prepare for an interview, to avoid being nervous, anxious, and blowing the entire appointment?

According to a general dictionary, an interview is defined as a formal meeting, especially one arranged for the assessment of the qualifications of an applicant. Seems simple enough, right? As a job seeker, it’s necessary to change the way that you view an interview. Let’s take our thinking from a passive appointment in which an employer gets to know a prospective employee, to a dynamic process in which a prospective employee has the opportunity to sell his or her skills. Read the full story

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You’ve heard the expression, “Getting a job is a job.” No one knows more than you how many hours a week it takes searching, researching, applying, interviewing, reflecting, and so on, to get a job. It’s not easy; but it was never intended to be.

The harder the job, the harder it is to get the job. Essentially this means that if you are an entry level employee, it should be a fairly reasonable process. But if you are at mid-career and have held significant authority and responsibility, it’s going to be a more lengthy and sophisticated course.

As someone who has been in the staffing industry for more than 18 years, I wanted to share an “insider’s perspective” on what every job seeker should know about the process. I’m continually amazed that potentially great candidates for my jobs simply don’t represent themselves as well as they could by not playing by the job-search rules. Read the full story

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Older job hunters fear interviews where their age cannot be concealed and where an initial response of dismay on an interviewer’s face, quickly hidden, confirms their anticipation of discrimination.

The mature job seeker often prefers the anonymity of mailed resumes, e-mailed inquiries, internet applications, and telephone contacts.

Interviews, however, are the goal of everyone who wants to work. There is so much pre-selection and screening before an interview is granted that simply getting that far in the process provides at least some expectation of an offer being made. Read the full story

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