Job Interviews For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Job Interviews For Dummies®, 4th Edition

Released December 2011
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781118112908

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Book description

Deliver a show-stopping interview performance

Does the thought of interviewing for a new job send shivers down your spine? It doesn't have to! Whether you're searching for your first job, changing careers, or looking for advancement in your current line of work, Job Interviews For Dummies shows you how to use your skills and experiences to your advantage and land that job.

Following a half-decade characterized by an explosion of economic crises, global expansion, and technological innovation in the job market, today's job seekers vie for employment in a tough era of new realities where few have gone before. In addition to covering how to prepare for an interview, this updated edition explores the new realities of the job market with scenarios that you can expect to encounter, an updated sample question and answer section, coverage of how you can harness social media in your job search, information on preparing for a Web-based interview, and the best ways to keep your credibility when applying for several jobs at once.

  • Out-prepare the competition

  • Overcome your fear of interviewing

  • Ask smart questions about the job and the employer

  • Give the best answers to make-or-break questions

  • Fit your qualifications to the job's requirements

  • Dress like an insider

  • Survive personality tests

  • Interview across cultures

  • Evaluate a job offer

  • Negotiate a better salary

Whether you're fresh from the classroom, a prime-timer over 50, or somewhere in between, Job Interviews For Dummies quickly gets you up to speed on the skills and tools you need to land the job you want.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Title Page
  4. Introduction
  5. Part I: And the Interview Winner is … You!
    1. Chapter 1: Job Interviews Are Show Biz. Seriously!
      1. Interviewing As Theater
      2. New Faces, New Factors in Interviewing
      3. Seven Concepts to Make You a Star
      4. Take Home an Oscar from Any Interview
      5. Building Lifetime Confidence
    2. Chapter 2: Tryouts: Getting Past Screening Interviews
      1. Two Basic Steps in Job Interviewing
      2. Hot News about Screening Interviews
      3. Learning Your Lines for Screening Questions
      4. Short Script of Screening Styles
      5. Sounding Qualified on the Phone
      6. Acing Automated Phone Screens
      7. Pushing the Right Buttons: Computer Screens
      8. Screening Survival Skills Are Now a Must-Have
    3. Chapter 3: 21st-Century Video Interview
      1. Casting Calls for Video Shoots
      2. Determining Video’s Upside and Downside
      3. Rock the Video Job Interview
      4. Not the Same Thing — Video Interview vs. Video Resume
      5. Weighing In on Video Resumes
      6. Keep Smiling: You’re on Camera
    4. Chapter 4: Interviewing on the Global Stage
      1. A Changing Face of Global Interviewing
      2. Looking at Remaining Cultural Norms
      3. Interviewing across Cultures
      4. Tracking Down Country Research
      5. Preparing for the Global Job Interview
    5. Chapter 5: A Chorus Line of Interviews by Type
      1. Mastering Interviews by Objective
      2. Mastering Interviews by Interviewer
      3. Mastering Interviews by Technique
      4. Mastering Interviews at Remote Locations
      5. What’s Playing on the Interview Scene?
  6. Part II: Backstage Researching and Rehearsing
    1. Chapter 6: Research Is Your Ticket Inside
      1. Investigate Like a Quiz-Show Winner
      2. Here’s What Online Search Tells Us
      3. Asking Questions about Potential Employers
      4. Ready, Aim, Fact-Find
      5. Preparation Rocks!
    2. Chapter 7: Your Close-Up: Personality Tests
      1. Personality Testing Means Business
      2. What You May Not Know about Personality Tests
      3. Making the Grade on Job Tests
      4. Sample Personality Questions
      5. Concerned That You Didn’t Do Well?
      6. Keep On Keeping On
    3. Chapter 8: Showing You the Money
      1. Decoding Recruiters and Their Talking Points
      2. Discovering Market Pay Rates
      3. Negotiating in the Moment
      4. Stalling Money Talk with Smart Replies
      5. Downplaying a Low Salary History
      6. Considering More Factors That Affect Job Pay
      7. Getting Your Worth’s Money
      8. Using the Magic of Market Value
    4. Chapter 9: Costuming Yourself for a Starring Role
      1. You Are What You Wear
      2. Starting Well to End Well
      3. Minding the Three Commandments of Style
      4. Changing with the Times: Dress Codes
      5. Selecting from the Basic Types of Interview Wardrobes
      6. Guessing at Tomorrow’s Styles
    5. Chapter 10: Beat Stage Fright with the R-Word: Rehearse
      1. Refocusing Attitude Can Calm Nerves
      2. Practicing with a Video Recorder
      3. Unlock the Power of Body Language
      4. Stage Directions for All Players
      5. Anticipating Interview Trapdoors
      6. Take One . . . Take Two . . . Take Three . . .
    6. Chapter 11: Looking Good with Questions You Ask
      1. Asking Selling Questions before the Offer
      2. Asking Self-Interest Questions after the Offer
      3. Drawing Out Hidden Objections
      4. Asking Certain Questions Very Carefully
      5. Ending Suspense by Asking the Right Question
    7. Chapter 12: Closing the Show
      1. Making a Strategic Exit
      2. How Hard Should You Sell?
      3. Follow Up or Fall Behind
      4. Pre-Employment Contracts Promise Protection for Everyone
      5. Last Chance to Back Out
      6. Your After-Interview Checklist
      7. Onward and Upward
  7. Part III: Actors' Studio: Casting Your Character
    1. Chapter 13: Opening Acts for Younger Talent
      1. So What’s the Problem?
      2. Beating a Bad Rap on Work Ethic
      3. Tips for Millennials
      4. Scripts for Millennials
      5. Good Times and Your Future
    2. Chapter 14: Selling Scripts for Career Switchers
      1. Remembering Career Change Basics
      2. Eyeing the Best Career-Change Tips
      3. Leveraging Crossover Skills for Change
      4. Say What? Say This When You’re in Change Mode
      5. Steer Clear of Snap Judgments
    3. Chapter 15: Star Turns for Prime-Timers
      1. Understanding How Employers See the Age Issue
      2. Showing That You Improve with Age
      3. Outing Elephants: Address Age Issues
      4. Overcoming the Overqualified Label
      5. Mastering Top Tips for Prime-Timers
      6. Keeping Your Career Fit
  8. Part IV: Lights, Camera, Talk! Answering Questions
    1. Chapter 16: What Can You Tell Me About Yourself?
      1. But First, Who Are You — Really?
      2. Putting Out Identity Fires
      3. Doing Your Best in an Online Job Market
      4. Answering a Very Broad Question about Yourself
      5. Writing Your Marketing Pitch
      6. Crafting Personal Commercials
      7. Raising the Curtain on Specific Questions about You
      8. Mastering More to Tell about Yourself
    2. Chapter 17: What Do You Know about This Job and Our Company?
      1. Understanding Job, Company, Industry — and How They All Fit Together
      2. The Questions
    3. Chapter 18: What Are Your Skills and Competencies?
      1. Recognizing Questions about Your Skills
      2. Answering Questions about Your Skills
      3. The Questions
    4. Chapter 19: How Does Your Experience Help Us?
      1. Making Your Experience Relevant
      2. The Questions
    5. Chapter 20: What Education Do You Have?
      1. Right Degree, Wrong Degree, No Degree? Making the Best with What You Have
      2. Boomers: High on Adaptability
      3. The Questions
      4. Millennials: High on Education, Low on Experience
      5. The Questions
    6. Chapter 21: What about Your Special Situation?
      1. When You’ve Long Been in the Same Job
      2. When You’ve Served Prison Time
      3. When You’re Shoved out the Door
      4. When Sexual Orientation Is up for Discussion
      5. When You’ve Worked Everywhere
      6. When Gaps Drill Holes in Your History
      7. When You’re Demoted a Notch
      8. When People in Recovery Interview
      9. When Women Are Put on the Spot
      10. When Disabilities Are Revealed
    7. Chapter 22: How Should You Answer a Questionable Question?
      1. Noting Questionable Questions
      2. Defining Illegal Questions
      3. Defining Inappropriate Questions
      4. Think First, Answer Second
      5. Redirect Inappropriate Questions
      6. Rehearsing Dicey Questions
  9. Part V: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 23: Ten Tips to Avoid Rotten Reviews
      1. Bring Storytelling into Prime Time
      2. Go in Knowing Your Lines
      3. Leave the Begging to Others
      4. Share the Stage with Dignity
      5. Remember How a Star Is Born
      6. Avoid Ad Libbing Ad Infinitum
      7. Keep in Mind the Interviewer Is Not Your New Best Friend
      8. Know That Faulty Assumptions Equal Faulty Interviewing
      9. Keep Emotions out of the Interview
      10. Ask Questions That Show You Care Where You Go
    2. Chapter 24: Ten Tricky Questions to Watch Out For
      1. Spot Purpose Behind Each Question
      2. When You’re Uncertain
    3. Chapter 25: Tens of Lines on the Cutting Room Floor
      1. From the Time Machine:News You Can’t Use
  10. Appendix: Questions by Career Fields and Industries
    1. Welcome to the Wrap Party
    2. Accounting
    3. Administrative
    4. Air Transportation
    5. Education
    6. Engineering
    7. Financial Services
    8. Hospitality
    9. Information Technology
    10. Law Enforcement
    11. Legal Services
    12. Management
    13. Nursing
    14. Sales
  11. Cheat Sheet

Product information

  • Title: Job Interviews For Dummies®, 4th Edition
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: December 2011
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781118112908