Fourteen tips on how to impress HR
What job interviewer thinks of when he or she reads your resume, contacts you for the first time or learns more about you during your interview? What’s behind all those questions that seem to be unrelated to the job and why do they ask the same things over and over again?
- Praise yourself in your resume
Simple listing of companies you worked for in the past, your responsibilities and your position isn’t enough. When it comes to resumes, good writing is always mentioning specific achievements you’ve reached at every job position you had.
- Make your resume specific
Don’t describe all working experience you ever had; choose only something that’s important for the job position you apply for. He same concerns additional courses you’ve taken. Good resume writing strategies include listing only the facts that will be significant for this separate job offer in this separate company.
- Ask for an outside opinion
Ask a friend, a relative, or a colleague to read your resume and tell you what they think. An outside opinion may help to see shortcoming you haven’t seen before. Working on a resume shouldn’t be like custom term papers, but you must be sure you didn’t miss anything of importance.
- Always attach a cover letter
Be sure to use the right cover letter format: don’t use generic cover letters. Address your employer personally and tell them what exactly you like about the company and why you think you are a perfect candidate.
- Think of your best traits
This will give you confidence and help you to shop yourself to your future employer. Make a list of 15 of your best traits – this will help you to answer the interview questions with no difficulty.
- 6. Analyze your weaknesses
While most people try to pass of their strengths as their weaknesses, that won’t fool an experienced HR. Tell about the things you are working on. You are an alive human being, and your job interviewer knows that.
- Get real references
There may be HRs at the companies you worked for in the past, your ex employers and your colleagues who would give you real references as a professional. Think of a list of people who could supply those and give it to your job interviewer. A bit of a resume writing advice: it’s not recommended to give fake references in your resume.
- Don’t avoid answering questions
If you don’t know what to answer, don’t think an HR would be distracted by a rant on an unrelated matter; it would make them wary. Be sincere; when you don’t know how to answer, say so.
- Think of your salary expectations beforehand
A job applicant who’s unsure about what kind of salary he or she wants looks strange. Think of this in advance: talk to colleagues, analyze statistics etc. At the job interview, tell them what kind of pay level you expect with confidence – you can always add that’s not final.
- Do your research about the company
When an HR asks you why you decided to choose their company, they want to know how much you know about them and how much you are interested in working there.
- Don’t try to threaten an HR
Don’t start playing games telling a job interviewer you’ve already got good offers from other companies and you may choose their competitors unless they hire you now. An experienced HR will see you are trying to manipulate them and this will not affect their final decision in a positive way.
- Harness your agitation
Worrying is perfectly normal. If you feel you’re worrying too much; tell your job interviewer about that. Ask for a glass of water. Sit down comfortably. Make eye contact, but don’t stare at your job interviewer all the time; people tend to interpret this as an aggressive behavior.
- Get ready for a stress interview
In fact, they must warn you they do stress interviews, but they don’t always do that. If you do happen to be on a stress interview, try to stay calm. Remember that you don’t have to do it if your job interviewer crosses the line and that you can always ask an HR why they ask the questions they do. You are never obligated to answer personal questions, but there may be reason why they ask them.
- Ask questions
They usually ask if you have any questions for them in the end of an interview. Don’t miss the chance to ask your questions and show how interested you are. Ask questions that are important for your values: possibilities for growth at the company, who is your supervising manager, what kind of team you will have to work with and so on.
Stay calm, believe in yourself and be positive. A person who looks confident and positive will seem appealing to any HR.
