Tag: interviewing

Skills and opportunities

FabrizioLeave a comment

What is it that you are good at, and that you genuinely enjoy doing?

What type of companies would be interested in that?

Career and job seeking are areas in which past commitments do great damage. We get stuck looking at our worth through the lens of boxes everybody got used to look at: education, experience, field, language (for expats like myself).

Perhaps we put a lot into those boxes in the past, and therefore we are unwilling to let them go easily. And yet, years pass, things change, roles go by. We know something is not quite right, but as we have already invested so much into our path (and everybody is telling us that was, and still is, the right thing to do), we fail to veer from it.

What is it that you are good at, and that you genuinely enjoy doing?

What type of companies would be interested in that?

These two questions have the power to unlock change. Ask help to answer them. Those who have worked with you know what you are better at; those who have more knowledge of the job market know what opportunities might lie ahead.

The world is yours.

Applying

FabrizioLeave a comment

Few suggestions for the first step in a job application.

  • Though it depends on the role, for most two pages are enough: one for the cover letter, one for the CV.
  • Cover letter and CV are NOT supposed to say the same things. They are two sides of a coin.
  • This is a weird coin, as it as other sides too. So make sure that what you say in your application is consistent with what you say in public online (profiles descriptions, public posts, LinkedIn profile duh!, and so on).
  • The CV needs to feature the more relevant work experiences (if you have many, make a selection and add one or two sentences to summarise the rest); your education; your contacts; your relevant skills (list them, no elaboration needed). All the rest can be added IF you still have space in the page, but be considerate.
  • It is not necessary to customise the CV for every application, though it is possible.
  • It is absolutely necessary to customise the cover letter for every application.
  • Customisation for the cover letter means: the name of the person you are writing to (you can almost always find it); the name of the company you are applying to work for (sounds trivial, right?); a couple of sentences on why you are interested in the company; the key points in your career and life that make you a good candidate for the role AND the company.
  • These key points are the corner stone of the cover letter. Make them 2 or 3 maximum. Be sure that your narrative fits well with the position you are applying for AND (again) the company. Do not just state what you did or when, more importantly say what you/your team achieved and why it does matter.
  • In closing the cover letter, include everything that is very important to you (salary request, availability to travel, need for home office, etc.).
  • Once CV and cover letter are ready, read them once again. Delete all that is unnecessary (there is probably around a 10-15% at least).
  • Read everything again.

Following and picking

FabrizioLeave a comment

Repeatedly, over the course of your career, you will be asked to conform to certain standards or rules.

You need to meet certain requirements to get a job, for specific roles you will be asked specific qualifications, if you get to be a manager there are certain procedures you will have to adhere to. It is normal, and that’s what makes things somewhat reliable, trustworthy, known.

The fact is, there are two ways to go about standards and rules.

The first is to follow them. If they say you have to study a certain language to get a job, you do study it. If they say you need a certificate to be promoted, you do get the certificate. If they say you have to follow a procedure to advance your purpose, you do follow it.

The second is to pick them. Does it make sense? is the key question on this path. Will study that language add something to my value as an employee? Will it add to my story and my strengths? Will it make me more frustrated, because once I am done with that role, I will never be asked to use that language ever again?

You will probably surf between the two ways at different stages in your career. What matters most though, is that you understand that there are two ways, not one only.

Once you get to know what you are here for, what your value is, what your strengths are, what you have to offer and what you don’t have to offer, what sets you apart from the rest of us. Does it make sense to follow a rule that does not serve all of this?

Lies spread

FabrizioLeave a comment

Many years ago, I was once interviewing with a company, and during the hiring process I realised that they were lying to their audience.

It was not a big lie, it was about inflating some numbers to look bigger, something that most companies do. I was kind of surprised with the tone one of the executives in the room told me that was a lie: it felt like I was talking to a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar, he was very apologetic, and he had a very good and thorough explanation on the reasoning behind the lie.

That episode should have been an eye-opener to the culture I could have found in the day-to-day operations. Because the fact is, lies spread.

A lie leads to more lies. It is very difficult to stop at one lie, to just say this little one once, for the best possible reason, and then go back to telling the truth.

A lie infects others. It is more than likely that, if you start with a lie, others around you will not be honest and transparent in return.

A lie begs for a wider audience. If you tell a lie to your customers, chances are next you are going to lie to your business partner, to the shareholders, to the employees, to the community.

Interviews are full of these kind of hints. But we are often blind to them, as we tell ourselves the story that having a job is the priority. It is not, and we could be better at picking jobs that align with our values.