Jobless Corner

Being prepared is half the battle.

If you are one of those executive types unhappy at your present post and embarking on a New Year’s resolution to find a new one, here’s a helping hand. The job interview is considered to be the most critical aspect of every expedition that brings you face-to- face with the future boss. One must prepare for it with the same tenacity and quickness as one does for a fencing tournament or a chess match.

This article has been excerpted from “PARTING COMPANY: How to Survive the Loss of a Job and Find Another Successfully” by William J. Morin and James C. Cabrera. Copyright by Drake Beam Morin, inc. Published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Morin is chairman and Cabrera is president of New York-based Drake Beam Morin, nation’s major outplacement firm, which has opened offices in Philadelphia.

Interview Questions

1. Tell me about yourself.
Since this is often the opening question in an interview, be extra careful that you don’t run off at the mouth. Keep your answer to a minute or two at most. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don’t waste your best points on it.

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At one point or another, we have all had to prepare a résumé to assist us in job hunting. If done well, résumés can put us in the running for an interview; conversely, if done poorly, they end up in the hiring manager’s recycling bin. This process should actually be easy since we are just talking about ourselves. No one knows your work history, qualifications and skills better than you. But truth be told, this is usually a daunting task.

Making years of experience fit on one or two pages is no easy task. Yet, while there is no one way to craft the perfect résumé, there are some moves guaranteed to hurt your job hunt.

Here are some résumé blunders you should avoid at all cost.

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