This week, Kitty talks about the importance of preparing for an interview whether it is a telephone screening call, a virtual, remote interview by Skype or Zoom, etc., or in person.
She stresses the importance of preparing by doing research on the company and understanding as much as possible about the company, its mission and vision, its culture, and the role you would be playing if you got the job.
Learn what you need to do to prepare including preparing questions to ask at the end. For suggestions for the kinds of questions to ask at the end of the interview, check out this article from The Muse: “When Your Interviewer Kicks It to You, Ask These Smart Questions.”
For more help, contact Kitty at kittyboitnott@gmail.com. If you would like to make an appointment, you can do that at https://teachersintransition.com/calendar.
This week, Kitty talks about the importance of preparing for an interview whether it is a telephone screening call, a virtual, remote interview by Skype or Zoom, etc., or in person.
She stresses the importance of preparing by doing research on the company and understanding as much as possible about the company, its mission and vision, its culture, and the role you would be playing if you got the job.
Learn what you need to do to prepare including preparing questions to ask at the end. For suggestions for the kinds of questions to ask at the end of the interview, check out this article from The Muse: “When Your Interviewer Kicks It to You, Ask These Smart Questions.”
For more help, contact Kitty at kittyboitnott@gmail.com. If you would like to make an appointment, you can do that at https://teachersintransition.com/calendar.
Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started a dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do. You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is kitty boy. Not I'm a career transition in job search coach. And I specialize in helping burn out teachers, just like you deal, not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day to day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for teachers in transition. In some episodes, I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes, I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track. These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is kitty. Boyk welcome to teachers in transition.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to episode 167 of teachers in transition the podcast and the YouTube channel. My name is kitty boy, not I am the owner of boy, not coaching. And the founder of teachers in transition. I am a heart centered career transition and job search coach. And I specialize in working with burnt out teachers who are ready for career change, but don't know how or where to begin. If you've listened to this podcast before you know that not only am I a trained and experienced career transition coach, but I'm also a certified stress management coach. And because of that, I a topics each week, one week talking about stress management strategies and on alternating weeks, I talk about career transition strategies. This week, a topic is career transition, change how to do it, what you need to think about when you are ready to make a change. And today, specifically, I want to speak to the interview, how to prepare for mentally as well as physically for an interview. Now in today's environment, there are several types of interviews that you might be asked to go through to, um, be a part of. It could be an, an interview that is technically a telephone screening interview. In that case, the interviewer is someone who is trying to determine for sure whether or not you are the kind of candidate that the company is looking for. They may ask questions specific to your experience and to the, uh, abilities that you have, what you can do, what specific responsibilities you've had, or what specific skills you have. And in that interview, it may be a 10, 15, 20 minute conversation that will result in either you're being told to expect, to be contacted by someone else for a more in depth screening interview or for an actual interview. Or they may say thank you for your time. And you'll never hear from them again, in that event, you move on. It wasn't meant to be that job. Wasn't yours, that they were looking for someone not you. And it's okay. It's not per, it's never personal. That's one thing I wanna make sure I make clear today. When you go through the interview process and you wind up not being selected, even though you may be tempted to take it personally, it is not a personal rejection of you. It simply means that they had a candidate who had more qualifications or more experience, or perhaps knew someone inside the company or organization, and therefore had an in that you simply did not have. So it's never personal. Believe me, I've sat in on plenty of interviews. I've seen how candidates or screened seen how they are selected. And it is never a matter of, well, I just don't. Didn't like that person, it's always a matter of this person is the most qualified. And so let's offer them the job that said there are things that you might be able to do in your preparation for an interview that would give you something of an advantage. If you are careful about your preparation. So, first thing is to understand the distinction between the different kinds of interviews. Don't put too much stock or, um, interest in a job that may, may be a screen. You know, the interview is just a screening job. Um, if you're, if you're being screened as a preliminary, the chances of you're not being selected are just as good as chances of you being selected. So don't put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to having one of those kinds of interviews coming up. Now, having said that you do wanna prepare, you wanna prepare like you would for the real deal, which means knowing as much as you possibly can about the company, about the people who run the company about what their mission and vision statements are, what it is that they do, how many departments do they have, how many people are working for this company, what is their culture? You can find ways to ferret that out through, um, LinkedIn connections that you may have through looking at, uh, websites like Glassdoor, to find out what people have to say about working at that particular company. There are reviews of companies on Glassdoor that can give you a sense of what the culture of the company is like. There are, and you can study their website. And when I say study, I mean, literally study it like you were studying for an exam. You want to know as much about the company as possible and in any interview to really set yourself apart from most of the other candidates that they may be talking to. You wanna be asking questions indicating the depth of your interest and understanding in the company in the role that you are applying for, the more educated you can sound, the more, the, the more researched you can sound the better, because they're looking for someone who has a deep interest in working with them and for them. So do your research. Don't gloss over it, even if it's just for a telephone interview, knowing as much as you can about the company and the role that you're being screened for can make a difference. If you, if you haven't done the research, you'll certainly not be selected. If you have done the research, you might set yourself apart from some other of the candidates. So do your research. Now, if you are asked to prepare for a virtual remote interview using Skype or zoom or some other video platform, you also wanna prepare for that interview, like you were preparing for the real deal. And by that, I mean, not only doing the research that you need to do regardless, but also dress for the part so that you look the part, even though you may be virtual, don't skip over, you know, wearing a jacket top and, and shirt, and then no pants<laugh>, you don't know that you might not be required to stand up for some reason. So you don't wanna be caught with your pants down, for example. So you wanna be sure that you're wearing a complete outfit. If you're a woman, a dress or a suit is fine. If you're a gentleman now, whether or not you wear a tie is optional, but wearing a nice crisp, clean shirt is not an option you need to wear that you need to, to, again, dress like you were going in for the real deal, all the way down to your shoes and socks. It makes a difference in how you comport yourself. If you are in your PJs, you hold yourself differently. You sound different than if you are dressed for success. So dress for success, even if it's a virtual zoom like meeting. Certainly if you're going in for the real interview in person, you want to dress, not just for the role that you are applying for, but for one step above that, that is old traditional advice that I believe still holds true. You want to dress for the part and even for something better. So you wanna look professional in every way, take extra time with your hair. Uh, if you're a woman, even if you don't usually wear makeup, a little bit of powder goes a long way. A little bit of mascara can help to make you look polished. You want to make sure that your shoes are not scuffed and that they've been polished recently, hoes, that if you wear hose, now these days, a lot of women don't wear hose, even if they're wearing skirts or dresses. And that's, that's a personal choice, especially depending on the weather, but be sure that you look well groomed and, and ready for the type of job that you're applying for. So in addition to informed about every aspect of the company and the job that you're applying for, you wanna look the part in addition, I always recommend that you take a few hard copies of your resume. That way, if you are being interviewed by a panel, you can hand them out to the people who are on the panel. Even if you are just meeting with an HR director or a hiring manager, one on one, having a hard copy of your resume that may look a little more attractive, a little more polished than whatever they've printed off of the printer might make an extra good impression at the end of the day. Not only do you wanna be prepared to answer their questions about you and your experience, your viability as a candidate for the job that you are applying for. You also wanna be prepared with questions of your own, do not underestimate the importance of asking good high quality questions. At the end of any interview, my colleagues recommend that you have at least 20 questions written down on a piece of paper inside of a portfolio that you've carried in with you, so that when they get to the point and they will, at the end of the interview, they will say, do you have any questions for us, a death nail to any interview is no, you've answered all my questions. Thanks. I, I think I got it. That indicates a lack of in to them, to the listeners that indicates a real lack of interest on your part. A lack of curiosity, a lack of caring, whether or not you are selected and an overall bad impression that you'll leave as the end of your interview. So whatever you do ask three or four or five or more, however long, they'll let you ask, ask as many questions as you can. Now, where do you get the questions? Will you study the website and anything that wasn't covered in the interview, you need to ask anything that was said in the interview that you're not a hundred percent clear about. You should ask a follow up to. You want to turn the end of your interview in when, if it's possible before the end of the interview into a conversation so that it's less an interrogation and more of a back and forth conversation. The best interviews are the ones that are conversations between colleagues, people who know enough to be offering thoughts, insights, ideas, about things that may be going on inside the company. I used to have a colleague who used to say that there are only three reasons that anybody ever gets hired for any job. One is that you can save them money. Another is that you can make them money. That's a little difficult for most teachers who are transitioning, making money, saving money. That's usually not in their wheelhouse, but the third reason that people get hired is that you can solve a problem for them. If you've done your homework, if you've actually dive deep into their website, you may be able to come up with some insights about things that they could be doing better to make themselves, uh, stronger, more financially stable, um, more attractive to their customers. Anything that you can offer that indicates that you know how to identify and solve a problem that they may or may not have identified, but haven't addressed yet. That is a way to get yourself fully engaged in the possibility of being selected as a final candidate, if not the candidate. So consider how you might be able to solve a problem for the company or organization and focus on that as part of your interview. Otherwise you just need to be prepared to the extent that you can possibly be prepared. And by answering questions, maybe going through some mock interviews, get some friends to ask questions that you're probably going to be asked so that you can prepare in advance your answers. You don't wanna sound rehearsed, but you also don't wanna go in there. Totally unprepared so that because you're gonna be nervous, it's normal for anyone, no matter how high up the executive chain they go, an interview makes anybody nervous. If you haven't fully prepared, everything you want to say before you get inside the door, you are likely to go blank. And suddenly when you were perfectly, uh, able to speak before you suddenly start eyeing and uming and ING and eyeing, and it's, it's not pretty. When that happens, you want to start off your interview with confidence and ease and poise. And the way to do that is to practice your initial answer, which is tell us a little bit about yourself. You want to focus on your career. You want to focus on your particular achievements in your career. And after that, they're probably going to ask you, so why are you leaving your current situation? You need to have a prepared answer for that. It cannot sound like sour, grapes. It cannot sound whiny or complaining because if it does, they're going to get the idea that they can't make you happy either. And so they'll move on to the next candidate. You need to be prepared with a good, authentic, and honest answer to the question, why are you leaving? So that the answer is more about what you can offer them, why you're interested in them and their company and why you believe you'd be a great candidate. And that that's the reason you're leaving your current company, your, your current situation, you are truly interested in what you might be able to do with this organization. So prepare your answers in advance. Know what you're going to probably be asked. There are plenty of places. You can go online to find the general questions as you're going to be asked, you can also find ans uh, questions to ask at the end of the interview by going online. And if that is of interest to you, you can check out one of the links that I've got in the show notes for this week. Questions that you should be asking at the end of any interview, it might help to jog your thinking about what you might ask. If you have additional questions about interviewing email me at kitty boy, not gmail.com as always. If you would please rate and review this podcast to help other people find it. If you're watching the YouTube channel, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. And let me know if you have ideas or suggestions for other podcast episodes, that would be helpful to you help you in your career transition. That's it for this week, stay well, stay safe, and I will see you next week.
Speaker 1:So there you have it. An episode of teachers in transition. I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to teachers in transition so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode, I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at kitty boy Nott at boy Nott, coaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. I'm kitty boy not. And this is teachers in transition.