Interviews

You receive a letter inviting you for an interview. Reply immediately and mention the following points :

a Thank them for the invitation.

b Say whether you can attend or not and repeat the date, time and place of the interview.

с Answer any invitation to look around before your interview.

If you have meantime accepted a job elsewhere, you should still reply—you never know when you may need a job there in the future!

Before the day of the interview, decide what you will wear. Choose something neat and smart.

Remember that first impressions can mean a lot. Try to avoid looking over-dressed; in particular girls should not wear too much jewellery, heavy make-up, or shoes that are difficult to walk in. Your clothes should be clean and well-pressed and do not forget also to clean your shoes, and accessories. Both boys and girls should have tidy hair and clean fingernails.

The Big Day

On the day of the interview, give yourself time to relax and compose your feelings by leaving plenty of time for your journey. If you arrive a little early, then so much the better; you will have time to check your appearance before meeting your possible future employer. Report to the enquiry office when you arrive. They will know of your appointment and will direct you to a waiting-room.

When it is your turn to be inter­viewed, you will be called into the interview office. Reply to the usual greeting in a clear, firm voice. When offered a seat, sit in a relaxed but upright position. Listen carefully to the questions asked and answer them clearly and concisely. You are usually given the opportunity at some point during the interview to put your own questions. Use this occasion to clear up any points on which you are unsure. Be certain that they are relevant to the job.

At the end of your interview, thank them politely for inviting you and go to the place where you are to wait for the outcome of the interview. Close the door quietly behind you as you leave.

If your application is successful you will be given details relating to conditions of service, insurance and pension schemes and told when you may start the job. Keep a record of the date of start­ing your job. This may be required when you later move to a new job.

Applying for a Job

Part I. Preparation

You've decided to change careers. Or you are between jobs. Whatever the reason, you're looking for a new position. If you're job-hunting you can use the help of employment agencies. There are state employment agencies that don't receive fees for finding jobs for people. And there are also some private employment agencies, which receive a fee. Some state employment agencies see applicants without an appointment and they can spend just a few minutes with each applicant because as a rule they deal with non-skilled positions. But in private agen­cies dealing with high-salaried jobs a counselor spends much more time with each applicant and he (or she) may be able to see only a few applicants a day.

You can also study the ads of job opportunities being published. An­nouncements of job opportunities can be read in different printed publica­tions. But don't put much trust in ads in the yellow press. Solid companies place ads in prestigious expensive pub­lications with a firm reputation. The structure of job opportunities ads is usually the same: the name of the com­pany and the position they need, the list of candidate's professional duties, the demands made of the candidate, and the system of compensation and benefits. Carefully read the demands made of the given position. The de­mand to know a foreign language is very important. In most cases there is a need for free command of the lan­guage — 'Fluent English.' Free command implies an ability freely to deal with a foreign manager, competently compile documents and speak on the phone. This demand may prove to be the most important.

When you've finally found an ap­propriate position, you'll have to go through the stressful experience of a job interview either in the agency or in the company. But if you prepare yourself properly, you can minimize the stress and at the same time greatly increase your chances of getting the position you want.

The preparation must be threefold; you’ll have to do some research on the company you're going to be interviewed with; you must write an effective resume; and you have to rehearse. Yes, rehearse. Don't laugh: this is much more important than you may think. Remember that a job interview is stress­ful, and under stress a person auto­matically reverts to what he is used to doing. So you need to create a prece­dent for yourself, one you’ll be able to fall back on if the need arises.

Think about some questions an in­terviewer is likely to ask: "What do you know about our company? What can you contribute to our company? How does your educational and pro­fessional background fit in with our needs? Why do you think you're the right person we need? What are your good and bad qualities?" and so on. You should answer each of these ques­tions straightforwardly, truthfully, pos­itively with assurance but without brag­ging. Try to avoid strong negations such as "I don't know," "I don't want" etc, in other words try to be more flexible. If you don't have a ready answer now, formulate it and rehearse.

If you have a tape recorder, tape your­self, listen to yourself, and critique yourself. But don't criticize — a very important distinction, don't say "What am I doing wrong?", ask rather, "What can I improve?"

The research on the company need not be in depth. Practically all the in­formation is available on the Internet. Find out how long your target compa­ny has worked; what fields its activi­ties cover, what countries its opera­tions are in, who the competitors are.

And now read some pieces of ad­vice for job-hunters.

• Let as many people as possible know that you're a job-hunter.

• Learn ahead of time about the company and its activities.

• Send your applications to as many companies as possible.

• Stress your qualification for the vacancy.

• Describe the experience you've gained which makes you the right person for the position.

• Talk and think more about the future than the past.

• Stress where possible your stabi­lity, responsible attitude and ability to mix with any people.

• Show your self-possession and self-control. Try to overcome nervousness.

• Stress your flexibility and readi­ness to learn.

• Don't discuss your previous expe­rience which has no connection to the present situation.

• Don't hedge in answering ques­tions.

• Don't avoid contacts which might be useful in finding a job.