Title: Landing That First Job
1Landing That First Job?
- A Sharing Session for Students
- Of Industrial Systems Engineering
- National University of Singapore
Low Peck Kem Country HR Director
2Topics
- The Job Market
- Where to look for jobs?
- Preparing your brief
- Cover Letter
- Resume Writing
- Interviewing
- At the interview
- Follow Up
- The Correct Attitude?
3The Job Market in Singapore
- There has been a recovery
- Jobs are coming back
- We need to be careful
- Gone are the Golden 70s
- Gone are dotcom days in late 90s
- Emerging markets
- China, India and Thailand
- They could be your FUTURE employment countries
4Where To Look for Jobs?
The Press
Internet
Agencies
Networking
5Preparing Your Brief
- Writing that cover letter/resume
- Watch your grammar
- Show your enthusiasm
- Clean up your format
- Especially if you are submitting a hardcopy
application - Dont use fancy font
- Dont use fancy paper
- Address to the right company
- Be careful of typing over the addresses
- Consider using mail merge
6Use Action Verbs
7The Resume
- Your calling card and door opener
- Highlight pertinent information about your
skills, experience and achievements - Should be formatted (chronological or functional)
to - Accurately reflect you and the work you are
seeking - Document your qualifications
- Be customized for the reader and the position of
interest - Convey information that emphasizes your fit
8A Word About Online Applications
- Companies and recruiters soliciting applications
online - Include a cover letter
- Be careful about typing your resume in ASCII
format - Formatting features are lost
- Substitute
- Asterisks for bullets
- Dashes for lines
- Capital letters for bold or underlined text
- Spacebar for tabs
- Hard carriage returns for word wrap
9What Employers Look For In A Resume?
- CONTENT
- Summary of work-related experience
- Documentation of work-related experience
- Your ECA
- Your office bearer positions
- Documentation of achieved results
- Synopsis of work-related experience
- Keywords
- STYLE
- Clarity
- Succinctness
- Attractiveness
- Professional Appearance
- High Impact
10Remember! Tailor make your brief
- Every company believes it is unique
- Your cover letter/resume must respond to that
belief - Customize your cover letter/resume to meet the
specific requirements of a potential employer - Change, when necessary
- Your work objective
- Highlight certain accomplishments over others
- Keywords in your summary statement
11The Interview
12Before you attend the interview (1)
- Industry information
- Historic trends
- Recent trends
- Noteworthy companies within the industry
- Company information
- History, size, growth rate
- Profitability
- Financial history and current status
- Company Culture
- Changes in Company Structure
- Changes in Product Lines or Services
- RESEARCH
- To find out whether or not it is a place you want
to work - To discover what skills the job or the company
most values - To ask intelligent questions
- To give you an advantage over your fellow job
seekers
13Before You Attend The Interview (True or False)
- The person who would be your future manager is
your decision maker - The interviewer often feels as much anxiety as
the interviewee - The interviewer knows what he wants and knows how
to select the right candidate - The more prepared you are for the interview, the
better impression you will make - You should let the interviewer take the lead and
ask the questions. Your role should be answering
those questions in detail - You should continually sell yourself during the
interview - First impressions can make you or break you
14The Interview (1)
- The common questionTell Me About Yourself
- Your 90-sec introduction
Spend the bulk of the 30 secs on what you are
targeting (industry, function, even specific
companies)
Briefly explain your education/ career history
Q
Past
Future
And
60 secs
30 secs
Critical Juncture
End with a question to the listener
15The Interview (2)
- Beware of generalities
- I am extremely experienced
- Do you mean 2 years experience? 5 years? 20
years? - I have an exceptional record of service
- Do you mean achieving your fund raising quota?
- I have good communication skills
- Do you mean some presentations that you made that
helped to win accounts?
16The Interview (3)
17The Interview (4)
- What kind of skills do you have would benefit
this company? - I believe that my budgeting and sourcing skills
would benefit the company. In my last appointment
as the publisher for the Engineering Clubs
magazine, I was able to - Negotiate for another 5 new advertisers to be our
patrons - Source for a new commercial printer that charged
us S1,000 lesser for the printing costs - Overall, I was able to come in at S2,000 below
the allocated budget
18The Interview (5)
- What are your greatest strengths?
- Well some of my greatest strengths lie in the
areas of counseling, reporting and organization.
An example of an experience in which my
organizational skills are very important is a
call centre position I had with Agilent
Technologies. I was responsible for a caseload of
50 clients which meant that I had to keep careful
notes and records, and of course I had to review
these notes before each meeting with a client. I
was commended for the attention to detail in m
reports, which was able to provide because I had
kept such well organized files on my clients. I
am proud that because of my organizational
skills, I was able to handle such a large client
base. I am confident I will give your clients the
same level of respect and detailed, in depth
attention.
19The Interview (6)
- Dealing with Stress Interviews
- Could be a deliberate test
- Trick questions
- What would you do if you caught a fellow employee
stealing? - Why did you apply for this job?
- Question behind the question
- If you dont know the answer
- Wow! Thats a good question. Thats something
that I like to think about - Illegal questions
- Use a calm and tactful approach
20The Interview (7)
- Handling the Phone Interview
- Stand up while you re talking
- Smile
- Listen, extra carefully
- Keep your answers less than 90 seconds long
- Vary the pitch or tone of your voice more than
you normally would - If you like, put something you like in front of
you while you talk
21The Interview (8)
- Ask questions!
- Why is this position open?
- Why did the person most recently in this position
leave? - What would you like done differently by the next
person who does this work? - What are some of the objectives you would like
accomplish short-term and long-term? - What do you (the interviewer) like most about
working at the company? - Where could a person go who is successful in this
position, and within what time frame? - Now that we have talked about my qualifications,
do you have any concerns about me fulfilling the
responsibilities of this position
22Follow Up
- Write a thank you note within 48 hours
- Express your pleasure and interest
- Contain something that causes the interviewer to
remember you. - Send individual thank you letters to all those
who have interview you
- Post Analysis
- What went well? Why?
- What did not go well? Why?
- Would would I do differently if I were to repeat
the interview - What key facts did I learn?
- What interview skills must I further develop?
- How well did I listen to the responses I got?
- How does this company meet my needs?
- In what ways do I meet their needs?
23The Correct Attitude to Your Job Search
If I have a choice, I dont want to work past 7
p.m
I only want to work in marketing
I dont want to work in Changi South
I have not been successful so far. I hate to drag
myself to another interview
I expect a 10 increment
24What Employers Expect From Young Graduates?
- Punctuality
- Dress conservatively
- Traits
- Confidence
- Enthusiasm
- Diligence
- Persistence
- Willingness to learn
- Work discipline
- Less emphasis on money
25Happy Prospecting
Great works are performed not by strength, but by
perseverance Samuel Johnson