04 Mar 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XVII

Written by: bikram

This is 17th post of the series written to help people over 45 secure jobs for them. We have come a long way. I hope by now you have gained enough confidence and rearing up to go. Some of you might have gone ahead and secured a job. This series is approaching its end now. It would be no more than 2 posts in this series. So, before it gets over, let us get together and pour everything on paper for you to see and use it.

Plan, Plan, and Plan

Planning is important. It takes the surprise factor and blind spot out of the equation. Review the list of common questions asked in an interview, and prepare an answer for each one of them. Do not mug up. Just make yourself comfortable with the questions. During the planning process also find a way out to blunt the ruthless edge of your negative characteristics. Do not make it look like your biggest asset, but soften its edge and make it look less damaging.

Look uber-cool

Well, I do not intend to suggest that you should take in all those garbage being consumed by teenagers in the name of fashion and “walking ahead of time”. All I want to suggest is to look up-to-date and in the know of things that matter to the job you are being interviewed for.

When I say up-to-date I also mean up-to-date in your appearance. I know it was not the first thing you expected to read when you wake up in the morning, but it important. You will not like to look like a black sheep among all the white clones. Dress as the way people younger to your dress, at least for the interview. It will convey the person on the other side of the table that you may be chronologically from different group, but your psychosocial make is same as his own.

Tell them you will learn

Do not flinch if you are faced with a question that you do not know answer of, or if you have asked about a technology which you have never heard of. Tell your interviewer that you are unaware of thing in question, but you will learn it sooner than expected, and if you are promised the job, you can start learning right from today. This will tell your interviewer, how much keen you are for the job, and how much time you are willing to devote for that. The interviewer will not pass unimpressed.

What else do you think is necessary to excel in an interview? Use the comment box and send in your suggestions.

Tags: Appearance, Black Sheep, Blind Spot, Clones, Common Questions Asked In An Interview, Confidence, Fashion, Garbage, Interviewer, Job Guide, Job Help, Job Search, Jobs, Negative Characteristics, Psychosocial, Questions Asked In An Interview, Search People, Surprise, Teenagers, Things That Matter