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The Job Fit

Find the right Function. Functions represent job titles and tasks, such as engineer and graphic artist or market research and product development.

The JOB Interest

Identify your ideal Industry and Interests. Industry refers to where you will apply your functional skills, whereas Interests tap a specialty area that you connect with, or are especially enthusiastic about.

What is the Mattter?

Think about the Things That Matter. What you do in your career should align with your values and needs, that way, you will find greater energy, motivation, and career satisfaction. Employers value employees with energy and motivation. What motivates you? Autonomy? Authority? Influence? Monetary reward? Recognition? Teamwork? Variety?

Define Fulfillment

Define Fulfillment. Fulfillment transforms your job from pay to purpose. Fulfillment, or purpose, is the reason why you work. To define fulfillment, pay attention to the tingle factor the addictive feeling that comes when you do something you absolutely love.

Raise the Bar

Enhance your Identity. Your identity, what you believe about yourself, is directly linked to the type of position youll target. You are usually capable of accomplishing much more than you believe you can. Raise the bar on beliefs, you will be pushed beyond your previous self expectation.

Personality types

Know your personality Type. Understanding your type allows you to pursue positions that complement, rather than clash with, your personality preferences. The basic tenets of personality type measure four scales: Energythe focus of your energy and attention flows to the outer world or is directed toward inner experiences and reflection. Perceptionyour preference for taking in information via what is or what could be Judgmentyour preference for making decisions based on facts and logic or personal/social values and Orientationyour preference for coming to closure or remaining open to more information .

Telling Stories

Detailing your answers in a story telling format is remarkably effective. Use an anecdotal method to structure your relevant success stories, remembering to include contextual situational clues; sequential actions; numbers driven results; a strong link to the employers needs for the vacant position.

The Details

Fill your stories with numbers, such as year-to-year comparisons, records, past highs, past lows, target goals, size of project, number of persons involved, and budget or project figures (when not confidential!) Details, give your successes credibility and weight. Interviewers will respond positively to such detail. Avoid being long winded.

Leading Story

Remember , it is all about them and not about you. Interviewers will filter your story for relevancy to their organisation.

You are there to solve their problems and not to detail your features; they want to hear about the benefits of hiring you.

Authenticity

Authentic image; sound knowledge of your advantages and self awareness project an image of your authentic self; focus on the advantages the employer receives from you, for getting thejob done, and make employers aware of those advantages.

The 3 Point Message

Hone your benefits into a Three-Point Marketing Message that conveys your unique strengths. This is a critical sound bite.

The Verbal Business Card

Create a Verbal Business Card to keep you focused; help networking contacts know how to help you and explain your value to interviewers.Align your statement with employer expectations.

Story of Yourself

Mix and match your success stories and sound bites to create a comfortable yet compelling Story of Yourself. Consider using a tagline that helps people remember you in a unique and favorable light. Practice, you must be able to deliver your sound bites naturally, without appearing as though youve memorised a script.

Inner Thoughts

Success starts on the inside, with the inner action of thought and choice. Consciously be aware of your thought life. Hold a picture of your objective future, remind yourself of the value you offer employers and frame situations from a possibility perspective. Do not entertain irrational positive thoughts, this is a manged process, using practical steps and actions driven by rational thinking.

The Power of Habits

Identify your inspirational triggers (being with other people, researching, exercising, and so on) and weave them into your daily or weekly habits.We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, it is a habit Aristotle

Controllables

Controllables include soft items like your attitude, self-talk, and self-image, as well as hard items, such as devoting a certain number of hours each week to networking and preparing for interviews; putting contingency plans in place; managing your time; taking care of yourself.

Act Successful

Act like you have value. Adopt the attitudes; actions; vocabulary; dress; posture; knowledge; habits; self-talk and mindset that personify people who are successful in your target position.

Assessment Tests

Dont try to ace a personality test or fake any psychometric assessment. Most of these tests are constructed to detect socially desirable responding.

The Big Five

Employers typically prefer candidates with psychological attributes that correlate to the Big Five personality factors: extroversion (social leadership); emotional stability; receptivity (openness to new experiences); accommodation (agreeableness); self-control conscientiousness).Employers generally favour answers that reflect these factors.

The Value Focus

When taking personality tests, focus fully on your value and your positive traits. Dont allow personal stress, work stress, or other factors to cloud your true traits.Answer questions from the perspective of how the employer would like to see you operate within a work environment.

Behaviour Questions

Recognise behavioral interview questions by introductory phrases such as Tell me/us about a time when you, Describe a situation where you, Give me/us an example of, or In the past, how have you handled.

Probing Questions

After the anchor question, be prepared for probing questions, such as What was your specific role? Who else was involved? How did you decide which task to do first? How did the outcome affect the company? What might you have done differently? and How has that affected the way you would approach the situation today?

Model Behaviour

Competencies drive behavior! Competencies are capabilities, skills, and talents that make the behavior easy or enjoyable to perform. Employers look at the behaviors of top performers in similar positions to identify competencies. You may model yourself after top performers, remembering behaviour may not demonstrate knowledge.

Common Competencies

There are more than 50 common competencies in demand by employers. Among the most important are initiative/ drive/ energy and communication skills. Search job postings and job descriptions to create a master list of key competencies for your target position.

Interview Support

Interviewing isnt a sport, a battle, or a magic show designed to trick someone into hiring you. Its about offering your best case for why youre the right person for the job and able to support the company.

Listen & Tell

It is impossible to connect with others if you dont listen well.Remember your objective; engage the interviewer; share succinctly; point to benefits; offer proof; never drone on; dedicate yourself to a win-win relationship.

Ask for the position!

Express desire for the position, and ask for the job! Many an interviewer has passed over a wholly qualified candidate because the candidate did not appear motivated to do the job. Motivation to do the job can be as important as qualifications for the job.

Follow Up

It is very important to always follow up an interview with a Thank you to every one that interviewed you individually. A short email is fine.

And thank you to you, for watching this presentation, we hope you find it useful.

Futurepoint are a synthesis of management and education professionals. It is headed up by Paul Walsh and located in County Waterford. Paul has worked in the Irish public transport and the multi national industrial sector. He has also expanded his career portfolio into the education and training sector. He has successfully managed complex multi million Euro operations, delivering business process improvement, employee development, change mangement, and managing diverse multi level employee relations. He has specialisation in recruitment, employee training, team building, employee engagement & intervention, communications, interviewing & selection. He has developed adult education courses for third level colleges such as UCC, WIT, and delivered training to such professional bodies as members of the Irish Law Society. He has also worked in second level education delivering career guidance teaching. He holds a BA Degree from University College Cork, a Diploma in Business Studies from Waterford Institute of Technology, a Diploma in Management from the Irish Management Institute, and a Masters Degree in Law from The University of Wales. Futurepoint is a leading enterprise delivering smart strategies primarily to the graduate and the broader professional community in career development & management.

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