Top 10 Interview Tips for New College Graduates

List of Top 10 interview tips for college students.
1. Do your homework on the job, the organization, the competition and the industry. Reading the website is the minimum. Tap your college and/or high school alumni network and your parents' network to get the inside scoop. Most students don't read business magazines, newspapers or trade journals, so when you do, you'll stand out from the crowd. Doing this homework will prevent you from asking really obvious -- and naïve -- questions.
2. Anticipate and prepare for the typical questions with strong personal answers. "Tell me about yourself." "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" "Tell me about your greatest accomplishments." "Share a time you failed and how you responded to the situation." "Why do you want this job?" "Why this organization?" Have your answers and examples so well rehearsed that it's natural.
3. Develop 5-7 adaptable stories from your resume related to the job you're seeking. Start with the situation by describing the context and problem. Then explain what you did to improve the situation and describe the results in quantifiable terms. This demonstrates that you understand the importance and the impact of your personal contributions. With these stories prepared in advance, you can adapt them to various questions.
4. Frame your answers to show how you will add value to the organization. Many students too often focus on why they want the job, what they will get out of it, and why it will be good for them. Turn the tables and explain how and why you can and will benefit the organization. Find ways to tactfully mention what they'd gain if they hired you (or how much they'd miss out on if they didn't).
5. Use the right vocabulary. Surprise an employer by actually being able to translate how your academic or extracurricular experiences have helped to prepare you for the role you're interviewing for -- using words in the job description. Very few students can do this. For example, if you're a theatre major, describe how you managed and promoted a play or musical production using your project management, creativity and sales skills.
6. Prepare two or three 'go-to' questions that demonstrate you prepared in advance and your strategic thinking. There's a difference between "Tell me about the culture" and "Tell me about how major decisions are made here and provide an example of a recent decision and the process used." Or, "I read that the organization is changing its strategic direction. How will that affect this business unit?" Avoid questions where answers are on the website.
7. Practice interviewing out loud with mentors, adult fans or even in the mirror. Most students have not done many (if any) job interviews - and definitely not when under pressure. It's important to hear the words you intend to speak, including the tone, emphasis, inflections and facial impressions, so that you don't blow it when it really counts. It's rare to get a second chance.
8. Demeanor, humble self-confidence, personality and enthusiasm really matter. Smile! Allow your voice tone, words and body language to communicate your genuine excitement about the opportunity. It will be a significant decision factor for your interviewer. If you don't, your interviewer will question if you really want the job or if you're going to be committed to the organization. This is one of the top reasons why people do not get job offers.
9. Don't judge a book by its cover. Many students have difficulty getting excited about entry-level jobs because they feel overqualified or discouraged that the work will not be fulfilling. In each interview, your primary objective is to get invited back for another interview and to eventually secure an offer. As you progress through the process, many find that the job and organization are much more interesting than they originally thought.
10. Finish strong and follow up. Always close with a final statement that makes it crystal clear that you are genuinely excited and interested in the opportunity, including why you'd be a great hire and fit for the job and organization. Clarify next steps and the timeline. Email a thank you note less than 24 hours after the interview while it is still fresh on your mind. Articulate your fit and why they should hire you specific to the interview conversations. Every interviewer expects a thank you note from each candidate, so no note is a sign of no interest and no professionalism. To really stand out, also send a neatly hand-written thank you note soon after the interview.

Source:Internet

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Things Interviewers Want to Know

Here are 6 things that interviewers want to know about you:


What you know - This includes your background, training and skill sets. They want to find out if you have the skills to do the job and if you are someone who thinks outside of the box or someone who prefers to stick with tried and true methods. Neither of these are wrong, but most employers know which type of person they are looking for, depending on the position they are trying to fill.

How do you handle change or conflict - Employers want to know that the person they hire has a good handle on social and interpersonal skills. 


Balance - If you say that you've always done an excellent job at everything you have ever done, have no weaknesses and already know everything, then the employer might think that you aren't realistic. Don't be afraid to show how you have grown, that you are aware of the areas where you need more growth and that you aren't always perfect. Of course, you don't want to overdo this, but don't be afraid of everything you think isn't "perfect" in your work history.


Blaming others and trash talking - When they ask about previous employers and other times that you have worked as a team, don't take this as an opportunity to pull out all of the dirty laundry. In fact, you should never, ever talk bad about anyone during an interview. Employers are listening to what you say in order to find out if you are the type of person who gives credit to others and if you are able to take responsibility.


Personality type - The interviewer wants to know what kind of person you are. When you answer their questions, they are looking to find out if you are have compassion, wisdom and the willingness to listen and think before acting. For any job opening, the hiring manager has an idea of what type of person they are looking for and what qualities are best suited for the job. Know what they are and make sure that you show those sides of yourself when answering questions during the interview.


Just being able to understand what the employer is looking for is the best first step to preparing for your interview. Do some research to find out what skills and talents the company needs and frame your answers in that direction.
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6 Factors That Can Cost You the Interview-Job

Most job seekers know that an unprofessional appearance will count against them at an interview. Here are six MORE factors that can help you remain in the unemployment line:

(1) Being unprepared for the interview. Prepare, plan, and practice! In today's tough job market, you MUST do everything you can to give yourself an edge... preparation is the key.

(2) Not being able to communicate clearly and effectively. This is important during the interview and on the job. Being nervous can really mess up your communication skills, so being well prepared and practicing what you're going to say are always your best bet.

(3) Being aggressive, arrogant, or acting in a superior way. No one wants to hire or work with people who think they're better than everyone else. Be careful with your attitude, even if you think you're surrounded by incompetent fools. Being confident is good. Being an arrogant jerk is bad.

(4) Making excuses for failings. Your teacher never bought "The dog ate my homework!" and your boss isn't going to buy "The finance department gave me the wrong figures!" In the grown-up world, you have to take responsibility for what you are responsible for! You'll never earn respect by blaming others when things go wrong.

(5) Saying unfavorable things about previous employers. Even if you left a job because the boss was an egomaniac who took credit for all of your hard work, verbally abused you in front of others, and poisoned the plant on your desk, don't say anything bad about him/her during an interview. When asked "Why did you leave your last job?" say something like "My manager and I both agreed that my advancement opportunities were limited there and obtaining another position was the best option for me and my career goals."

(6) Having a poor/limp handshake. Why do people think you'll be a lousy employee if you have a lousy handshake? That's not really logical, is it? Doesn't matter. It just turns people off and gives them a bad impression of you. So make your handshake firm and confident but not bone-crushing. (It's not a competition to see who winces first!)

If you DON'T want to be unemployed, don't let any of those traits apply to you!

Interview is Gateway to Your Desired Job & Career, But Still You Have to Face the Cometition, so You Must be Prepared Before Time.

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Tips on Resume Writing

1. What IS a resume anyway?
Remember: a Resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best possible light, for the purpose of getting invited to a job interview.
It's not an official personnel document. It's not a job application. It's not a "career obituary"! And it's not a confessional.

2. What should the resume content be about?
It's not just about past jobs! It's about YOU, and how you performed and what you accomplished in those past jobs--especially those accomplishments that are most relevant to the work you want to do next. A good resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job.

3. What's the fastest way to improve a resume?
Remove everything that starts with "responsibilities included" and replace it with on-the-job accomplishments. (See Tip 11 for one way to write them.)

4. What is the most common resume mistake made by job hunters?
Leaving out their Job Objective! If you don't show a sense of direction, employers won't be interested. Having a clearly stated goal doesn't have to confine you if it's stated well.

5. What's the first step in writing a resume?
Decide on a job target (or "job objective") that can be stated in about 5 or 6 words. Anything beyond that is probably "fluff" and indicates a lack of clarity and direction.

6. How do you decide whether to use a Chronological resume or a Functional one? The Chronological format is widely preferred by employers, and works well if you're staying in the same field (especially if you've been upwardly-mobile). Only use a Functional format if you're changing fields, and you're sure a skills-oriented format would show off your transferable skills to better advantage; and be sure to include a clear chronological work history!

7. What if you don't have any experience in the kind of work you want to do?
Get some! Find a place that will let you do some volunteer work right away. You only need a brief, concentrated period of volunteer training (for example, 1 day a week for a month) to have at least SOME experience to put on your resume.
Also, look at some of the volunteer work you've done in the past and see if any of THAT helps document some skills you'll need for your new job.

8. What do you do if you have gaps in your work experience?
You could start by looking at it differently.
General Rule: Tell what you WERE doing, as gracefully as possible--rather than leave a gap.
If you were doing anything valuable (even if unpaid) during those so-called "gaps" you could just insert THAT into the work-history section of your resume to fill the hole. Here are some examples:

• 1993-95 Full-time parent -- or


• 1992-94 Maternity leave and family management -- or


• Travel and study -- or Full-time student -- or


• Parenting plus community service

9. What if you have several different job objectives you're working on at the same time? Or you haven't narrowed it down yet to just one job target?
Then write a different resume for each different job target. A targeted resume is MUCH, much stronger than a generic resume.

10. What if you have a fragmented, scrambled-up work history, with lots of short-term jobs?
To minimize the job-hopper image, combine several similar jobs into one "chunk," for example:

• 1993-1995 Secretary/Receptionist; Jones Bakery, Micro Corp., Carter Jewelers -- or


• 1993-95 Waiter/Busboy; McDougal's Restaurant, Burger King, Traders Coffee Shop.

Also you can just drop some of the less important, briefest jobs.
But don't drop a job, even when it lasted a short time, if that was where you acquired important skills or experience.

11. What's the best way to impress an employer?
Fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and finally you point out the beneficial results.

Here's an example: "Transformed a disorganized, inefficient warehouse into a smooth-running operation by totally redesigning the layout; this saved the company thousands of dollars in recovered stock."

Another example: "Improved an engineering company's obsolete filing system by developing a simple but sophisticated functional-coding system. This saved time and money by recovering valuable, previously lost, project records."

12. What if your job title doesn't reflect your actual level of responsibility?
When you list it on the resume, either replace it with a more appropriate job title (say "Office Manager" instead of "Administrative Assistant" if that's more realistic) OR use their job title AND your fairer one together, i.e. "Administrative Assistant (Office Manager)"



13. How can you avoid age discrimination?
If you're over 40 or 50 or 60, remember that you don't have to present your entire work history! You can simply label THAT part of your resume "Recent Work History" or "Relevant Work History" and then describe only the last 10 or 15 years of your experience. Below your 10-15 year work history, you could add a paragraph headed "Prior relevant experience" and simply refer to any additional important (but ancient) jobs without mentioning dates.

14. What if you never had any "real" paid jobs -- just self-employment or odd jobs? Give yourself credit, and create an accurate, fair job-title for yourself. For example:

• A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed) -- or


• Household Repairman, Self-employed -- or


• Child-Care, Self-employed

Be sure to add "Customer references available on request" and then be prepared to provide some very good references of people you worked for.

15. How far back should you go in your Work History?
Far enough; and not too far! About 10 or 15 years is usually enough - unless your "juiciest" work experience is from farther back.

16. How can a student list summer jobs?
Students can make their resume look neater by listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1996" or "Summer 1996" rather than 6/96 to 9/96. (The word "Spring" can be in very tiny letters, say 8-point in size.)

17. What if you don't quite have your degree or credentials yet?
You can say something like:

• Eligible for U.S. credentials -- or


• Graduate studies in Instructional Design, in progress -- or


• Master's Degree anticipated December 1997

18. What if you worked for only one employer for 20 or 30 years?
Then list separately each different position you held there, so your job progression within the company is more obvious.

19. What about listing hobbies and interests?
Don't include hobbies on a resume unless the activity is somehow relevant to your job objective, or clearly reveals a characteristic that supports your job objective. For example, a hobby of Sky Diving (adventure, courage) might seem relevant to some job objectives (Security Guard?) but not to others.

20. What about revealing race or religion?
Don't include ethnic or religious affiliations (inviting pre-interview discrimination) UNLESS you can see that including them will support your job objective. Get an opinion from a respected friend or colleague about when to reveal, and when to conceal, your affiliations.

21. What if your name is Robin Williams?
Don't mystify the reader about your gender; they'll go nuts until they know whether you're male or female. So if your name is Lee or Robin or Pat or anything else not clearly male or female, use a Mr. or Ms. prefix.

22. What if you got your degree from a different country?
You can say "Degree equivalent to U.S. Bachelor's Degree in Economics-Teheran, Iran."

23. What about fancy-schmancy paper?
Employers tell me they HATE parchment paper and pretentious brochure-folded resume "presentations." They think they're phony, and toss them right out. Use plain white or ivory, in a quality appropriate for your job objective. Never use colored paper unless there's a very good reason for it (like, you're an artist) because if it gets photo-copied the results will be murky.

24. Should you fold your resume?
Don't fold a laser-printed resume right along a line of text. The "ink" could flake off along the fold.

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Phone Interview Tips

There are three basic types of telephone interviews:

1. You initiate a call to the Hiring Manager and he or she is interested in your background. The call from that point forward is an interview.
2. A company calls you based upon a previous contact. You will likely be unprepared for the call, but it is still an interview.
3. You have a pre-set time with a company representative to speak further on the phone.

Here are some phone interview tips to help you:

1. Be Prepared

For preparing the phone interview, there are several things you can do. To prepare for the phone interview you can consider the following points:

* You can keep all of your employer research materials within easy reach of the phone.
* You can tape your resume to a wall near the phone. It will help a lot during the call and will be a constant reminder for your job search.
* Have a notepad handy to take notes.

If the phone interview will occur at a set time, Following are some additional points you have to consider:

* Turn off call waiting on your phone.
* Place a "Do Not Disturb" note on your door.
* Warm up your voice while waiting for the call.
* Have a glass of water handy, so that you will not have a chance to take a break during the call.
* Turn off your stereo, TV, and any other potential distraction.

2. Do not be afraid to pick up the phone

The first step in the hiring process is the telephone interview. It may happen that when you pick up the phone, the call may be from any company. Then that time ask the recruiter to repeat his or her name. Verify the spelling and write it down. Use the recruiter's name in your response.

If there is really any problem for you to talk, then ask for a telephone number and a convenient time to call back. You are now ready to make a good impression during your first five minutes.

The phone interview tips will help you master the phone interview and get you to the next step - the face to face interview. So do not afraid to pick the phone.

3. Be a good listener

During telephonic interview, you must keep in mind that you must be a good listener.

Avoid interrupting and let the recruiter complete his thought or question before you respond. Ask for clarification. Use open-ended questions. The more information you can gather, the better you can respond. We must know the fact that good listener is the best quality.

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How to Write a Resume - 7 Tips

You resume is your calling card. When you send out a resume, this is the first and only representation of you that your prospective employer sees. It`s all very well to talk about strategies for impressing someone at a job interview, but the fact is, most applicants never even make it to the interview stage. Their resume never takes them to that level. While there is never a guarantee you will get an interview --in some cases, the job may be filled before your resume even arrives-- there are definitely steps you can take to improve your odds!

1. Clean and Easy to Read

If your resume appears cluttered or has a font that it difficult to read, you are automatically at a disadvantage before anyone even reads what is written on it. You want to have a professional looking design, an easy to read font and a layout that is easy on the eyes.

2. Correct Grammar and Spelling

Misspelled words or grammatical errors take away from your professionalism. If necessary, use a spelling and grammar check program, which are available now.

3. Address It To the Right Person

This may be a small detail, but make sure you address the resume to the right person. Usually a person`s name is mentioned in the advertisement or listing.

4. Research the Company

Find out a little about the company you are applying to. You may be able to tailor your resume to fit the job better. You can also convey some knowledge about the company in your cover letter, which we will be discussing next.

5. Write a Good Cover Letter

Again, make sure you address your cover letter to the correct person. Don`t write a long letter, but let them know that you are aware of who they are and what kind of business they are in.

6. Include Anything that Reveals Your Talents

Everyone knows to put their education and job history on a resume. However, you should also include anything that reveals your specific talents. You are creating the resume, so you can do it the way you want, as long as you put in the basic information that is required. If you have done some kind of freelance work, for example, or even creative projects that you never got paid for, you can include this.

7. The Internet is Your Friend

Before the days of the web, everything was simply typed out and any references had to be checked by phone or snail mail. Now, you can put websites into your resume. Of course, for references you also want to put physical addresses and phone numbers, but you can add website urls for any information about yourself that might support your cause. Just be careful -if you put your My Space page in your resume, make sure you don`t have anything on there that would possibly turn someone off!

These are some ideas about how to write a good resume.

Source:Internet

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Water Therapy

Water is indeed one of the fundamental elements for a healthy body and also for a glowing skin. Each function of the body is very much regulated and dependent on water, which further affirms that water is indeed necessary to carry important vitamins, hormones, chemicals and oxygen to almost all the parts of the body. Water is therefore the most important thing that is consumed to give many beneficial results. Water is the natural solvent for most of the things and gives natural remedies to many of the diseases. Water therapy is an alternative therapy that is used very widely now a day.

If water is not drunk regularly, dehydration might take place. If the dehydration persists and is not corrected naturally with drinking plenty of water it produces symptoms and with time develops the disease.

Water therapy was practiced from ancient time to heal the diseased people. In many antediluvian cultures like ancient Rome, China and Japan, the hydrotherapy and hydrothermal therapy were common practice that have been used for the treatment of the disease. In ancient India even water therapy has been regarded as one of the most sought after therapeutic treatment. Even today water therapy is widely accepted in the area of alternative medicine. When somebody wants to follow a fitness routine or achieve a health goal, drinking proper amount of water is always necessary.

Drinking plenty of water helps in detoxification of the body. As food is injested water contributes in the breakdown, metabolism and absorption of the food and acts as the key element to remove the waste material from the body and is indeed the basic crux of water therapy.

There are many diseases that can be cured by water therapy, e.g. headaches, obesity, kidney stone, joint and back pain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anxiety and depression, fatigue, insomnia, cravings, asthma and allergy, arthritis pain, constipation and solve many skin problems like pimples and the dark circles.

Drinking sufficient amount of water is necessary for proper functioning of body. Water can also play a major role in treating a number of diseases. Chronic fatigue, depression, mental anxiety, gastric disorders, urinary infections, eczema, rheumatism etc. are the diseases that can be resulted from the drinking of less amount of water and can be treated by increasing the intake of water.

The technique of water therapy is very easy. One can have water therapy simply by maintaining following steps. One should take 6 glasses of water or 1.5 kgs of water early in the morning in an empty stomach without taking breakfast or eating any thing. Each glass of water should be taken at a stretch. After drinking the water, urinate 6 times in the first hour of the therapy. One should go to the washroom in every 10 minutes, without any delay. After this one glass of lukewarm water should be taken. If needed few drops of lemon can be added to it to increase the taste. Now one should wait for fifteen minutes before taking the breakfast. Same schedule should be followed at night before going to bed.

There are certain things that should be kept in mind; otherwise the results of water therapy will not be all that satisfactory. The routine cannot be broken for about three months. Someone might feel the sensation of vomiting but this is normal and no need to visit the doctor. During this water therapy, high-cholesterol food cannot be consumed. Along with this therapy at least 8-12 glasses of water should be taken throughout the day. If water therapy is continued in this way, it will definitely gives beneficial results.

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