What Should a Labor Contract Include?

A Labor contract is the type of contract that an employee should sign with his/her employer to make sure that the rights and obligations of both parties are respected.

The main items included in the labor contract should be:

1. The identity of the parts (name, address, phone, legal representative of the company and name, address, personal identification details, work permit details if necessary of the employee);
2.  The object of the contract: 1- 2 phrases describing the main activities performed by the employee for the company;
3. Validity of contract – permanent or temporary; if temporary, the contract must include ending date;
4. Place of work and conditions;
5. The name of the position that the employee is going to have; job description can be included in contract or separate;
6. Number of hours the employee will perform every day or if less than one hour/day, the number of hours/week  - part time or full time contract;
7. Vacation and free time details;
8. Salary and additional benefits if any;
9. Details concerning overtime payment;
10. Rights and obligations of the parties (employee and company);
11. Trial period for the employee;
12. Notice period in case of resignation;
13. Dismissal in case of deployment period (number of days the employee will still be working for the company from the moment the position he/she is on is no longer necessary in the company);
14. Clauses: confidentiality, mobility, not being allowed to work for the competition, obligations from the employee side in case he/she is sent to specific trainings/certifications, others if necessary;
15. Termination clauses;
16. Signatures of the parties.

The elements above are just a draft for you to get an idea. They may vary from country to country and may include more or less details.  What’s important for you is to make sure you sign such a document and ask for your copy signed by both parties. This will be your backup in case the company doesn’t respect their obligations in terms of salary, vacation, breaks, benefits or others.

Have a great evening, morning or day no matter where you are,

Geo

I Want to Become a Manager – What Should I Do?

First of all you must think really well if you have what is takes. What I mean is:

1. Are you willing to be the role model and image of your team?
2. Are you willing to take responsibility for everything that happens in your team, including the negative results?
3. Are you strong enough to solve the conflicts between the members of your team?
4. Do you think you are able to build authority and convince the members of your team to listen to you and to follow your lead?
5. Are you willing to talk to the members of your team periodically, listen to them, know them well enough in order to help them and be their mentor?
6. Are you willing to learn and understand the functionality and roles of the members in your team in order to assign tasks in a fair and efficient manner and maybe help from time to time?
7. Are you interested in knowing and doing more than your current role?
8. Are you interested in understanding the entire business conducted by the company you are in (or are interested of working for) in order to understand where you and your team fit?
9. Do you like working with people?
10. Do you have any idea what “motivating your team” means?
11. Do you feel confident to speak in public?
12. Do you like reporting or are patient enough to deal with this task even if you’re not very fond of it?
13. Do you feel confident enough to make your own decisions knowing that they might affect not only you, but the people in your team as well or even the entire company?
14. Do you feel strong enough to fire someone?
15. Do you feel strong enough to tell someone to their face that they are not performing well and need to improve?
16. Do you know what “delegating tasks” means? Do you trust your team members enough to actually do it?
17. Do you know what you current manager does on a daily basis?
18. Are you organized? Do you know how to prioritize your tasks?

If you replied in a positive manner to all or most of the questions above, then you want to become a manager. Now, from wanting something and making it happen, it is a long way. What you need to do next is shadow your manager and get involved in trainings.

How to shadow your manager: talk to him/her in an open manner and tell him/her that you want to learn more than what you know at the moment. Ask for additional tasks that are done by a manager mainly and see how it feels like: do reports, talk to the members of your team, plan meetings, be the moderator in meetings, propose improvements, come up with new ideas, take responsibility for results. This will give you the confidence to take this new role and do it well.

At the same time, get involved in trainings. Talk to your manager, to your Human Resources department and also search by yourself trainings in the following areas: decision making, time management, planning and organizing, conflict management, leadership and team management, motivating your team, recruitment and selection, building trust in your team, building authority, project management – at least beginner level, risk management, organizing meetings, communication and anything that your manager and HR department recommends.

Only then you will be ready to apply for this new role in your company or in a different one. Becoming a manager takes a lot of work, but if you really want it and are determined enough to do the work and learn,  you will succeed. It means having a lot more responsibilities, but also more satisfaction when projects are done and results are visible.

Good luck and always follow your dreams, no matter what they are.

Geo

I Feel I Am Performing Better Than The Rest of My Team – What Should I Do?

First of all, watch your colleagues, try to understand their work and try to notice their skills. Also, try to get involved in what they do to get the feel of their work. All this to make sure you are really performing better. Maybe their tasks are different and more difficult and your impression may not be that correct.

Then, if you convince yourself that you are really performing better, put your thinking cap on and make a list of things you want: you want more tasks, more responsibilities, some tasks changed, more money or another position in the team or in another team – get prepared. After you have the list, talk to your manager in an honest and open manner telling him that you feel you perform better than the rest of your team and you want some changes. Be open and tell him what changes you feel would motivate you. Be prepared with ideas and arguments, not just demands. Simply showing a list of demands won’t take you anywhere. Maybe your manager has been too busy to notice all your daily activities and doesn’t know the status of your work as well as you do. Giving clear arguments and examples will support your cause.

Also, offer to help your manager with some of his tasks if you feel you are up to the challenge – ask for small tasks at first and them get involved in more important ones to prove yourself.

Then, if changes don’t come quickly, don’t be disappointed. Maybe the company can’t offer you more that what you have at the moment. Try to learn more, try to get involved in as much as possible, keep all your options open and changes will come for sure in the end.

My Manager Told Me We're Going to Have Regular Meetings From Now on. Is It Bad?

First of all, nothing is bad until you are told firmly that something is bad. Don't ever panic until you have reasons to do so.

Regular meetings with your manager may mean:

- Your manager has a communication target from his/her manager to achieve. This means that your manager was told to organize more meetings with his/her direct reports to improve communication in the team;

- Regular meetings are organized when there is a new project to be done and the meetings are used to communicate milestones, resource information, project steps, action status, problems to be solved along the way. Regular meetings can make sure the project is delivered on time because the team which is part of the project has an organized environment to communicate, share ideas, issues and solutions;

- Your manager wants to involve you in new projects or wants to entrust you with some new tasks for you to be able to prove your skills. Probably you have asked for new tasks or they have noticed you have some skills that can be put to good use;

- There is something in your performance to be improved or your manager has noticed that there is something that you are not satisfied with and you need to communicate more often. Again, don't panic! You will probably talk about how things can be improved and what ideas and requests you may have.

Regular meetings are good news. They mean there's place for discussion, sharing of ideas and improvement. So, your manager wants to organize regular meetings with you? Great! then prepare some ideas and thoughts of your own that you would like to discuss and maybe implement. Take advantage of the opportunity and be open-minded.

Take care,

Geo

Again…What Does HR Do Every Day?

From the outside HR people look very very busy, but nobody really knows what they do. I see a lot of forum questions from people asking themselves what does this department really do and what are they paid for since the results of their work are not that visible. They don’t produce anything concrete, but they never have time when you want to go meet them. They always schedule you for another day or ask you to send them an email. So what do they do? Is it that difficult to hire someone?

Well, in a lot of companies HR is actually undersized. They say the optimum ratio is 1 HR person to 100 employees, but sometimes due to extensive local bureaucracy that is not enough. You can’t really see what HR people do because they have so many things to do that they have no time to presents reports of their work to the people. Here are just a few ideas of what HR does in each area. Most of the times there is one specialist covering more than one area which makes it really difficult, challenging and necessary for them to be always open to specialize in something new.

Recruitment people – discuss job openings with managers, post ads, read hundreds of CVs (don’t imagine it’s that easy – to hire one good professional sometimes you have to go through hundreds of worthless CVs that waste your time), schedule interviews, make phone interviews, test candidate skills (sometimes HR people need to speak 2-3 languages to be able to test them by themselves – help from outside is not always available and they have to manage), participate in face to face interviews (which drain all your energy by the end of the day), make presentations, promote the company, participate in job events, prepare tons of recruiting reports, answer hundreds of silly questions from candidates etc. etc.;

Payroll people – spend their time entering employee data into the payroll system: new joiners, contract changes, leavers, timesheets, vacation hours, sickness leaves, bonuses, night shifts, overtime, week-end shifts, salaries, additional employee benefits; when the payroll is done they prepare payments for salaries and additional documents for local authorities;

Training people – spend their time analyzing competencies that need to be developed in employees on each position, discuss training needs with managers, prepare internal trainings, prepare training plan for internal and external trainings, present the internal trainings to selected employees, contact external companies and sometimes negotiate training offers, organize external trainings – make sure external trainers have all the necessary logistics to do a good job, gather training feedback from participants, prepare training reports;

Administration people – prepare huge amount of employee related paperwork – contracts, contract changes, certificates, prepare access cards, order computers and users&emails sometimes, manage lockers and protection equipment sometimes, manage employee assets, manage additional employee benefits like transportation (are sometimes involved in finding and negotiating a contract with a transportation company), manage taxi or transportation vouchers, prepare reports of HR indicators (attrition, sickness leave, joiners, leavers, etc);

Communication people – manage the internal communications towards the employees, manage external communications for external partners and media, manage the internal suggestion system, manage internal display boards, prepare newsletters with important information for the employees, are sometimes involved in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) campaigns, manage sometimes employee satisfaction surveys and actions.

What else do HR people do: are involved in internal and external audits, are involved in the risk management system, prepare files for work permits for the Immigration authorities, prepare employee motivation programs within budget, prepare huge amount of work policies and work instructions necessary for the good flow of information or for company certifications, need to be always up to date with local and international labor regulations (otherwise high fines can be paid by the company), give advice to managers, are involved in the succession planning system…

So, do you still wonder what HR people do?

Why Should You Find Out Company Details Before the Interview?

As a recruiter I strongly advice you to do it. Even if the company has a website too large for you to digest in a few hours. Try to select from it only main information that you can impress them with: company main activities, company values, location/s, achievements and awards during past years. Try to spend at least one hour reading about them, remember as much as you can, even write down some information that you consider important.

If you go there for a position in a specific field try to find out information about that field:

-          HR: find out about current company headcount and distribution across the country/globe, training programs, employee benefits, CSR campaigns, anything connected to HR and if they don’t ask you try to ask 1-2 questions connected to the field just to show them you care about their company, you tried to find out more and you want to know more;

-          Finance: remember some financial related information – company income, company financial issues, problems they have and maybe some solutions you see, read articles, show them you are interested;

-          Technical: find out about their Research & Development department, their divisions, technical details of their products and services;

Why is it important to know as much as you can about the company?

-          They are likely to ask and if you have no idea your application will look very bad – you have no idea what they do, you didn’t try to find out, you prove that you don’t really care about the company, so why should they care about hiring you?

-          If you know, you will convince them of your motivation – you want to work for their company, you know what they do, you really want this job and not another one in another company.

Where can you find out information about a company:

-          their website;

-          people on social networks who work for that company;

-          internet articles;

-          forums;

-          job fares where you can meet recruiters;

-          even the person scheduling you for the interview can direct you to a source of information about their company.

What not to do: don’t ask stupid questions at the interview just to show how much you read about the company. Ask real questions, ask for information that you can’t find and are really interested in. I had someone at the interview asking me about the company values. I was really annoyed since they are on our website and also displayed on the walls in the hall where the candidate waited before the interview.

Take care and good luck with the job applications.
Geo

Does a Company Really Need a Human Resources Department?

This is from a person who has been working in HR for over 8 years and the answer is Yes and No.

Can you get it any “clearer”, you may tell me…

Well, the answer is simple.

If we are talking about the HR as a distinct department, about HR as a separate office with a separate team, the answer is NO.

If we are talking about HR as a series of functions, the answer is absolutely YES. Even if we don’t have a person designated for this department only and even if the functions may be split between different people doing other different tasks too or even outsourced to a third party company or consultant, a company no matter how small can’t survive without HR.

Not being able to survive without HR may sound critical and it really is if we consider the various list of tasks connected to HR, tasks that need to be done, no doubt about it. These are roughly listed:

-          Recruiting new employees should we have new positions or leavers;

-          Organizing trainings for employees – internal or external;

-          Promoting the company on the local labor market;

-          Creating all the huge amount of employee related paperwork: contracts, certificates, contract changes, contract terminations, clearance forms, various statistics and reports;

-          Calculating the employees’ salaries and additional benefits.

The above are only basics HR tasks which happen in all companies no matter how small, but if we consider a bigger company even more critical HR tasks are added to the list:

-          Succession planning;

-          Competency analysis and developing training plans to improve required competencies;

-          Employee performance evaluation;

-          Communication – internal (towards employees) and external (towards state institutions or media);

-          Employee satisfaction surveys and action plans;

-          Salary and payroll analysis, salary surveys, alignment to the market;

-          Employee motivation;

-          Internal audit;

-          HR indicators (attrition, sickness leave, hires, leavers, regretted leavers, training hours, productivity) analysis and improvement plans;

-          Client presentations;

-          Coordination of health and safety trainings;

-          Creation of company policies;

-          Risk analysis in the area of people management;

-          And many other smaller daily tasks and requests from employees and management…

To sum up, HR is a mediator between the employees, one vital resource of the company, and management. No company can survive without a human resources function, no matter if this is performed by a dedicated team or split between employees dedicated to other functions.

Open space or small closed office?

I have worked for years in both and I think I can offer you a clear insight. Nowadays companies in order to save money avoid building small offices on the same floor and prefer to use open spaces presenting them proudly to clients as a great team work environment. So what's the difference and which one is better?

Closed small office

Advantages: more quiet, you can concentrate easier on your work, you see the same people everyday and get to know them very well, most of the times you have your own desk and own storage places, you have a door you can lock and leave your work safely on the desk for only your team members to see, better information security; you can have a work schedule for the rest of the employees in the company to follow - they can't come in and interrupt you at all times, better time management opportunities, more privacy, especially when dealing with confidential information.

Disadvantages: seeing the same people every day and not getting to know well the rest of the teams in your company can be a disadvantage sometimes since you can't always work with your team members only but need to relate to the other departments; forgetting your key at home can end up in you waiting in the hall way for long minutes until someone comes to unlock the door, spaces can get crowded when there are too many members in your team, too much paperwork or too much furniture; not being always informed about latest news (especially informal ones) unless you go around the company to ask; people in the company don't know you very well and don't trust you for a while at least.

Open space

Advantages: you always have a lot of people around that can help and from whom you can seek advice, the atmosphere is merrier; it's indeed a great way to develop the team spirit and build a strong team; you are always up to date with the news; there's always something to learn from the problems solved by the people around you - you always end up learning a solution by chance and realizing you have it when you most need it; it's a great place to celebrate birthdays with so many people singing to you and wishing you a great time; it's a great place to have a Christmas tree for so many people to enjoy it; it's a great place to learn how to share.

Disadvantages: it's always noisy, there's always someone interrupting you from important work when you least expect it, there's never an agreement concerning temperature and fresh air - there will always be someone who wants more heat or less heat or who can't stand the air conditioning; if someone gets sick and comes to work chances are that a lot of the other team members will be affected too; it's very difficult to discuss confidential information or work on a confidential report with people always moving around you;  sometimes desks can get crowded, there's never someone responsible to bring paper to the printer and you always have your things missing from your desk (and if you look around they are always on someone else's desk and they forgot to bring them back - it's always annoying to search 80 desks to find your stapler).

If I had to choose now - I would choose the closed office because of the silence, but for all very young people just starting off on their career journey the open space is a great place to work.

What Is Mobbing? Mobbing Is a Form of Harassment. Protect Yourself!

Mobbing is a nerve-wrecking type of harassment which is normally initiated by a manager towards an employee. I have experienced mobbing myself for almost two years without knowing what it was called until I read about it in a magazine. If you are the subject of mobbing, remember that it is a form of harassment and that there are laws against harassment and ways of protecting yourself. Just inform yourself and don't let them do it to you just because they are managers and can do it.

Here's what I experienced as mobbing and maybe some of you have faced it too:

- my manager gave me a company phone and called me for stupid reasons at any hour of any day. I was supposed to answer the phone anytime, even if at the toilet and I was clearly told to otherwise I faced great stress and angry words and attitude;

- I was constantly called at home on the company phone early in the morning, long before I was supposed to come to work (like at 6.45 am) or late in the afternoon (like at 9 pm on Sunday) for all sorts of reasons: to be asked about someone's photo, to be reminded about something I hadn't forgotten in the first place, to get some angry suggestion - whatever silly reason was a good reason to be called during my free week-end time or family;

- I was asked to prepare a complex report 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave for home. The report was always urgent and it always happened while my husband was waiting hungry in the car outside to take me home. The report took normally 1-1.5 hours to prepare and it was ALWAYS urgent. My manager always remembered about it at the end of the day and never in the morning when it would have given me time to prepare it efficiently;

- My manager forgot things in the office and constantly called me to bring them. One time she was supposed to go for the annual medical check up (which she did one year late even if the rules for the other employees were very strict), forgot the medical book I had given her the day before in the office and called me to drive all the way to the office which was 30 minutes drive from my house and then to the doctor's office where she waited angrily for me and then back to the office to start work and be on time for a scheduled meeting she knew we had;

- My manager randomly sent us SMSs in the morning asking for various stuff to be brought to her just to check if we keep our phones always close to us and see the message;

- We had a weekly brainwash meeting where we sat in a circle discussing Stephen Covey's 7 Habits book. We were supposed to read one chapter every week (which was OK), but during the brainwash meeting we were supposed to come with examples from our real lives, examples which were always used against us;

- We were asked to listen around the company for people complaining, to spy and come to her with the "vital" information. None of us actually went that low to do it. We always avoided this;

- The morning "Hello"did NOT exist. She always entered the room angrily, threw the laptop bag on the table and prepared for work avoiding to talk to us during the next minutes. All our good mood was gone (had we had any) and we hoped the floor would break making us disappear;

- We had regular face to face individual meetings where we were told in a nice and calm voice how incompetent and useless we were. All this while looking straight to our faces. The words mentioned were really used and they shocked you so much you didn't know how to react;

- The volume of work was always more than a human could handle. I had no time to eat, went to the toilet normally only once during 9-10 hours of work;

- I was told to my face that overtime is required of me to set an example. Of course not paid. We were supposed to do overtime just for the other departments to see us and do it too. Sometimes I stayed in the office for one hour more even if I had finished my work, just for her to be happy and give me one quiet day;

- We were never given all the office supplies we needed. When we asked for a post it for example, angry shouting was heard telling us that we should split one post it notebook between two people; we were supposed to print all contracts double sided on an old and slow ink printer that needed each page to be inserted individually; each contract had 10 pages and was supposed to be printed in 3 copies; all the 6 girls in the office were supposed to use the printer above mentioned while she had a fast laser one she rarely used;

- When we went to her with an important matter, she didn't reply looking all busy and serious and letting you stand in front of her desk like stupid and leaving you to talk to yourself like she didn't hear you. She didn't even look at you or tell you to please come back a bit later. She was not to be interrupted. At the same time when we discussed certain matters in the office, she always interrupted our conversations to tell us something angrily and remind us that we do only mistakes, nothing good; so, surprise, surprise, her hearing was more than fine :);

- She asked someone in the factory to stick some red tape on the carpet in front of her desk like in a bank shouting like crazy if anyone stepped over it. Some of the engineers coming to talk to her didn't know the rule and they got the great opportunity of hearing her shout for 10 minutes like crazy. She was always working on confidential stuff and nobody could approach her desk at less than a meter.

This is what I remember now almost 3 years after those black days. I left it all behind, but it led me to the doctor and to the cat scan with half of my body stiff because of the stress. Don't let it happen to you. Mobbing is harassment. Please act against it!

Also read:
What HR does every day:
http://hr-faq.blogspot.com/2012/04/againwhat-does-hr-do-everyday.html

What's a phone interview, when does it happen and why is it necessary?

A phone interview has the same selective value as a standard face to face interview and is similar in terms of structure and type of questions.

Phone interviews are normally organized in two situations: when the recruiter is doing a quick pre-selection of a large number of candidates or is doing a more thorough selection of candidates who are located in a different city than the company headquarters to prevent unnecessary travelling from any of the two parts (recruiter or candidate).

In the first case the phone interview is normally short – just 10-15 minutes and the questions addressed have the purpose of quickly accepting or rejecting the candidate for the next step. This interview is never the last one. At least one face to face interview will follow. Questions addressed sometimes test skills that the candidate claims to have in order for the recruiter to avoid wasting time – questions may test a foreign language, IT, engineering or any other technical or business knowledge. Questions are clearly targeted to a certain area and if the candidate fails to reply they don’t get a second chance, at least not immediately.

In the second case the interview is longer – even up to one hour and the questions addressed range from technical skills to personality, experience, role plays and case studies. This interview is again never a final one. Unless the position is a virtual or remote one, no company will hire you without seeing you face to face. Not even a Skype interview is enough if you are working in an office. Expect them to wish to see you.

Coming back to the phone interview – depending on the position, sometimes two or more phone interviews may be used during the same recruitment phase. One may test for example language skills for 10 minutes and then if you pass another recruiter may test your technical skills. The two interviews are rarely during the same day; rarely, but not impossible.

To sum up, the phone interview is the type of interview where you are asked questions over the phone, it has the same value as a face to face interview, but very rarely expect it to be final. However, if you fail it, you will not be invited to the following step which is the face to face one.

Take care,
Geo

If they call me for an interview, how to sound interested, but not desperate?

Question suggested by my friend Gianina Froicu

First of all, if they call you, then they see potential in your CV and obviously want to investigate more.
If they call you just to schedule the interview, just keep the conversation short - obviously they have only 2-3 minutes to schedule you and that's it. They don't have time for the interview itself so it's not a good moment to shoot lots of questions at them. Not at all a good idea to start asking about the job responsibilities, company, team or salary. No way! Just write down the time and place or suggest another if their initial proposal doesn't work for you and that's it for now. Just make sure you know exactly where to go and you have understood the address correctly.

Then, how to sound interested but not desperate for the interview?
Just wait for them to address you questions first. It's really frustrating for a recruiter to start the interview, ask 1-2 questions and then get bombarded by the candidate with more questions than they have answered so far. Act normally, try to keep calm, answer their questions, ask a few yourself during the interview but don't turn the discussion into your questionnaire towards the recruiters.

If you have additional questions, ask them preferably at the end of the interview, better prepare a few from home that require short answers. Your questions show the recruiters that you are interested, but too many of them show that you are desperate. Make sure you ask them questions that really interest you and for which you can't find answers on their website.

Don't ask pompous questions like : what are your company's objectives for the next 5 years or what are your company's values just to look smart in front of the recruiters. I have been asked by a candidate these two questions and they annoyed me. The company's values were all over the walls and they could have read about them before or after the interview. About the objectives - the candidate asked this question just to look smart because she obviously didn't pay too much attention to my explanation and was eager to move on to another question. Also, she kept me at the interview for almost 30 minutes more because she just couldn't stop from asking questions. We were at the beginning and wanted to grow our image in the city so I didn't send her away, but this is an annoying practice and don't be surprised if the recruiter shuts you up and send you home nicely. They may have 8 more interviews for the day after you.

So, as a rule - answer briefly unless they ask for more details, ask questions during and at the end of the interview but keep them relevant and short.

Take care,
Geo

What do I wear for an interview?

Question suggested by my friend Gianina Froicu

It all depends on the position you are being interviewed for and the location of the interview.

1. For a manager position - always use business dress code. You will meet other managers for sure, especially if the interview is at the company headquarters. There are exceptions concerning the location of the interview of course. One of my colleagues - Transition manager- was interviewing a candidate from a different city and they decided to meet at the airport in a cafe place since our manager was spending 5 hours between flights and the candidate's residence was in that location. In this case you may still dress business - maybe just lose the tie because of the more casual place to meet, but still be business to make sure you make a good impression.


2. For a senior specialist - if you expect to be working on a position which will require business dress code daily (like Key accounts manager in sales), don't hesitate and use business dress code. If you expect to be working on a position and in a company where dress code is not specified (like programmer, web designer, economist), use business casual. What's business casual? Your regular clothes, always neat and clean, always decent, but without jeans and sports wear.


3. For a junior specialist - if you expect to be working on a position which will require business dress code daily (like Front office clerk in a bank), again don't hesitate and use business dress code. Else, please see above. Business casual is fine for the interview, even if later you will use your sports shoes on the job and so on. Try for the interview to be a little better dressed than you would be on a regular day on the job.


4. For a skilled worker position - most of the times the interview will include practical tasks. Business dress code is not very common. Just use your regular clothes that you would use on a normal day. Just remember the neat, clean and decent rule.

Rules 1-4, except the special case I mentioned in 1., apply mainly if you go to the headquarters of the company. If you are invited in a different location - which is not very common but may happen - like in a restaurant or bar (the company may not have an office where you live - i.e. you will be a sales agent working from home in your city), try to dress neat, clean and decent, but more on the casual side than on the business side. Strict business dress in a bar looks a bit ridiculous. Your intuition can also help or simply asking the person scheduling the interview can save you a lot of trouble.


What to always remember - no matter what you decide to wear, neat, clean and decent are always the answer. Make sure you have clean clothes, not too colourful, decent, no wrinles, no holes, no torn materials, no stains and so on. I remember a guy who came to me for an interview at 11 am - he had just woken up, he hadn't washed his face, his T-shirt looked like he had slept in it and his hair was all untidy and messed up. Of course he didn't convince me. He might have been smart, but I didn't see it no matter what. Always try to make a first good impression - be always neat, tidy, decent and clean and no matter if you don't select the correct dress code all the time, you have a chance.

What are HR people looking to identify from the candidate during an interview?

Question suggested by my friend Gianina Froicu

To start with, I should define the phrase "list of competencies" and type of competencies.
For each position there are two types of competencies - technical/business competencies and soft skills.

Technical/Business competencies are tested mostly by technical members of the team (senior consultants and analysts, technical managers, any person from the team able to decide if a candidate has the right knowledge to be a programmer, database expert, tester, HR specialist or even welder or cook). All knowledge making you a professional/expert in a certain area are technical competencies. Even for human resources - what they know and their experience in terms of recruitment, payroll, law and so on involve the technical or business side of the job.

The other side is made up of the soft skills.
Soft skills are the individual traits, connected somehow to the candidate's personality and social experience. Some can be developed and improved in time and some you are born with. Some examples are: presentation skills, decision making, strategic thinking, proactivity, time management, organizing and prioritizing skills, resilience to stress, leadership skills, social skills, team work and many more.

These are the skills that HR tries to identify during an interview through targetted questions. A candidate can be asked directly if he/she is organized and asked to give examples, can be given an exercise (for example to prioritize a list of tasks according to their importance and urgency) or can be asked tricky questions like "Where do you leave your keys when you are at home?". According to the answer you see if the candidate leaves his things all over the place and then complains about not finding them or if they have a special place for their keys that they use daily. Of course only one question is not enough to test a candidate. HR may ask more or may combine different testing techniques in individual or group interviews to select the best candidates.

Career management exercise

This is an exercise I got during a course that will help you decide if the objectives that you propose for yourselves are really what you want. It will help you get your priorities straight.

If you're not able to answer specific questions below, it means it's not a real objective to you. You may find out that some of the things you think you really need, may be just a caprice.

CAREER MANAGEMENT APPLICATION - What do I do today? - What will I do tomorrow?

Short term objectives:
   A. Right now I wish I ...
        a. at least 3 reasons why I want to achieve this goal;
        b. the first step/action that I need to do in order to achieve this goal is to ...
   B. In the next 2-3 months I want to ...
        a. at least 3 reasons why I want to achieve this goal;
        b. the first step/action that I need to do in order to achieve this goal is to ...  
C. At the end of this year I intend to ...

Long term objectives:
   A. I want to become .....
       a. at least 3 reasons why this is important to me ...
       b. what are the short-term goals that help me achieve this goal?
   B. In 3-5 years I want to .....
       a. at least 3 reasons why this is important to me ...      
       b.  what are the short-term goals that help me achieve this goal?  
   C. In 10-15 years I would like to .....
       a. at least 3 reasons why this is important to me ...      
       b.  what are the short-term goals that help me achieve this goal?

I guarantee that this exercise will make you seriously think about your life and career over short and long term. For some of the items you won't be able to find answers so make sure you have answers for most parts before engaging on actions that may prove not to be what you hoped for in the first place.

Take care,
Geo

I've seen an interesting job posting on a portal, but it's 2 months old. Should I still apply?

Most job postings are valid for one month. Companies expect to find a good candidate within that time frame. If the company decided to post a two-month ad, they might have been planning their recruitment long time in advance or it's a difficult position to fill and they posted it for longer to receive as many CVs as possible.

The chances for the position to be still open are very small, but you may never know. My advice is to apply. What's the worst thing that can happen? The position being filled and the company not calling you.

Go ahead and apply. Even if the position is no longer open, they will put your CV in their database and call you first the next time they have something similar.

Good luck,
Geo