October 31, 2008 • 5 Comments
Job interviews can be very stressful but they don’t need to be, especially if you are prepared. By using some key steps and the below tips you will be able to confidently show the interviewer that you are prepared for the interview and potentially the right person for the job.
As with all things, preparation is the key to success. When it comes to job interviews, you can not prepare enough!
Look at the company’s job criteria and match examples of ways you have addressed this criteria in previous jobs and your professional dealings. This is where you will show solid examples of how you can add value and why you are the most suitable person for the job.
Understand what the company produces and the equipment used, or if it is a service company, who their customers are and the type of service provided.
Investigate the company thoroughly. This can be done by surfing the web, reading the latest annual report, checking news articles and generally getting a feel for the facts and figures so you can draw on them in your interview. Feel free to contact your interviewer for more information such as corporate profiles to be sent to you. This will show you are serious about your application.
Take the time to think of some relevant and insightful questions to ask. Refer back to the research you have done. Remember, you want to make sure this is the right job for you, so use the interview to ask as many questions as possible.
Determine if the person interviewing you is the person you will be working for or someone from the HR area (build rapport).
- First and foremost…DON’T BE LATE!
- Make a good first impression by dressing appropriately (usually conservatively), not chewing gum or smoking and above all…smile!
- Don’t talk too fast, take your time during the interview and pause if you need to, a pause is never as long as it seems and this shows you are thinking about what you are about to say.
- Use solid examples to answer questions, this will address the criteria directly and convince your interviewer that you have the experience to do the job.
- You can take notes to the interview to refer to but ensure they are not too comprehensive so you don’t have to wade through text to find information. Bullet points should do the trick.
- Don’t put down or discredit previous employers, always remain diplomatic and positive.
- Don’t ask about money until near the end of the interview.
- Remain focused, confident and remember to smile!
HOPE THIS HELPS 
October 17, 2008 • 1 Comment
Hi
I got an announcement from one of unit coordinators that a company needs programmers. I called them on Wednesday and talked to them on the phone. They asked me to send them my resume. I sent it immediately and got the reply that said “thanks. We will be back to you soon.” They contact me sooner than I expected. The day after, Thursday, after tutorial they called me and asked me if I could go to the Uni. At that time I was on my way to home. I told them that I will be there in half an hour. I went back home and changed for an interview and went back to Uni. I met the guy and we had a good conversation about what they want and I told them about what I can do. The guy told me that he will contact me again.
What is the point?
Email is not a very good way to express that you are serious about the job. Phone calls are mush more effective than emails. So if possible make a call then send email. It will be more effective.
Good lock
Reza
October 17, 2008 • 1 Comment
Hi All
In today’s tut we talked about how well we worked as a group in our blogging assignment. Being able to work well in a group is very important and it got me thinking about maintaining good working relationships with other team members. These are some factors I came up with that I think help promote good working relationships:
• Openness and willingness to communicate/listen
• Trust
• Loyalty
• Respect for others in spite of professional differences
• Courtesy
• Respect for professionalism regardless of person’s sex, age,
race etc.
• Giving credit
• Recognizing a job well done
• Understanding and supporting others’
• Agreed upon priorities
• Willingness to talk over problems
• Cooperation
• Sincere caring for others with a respect for privacy
• Constructive criticism
What you guys think? Agree or disagree? Did I miss anything?
October 16, 2008 • 4 Comments
Hi all
If you are looking for a job and explored different advertisements I am sure that you have noticed that in most of them ability to work in a team is one of the selection criteria. So it is good to share our experiences about being a part of a team.
I think one of the most important attribute that a successful team member should have is being able to manage time. This means that in order to be a successful team worker we should be able to manage our time for the tasks we are allocated to. Being on time for the meetings and doing the task we have to do on time are the most important ones. By being on time for the meetings we show that we respect other team members and the team and the job are important for us. By doing the task on schedule we help the team to achieve its goal on time.
The other important thing is the way we communicate to each other. When we work in a team there are always conflicts in ideas and handling these situations is not very easy. People who can handle the team in these situations have the ability to be a team leader as well. Respecting other team member’s ideas and listening to them is what a good communicator does.
I am waiting to read your ideas
Reza
October 9, 2008 • 1 Comment
Today’s workshop was very useful. sample questions about the job interview and being in a situation to interview people is wonderfull but I think it is harder to to be interviewer rather than interviewee. the interviewer mst be ready to ask questions according to the interviewee’s answers. also if the interviewee is someone who can’t communicate very well then the interviewer has a harder job. so both interviewer and interviewee mst be prepared for the interview. I am looking forward to do job mok interview.
October 6, 2008 • 2 Comments
In our last workshop before the study break…mmm study break (it’s not a break from study but an opportunity to catch up on those lost times ‘888′), we discussed about effective communication. With increasing availability of access to the internet, we often forget that email is also regarded as an avenue for formal communication.
For our in-class exercise, we had to write a formal letter requesting for an informational interview regarding a particular position in a firm.
This is one example:
Subject: Request for an Informational Interview
Dear Mr John Smith,
My name is Jessie James. I am a recent graduate from Murdoch University in International Business, majoring in Business, Politics and Asian Studies.
I am writing to request for an informational interview regarding a position in your firm. I believe that 15-20 mintues of your time would be sufficient for me to gather an understanding of the tasks and various aspects of this job.
I would greatly appreciate this opportunity and will fit in with any time that will most suit you.
Yours Sincerely,
Jessie James.
However, in our opinion, the best method for requesting an interview would be a typed formal letter and post it to the firm. It showed that thoughts and effort have been put in constructing this letter. Then have a follow up telephone call to enquire if they have recieved your letter.
Our last advice(s)?… :/ just be mindful that an email can also be regarded as a formal piece of document, and SMILE 
Take care.
Mag. 9
September 25, 2008 • 1 Comment
Team work was the main focus for this week’s tutorial and what better way to learn about it than to throw us all into a team working exercise! for a bit of fun we were told that we were about to crash land on the moon, 100 odd miles from the ground base. it was our task to prioritisea list of items that we had available to us to select the ones we would take with us! it was a simple yet effective means to improve our team working skills because it became quickly apparent during our review of our exercise where we didn’t work effectively
When doing the moon task we all quickly fell into our roles in the group and whilst doing the exercise. At first it wasn’t obvious the ways we could have worked better as a team but once the task was over and we discussed how we all thought things could have improved it was much easier to see where things could have been handled better.
organisation is a must so that everybody can have their opinion heard. A system to ensure all within the group can have a say is important. One of the quite people might have valuable information about the task but cant get a word in because of those that a much louder! We found voting was also a good way to get a group decision on an argument so it just doesn’t come down to the loudest or most persistent person, makes sure that the majority are happy!
In most team related tasks there will be someone that will step up to take the leadership role. we discussed however that this person needs to be clever in the way that they manage the group. We realisedthat with different cultures come different personal space boundaries (personal “bubbles”) whilst it might be fine to talk to someone within inches of them in your culture in others it could be considered rude or make the individual uncomfortable.
so there is lots to consider when working with in a team to complete a task. After this tutorial we are confidant that we will look at team work in a different light and now consider issues like culture when assessing the group!
Happy Landings
September 11, 2008 • 5 Comments
Today’s tute…interesting. The debatable topic of globalisation. We discussed three main aspects of globalisation and they were -
- Political,
- Environmental and,
- Consumerism.
Due to our diverse disciplines, we came up with different ideas of globalisation. It was great to talk to each other about what globalisation means to us in our lives and how growing up in different places we have had globalisation effect us differently.
For example I (Sophie) have always seen globalisation as a bad thing as the USA promote their products and company throughout the world. Not that I don’t like USA product, I think they’re great, but I don’t like how they are turning the world into little parts of the USA. You can go to France, Perth, London,Cape town (South Africa) and find youth wearing the same clothes and speaking the same slag language. Globalisation is a crazy powerful thing!
Another aspect of globalisation are the environmental impacts. For example, the affects of oil drilling and logging on the world. Operations such as these are causing major harm to the world’s climate and thus affecting everyone. Globalisation is making the globe’s environmental issues everybody’s problem. We all live on the same world therefore we are all affected.
Globalisation has accelerated the IT industries. It has linked everyone of us through the internet and this affects the way we do business. For instance, e-commerce industuries has introduced new alternative way of conducting business making it faster and easier than ever before.
There are both positive and negative aspects to globalisation, it is what we do that will determine final outcome. Globalisation is in all of our lives and eventhough it affects us all differently, there is one thing we can’t argue about…it is happening everywhere we look!
August 28, 2008 • 2 Comments
Hello readers on the world wide web ^_^
We are student of TLC277 and this is our blog! On this blog we will be discussing our journey and experiences at the university.
We look forward to hearing from you all and Read our blog! Please 
xoxo The Magnificent 9
