Three experts give you the keys to overcome obstacles in the job interview and get the job you’ve always wanted
A job interview is one of the most stressful processes, along with making a move, final exams, or meet your parents in law. From the moment the meeting is confirmed, thousands of doubts appear, from what clothes to wear to answering each question that the interviewer may ask you.
At Hispanic Workforce, we have been concerned to find the answers to these concerns with the realization of a webinar by three experts in this field. Ernesto Sanchez, Talent Development; Lizette Ibarra, Career Strategist; and Mariana Mancini, Talent Acquisition, have explained the keys that will help you find the job of your dreams.
Prepare for the job interview
Your first and essential action is to investigate every detail of the company. Lizette Ibarra told us that she not only has to look at her values, her about us or the products or services she sells, but that “preparation goes much further, go online and see what has happened with the company. Especially with the position to which he aspires. What is the company doing in your sector?”
And at a time when all the information is on the internet, ask or see who is the person in charge of doing the interview, “look for him on LinkedIn, look at his history because through that information you will know what kind of questions he is going to ask.”
If you have all that information, you can impact the interviewer. You relate their characteristics to your attributes.
How to answer all the questions in the job interview?
We cannot give you the answer to each question, but the three experts gave us several keys to answer the questions in a job interview:
- . Get to know your resume in detail. This way, you can prepare yourself for the questions that the recruiter will ask you. Get ready for the questions they will ask you, why did you leave the company? According to Lizette Ibarra’s advice, focus on what questions make you most nervous, and it is from knowing your weak points that you have to start working.
- The clarity in exposing your ideas. Don’t go off the rails. Answer what the recruiter asks you without extending unnecessarily and in an orderly and impressive way. Ernesto Sánchez recommends the STAR model. It is a method in which you explain your achievements based on four components: situation, context, action, and result. And it is that, according to the expert, “when a person asks questions, what they want to know is the clarity of your thoughts, how you organize yourself in your head and how you expose it. For all questions, you have to be calm.”
- Be natural. It is normal to be nervous, recalls Mariana Mancini. Try to stay calm and never try to be a “character.” If they hire you for something that you are not, in the future when they know you the relationship will not work. “Do not play a role. It shows a lot when a person is trying to please”. It sounds false. You do not want to be hired in a company for something that you are not. Recruiters are people therefore, they have a good attitude because they want to find the best for the job offer.”
Prepare for an online job interview
The pandemic has brought many changes, as you will notice every day. At the labor level, job interviews via zoom have intensified. This event has streamlined the selection processes because the person in charge of the discussion does not need to be in the same place as the interviewee, but it has brought new challenges when preparing.
Lizette Ibarra tells us that the key is to prepare for the interview. Again, it is the most important thing. Being redundant, but it is the key. This way, you can notify the people who live with you that you will be busy and avoid interruptions. So you can be entirely focused on the interview.
Look at the little details too. Check the battery of the computer, the lighting, etc… that sum of taking care of each aspect improves the impression you make on your interlocutor.
And of course, as the expert tells us, she uses a computer. Do not do the interview from a mobile phone. Always do it from a computer and focus on speaking to the camera, “I have even interviewed people while they are driving”. Use common sense.
Always ask questions in job interviews
“Sometimes more than one interviewee tells me what he asks me, what his answers.” These are the words of Lizette Ibarra during the webinar. She clarified that you should always be prepared to show the interlocutor questions about the job opportunity.
In this sense, Mariana Mancini gave us several examples:
- What are the decisions that the hired person would have to make alone and three with the team?
- Could you tell me the case of someone who was not successful in this role?
- What is the most significant risk you are taking if you give me this job?
What can we Hispanics contribute to companies in the United States?
A Hispanic in the United States is at an “advantage” moment. It plays in your favor. As confirmed by the expert, Lizzete Ibarra, we represent 19% of the population, and the percentage at a representative and leadership level does not even reach 4%. It is a huge problem and the companies are already beginning to move. Because it is the right thing to do and because it is necessary. Hispanics are a market we buy. If we were a different economy, we would be the eighth largest economy globally. There is a lot of purchasing power, there is a lot of interest from companies in including more Hispanics and Latinos, especially in leadership and decision-making.
One way to find out which companies are most interested in the Hispanic world is to look at their diversity policies and see if they have included and Hispanic groups. That would tell you if that company is looking to contribute something to Hispanics.” As a special gift, we want to provide you with a list of the best companies for Latinos in the United States, according to a study by Latino Leaders published in February 2021.
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