How to get a job (or not)

[The_J]

(somehow I cannot see a single post in this thread right now o_O)

I have 2 job interviews in a few weeks.
It's cold outside.
Is a sweater okay? Shirt below (for the collar)? Or should I go save and freeze ^^?

(both at an university; don't think that it matters too much in these situations)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Test post.

EDIT: To answer the question, if it's cold outside and you don't dress for the weather, you're risking becoming ill. That's not sensible for any reason. I assume you do plan to wear a coat or outer jacket? Plus, if I were hiring people in the middle of winter and they turned up looking like they had just stepped out of summer, I'd wonder if they had enough common sense to handle working there.

As most advice goes with dressing for interviews, take a peek before the interview and see what everyone else is wearing. Then dress a little bit better (but not ostentatiously). Of course if everyone inside wears short-sleeved shirts and it's -30C outside, a sweater and shirt, or a shirt and vest would keep you warm, assuming you have an outer coat or jacket adequate for the temperature/precipitation.

 

[really]

I can see the posts by the J and by Valka, nothing else.

A jumper and shirt should be fine in a university, unless you are applying for a corporate type job rather than an academic one - then I would go formal.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The above 3 posts show up and that's all.

 

[uppi]

(somehow I cannot see a single post in this thread right now o_O)

I have 2 job interviews in a few weeks.
It's cold outside.
Is a sweater okay? Shirt below (for the collar)? Or should I go save and freeze ^^?

(both at an university; don't think that it matters too much in these situations)

Depends a bit on the university department. For a scientific job, a decent sweater would be fine.

 

[ainwood]

Posts moved from other thread.

 

[Birdjaguar]

 

[caketastydelish]

So I have a new job (sort of) at a shop that repairs tablets, cell phones, and regular computers. They only want me for the computers and not the cell phones/tablets. I don't have a regular schedule, they only call me when they need me. I got paid $50 yesterday for a job that took about 3 hours to complete.

I'm looking to expand this to perhaps doing it on my own and going to people's house to fix their computer problems. Any advice on this? I'm looking to get the Apple technician certification and maybe A+. Anything else I should know? Not just the technical aspect but also starting your own business.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I suggest getting your Apple certification first to add credibility. Asking folks to let you into their homes can be seen seen as risky (by them) especially if you don't have any local credibility.

As for going into business:
You want to be seen as professional.
Have a business card that tells people what you do and states your guarantee.

Have a functioning website that, at a minimum has your picture, contact information (that includes phone, text, email); a few testimonials would be nice. You should offer more than one option for repair work: drop off at your place; do the work at their place or you pick it up at a neutral place. Have a company "uniform" that you wear when meeting customers. It can be a logoed T-shirt or collared shirt; a cap and or name badge is nice. Add a magnetic sign for your car with company name and contact info. All of these build trust in you and your company.

Have a printed schedule of typical devices and what it costs to repair common failings. Your contact info should be on it along with hours you are open and pick up/delivery options. If there is anything you don't do, you should list that too. All of this should be taken from your website.

If you want to earn your living doing this, then you need to actually think about your market and how you will reach potential customers. Let me know if that is your plan. There is a lot more to think about.

 

[Synobun]

A large portion of independent repair services' income and traffic comes from local sources as well. Make sure you canvas your neighbourhood. Woo the local businesses and adorn the posts and bulletin boards with ads that contain rip-off slips with your name and number. You're more likely to get customers if they know they don't have to travel far for help.

 

[Camikaze]

I'm currently screening candidates for a position, the key quality required being attention to detail - it's essentially a legal secretarial job, and whoever we hire will be significantly less useful to us if they're unable to pick up on minor errors (their own errors, and the errors of others). There are many qualified, personable, and highly competent candidates who would appear to be entirely capable of performing the job. But how do I distinguish between those who have the requisite attention to detail, and those who do not? I suppose I could get them to actually perform the exercise of editing a document, to see what they pick up, and obviously a typo-riddled cover letter or failure to follow application instructions is a good sieve. But what else could be done as part of the interview/screening process to find the right candidate?

 

[Synobun]

I'm currently screening candidates for a position, the key quality required being attention to detail - it's essentially a legal secretarial job, and whoever we hire will be significantly less useful to us if they're unable to pick up on minor errors (their own errors, and the errors of others). There are many qualified, personable, and highly competent candidates who would appear to be entirely capable of performing the job. But how do I distinguish between those who have the requisite attention to detail, and those who do not? I suppose I could get them to actually perform the exercise of editing a document, to see what they pick up, and obviously a typo-riddled cover letter or failure to follow application instructions is a good sieve. But what else could be done as part of the interview/screening process to find the right candidate?

I have been interviewed in the past for a job like this. What they did was incorporate some subtle errors in the actual interview process and then they asked me at the end if I noticed anything amiss or incorrect.

I think that model requires some confidence on the interviewer's part, though. It'd likely be disastrous if your average HR rep or manager tried to do it. An in-house test would probably be "safer". Only thing I'd say to keep in mind is that you should have an edited copy available that you show the applicant afterwards so they know they didn't just do free labour for you.

 

[Zelig]

Ask for a writing sample.

If you really want to be picky, see who had enough attention to detail to properly distinguish between figure dashes, em dashes, en dashes and hyphens on their resume.

Also, be wary of selecting based on criteria that don't correlate to job performance. It's a classic case of "We must do something, this is something, therefore we must do this." that makes it very easy for conscious or unconscious biases to creep into the hiring process.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm currently screening candidates for a position, the key quality required being attention to detail - it's essentially a legal secretarial job, and whoever we hire will be significantly less useful to us if they're unable to pick up on minor errors (their own errors, and the errors of others). There are many qualified, personable, and highly competent candidates who would appear to be entirely capable of performing the job. But how do I distinguish between those who have the requisite attention to detail, and those who do not? I suppose I could get them to actually perform the exercise of editing a document, to see what they pick up, and obviously a typo-riddled cover letter or failure to follow application instructions is a good sieve. But what else could be done as part of the interview/screening process to find the right candidate?

One approach is to use a test. The "classic" version of the DISC test is pretty good.

http://www.thediscpersonalitytest.com

To do this, take the test and answer the questions as if you were the ideal candidate for the job. How you think they should answer the questions. This will give you a profile of the job. You don't want to answer the questions as yourself, but "as the job".Then give the test to your best candidates and select the one hose results profile best matches the job profile you first created. The "classic" tests are short and easy to score.

If you don't want to go down such a formal path, then ask each candidate to provide you with a list of 3-5 work projects that required attention to detail similar to what you require. Once you have their lists, you would then question them about the tasks to determine which person is best qualified. You can also ask to see some of that work if they have it. Some people have hobbies that require great attention to detail. Knitting would be one. Fine woodworking another. If the work is actually legal work, then

 

[Zelig]

As far as I can tell, personality tests are pretty much useless for predicting job performance, and firmly fall under "we must do something, this is something, we must do this". I've never been asked to take or administer one, but I'd refuse in either case.

 

[BvBPL]

I'm currently screening candidates for a position, the key quality required being attention to detail - it's essentially a legal secretarial job, and whoever we hire will be significantly less useful to us if they're unable to pick up on minor errors (their own errors, and the errors of others). There are many qualified, personable, and highly competent candidates who would appear to be entirely capable of performing the job. But how do I distinguish between those who have the requisite attention to detail, and those who do not? I suppose I could get them to actually perform the exercise of editing a document, to see what they pick up, and obviously a typo-riddled cover letter or failure to follow application instructions is a good sieve. But what else could be done as part of the interview/screening process to find the right candidate?

Give them some work to do? Draft an example document, like a one page letter or K, with a number of errors, some of which are obvious, some of which are less obvious, and some items are judgement calls. As part of the interview process, ask the applicant to take five minutes and find and correct the errors.

That might seem childish, but it probably would be a good way to identify candidates with attention to detail and language skills.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Attention to detail can be learned, but some people have it naturally. My wife was born with it; I learned it for specific tasks, but ignore it in most of my daily regimen. Giving a sample test like BvBPL suggested is OK, but can lead to hiring a good test taker (like a good interviewer) and missing a better hire. If the job is a serious one where you want a long term employee that you expect to bring into the fold and pay well for the work, then the best selection process will be to review their previous work that is similar. Have a conversation with them about what they did, how they did it and if it was successful. Look at examples, talk to previous supervisors. Put them on a 90 day probation is is tied to successful attention to detail goals suited to the work they will be doing.

 

[Camikaze]

Thanks for the replies. It's a part-time role for a uni student, so it's not the most serious job in the world, but it's nonetheless important to pick carefully from amongst what is on paper a talented field (law degrees are over-saturated with smart people looking to get their foot in the door), else there's not much point in hiring at all. Given the applicants won't have directly relevant experience, and looking at academic samples isn't a perfect indicator of the type of attention to detail required, I think perhaps BvBPL's suggestion will work out best. In the past we've used a somewhat similar test, but more aimed at typing speed and accuracy, and I'm not really keen to keep using that for the very reason that, although a degree of typing proficiency is a minimum pre-requisite, it's one that everyone of the relevant age satisfies easily, so you're distinguishing between candidates on the basis of meaningless marginal test result differences.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Then hire the one who will fit in best with the academic culture of the office and who you like best.

 

[BvBPL]

Say you have a friend putting in for a job with your employer. You want to give them the best advice on how to make a good impression with the hiring manager and team. What information would you pass on to your friend?