When looking for a job, especially a management or professional job, preparation and research is important. There are 3 main areas to research: the organisation, the job role itself and interviewers. Focusing on the job role means that you can understand what the job role involves, the requirements and be able to match these to your own capabilities.
- Try and get a job role description: what are the key objectives of this role and why, find out this and you will uncover a lot about the knowledge, skills and experience that you need to demonstrate strength in to be successful at the interviews. The search firm or recruitment agent should be able to help you build the picture of what is really important and why, then you can sell yourself in the interview process as the person to deliver what the job requires.
- Find out what are the key experiences needed for the job and why, you should be able to see a connection between the jobs objectives and the experience that a successful candidate needs to have.
- Why is there a vacancy, is it an existing job role someone has vacated? Or is it a new job roles meaning the employer decided to change their organisation by adding this new role, ask why? Also keep in mind often there is a senior sponsor for such new job roles, who is the executive pushing this ahead, ask if will you meet that person in the selection process.
- With existing job roles it is helpful to ask what is happening or has happened to the current job holder. Did they get promoted or did they leave the organisation, and why? Additional useful information would be to ask what achievements and strengths the current job holder was responsible for, and of course what needs to be improved.
- Whether you get a long list of objectives for the job role or a general job description, in either case it is good to define the most important 3 priorities for the job. You can refer to the priorities in your interviews to see if any of the interviewers add to them or clarify them for you.
By following these simple rules with a focus on full research and preparation you will persuade the search firms that they would be putting forward an impressive candidate to potential employers with a strong chance of success. More information about Get that Executive Job.
Francis Lowe
Founder
www.lets-begin.com