80% of Employers Call References and 16% of Those Call Before Job Interviews

Rosemary Haefner of Careerbuilder

A new study cautions job seekers about the references they cite when applying to companies. Three-in-five employers (62 percent) said that when they contacted a reference listed on an application, the reference didn’t have good things to say about the candidate. Twenty-nine percent of employers reported that they have caught a fake reference on a candidate’s application.

The study was conducted by for Careerbuilder by Harris Interactive© from August 13 to September 6, 2012 and included 2,494 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,976 workers across industries and company sizes.

“You want to make sure you are including your biggest cheerleaders among your job references,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. “Before choosing someone, ask yourself ‘Did this person understand my full scope of responsibilities? Can he or she vouch for my skills, accomplishments and work ethic?’ You also want to make sure that you ask your former colleagues if you can list them as a reference. If someone is unwilling, it helps you to avoid a potentially awkward or damaging interaction with an employer of interest.” Continue Reading

Foul Ball: How One Interview Question Can Lose You the Job

There are many questions people prepare for during a job interview such as “What kind of projects are you working on in your current job?” “What measurable skills can you bring to this position?” and “What is your greatest weakness?”

So when you come across this next question, you might be inclined to brush it off:

“What is my favorite baseball team?”

Surprisingly, this question could end up being the most important one you answer. Let me explain. Continue Reading

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Gold

“Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.” – Micheal Eisner

There is nothing like a garage sale. The best ones are the ones where it is a town-wide sale. It is truly amazing the things that people will (try to) sell. Better yet, it is even more amazing the things that people will buy. Not to say that everything at a garage sale is junk. In fact, most of the items have real value and are just “looking for a new home”. But my favorite part of the garage sale is when it’s over and looking at the leftover items that find their way to the curb for trash pickup rather than back in the garage for next year’s sale. This is, of course, when the scavengers come out and collect their “gold” from the discarded items. By now I’m sure you’re wondering where this is going and how this can possibly have anything to do with job search – read on. Continue Reading

Entry Level Jobs

Sonali Subhash, Education Linked

Entry Level Jobs : An Interview

Just the word can put you in a cold sweat. We all know how hard interviewing is because not one of us has been handed a great, satisfying job on a silver platter. If you have – let us know, we want to know what it feels like! That’s why Experience™ has put together what we consider to be the best tips for interviewing, especially if you are a college student or recent grad: what to do, what not to do, questions to look out for, preparation, success stories and more.

I have a few pointers, and they involve preparing your appearance, your knowledge about yourself, your knowledge about the employer/job, and preparing for the unexpected.
entry level jobs Continue Reading

24 Real, Oddball Interview Questions

It may still be winter, but many companies will soon begin looking for college students and graduates to fill summer internship positions and entry-level jobs. Finding a job and applying for it may be the first step to securing a position, but it’s the interview that can often be the most difficult. That’s why candidates need to be prepared to answer all interview questions – from the most common to the most bizarre.

To help get a leg up, Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, dug into the thousands of interview questions shared by job candidates throughout the past year to shine a light on 25 of the most oddball interview questions.

The lesson here?  Expect the unexpected.

1. “How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30pm on a Friday?” – view answers

Asked at Google.  More Google interview questions.

2. “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk.” – view answers

Asked at Acosta. More Acosta interview questions.

3. “If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?” – view answers

Asked at Hewlett-Packard. More Hewlett-Packard interview questions.

4. “What do you think of garden gnomes?” – view answers

Asked at Trader Joe’s. More Trader Joe’s interview questions.

5. “Is your college GPA reflective of your potential?” – view answers

Asked at the Advisory Board. More Advisory Board interview questions.

6. “Would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer?” – view answers

Asked at Deloitte. More Deloitte interview questions.

7. “If you could be #1 employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be #15 employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?” – view answers

Asked at ADP. More ADP interview questions.

8. “How would you cure world hunger?” – view answers

Asked at Amazon.com.  More Amazon.com interview questions.

9. “Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?” – view answers

Asked at Pinkberry.  More Pinkberry interview questions.

10. “Does life fascinate you?” – view answers

Asked at Ernst & Young. More Ernst & Young interview questions.

11. “Given 20 ‘destructible’ light bulbs (which breaks at certain height), and a building with 100 floors, how do you determine the height that the light bulb breaks?” – view answers

Asked at QUALCOMM. QUALCOMM interview questions.

12. “Please spell ‘diverticulitis’.” – view answers

Asked at EMSI Engineering. More EMSI Engineering interview questions.

13. “Name 5 uses of a stapler without staple pins.” – view answers

Asked at EvaluServe. More EvaluServe interview questions.

14. “How much money did residents of Dallas/Ft. Worth spend on gasoline in 2008?” – view answers

Asked at American Airlines.  More American Airlines interview questions.

15. “How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator?” – view answers

Asked at Horizon Group Properties. More Horizon Group Properties interview questions.

16. “You have a bouquet of flowers. All but two are roses, all but two are daisies, and all but two are tulips. How many flowers do you have?” – view answers

Asked at Epic Systems. More Epic Systems interview questions.

17. “How many planes are currently flying over Kansas?” – view answers

Asked at Best Buy. More Best Buy interview questions.

18. “How many different ways can you get water from a lake at the foot of a mountain, up to the top of the mountain?” –view answers

Asked at Disney Parks & Resorts. More Disney Parks & Resorts interview questions.

19. “What is 37 times 37?” – view answers

Asked at Jane Street Capital.  More Jane Street Capital interview questions.

20. “If you could be a superhero, what power would you possess?” – view answers

Asked at Rain and Hail Insurance. More Rain and Hail Insurance interview questions.

21. “If you were a Microsoft Office program, which one would you be?” – view answers

Asked at Summit Racing Equipment.  More Summit Racing Equipment interview questions.

22. “Pepsi or Coke?” – view answers

Asked at United Health Group.  More United Health Group interview questions.

23. “Are you exhaling warm air?” – view answers

Asked at Walker Marketing.  More Walker Marketing interview questions.

24. “You’re in a row boat, which is in a large tank filled with water. You have an anchor on board, which you throw overboard (the chain is long enough so the anchor rests completely on the bottom of the tank). Does the water level in the tank rise or fall?” – view answers

Asked at Tesla Motors.  More  Tesla Motors interview questions.

25. “How do you feel about those jokers at Congress?” – view answers

Asked at Consolidated Electrical.  More Consolidated Electrical interview questions.

Think you could handle these questions during an interview?

Gargoyles, Trollocs And Job Interviews

“You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.” – “Tales of Brave Ulysses” – Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp

A strange title on the surface, unless you’ve had the “job interview from hell” (doesn’t really matter if you were the receiver or the giver in this case). We’ve all had our moments, and I’ve been both the receiver and the giver of interviews from hell (although I did not initially plan them that way, but who does?).

Anyway, I remember this one interview I went on for a job that was at a major company and the role was the perfect role for me. I first met with the person who was the manager of the role (let’s call her the “manager”) and was then asked to interview with the two people I was replacing (this should have been the first warning sign). Continue Reading

Interview Mistakes to Stay Away From

Were you impressed by your last interview?  More importantly, was the interviewer impressed?  If the answer to the first question is no, then you may feel that one or more things went wrong in your interview.  For employers, even one mistake can raise a red flag about you as a candidate.  The following are interview mistakes made one too many times by job seekers: Continue Reading

Interview Questions to Help You Hire Winners

According to John Featherstone, author of Start Hiring Winners, a lot of hiring managers commit the same fatal mistake during interviews – they just don’t know when to stop talking. If you’re relying on your “gut feelings” about a candidate and allowing them to sit back and listen to your rambling line of questioning, you’re simply not learning anything about the candidate’s skills and potential value to your company.

“Seldom does one learn anything while talking,” Featherstone says. “The purpose of the interview is to gather job-related facts. This requires that the candidate talk about 80 percent of the time.”

Featherstone believes the key to finding the best people to hire lies in intensive questioning that covers various areas of assessment. Here are a few of his top questions and areas to consider: Continue Reading

6 Job Interview Blunders to Avoid

Jessica Holbrook Hernandez of Great Resumes Fast

Every job seeker knows that a job interview can make for a tense experience. You want to make the right first impression, which is sometimes easier said than done. The good news is that there are some mistakes you can outright avoid if you know what they are. Let’s take a look at six common job interview blunders you can easily avoid: Continue Reading

Interview Tips on MySpace?

Getting an interview is probably the toughest part of the job search process. Once you do get one, it’s time to start preparing. Career expert, Elvis Lester, has created a new video on MySpace with interview tips to help job seekers feel confident and relaxed during job interviews.
One bit of advice that wouldn’t sit well with a lot of career counselors who’ve been featured here on CollegeRecruiter.com is how to answer “What is your greatest weakness?” Lester advises turning a weakness into a strength, such as saying, “I work too hard.” Most career counselors say this is a bad idea because it makes you look fake, unimaginative or deceptive.
There is no absolute right or wrong answer, except that it’s always right to be honest and be yourself, even if that means you don’t get the job. No one is a good fit for every company and vice versa.