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Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
Identify the basic methods for successful job hunting, including locating specific jobs;
preparing a conventional, electronic (ASCII), web (HTML), and social media
profile/resume; and writing a powerful letter of application
Summarize suggestions for interviewees when preparing for an interview, including
creating the right impression, handling different types of interviews, answering tough
standard and behavioral questions, and asking the interviewer appropriate questions
Identify the phases of a successful interview and discuss what an interviewer should
include in each phase
Summarize important suggestions for interviewers when conducting an interview,
especially how to know which interview questions are lawful and which are not
I.
: Preparing for the Job Hunt
Investigate the employment market.
1. Various job hunting methods have different rates of success.
a. Networking (through informational interviews) has an 86 percent success rate.
b. Posting a profile and resume on a social networking site (e.g., Facebook,
2. Aggressive job hunters use multiple methods to find a job.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
3. Networks (a web of contacts and relationships designed to benefit participants via
leads and referrals) can mathematically reduce the length of the job search.
4. Check social media contacts after transforming them into relationships.
5. Conduct 10 to 40 information-seeking interviews with relevant people (and research
blogs).
1. Check posted openings on free, company, and employment websites.
2. Use job sites to post resumes, look for job openings, and obtain useful information
(e.g., on interviewing, jobs, salaries, cost of living, possible contacts).
3. Most companies now have their own (.jobs) websites.
4. Make yourself easy to find online, even for harder-to-find executive jobs.
5. Look for virtual job fairs.
a conventional, electronic, web, or social media resume.
1. Resumes are a way of communicating with prospective employers.
2. Conventional paper resumes vary in length, style, and content depending on the job,
applicant work experience, and company preferences.
a. Tailor the resume to the specific company and industry.
i. Think of resumes as a TV commercial for you.
ii. Highlight the most important job-related information first.
i. This resume is preferred by interviewers.
ii. It includes not only responsibilities but also achievements.
d. Functional resumes emphasize skills and accomplishments rather than work
experience and dates.
i. This resume normally is for people with a variety of experience and skills.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
e. Combination or hybrid resumes have both chronological and functional aspects.
i. This resume includes an introduction (or summary), functional information
on achievement and skills, chronological work history, and education.
ii. Experienced professionals prefer the combination resume, which receives
generally positive recruiter reactions.
f. Basic information is included regardless of the type of conventional resume.
v. Include job experience or volunteer experience.
vi. Optionally add other possible job-related items of interest.
vii.
actual references, or omit this entirely; do not use family members as
references but rather 3-5 people who can address skills, experience, or both.
h. Conventional resumes are meant to be read by people, not computers.
i. Use conventional resumes for face-to-face meetings.
ii. Because of security and readability issues, do not attach conventional
resume files to emails or post them online unless requested.
3. The electronic (ASCII) resume (also e-resume, email resume, plain-text resume) is
a bare-bones resume to be pasted into messages, read by computer, or uploaded.
a. Electronic resumes differ from conventional resumes in two main ways.
i. They have little formatting so that they are easier for computers to use.
sending it to yourself and a friend).
e. Some websites (e.g., Monster.com) do not require plain text, but even there,
limited formatting is a good idea.
4. The web (HTML) resume (also e-portfolio) includes an electronic resume and links
to a conventional resume and other personal website information.
a. Web resumes are especially effective for job applicants in technology,
advertising, marketing, theater, film, art, and design.
5. A social media profile and resume (e.g., LinkedIn) are essential in modern
workplace, but some privacy protection is needed.
1. Present yourself in a positive light.
2. Never lie, which may be illegal.
3. Eliminate any exaggerations (overstating or presenting facts as more important than
they are).
4. Eliminate any distortions (misrepresenting or twisting facts or stating partial truths
as truths), which are unethical and can destroy a career.
5. Beware of education inflation, enhanced job titles and salaries, inflated
1. Make a good first impression.
2. Preview the resume and showcase communication skills and writing style.
3. Relate each letter specifically to the company and person to whom you are writing.
4. Before writing, discover as much as possible about the company.
a. Conduct informational interviews.
5. Focus on the needs of the company and what you can do for it (not your needs).
II . Interviewee: Preparing the Interview
A. Have a attitude.
1. Be confident regardless of what happened in the past.
2. Use confidence-building techniques (Chapter 6).
3. Do not alter your personality or style just for the interview; be yourself.
B. Communicate and dress for the occasion (impression management).
1. First impressions matter and are correlated with hiring.
2. Successful applicants use five types of comments (impression management tools).
a. Describe yourself positively.
3. These five comment types have two impression management styles.
a. In the controlling style, comments focus on self-promotion.
4. Vocal sounds help shape the impressions of interviewers.
a. Variety in pitch and tempo and a moderate volume add to the impression of
5. Especially for visual impressions, interviewer decisions are more heavily influenced
by unfavorable first impressions and behaviors than by favorable ones.
a. Poor grooming is associated with low self-concept.
1. Include language that appeals to the interviewer.
a. Use technical jargon common in the field.
2. Anticipate standard questions, plan answers, and practice answers aloud.
3. Anticipate behavioral questions that require the interviewee to give examples of
skills or behaviors.
1. Seek information that will tell you whether you want the job.
2. If not given the opportunity to ask questions, request it.
3. Recognize that questions reflect training, education, ambitions, and commitment.
F. Be prepared to follow up the interview.
1. Complete any action items specified by the interviewer.
2. If you do not hear anything from the company within a reasonable amount of time
(1-2 weeks), make contact to confirm your interest and thank the interviewer.
G. Be sure and send a thank you card immediately after the interview.
IV. Interviewer: Planning the
A. Interviewers have more responsibility for how the employment interview is conducted.
B. Interviewees prefer interviewers who have certain characteristics.
1. They show high levels of nonverbal immediacy behaviors.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
E. Interviewers should plan the environment.
1. Recognize that privacy is usually essential.
3. Plan seating so that the participants feel comfortable.
F. Organize the interview carefully to obtain needed information for hiring decisions and
to avoid costly mistakes.
1. Plan the opening phase to establish rapport, verify basic information, and motivate
V. Interviewer: the Interview
A. Ask only lawful questions, taking into account two basic EEOC guidelines.
1. All questions must be job related.
2. The same basic questions must be asked of all applicants.
B. It is illegal in the United State to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex
(including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information.
C. It is illegal to retaliate against anyone who complains about discrimination, files a
1. Interviewees are responsible for job hunting tools (e.g., resumes) and interview
2. Interviewers are responsible for planning the interview ahead of time, asking
necessary but lawful questions, and avoiding false inferences.
3. The interviewer has greatest responsibility for the success of the interview.
8.1 Ask your students to look through the job advertisements in a newspaper,
magazine, or placement office and select a job they are currently qualified to hold.
They should then carefully prepare a letter of application and a resume
1 week before the scheduled interviews. On the scheduled day, students will
interview each other and be evaluated as both an interviewer and an interviewee.
Evaluation may be conducted by classmates or instructor on Interview Evaluation
8.2 Divide the class into groups of 4 or 5 students. Give each group the same
unorganized data sheets about a real or fictitious person. Using the data sheets,
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
A number of useful webpages can be employed in conjunction with Chapter 8:
Send students to a webpage that gives Behavior Based Interview questions. Have them
pick a designated number to answer and email to you. Remind them to follow specified
patterns:
Situation (introduction)
Action you took (body)
Results/outcome (conclusion)
Then instruct students to ask someone to help them practice by asking the questions they
posting answers or pairing asynchronous dyad question/answers).
With an on-campus class you could (1) assign the webpages as outside reading, (2) pair
the students when they get to class with one student playing the role of interviewer and
one student being the interviewee, (3) have them roleplay for three Behavior Based
trade roles and repeat the exercise with different questions.
Click the SVL icon in Apps Doc/use Search and Filter functions to find specific
the speech and its video, transcript, outline, and speech-based questions. To assign to
students, click the plus sign (+) on top blue bar or Unit View/select Add Activity/click
SVL/follow steps provided.
questions appear
employee interview questions, as well as pulling a few from the Internet.
The next class meeting, instruct two teams to move their desks facing each other. Team
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
A, team member 1 will ask Team B, team member 1 an interview question from their list.
This will continue down the line. Then Team B, team member 1 will ask Team A, team
2003, 20 minutes. This program walks
students through the interview process, from what to wear, to how to send a message with
. Informational
interviewing is also covered. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.
Behavioral Interviewing, 2005, 22 minutes. This program explores behavioral
picture
employers. Cerebellum Corporation.
Resumes & Cover Letters: Standing Out (Program 2), 2002, 26 minutes.
discover how to hit the ground running and how to make your cover letter stand out.
potential employers. To top it all off, the Standard Deviants show you how to dodge
Collateral websites also offer supplemental support for Chapter 8 topics:
This is a good site for researching industries and companies.
http://www.wetfeet.com
The University of Virginia has an extensive site for the employment interview. Wide
ranges of topics are covered including Before the Interview, During the Interview, After
1. Veronica is preparing her web resume (e-portfolio). It is important that she remembers to
provide a link to a conventional resume.
2. The interviewee has a responsibility to be prepared to ask questions during an interview.
3. Ms. Schmidt is coming back to the workplace after having taken time off to spend with her
children. She should use a functional resume format that emphasizes her skills.
4. Skills, experience, and education are just some of the factors that should be used to
determine whether a person is qualified for a particular job.
5. As long as the comments are not phony, manipulative, or false, research indicates that the
controlling style of impression management results in more job offers and higher ratings of
the candidate for motivation, enthusiasm, and technical skills.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. Which of the following is recommended as an effective way to answer unlawful questions
during an employment interview?
a. Answer the fear behind the question
rather than the question asked
c. Refuse to answer and mentio
n that the
question is unlawful
b. Silently refuse to answer the question d. Answer the question as it was asked
2. The body of a letter of application should not state:
a. Your purpose in sending the letter c. Your basic qualifications for the
position
b. How you heard about the available
opening
d. A review of your resume
3. The questioning phase of the interview is the responsibility of:
a. The interviewer c. The interviewee primarily, but the
interviewer partially
b. The interviewee d. The interviewer primarily, but the
interviewee partially
14. Which of the following is not a suggestion for interviewees given by the text?
a. Speak quietly and in a muted tone c. Send a thank-you note
b. Focus on eye contact, appearance, and
facial expressions
d. Be prepared for any type of interview
15. Interviewees prefer that interviewers do all of the following except:
a. Show high levels of nonverbal
immediacy
c. Conduct the interview in an informal
way in a busy work area
b.
Listen to interviewee answers and limit
the number of interruptions
d. Ask open questions and allow
sufficient time to answer them
1. Successful applicants use five types of comments as impression management tools during
an interview. What are they?
ANS:
Successful applicants use five types of comments (impression management tools). They are to
2. Conventional paper resumes are organized in one of three basic ways. What are they and
when should each be used?
ANS:
Chronological resumes highlight work, listing it in reverse chronological order. This resume is
preferred by interviewers. It includes not only responsibilities but also achievements.
Functional resumes emphasize skills and accomplishments rather than work experience and
3. What are the three phases of an interview and what should happen in each phase?
ANS:
The three phases are the opening phase, the question response phase and the closing phase. The
opening phase should establish rapport, verify basic information, and motivate the applicant.
