“FAIL TO PREPARE,
PREPARE TO FAIL”
e-Frontiers highly recommends that you use the time prior to the interview wisely. Interview preparation is essential and must be taken seriously. Some people we engage with spend up to 10 hours preparing. Based on our research, candidates who prepare well in advance of the interview, increase their chances of success by up to 30%. Regardless of the type of interview, you are about to have; behavioural, experience or competency-based, e-Frontiers recommends that you use the following approach.
What do you know about the company?
Interviewer: What do you know about our company?
Interviewee: You are a software solutions provider.
(Silence)
Outcome: Rejection
The above is possibly the worst answer you can give to a HR or hiring manager. Sometimes they may be insulted or this can be a moment of embarrassment for you. Ensure this doesn’t happen. It is a competitive IT jobs market, and when you are seeking a new job, most of the time you will have a few options. The client also has options. Stand out from the competition by researching the company.
With the first step in your interview preparation, e-Frontiers suggests you write down 20 facts about the company you are meeting. Depending on the company (i.e. a Multi-national or a Stealth-mode Start-up), the information available may vary.
There are many resources for information such as their website, Google News, Silicon Republic, LinkedIn, your e-Frontiers Recruiter, etc. If you find it difficult to obtain information, this will allow you to start creating questions to ask the interviewers.
For Skype, Hangouts and phone interviews, you can have these points sitting in front of you.
If it is a face to face interview, re-read these points just before it begins.
Tell us about you
The next essential tip in your interview preparation that e-Frontiers advise is that you write out your experience where it correlates to the job description. What on your CV relates to this job? When asked to go through your experience at the interview you should primarily focus on matching you to the job. Don’t be too rigid either. You are likely to possess skills and experience that go beyond the job description and can add further value. Employers want this added value. They know you can do this job but what sets you apart from the competition?
For competency-based interviews, link your experience to their competencies.
The position
The next objective in your interview preparation is to re-write the job description in your own words. What do you think this job is and what do you know about it? This will allow you to relate the role to your experience and skills.
Your motivation
One of the most important areas in your interview preparation, and why you are even considering looking for a new role is to write down your motivations for this job. Why do you want this job? We suggest you aim for 10 motivations. Step 1, 2 and 3 should help construct these motivations. Financial motivations are fine but they need to be low down your list. Your e-Frontiers Recruiter will be discussing these in initial engagements.
Post-Interview – Their perception of you
Following the interview, over the coming days, the interviewers will be discussing your performance. The final step for your interview preparation that e-Frontiers recommends, is for you to write out in 5 – 10 lines what you want them to say about you. This will create a framework that will guide, shape and direct your interview.
Why is interview preparation important?
- You will know the company’s background in greater detail.
- You will thoroughly understand the job.
- The employer will understand your fit for the role much better.
- The employer will be impressed by your level of preparation.
- The employer will know that you are motivated for this.
- Interview preparation will increase your chances of success by up to 30%.
Final checklist in my interview preparation
- For onsite interviews, plan your journey to their office. Aim to be 15 minutes early. Not more than this and certainly not late.
- If you have progressed following the 1st interview, revise the questions you were asked, especially any you struggled with. Have you been proactive and researched that area of weakness?
- Research the interviewers beforehand. Google them or check them on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to strike up a conversation and build rapport.
- Do you know anyone working there? They can give you further insight into the company, role, culture, etc.
- Have questions prepared for the interview. This is the best opportunity to access primary information about the role, people, etc.
- Positivity, enthusiasm, interest and energy are essential ingredients to successful interviews.
- Look smart. After all this is an interview.
AND FINALLY
We wish you the best of luck in your interview.
August 2019
Are you wondering whether you should make a job change or not? Stay calm and go through the 5 basic questions before you decide to change job.
1. Are you happy with your job?
“Do what you love and you’ll never work another day in your life”. If you are not happy with your current job, ask yourself what you expect in the next opportunity. It’s not good if you just look for a short-term escape which will bring unhappiness for you again. Give yourself some reasonable motivations for a job change such as a new experience, a higher position or promotion opportunities.
2. What are your skills?
Do you have the feeling of being stuck in the same position in your current job? There is likely a problem which you should figure out before you change job. It is better to really understand your capability and capacity and whether it matches your dream job. It is never too late for you to upgrade your level and learn new skills to become a qualified candidate for a new position.
3. Do you have work-life balance?
Do you have it in your current job or are you looking for it when you change jobs? The contentment in both your work and private life is important and drives you to success. Separating your work and your personal life will help you work productively and have a healthy lifestyle. You should ask some questions about company culture and work-life balance. Planning each work day in advance and focusing when you come in will help you be more productive at work. Leave work in the office behind you and enjoy the contentment in your personal life.
4. Are you ready to get out of your comfort zone?
Think about new challenges you will face when you make a job change decision which will force you out of your comfort zone. Stepping out of your comfort zone can be a little daunting but can have huge benefits. Learning something new and improving your skills will give you a sense of satisfaction and achievement and may give you a different outlook on your current job or look towards a different direction.
5. What is your plan for a job change?
No one can answer this question better than you. Who do you want to be in the future? What do you want to achieve in your career path? What is the working environment like? Is salary the most important to you in your career? You should consider your value before making the move.
March 2019
In the current market, sometimes feedback can be overlooked. Lack of candidate feedback is detrimental to the entire recruitment process for all parties. See below a couple of reasons why feedback is so important for all parties involved in the process:
1) Candidate
When you provide detailed and informed feedback to a candidate, you help them learn what they are doing well, while also identifying areas in which they can improve. Honest, constructive, feedback gives solid advice on areas that candidates can work on. Therefore, improving their interview skills for next time. For the company, if they wish to hire the candidate in the future the candidate will be very keen to talk again if they received positive constructive feedback the first time around.
2) Employer
Giving feedback to a candidate is very constructive not only for a candidate to take away but also very important for the Employer Brand. Candidates who receive feedback are more likely to walk away with a positive reflection of the company even though they may not have been successful. Candidates communicate their experiences via word of mouth or via various social media platforms available and a negative view of a company can cause reputational damage in the Market. This can take a long time to repair!
Given how competitive the market is currently a brand reputation is something that a company cannot take for granted. In one sense by providing candidate feedback a client can turn a negative situation to a positive one.
3) Recruiter
Providing thorough, detailed candidate feedback as a hiring manager is critically important when working with a recruiter. Through candidate feedback, the Recruiter can understand where their candidate may have fallen short and work with the candidate to improve on certain areas whether it be through their interview technique or upskilling in certain areas.
Something that is often overlooked, is the recruiter getting feedback from the company on what it was that influenced them towards the successful candidate. It also goes without saying that the more the recruiter knows, the better their future candidates will be.
July 2019
William Clement Stone once said that “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect.” – This can be true when we examine both the salesperson and the customer’s attitude. But, let’s focus on the salesperson, what are the sales skills needed to be a successful salesperson?
Sales skills can be divided into different areas: hard skills and soft skills. The first ones are the ones directly related to the job and can be developed and learned with training and practice. Under the hard skills, we can have for example the ability to find new opportunities, qualifying the leads, doing demonstrations and so on. Hard skills are for sure important but they are not enough for you to be as a successful salesperson if you don’t combine them with the soft skills.
Soft skills or People skills are the glue that holds things together, they are all about human interaction and they play a huge part when it comes to human-to-human communication.
So, what are the most 5 important soft skills included in a successful salesperson?
1. Communication
The ability to communicate is the base of every successful salesperson, it’s all about empathy, transparency, honesty and the ability to interact and engage over the phone, via email and most importantly, face-to-face.
2. People Management
This can seem easy but it’s not. Working in sales, every day you interact with different people from different backgrounds. The sales process involves different steps and different people. Managing people through this process is critical. It is important for you to have listening capabilities to value the teamwork and the collaboration.
3. Business Management
Understanding how to help business succeed is a must. A successful salesperson needs to have the ability to bring the most value to their prospects and customers.
4. Time Management
This is a must-have skill and understanding how to prioritize and manage your own time is essential to succeed.
5. Leadership
Leadership isn’t management. Leadership is a force which manages organisational procedures and coordinates the employees to achieve the company’s objectives and having effective leadership is necessary. A good leader has the ability to influence people towards the attainment of organisational goals.
Learning the techniques and strategies for being a successful salesperson is only half of the equation. You need soft skills and people skills to drive to success and these are skills that can’t be taught, but they can be developed.
To truly excel at sales, don’t forget about the soft skills. Develop them and they’ll turn you into a true asset to you and your company.
Would you like to discuss further on sales roles? Please feel free to reach out to me at federica.brungiu@e-frontiers.ie.
July 2019
Federica Brungiu
Besides being known as one of the major tech hubs in Europe, Ireland continues to be an attractive destination for many global financial institutions. The Banking and Finance recruitment market in Ireland has become increasingly active with an increased pipeline of International Banks and Asset managers continuing to look to Ireland as a preferred location.
We spent 5 minutes with Conor Byrne, Director of Banking and Finance Recruitment at e-Frontiers to understand the overall picture of this market.
The Recruitment market within Financial Services is extremely competitive in Ireland currently. What are the drivers?
We are seeing growing confidence in the Irish economy and many business transformation and relocation opportunities connected to Brexit. Given the huge growth in the fintech sector in recent times, this has presented more competition for top talent between Banks, Asset managers and the rising number of Management companies (ManCo’s) looking to establish here.
What Trends are you currently seeing across the market?
Continued demand for Risk, Compliance and regulatory professionals across all areas in the sector which has been mainly driven by central bank requirements for companies to have greater depth within their governance framework and an ever-changing regulatory landscape. We continue to see new entrants to the Irish Market with a strong pipeline in capital markets and asset management sectors.
High skilled banking and finance expatriates continue to return home as we are now seeing a greater variety of Front, Middle and back office roles in the Irish Market.
We are seeing a greater than ever focus on work-life balance for candidates when contemplating a move.
What steps are your clients taking to attract key candidates?
Clients are continually looking at ways to stand out through promoting good work-life balance, career progression opportunities and offering return to work programmes.
We also see Clients seeking to improve the candidate experience within the recruitment process. In the current market Speed is key – same number of steps with a shorter recruitment time.
What attracted you to e-Frontiers?
What differentiates e-Frontiers from other recruitment firms is that each division is led by someone with genuine domain experience in the areas they are recruiting for. Coming from the Industry side of things and having been a hiring manager, we are looking to add real value to both Clients and Candidates throughout the entire recruitment process. Thankfully in a short time, this has been well received by the recruitment market within Banking and Finance.
May 2019
