How to Say Thanks After an Interview

For job candidates seeking an edge, sending interviewers a customized thank-you is critical. Recruiters estimate that most candidates make the effort to send thank-yous, but only half go the extra mile to customize them for the job they’re seeking.

If you’re interviewing with several employers, check that each thank-you shows the correct company and recruiter name. After all, you don’t want to accidentally send a thank-you addressed to, say, the company’s competitor.

It’s also important to be specific and show off your listening skills. If you discussed a particular trend or issue with the interviewer, mention it again in your thank-you or even include a link to a recent news story on the subject. This will show that you focused on what was going on during the interview and that you are serious about the opportunity.

Try tapping into the employer’s culture. For example, a candidate for a job at Coca-Cola Co. signed his thank-you with the company slogan, “Have a Sweet Day.” But no matter how laid-back an employer seems, keep your thank-you professional. Thank-yous with slang or funky spelling are unlikely to impress. Expressing some individuality is OK, but what an employer primarily wants to see is that the candidate knows proper business etiquette.

It’s also important to write a thank-you to every executive you meet with during the interview process. Each letter should speak to your particular interaction with that person, particularly as executives may share your letters with one another. Think back to the topics discussed during each interview. You might say that it was really interesting to learn about a particular client or reference a similarity in your backgrounds that came up. For example, perhaps you discovered that you graduated from the same college as the interviewer.

In terms of the actual form of the thank-you, most recruiters agree that a paper, snail-mail thank-you is no longer required. Personalized, concise emails are just fine, provided they follow a few simple rules.

Avoid being too casual when it comes to communicating about career opportunities in cyberspace and on mobile devices. Don’t send emails that contain shorthand language or decorative symbols. Likewise, refrain from sending hasty and poorly thought-out messages to and from mobile devices. Rather, a standard email gives hiring managers the sense that you sat down at your computer in a thoughtful way to follow up. Further, it’s also inappropriate to try and thank interviewers on social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, as is making a friend request. Interviewers are not candidates’ friends and making such a gesture suggests a lack of professionalism.

To be sure, employers themselves are blurring the lines to some extent by using mobile and Web technology for recruiting. But when it comes to saying thanks, career experts recommend going the traditional route by using email to send interviewers a professional, concise and personalized note of appreciation.

Tips

• Personalize your thank-you with specific references to issues you discussed in the interview.
• Send each interviewer you spoke with a thank-you, but be sure they are individualized notes.
• Don’t send thank-yous via text message or on social networking sites. Too When in doubt, keep it professional. Too much humor or casual language can turn recruiters off.

(Source: http://guides.wsj.com/careers/how-to-succeed-in-a-job-interview/how-to-say-thanks-after-an-interview/)

Acing Tricky Questions

By DENNIS NISHI

On her second round of interviews for an editorial job in Chicago, Jess Wangsness was asked: If you could be a giraffe without a neck or an elephant without a trunk, which would you choose and why?

"Even though none of it had anything to do with the job, we had a fairly animated conversation about elephant behavior," Ms. Wangsness says. She didn't get the job but still wonders about the question. "Perhaps employers simply like to gauge just how interesting their candidates really are?" she says.

Regardless of how offbeat some interview questions may sound, most employers have their own hidden reasons for asking them. Usually, such queries are a way to uncover information about you that standard interview questions don't suss out. And whether the goal is to gauge your leadership aptitude or test your ability to handle stress, experts say you should stay composed and answer concisely.

The way you react to a question or work through an answer can actually score more points with the interviewer than the answer you give.
Analyze This

Trick questions can help companies slim down a big pool of applicants, says Victor Cheng, a business coach in Bainbridge Island, Wash. His website, CaseInterview.com, offers tips for passing the type of intense problem-solving interviews used by consulting companies.

A typical question Mr. Cheng would ask job applicants: How long does it take to move an average-sized mountain a mile? There's no right or wrong answer; displaying a thoughtful and coherent process for solving the problem (or answering the question) is the point interviewers are judging.

Companies in a variety of industries have applied similar brain-twisting methodologies to their hiring practices. "Investment banks tend to ask odd questions that don't have answers as a way to test your grace under pressure. Software companies like Google or Microsoft will throw in puzzles or riddles to see how creatively you can solve things," says Mr. Cheng.

The key to finding a good answer is to systematically break the question down, making assumptions where needed to fill gaps of information. If you can see no clear way to deconstruct an answer, make your best guess and try to appear confident about your response.
Do Your Homework

Memorizing facts about the company isn't enough to impress interviewers. Research the company, the industry and, most importantly, the workplace culture and extrapolate what creative questions could be used to assess your competence. An advertising agency that specializes in social media, for example, may ask you what the most profitable crop to grow is in Farmville, a popular Facebook game, to see how familiar you are with the different social-networking services.

Even law-enforcement agencies will use unconventional questions to weed out undesirable candidates. When author Joe Navarro worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he would ask job applicants how many bumper stickers they had on their cars. "The more they have, the more rigid and stubborn they tend to be," he says. "It gives insight into beliefs and rigidity."

Whatever you do, try not to put the interviewer on the defensive, says Linda Konstan, principal at Denver-based Sensible Human Resources Consulting. "This is their way of getting to know you. Going off track isn't necessarily inappropriate," she says.

Write to Dennis Nishi at cjeditor@dowjones.com

(Source : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB128363744922834527.html?mod=WSJ_article_related)

How to Quit a Job – The Wall Street Journal

Should you stay or should you go? There’s no surefire sign that it’s time to look for greener professional pastures. But there are a few clear reasons that could signal it’s time to change jobs.

First, ask yourself if there is a culture clash. Is your entrepreneurial nature always at odds with the collaborative style of your co-workers? Do you need a social, mobile work environment to keep your creative juices flowing, while your office is neatly divided up into closed office spaces? A company’s core culture isn’t likely to change over night, so if you’re not happy, it might be time to look elsewhere.

Another sign that a job change might be in order is a lack of performance-based rewards. Maybe you’ve received the standard raise yet again, but weren’t awarded a new title. Or you consistently exceed the limits of a company’s bonus structure. Most employees need incentives and rewards to feel valued, and if you’re not getting them, it might be time to dust off that résumé.

Signs of financial stress at your company are another red flag. If vendors are starting to complain about late payments, or one of your own paychecks bounces (or you hear that a coworker’s did), you may want to proactively protect yourself by launching a job search.

If you decide that it is indeed time to quit and move on, take care when breaking the news to your boss. A poorly executed resignation could come back to haunt you. There may be a time when you need a referral from him or her to help you land a new job. And even after you quit, a merger could potentially reunite you with your former supervisor.

Set up a meeting to announce your plans to quit at least two weeks in advance of your departure. Share the news immediately rather than dance around the subject. Tell your boss you have enjoyed working at the company but don’t want to pass up a new, compelling opportunity. Emphasize the lure of the new job rather than the flaws of the old one. Other good reasons to give for leaving include the chance to gain more responsibility, make a bigger impact on an organization or learn new skills.

Tips

• Watch for signs of financial stress at your company, or signs that rewards might be curtailed in the near future.
• Try to figure out if your uncertainty is due to a culture clash between your style and the corporate culture. If it is, it might be time to move on.
• Once you do decide to quit, be sure you don’t burn any bridges in the process.

http://guides.wsj.com/careers/how-to-overcome-career-obstacles/how-to-quit-a-job/

Back to Work

Time passed like flying. 6 and 1/2 days off day was just past. Now I am back to Genting for work. I miss my lao po very much.