Friday, June 19, 2020

Job Interviews, how to handle!

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Interviews are scary sometimes and sometimes they are breeze. Why are they scary? Because we don’t know what to say. And sometimes, we wanted to say something, but we ended up saying something else. Sometimes we did not answer what the interviewers wanted to hear. So, how should we handle interviews?
Here is what we can do:
1)      Thorough research:  Do a thorough research about the company. For example, there are companies which publish certain reports like earning reports and so on and so forth. Read those details. So if the interviewer asks you about the opportunities the company might get in a year or two from now, you can say, ‘While reading some reports the other day on the internet, I saw that there were some changes implemented in web marketing. I feel, owing to that, there could be chances of xyz opportunities….

2)      Tell me something about yourself. Now this one question, everyone thinks he/she  can answer perfectly because we feel we know everything about ourselves. However, the interviewer, here, is not looking at answers from your resume or your cover letter. He/She is looking at an answer which can connect you and your credentials for the role you are applying. For example, talk about something which you have achieved in your professional career which fills up the need of the role you are applying for in this current company. You can say something like, ‘When it comes to work, my way of working is such that…..’ . If you are applying for a role in HR, you can start with, ‘I have always been a people’s person….’

3)      Ensure your social networking sites are clean. Interviewers nowadays check the candidate’s social media profile for any red flag/sore point. Hence, ensure your profile does not have anything objectionable.

4)      Time: The best day and time to schedule an interview is Tuesday, 10:30 a.m. Why? Because Mondays and Fridays are all about scheduling for the week and winding up. Avoid lunch time or a time slot right before or after lunch. After lunch, the interviewer might be in food coma and before lunch, he/she might be in a rush to go for lunch. Avoid the last slot of weekdays as well because if they are in a rush to go home, they will be rushing through your interview as well.

5)      What is your weakness? This is one question, which is primarily asked not to know about your weakness, but to know how you handled it. The answer can be something like, ‘I usually tend to panic when it comes to organizing huge events. But now I know, how to go about it. I plan it perfectly and never wait till the last moment. I ensure all the arrangements are done before time, so that there is no last moment running hither thither.’

6)      Be ready with PAR anecdotes: PAR stands for Problem Action Result. If you come with anecdotes of interesting experiences, the interview becomes memorable. So, have three anecdotes ready from your professional experience wherein there was a problem, what action you took and what was the result.

7)      Do you have any questions? If the interviewer asks you ‘Do you have any question for me?’. Ask something which will portray one more attribute of yours. For example, you can say, ‘I have always actively participated in CSR(Corporate Social Responsibility)activities. Will I get an opportunity to do that here?’

8)      The final question: Before the interview ends, you can ask this question. Although the question is bold, it would show your confidence level. You can ask, ‘Have I said anything in this interview which makes you feel that I wouldn’t be the right choice for this position?’. That way, the interviewer might tell you what he/she felt.

9)      Do not forget to send a thank you email. Try doing it within 24 hours. That shows gratitude and also, even if you do not get the job now, there are chances, the recruiter might get back to the email thread months later.

Sources:

Job Satisfaction

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We all have come across the term job satisfaction. Job Satisfaction, although the term seems very simple, many of us still end up confusing it with job comparison. Being happy with your job is one thing and comparing your job with someone else’s job is entirely a different thing. There are times when we are frustrated with some things happening around us and we start grumbling that there is no job satisfaction here and hence we need to look out for new ventures. Looking out for new ventures is not wrong, but why are you looking out for new ventures is important. It shouldn’t be the case that you are jumping from one organization to another and you are still not happy. Here are the factors you need to look at to know about job satisfaction.

1)      Relationship with reporting heads: Well, reporting heads sure are stern sometimes and they have to be because they are the ones answerable to clients for any glitch. All the same, if they care about you, if they are fair, guide you well, then you should be happy because you have one factor ticked marked ‘yes’ in the list of job satisfaction.

2)      Honing your skill-sets: Are you able to hone your skill-sets in this job? Are you learning something new? If yes, this is the second factor of job satisfaction, which you can you tick as done.

3)      Does the company care? If your company cares for its employees, ensures transparent communication, recognizes your efforts, provides rewards and good incentives, then this is the place for you to be.

4)      Cordial work environment: If you have wonderful colleagues, supportive team members, this adds to your job satisfaction.

5)      Feedback: If  feedback is given in positive light and the company also has the culture of two-way feedback, this place is your place.

6)      Work-Life balance: Does your company have options for working from home when you need it? Do they have paid time off?  Do you get leaves when needed? If yes, then you are at the right place.

7)      Policies: If your company ensures fairness regardless of age, gender, disability etc., this is the perfect place for you.

8)      Job Security: If you don’t feel insecure about your job, if there is consistent communication, and you are happy with your role, this is certainly a factor you can tick as yes in your list of factors of job satisfaction.

9)      Growth: If you are growing in terms of knowledge, if you are getting recognition for your efforts, if you get promoted based on your diligence, knowledge, efforts, and your contribution in making the company grow and of course at the right time intervals, this is your place.




Tuesday, June 9, 2020

.NET Blogs to Follow - The Beginners List

Photo by Kevin Ku on Unsplash



Technologies are changing, evolving and deprecating every day. One needs to be well versed with the jargon like open-source, architecture, programming model or buzzwords like AI, ML.

To keep yourself updated with these trends, reading and exploring is imperative. When I start my day and before I jump onto my work, I go through some posts, blogs and articles.  The internet is flooded with content so here is my recommendation for beginners.

  1. Dew Drop - https://www.alvinashcraft.com/
    This is my favorite link and I never miss on reading this one everyday. The best part is that it is regularly updated with great content to explore.
  2. Discover Dot - https://discoverdot.net/
    My second most favorite and an another brilliant web-page to visit daily. A unified place that has new NuGet packages information, blogs, links and videos to go through.
  3. Channel 9 - https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/On-NET
    An extensive channel to go through .NET videos.
  4. Dev.to - https://dev.to/
    A great social platform for programming
  5. The Morning Brew - http://blog.cwa.me.uk/
    Another blog post that gets updated on a daily basis is this one. This too has some useful references to go through.


This is my curated list of top 5 links that I usually follow and read whenever I get time. Also, Twitter is another good source that gives you a lot of content to explore. A great microblogging and social networking service where I follow many tech evangelists.
If there is an amazing data or blog that I am not aware of, feel free to update these in the comments section.