A resume will get you through the door, but the interview is what will get you hired.

You might be the BEST at the JOB you are interviewing for, but if you don’t master communicating that in an interview, you may not get the job. Interviewing is a skill that can be learned… here is what you need to know to do it right.

• Apply to the right jobs.  You wouldn’t go on a date with someone who is totally wrong for you, so why would you want to interview for a job that isn’t a good fit? As tempting as it is to go for the highest paying or status jobs you can find, you should really only apply to jobs you know you are qualified for. Also, know what YOU want out of a job. This way you can make sure that the jobs you interview for are ones you actually want and can get.

• Know your stuff – and stop studying for the interview like it’s a test.  An interview is a conversation, not a test. So Don’t try to predict what will be asked. If you are applying to the right jobs, you really DO already know everything you need to know to talk about what you can bring to the job. Do practice a few things you KNOW you want to talk about related to your experience and definitely research the company so you know what they do, but don’t practice canned answers like you are playing a part.

• Answer the question.  Pay attention to what they are telling you during the interview and what questions they are asking. If they ask how much you grew business in Q4 of last year in your current role and you start talking about what you plan to to do when you are hired, it may seem as though you can’t focus on the task at hand. Keep answers focused and to the point and know when to stop talking and just listen – he who talks the most thinks the interview went the best…let it be them!

• Ask what success looks like.  “What are your expectations for the person in this role?”  “What impact are you looking for someone to have?”  Asking them to talk more about what they are looking for not only shows you are serious, it also may give you important clues on how to represent your experience to help them see you are the perfect person for the job.

• Back your answers up with specific examples.  Know your numbers and how to use them… If you are asked what your strategy would be to increase awareness of their brand, be ready to talk about how you might use a similar strategy to that was successful in your current position: that killer ad campaign you launched resulted in 89% growth in profits year over year.  Quantifiable success goes a long way to proving you are more than just talk – you get results.

• Set expectations.  An interview is not a one way conversation…don’t be afraid to ask them questions that will help you both have a clear idea about timelines. Ask them for guidance in terms of when you can hear back, how far along they are in the interview process, and if they have a date in mind by which they need to hire someone.

Also, let them know you plan to follow up – ask them something like “Hey, if I don’t hear from you in 2 weeks, would it be OK if I check in to see how things are going?”
Questions like these help you manage your follow up, and make sure you don’t leave still waiting for the phone to ring two months later or worse..turning into a total stalker.

Wendy Doulton is a guest blogger for Blogging4Jobs.  She’s a corporate headhunter and executive career coach who works in LA.  For more tips, catch the re-airing of her new reality television special called “The Headhuntress” on Bravo TV.  You can also follow Wendy on Twitter at @theheadhuntress or connect with her company, Katalyst Career Group. 

Photo Credit Voice Advantage.

Labor unions are using social media in new ways every day.   They are using it for member outreach, for organizing, and for widely sharing their issues and messages.  They are developing new and effective ways utilizing social media to reach out to your employees with a goal of building contacts for future organizing attempts.

It is very important that human resources professionals are paying attention to this trend, and develop strategies for responding.   Unions are faced with declining membership, and are turning to social media to promote issues, for organizing and for member outreach.   Labor experts such as Phillip Wilson of the Labor Relations Institute predict that overall labor union activity will increase, including strikes, picketing, short term  job actions, potential sabotage, increased organizing and rising corporate campaign activity.

This make it critical that HR Managers understand how social media can be used as part of an effort to help or hurt your brand.  Here are some the methods that labor unions have been using recently.

Blogs for union organizing

As reported in the Daily Kos, the IBEW recently used a blog to successfully organize a Budweiser facility in New York.

A unique campaign to boost membership in New York may be a harbinger of future efforts to strengthen workers’ voices on the job, where laptops can be as important as leaflets.

Nonunion workers at Anheuser–Busch InBev Metal Container Corporation in Newburgh, who make cans for Budweiser beer and other brands, were worried about their futures after the company was sold in 2008 to a Belgian group. Employees reached out to Electrical Workers(IBEW) Local 363 last spring for support – but the fear of captive-audience meetings, harassment and other actions by the employer left many at the plant wary of how to press forward without management sidelining their efforts.

So organizers got crafty and set up a special blog strictly for the 164 employees to debate, strategize, air concerns and ultimately come together for victory, all while avoiding many of the union-busting tactics so common in most campaigns.

This blog is widely credited by union organizers as a major development, and has been mentioned on the AFL-CIO blog as the most successful social media tactic by unions to date.

Special Issue web sites

The UFCW union recently used a special issue web site called No Bad Apples to wage a social media campaign as part of a strike action against the Mott’s Apple Sauce brand, which is owned by the Doctor Pepper Snapple group.    DPS decided to seek wage reductions from employees at a plant in upstate New York, and wound up involved in a work stoppage that lasted nearly 3.5 months.   The union launched a campaign aimed gaining public sympathy, and embarrassing Mott’s.   Tactics included hijacking the Mott’s Facebook page, twitter, and virtual actions directed as the CEO , as well as the sharing of “Street actions” through photo sharing sites such as Flickr.  You can see a 5 slide slideshare deck with specific details on the Mott’s campaign here.

This campaign was inexpensive to create, achieved a fairly level of viral spread, and has been credited with helping to bring the strike to an en on favorable terms for the union.   (No wage reduction, three year wage freeze)

The campaign was so successful, despite being enjoined in court following a filing by DPS for trademark infringement, that the campaign was featured as part of a panel on social media at the International Labor Communications Association’s (ILCA’s) annual conference, held in Washington D.C in November 2010.

According to the AFL-CIO blog,  the special panel on “Winning Campaigns with Social Media covered topics ranging from countering attacks on teachers unions, the social media campaign for Mott’s strikers, and other ways social media might provide new, experimental weapons for union campaigns.  The panel also  examined other campaigns that used social media, discussed what worked and shared ideas on effectively use of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other tools.

I can’t stress strongly enough that this stuff is developing rapidly, and that HR managers need to pay attention to these types of campaigns, and prepare contingency plans for  dealing with them.   The potential risk of social media being used against your brand is growing, and you need to be ready!

Mike Vandervort is a guest blogger on Blogging4Jobs. Michael is currently employed as a labor relations strategist for a fortune 100 company based in Florida.  He is also the President of HRH Consulting LLC, a consulting practice offering advice and guidance on labor relations and social media.  He speaks frequently on human resources and business related topics, including social media, labor and  employee relations, the culture of organizations, leadership and employment practices.  You can connect with him on his blog, The Human Race Horses or @mikevandervort on Twitter.

Photo Credit Social Tech Pop.

Taking a look back when I first started college, I wish I had known what I knew today about the job search. I figured once I get out, I will have a degree and employers will be throwing themselves at me. Unfortunately, the recession happened, and the veterans in the job world were taking all the entry-level jobs.

Here I was, happy about graduating, but depressed about finding a job. After two months of being jobless, I realize it was no longer about using my degree, but about obtaining an income to pay the bills. I have talked with several students that have recently graduated or who are about to graduate and they are all in the same boat. The advice that is constantly circling around the Internet varies depending on who you talk with and their profession. For instance, if you are attempting to land any form of marketing job, you’ll have those marketing professionals scrutinize your work while HR professionals will be looking at it from a different angle.

I’m growing fonder of creating lists of the things I wish I had done while still in college. So here is a just a few that I wish I would’ve known and executed.

Value your Network

I didn’t start appreciating those within my circle of influence until about my junior year. I knew the President of the university, I knew directors of various offices, and I was pretty well known by most faculty and staff in the Business department. However, I didn’t start talking to them about my future employment options and how they could assist me. I don’t believe in Career Services because I have yet to hear a success story that was directly because of the department. Career fairs and resume workshops are nice, but you can get those same things without visiting your college’s Career Services department. Use your network to your advantage.

Get an Internship

I cannot express how much real-world experience trumps scholastic knowledge. For that reason, the veterans that didn’t go to college are getting all the jobs. Employers should start looking towards younger generations because we have more to offer than real-world experience. It’s weird that employers still have to list that you must be proficient in Microsoft Office products. Don’t graduate without having some real-world experience. Even if all you did was file build your resume to make it look like you were way more awesome. Don’t lie though.

Forget the 4.0 GPA, Get Involved.

I’m not saying don’t do well in school, but don’t just aim for that 4.0 GPA and not be involved at the same time. I recently heard the saying A students work for the B students, C students own the business, and D students are the geniuses€ I think that is true in some respect. You don’t want to focus all your energy on achieving perfect grades. Three things I wish I had been more proactive with while attending college. I’ve built my post-college network and it would’ve been a lot easier when the recession wasn’t shot. I’m told wait until the beginning of the year, but another person told me that they mentioned that she has been waiting for the beginning for several years now. A degree in itself is not as effective as the network you build and the friends you make.

What kinds of things did you do in college and what do you wish you had done? Let us know!

Blake McCammon, is an intern at Xceptional HR. Connect with Blake on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.  Blake is a recent grad of Northeastern State University with a degree in Business Administration.  During school he created and managed his university’s social media strategy. He is currently the co-moderator for the Twitter chat, #genychat which takes place every Wednesday at 9pm EST.

How do you know if that next big idea will or won’t work as a strategy in your company? Is it because you’ve tested and measured to find that result, or is it because you made an assumption ahead of time? Maybe you should give things a test run on a sample population (your guinea pigs) before making the final call for the whole organization. Want a successful example? Try Google.
Develop Rabid Fans

Have you used a Google product or service in the past 24 hours? Chances are you have if you’re using a computer at all. From Gmail to Docs to Voice, Google seems to have an offering for just about everything. How did these things begin? They started with a small group of rabid fans. A select few received invitations from Google, and that exclusive group used word of mouth to reach a large audience.

If you created a new policy, benefit, or pay structure that was amazingly popular with the pilot group, just imagine how it would be when all of the employees start buzzing about your new offering. It’s amazing to think that you could be like Google in that regard, but it’s really a matter of finding who is going to spread your message the farthest and letting them do their thing.€

80/20 Brilliance

What would you do if you controlled where one-fifth of your work schedule was dedicated? How would you spend that time? One of the perks of working at Google is 20% time, where employees can dedicate a portion of their time to projects of their own choosing. Interestingly enough, some of the company’s best products/services grew from the 20% time. Using just a small portion of your time and efforts can have a dramatic effect on the bottom line, and it’s not a huge investment for the potential return.

Always Be Moving

Google would be nothing if it stopped developing new products after their search engine debuted. Its increasing popularity over the years has come from a steady influx of new services that appeal to a broad range of people.

Instead of sitting back and becoming too comfortable after a big success, keep your eyes on the horizon for new and better ways to build your company by working with (and through) its people.

You don’t have to be as large as Google to do what they’ve done. Go ahead. Treat your employees like guinea pigs. Use a little bit of your time to test new ideas. You don’t have to be a global, super-powered corporation to give these things a shot (although it doesn’t hurt). All it takes is the courage and dedication to making your people and organization better!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you can test ideas on your own employees. Or maybe you’d like to share how you’d use your 20% time if you had it? Drop a comment below!

This guest post is by Ben Eubanks. Ben hearts his Google stuff (although he loves his new baby girls even more!). He lives and works in Huntsville, AL as an HR pro by day and an HR blogger by night. Want to connect? He’s on Twitter, LinkedIn, and uses that email thing, too

Photo by dannysullivan.

I don’t remember who said it, but someone once told me that looking for a job is pretty much a full-time job in itself.  Boy were they right.

Since becoming unemployed in October of 2009, I have managed to rack up hours upon hours of searching for the next job.  I’ve managed to pick up the odd part-time job here or there, but for the most part, I spend at least 40 hours a week searching for jobs, crafting up cover letters, formatting my resume, and optimistically waiting for that phone call or email asking to schedule an interview.

When I graduated college, I was unemployed for 3 months.  I landed a job I thought I loved, spent 4 years there, and then decided in October it wasn’t for me.  So I quit my job willingly, moved home, and started looking for a new career.  In no way do I regret the decision that has left me living on what little income I can earn because it has allowed me to explore all the other possibilities that I had missed out on when I choose to go the route I had gone after college.

Since October I have had numerous plans of attack for the process.  I believe that the job search process is different for everyone.  Some tactics work for others very well, while for not as much for others.  I took advice from friends and previous colleagues as to where I should look for a job.  I was told to check out countless online job search sites, go to networking events, and check out LinkedIn.  And I’ve done all of that.  Do I have a job yet? No.  Have I received any acknowledgment that I submitted my information to any companies? Sometimes.  It took me 9 solid months of submitting resumes, networking, and internships for me to finally get anywhere.  I am happy to report that the month of September is a good one for me.  I have had 2 interviews, have 2 more scheduled, and have 1 2^nd interview.

So, how did I get to where I am today?

Network. Network. Network.

I firmly believe that the reason I have had the recent luck that I’ve had is because of two things: the work I’ve put in and the people I know.  But I also believe that no one would’ve seen the work I’d done unless it was for the people I know.  When you network and meet people, and they see the work you’ve done, they are more likely to vouch for you or submit your resume to hiring managers.  No one wants to put in a good word for someone that they don’t know if they could trust to actually do the work.

Be Diligent and Patient.

These two were the HARDEST thing for me to do.  You have to keep plugging away and keep submitting resume and cover letters and reaching out to hiring managers to get that interview.  You have to be patient because sometimes it just takes awhile for someone to get to your information or to respond to you.  I once had a phone interview and even though they said they wanted to bring me in for an in person interview, I still had to wait 3 weeks for them to get around to scheduling it.  But they eventually did, and that interview is coming up soon.

Don’t take it personal.

Just because a hiring manager doesn’t email or call you back when you submit an application or after you’ve had an initial interview, doesn’t mean they hate you.  Sometimes, it’s not even you.  There are times when you could have an AWESOME resume and have tons of experience and be perfectly qualified for the job, but someone else has more experience.  It doesn’t mean they’d think you’d do badly at the job, they just think someone else would do better.  This plays back into being patient and diligent.  If your interview didn’t warrant the hopeful outcome, just keep at it.

Pay it Forward.

Not only was this a great movie with a great message, I think it’s an important idea when it comes to the job search.  Whenever someone asked for a favor, I always tried to help, and in return they would try to help.  If someone I know was looking to fill a position that I wasn’t qualified for or just didn’t want to pursue, I would get the word out about the opening to help them find a person.  That way, if someone came across their desk that fit my ideal job, they would hopefully let me know.  Maybe I see the good in people that others don’t, but I believe that my job karma is about to turn my way partly due to this concept.

INTERN

If all else fails, get an internship.  Internships are a great way to get first hand experience in the field you choose AND make connections.  I was fortunate to have three fantastic internships this past summer and I am convinced that I would not be getting this much attention from my resume if I hadn’t had them on it.

Like I said before, everyone’s job searching experiences are different.  Some people are just really luck and can find a job right off an Internet job board, and others just know the right people.  Either way you look at it, you have to put yourself out there in order to get noticed.  I am very hopeful that one of these 4 interviews will pan out for me.  If not, I will keep on chugging away, and I know it will pay off eventually.  To those of you who are still searching, good luck!  You will get there someday.

Our guest blogger, Liz Glomb is a resident of Washington, DC.  She left her job as a full time collegiate rowing coach to pursue a career in Public Relations, marketing, and social media.  Her latest internships have given her experience in event planning, online social community management, social media, and website design.  When she isn’t in front of her computer writing her latest revision of her resume or a new cover letter, you can find her coaching local high school kids in rowing on the Potomac or toting around her DSLR taking pictures of just about anything.  You can also find her connecting with her local community on twitter.  You can follow her at @eglomb.

Photo Credit Employment Guide.

In reflecting on the 2010 SHRM Conference in June of this year, where I attended a session called Employee Benefits; Just How Competitive Is Your Company? where the speaker Steve Williams Ph. D., SPHR threw out the number that now 33% of companies offer benefits for domestic partners and said that if you’re not providing this benefit you need to get with it, suggesting that if your organization did not offer domestic partner benefits you may be losing out on a large segment of the population, which got me thinking:  Is this what we need to be advocating for our employers, as HR Professionals?  As a member of SRHM National and a local chapter is that what we need SHRM to be advocating for its members?

So I looked a little deeper at SHRM. According to one of the knowledgeable advisors that I spoke with about this matter, SHRM does offer Domestic Partner benefits for its employees. Additionally, SHRM advocates for employers to provide this benefit and provided me with a number of documents which state this position.

In contemplating this, I recall a vivid memory from my past that helped shape me and the way I feel about those who are gay.  I consider myself to be a middle-class, old, white guy who grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the 1960s. I was out on my own at young age; my father passed away when I was fourteen, and then four years later my mother suddenly died. The Viet Nam war was starting to wind down.  I give you all of this, so you know a little bit about me.  As a not-too-worldly young man in 1974, I was befriended by a nice, seemingly well-to-do, gentleman who worked in state government, who I will call John.  John was actually a friend’s older sibling’s friend.  John got me a decent job in state government, with his connections.  John had also promised my older sister, who was away at college and worried about her little brother, that he would do what he could to help me, and make sure I was ok.  Some years later, after John drifted away from my circle of friends, someone told me, You know John is gay.  I remember being troubled, thinking that was an unnecessary thing to say. I thought, even if it is true, why put it out there in such a disparaging way.  After pausing for a moment, I responded, No I don’t know that, but what I do know about John is he is one hell of a nice guy who has helped me on several occasions.

So back to my question:  Is this what we need to be advocating for our employers, as HR Professionals?  Well, I agree with Mr. Williams, I think the time has come, so consider me out of the closet on this issue. And, by the way, I ran into John about a year ago and exchanged pleasantries with him. Is he gay?  I still don’t know but it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Guest blogger on Blogging4Jobs is Dave Ryan has been in HR since it was called Personnel. Dave is active with SHRM in many different aspects.  Dave is also a certified U.S.A. Hockey Official and a frequent speaker at local colleges who speaks about H.R. topics and social media in the workplace. Dave enjoys reading blogs, staying current on H.R. topics, officiating ice hockey, golf, computers and all gadgets electronic. You can find Dave on LinkedInDavetheHRCzar. and on twitter, @davethehrczar.

Photo Credit Sea Turtle on Flickr.