1. Tell me about yourself. This means many things to different people. People panic and internally are asking themselves, “What do they want to know about me? Should I tell them where I was born? Do I tell them how much I love Zumba class? How old I am? Where do I start?” The best way to answer depends on how far along in your career you are. Here are some things to highlight: Where you are from, where you went to college, why you decided to get into the industry you are in and a few successes along the way. You can add a personal note about family and your interests, but make sure to keep it short. Many interviewees tend to go off on tangents while answering this question.

If you find that you have been rambling on too long, stop and acknowledge it. Make a joke to the interviewer that you are just really passionate about your life and feel many parts of your life have given you the tools to be the success you are.

2. What is motivating you to look for a new opportunity? If you are currently employed and interviewing you need to say the right things here. First you need to prepare for this question and ask yourself why you are interested in the opportunity you are interviewing for and focus on those answers. Talk about the great things you have heard about the company. Also highlight the actual position and how it would be a great challenge for you, not to mention how great your background is for the opportunity. Do not talk about your boss that is over working you, the impossible performance metrics, and being underpaid. If you happen to let something negative slip about your current employer, make sure to fix this mistake. Example: you say “My boss is overly aggressive with expectations that I just can’t meet.” Oops! To fix that slip, follow that with: “Trust me, I love a challenge and I can work with difficult people, but I would find it refreshing to work in an environment with professional communication and goals the team is capable of achieving.”

If you are not employed and asked a question about why you applied for the role make sure you follow this formula as well. You do not want to say something along the lines of applying for any open positions because you need a job to pay your bills. This translates into you will take the first position offered to you then keep interviewing until something better comes along. Many people in the last two years have been affected by lay-offs. It is an acceptable topic to bring up. Again, keep the opinion of your former employer positive and talk about the successes you had.

3. What are your weaknesses? I personally do not ask this question as I do not think you will get accurate answers. Some interviewers have change the way they word it and ask “what were the areas of suggested improvement on your last performance review.” It is important to be honest with where your shortcomings may be. The key is to show how you overcome these weaknesses. Do not follow Michael Scott’s lead from The Office during the episode called “The Job,” from season 3. His answer to this question was that he works too hard, cares too much and can be too invested in his job. He then tells the CFO that his weaknesses are actually his strengths. Ah Touché! Like most things Michael Scott does, do not follow his lead.

It is important to talk about steps taken to improve your skills. For example: if public speaking is difficult for you, talk about the things you do to overcome this weakness. Have you taken a class, do you attend networking events to expand your comfort level with people you don’t know, have you read books about it, do you practice presentations more than the average person to get through your public speaking fear? This shows a weakness, but more importantly things you do to improve. If you slip and say something along the lines of “I have not shown initiative in my job,” quickly follow that up with what you would do differently in your next job. Talk about what you learned when you did not show initiative and how you would change that with a new employer. This is a pretty extreme example as I know none of you professional women would say such a thing, but keep the lesson in mind. Talk about areas you know you can improve in, what steps you have taken, and perhaps what you will do to improve in the future.

4. How would your colleagues describe you? How would your boss describe you? Let’s start with colleagues. You need to reflect the type of person that is pleasant to work with and a team player. No one wants to bring in someone that will rock their boat. You also want to reflect that you were viewed as a hard worker and not just trying to please your colleagues. A good answer to this would be that you had a great working relationship with your colleagues; they would describe you as a person with a good work ethic and easy to get along with. This shows a few things: you get your work done, are dedicated and work well with a team.

You also want to communicate that your boss would describe you in the same way. If you have your colleagues describing you different than your boss would, it reflects that you may not have been as well liked as you would like to believe. If a boss said you were an aggressive employee who did not let anyone/anything get in your way of getting a project done and took initiative when a coworker was lacking performance that would reflect a much more dominant driver type then a fun loving employee that just works hard.

5. What are your compensation requirements? A lot of people are unsure on how to answer this question. Should you say you make just a bit more than you really do, should you include the value of your benefits, should you talk about just base salary or incentive too? Most people think this is somehow a trick question or that their answer will come back to haunt them once an offer is extended. Almost all offers are based off of what you are making now with an average of a 5% increase on your salary. You need to be honest. Employers have the right to ask you for your last two paycheck statements and your W-2 to ensure you are telling them your accurate compensation. The best rule of thumb here is to give your current base salary and typical incentive. You can also include any stock options and out of the ordinary benefits. Save the vacation discussion until the offer is extended unless asked to specify how much vacation you receive.

There is not any coming back from fibbing about how much you make. If you are asked for hard evidence you will make a fool of yourself. If you will be expected to work longer hours, travel more or take on management responsibilities, you will have more room for additional negotiation on top of the typical 5% increase.

Always remember to be considerate of the interviewer’s time. Make sure to be concise and properly articulate your experience. There are many more common interview questions. As I always say, focus on your accomplishments and put a positive spin on everything you say. If you are preparing for an interview and need some help preparing yourself, I am always open to help! You can reach me at The Novo Group in Milwaukee.

The problem however, is that many candidates do not prepare for interviews and think they are on their best game when they “wing it,” or when they show too much “me” in an interview. I mean, you want to wear your pink shoes, pink shirt and pink accessories with a pink headband so the interviewer knows how perfectly polished with fabulousness you are. You need them to know they are getting a super bubbly professional that can rock the business suit with flashes of pink right? You also want to speak your own language and add your own jokes so they fully understand your personality, right? It’s not entirely wrong, but I’ve seen and heard a lot of unnecessary things in my career as a recruiter that must be shared. Hopefully this will be a good reminder on how to prepare for an interview and what you should and should not say or do.

Usually the interview process starts with a phone interview. I would like to first point out that if you are looking for a new job, change your phone setting to a regular ring the caller will hear. I cannot tell you how many times I call and hear “please enjoy the music while your party is reached,” and hear “Baby Got Back,” and songs like that while I wait to connect with them. The actual phone interview should be the easiest part of the process. You are in the comfort of your own environment and you can have notes out to help guide you through your background (see March’s bizMe edition for interview prep tips). Some people tend to get “too comfortable.” In the middle of interviewing a CFO candidate for a well-known Milwaukee company I literally heard the toilet flush (side note: I didn’t hear the faucet run after which leads me to believe hygiene may be an issue!).

On a more entry level interview, I was on the phone with a recent college graduate who was living at home with his parents. This candidate chose to not put me on hold or change rooms when it was clear his parents were in the same room having a very heated argument. I asked if he would like to reschedule when he might have more privacy. He declined and stated his parents are always yelling and that is why he wants a job — to get out of the house. Although I felt for this candidate, there is no excuse for not finding a quiet place to conduct an interview.

I have many stories of people sounding like they were laying in their bed eating cheetos, smoking while talking, or doing dishes during the phone interview.

Key take-aways to successful phone interviews are:
• find a quiet place to talk
• sit at a desk or table
• have your notes in front of you
• smile as you talk.
• And of course, hit the bathroom before or after the call. No one wants to hear that!

Technology is a wonderful tool in the interview process. We have been using webcams more frequently to conduct interviews for candidates that are not local. Interviewers would never come into your home to interview you and they aren’t looking to feel like they are at your home via webcam. Rather, the webcam interview is to determine how you present yourself in person before spending the cash for your flight, hotel and meals. Plenty of people understand the importance of professional presentation via webcam and will go to Kinkos in one of their private rooms or a home office; others act like this is more like online dating than a phone interview. Some stories are tame as in children playing in the background or conferencing in a room that looked like a tornado stormed through it. Other stories are a little more dramatic and hard to believe.

Some may call it art, but most would call it offensive. You get what I mean! A candidate either forgot, or didn’t remove a choice piece of “art” from their wall. It wasn’t front and center by any means, but in the picture enough for me to see much more than I wanted to. This potential candidate was interviewing for an ultra conservative company in the financial services industry. Most candidates understand that it is an interview and interview attire should be worn. Although you may not need to be in a full suit, business casual is a must.

A candidate for an account executive position for an advertising company wore a t-shirt with profanity on it. He probably thought it was ok because the front of the shirt was black, but when he needed to get up to shut the door; the profanity on the back of his shirt was clear as day. Needless to say, neither candidate was given further consideration.

When doing an interview via webcam, make sure to:

The number of interview bloopers I have from in-person interviews may become a memoir someday. From the candidates that clearly haven’t prepared and stumble on every other word to those that sweat profusely, are late, wear facial piercings, or come in wearing the latest fashions from Forever 21 (and I do not mean a suit) it’s unbelievable the unprofessional image some candidates display during the interview.

As a third party recruiter you always hope that a candidate conducts themselves the same way with a client as they did for you. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. I was recruiting for a marketing professional for a non-profit which had a very political mission. The candidate impressed me with her professionalism, knowledge and overall demeanor. I shared my thoughts with the client and they were excited to meet her. The person I interviewed was not the same person that interviewed with our client. She used the opportunity to basically shout her disapproval of the organization’s mission and went on a 20-minute rant on how, in her opinion, this company would ruin the world. She did no favor to herself; sure she got to share her very pointed opinion, but really where did it get her? If you must share your viewpoint, write a letter.

Sometimes people are just different on the phone than they are in person. I vividly remember a candidate who was a manager at a high-end restaurant and appeared to demonstrate great potential. However, she showed up to the interview with the biggest and poorest attitude I have ever experienced. She slouched in the chair and looked bored one minute into the interview. My first question for her was what I ask everyone, “Why are you interested in this company and this opportunity?” With a big huff she said “Well, I hate my job and thought I had made that clear on the phone and YOU called ME,” followed by a big roll of her eyes. The interview only got worse from that point. Five minutes into it I told her this was not the right opportunity for her.

Sometimes interviews are just plain awkward. This candidate was well prepared, had a polished, professional look and communicated her background very well. When I asked about her biggest success, she responded “well, I used to be a cutter and I would cut myself every day, but I don’t do that anymore.” While this is no doubt a tremendous personal accomplishment, it should never be discussed in an interview. Never bring up medical history, addictions etc in an interview. I told her that was excellent and something to be proud of, but asked her to specifically relate it to her education or career.

From the over sharing of information and outrageous interview attire I have encountered during my days of interviewing, I always think I have seen and heard it all. Unfortunately, there is always a situation that outdoes another. Although you always want to be yourself in an interview remember to polish up your communication skills and take another look at the image your interview outfit projects. Do these simple things and you will rock that interview instead of making the interviewer on the other side of the desk desperate to run in the other direction.

Of course, here comes the hard part: actually finding, training, and more importantly, keeping that all-knowing, valuable assistant who could make your professional life the stuff of dreams.

Don’t worry, though. Hiring an assistant that you can groom to be your second-in-command is a challenge, but not an impossible one. Before you call your Human Resources department, check out the invaluable advice offered by some savvy managers on finding your able lieutenant.

Know your needs, both now and in the future

You need to know what you want out of someone first before you try and find the person who’ll fill that role for you. You don’t have to know everything about what her duties will be—that will likely evolve over time as she becomes more skilled and you become more comfortable with her—but at the very least, you’ll be well served with a list of what you expect of the person on whom you’ll be soon be very dependent.

Katie Gutierrez, founder and CEO of Assistant Match, says that this first step is crucial when looking to hire your assistant. She’s recruited assistants not only for herself but for the many clients who retain her services.

“Be very clear on what you need the person to do both now and in the future [so that you'll] be able to identify the skills, knowledge and software experience the person will need,” she says.

Gutierrez recalls an incident with a client who initially said that they only wanted someone to do traditional administrative support. The client company and the assistant whom she recruited for them got along phenomenally for a few weeks. That is, until the company began assigning sales calls to the assistant, who neither liked nor excelled at the task. She was eventually replaced.

Bottom line: think really hard about what you want out of your assistant before you make the first move in the hiring process. You’ll save yourself potential trouble down the road if you go through this simple step first.

Consider all avenues of recruitment

Think creatively about how to market your job advertisement so that you’re catching all the available eyeballs out there. Some people still depend solely on the trusty Sunday newspaper classifieds, but others also visit numerous online job boards and have learned to navigate their way around the hundreds of social networking sites that have mushroomed over the last few years.

Neen James, a productivity expert and speaker, is a big believer in casting your net far and wide for that perfect assistant and thinks it’s important that hiring managers be flexible when considering advertising outlets.

“Post a note on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn letting people know of your needs,”  she says. “They can respond to you with recommendations directly. Send an email to your friends and colleagues. Advertise in your local paper and recruit from your community. Use electronic recruitment Web sites.”

She also recommends not limiting your recruitment activities to your professional network but to expand it to include those in your personal social circle as well.

“Is there a mom that you know who would be perfect? A college student who is studying business and wants to break into your field? An intern who is wanting more experience who could become your assistant when they graduate? Look close to you for possible sources.”

Separate the wheat from the chaff

This particular step is essential, but many inexperienced hiring managers are unsure on how to best review the deluge of resumes that inevitably reach their desk. If you don’t have a human resources manager who’ll do the initial review, you’ll likely find yourself reading everything from handwritten resumes on torn notepaper—and yes, I’ve seen this a few times—to 20-page curriculum vitae from former Supreme Court justices of politically unstable African countries. And yes, I’ve seen that one, too.

Gutierrez of Assistant Match recommends scanning a candidate’s employment history and noting any unusual patterns of job hopping.

“When a person changes jobs every few months, I expect that pattern to continue,” she says. In addition, she makes sure that a potential candidate’s career trajectory reflects that person’s commitment to executive and/or managerial administrative support as a profession.

“I look for people who truly enjoy supporting others if there will not be room for advancement in the position.”

Management consultant Madeline Kaplan with Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP of New York City, agrees that an erratic history can be a red flag.

“I avoid people who have jumped from job to job every year,” she says. “It suggests someone who has not thought through their career goals and someone who likely will move to where they think ‘the grass is greener.”

Instead, she looks ” for a pattern of continuous achievement on a higher and higher level. I look for someone who is a team player, who values the success of the whole team, rather than individual success.”

Teresa Mogush, director of talent for Euro RSCG Chicago, adds that resumes not only showcase a person’s talents and background but also the person behind the paper. She suggests checking out how it looks beyond the words on the page.

“An error-free resume, well-laid out, no spelling errors [is a must],” she says.

The moment of truth

Okay, this is where the rubber really meets the road. Think interviews are all about telling the person what the job entails, the benefits and asking her where she sees herself in five years? Not exactly.

Joy Gendusa, founder and CEO of PostcardMania, listens carefully to the kinds of questions candidates pose during the interview process.

“They should be willing to do whatever is needed and wanted in order to give the executive more time to do their job,” she says. “If they have a list of any kind of things they won’t do, I wouldn’t hire them. [A red flag would be if] they are more concerned with their benefits and what’s in it for them than what the job entails and how they can best assist.”

Melinda Janicki, a lead virtual assistant (VA) and marketing specialist and productivity strategist with OnDemand Virtual Services, starts out their interview process with ” tele-interviews,” after which candidates are requested to come in for face-to-face interviews, if applicable.

“I look for smart answers and the ability [of the candidates] to sell themselves,” she says. “There is nothing more frustrating than asking someone what expertise do they have or how would they add value to our situation, and they can’t answer.”

Just as when you drew up the job description, you need to focus on what you need and how the person in front of you can articulate their ability to fulfill it. Let them do most of the talking. Observe them carefully, from the way they speak to the way they dress. Have them meet other members of your team and see how they interact with the rest of the staff. If possible, take them to lunch somewhere off-site. It’ll give you an opportunity to see them in a social-but-still-professional setting, which may be important if your job involves heavy people contact such as fundraising or public relations. If you can easily see them fitting immediately into the office environment and they have proven their value in previous positions, it’ll be easier when the decision comes to determine the successful candidate.
Which brings us to…

Making the job offer

Review the resumes once again and, if necessary, chat with other team members who were involved in the hiring process and request their input. Call the person back with any follow-up questions, if any. Don’t wait too long to tender a job offer —if you think this person’s The One, you’re likely not the only potential employer to think so. Work with your human resources department so that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

James insists on checking references, a critical piece of the hiring puzzle that helps you get a fuller picture of the candidate.

“Ensure that you do your due diligence when you get close to hiring someone to make sure that you fully understand the person and their personality,” James says.

Training Days

For the new assistant, the first few days will likely be a flurry of ordering office supplies, meeting the rest of the team—if she hasn’t already—familiarizing herself with the office layout and the stack of takeout menus, and orienting herself with the workflow. It’ll already be a slightly overwhelming experience for her, regardless of her experience, but you can ensure that the first week will be an efficient and productive one for the both of you.

“When training a new assistant, I consider how much the person can take in and retain at one time, as to not overwhelm,” says Gutierrez. “We all have different learning styles, so I offer training in different ways to be sure the person understands and is getting the information in the most effective way.”

Kaplan, the management consultant, concurs. With the manager/assistant relationship such a close one in many ways, open lines of communication are crucial in ensuring a productive relationship and office environment. “[Spend] time on clearly defining the mission, the expectation of management and the results to be achieved,” she says. “[I also spend] time on thoroughly communicating my management style and ensuring that my assistant understands when to take initiative and when to ask for direction. [I teach] open communication and [ensure] that my assistant understands that an ‘open door policy’ means that I am accessible at any time.”

So don’t just plop her down at her desk and expect her to pick up on your needs and the office culture immediately. Invest the time necessary to educate her on the company, the team and especially your own work and how you would like her to work with you. Remember that she’s your assistant, but that she can’t read your mind, or at least not on the first day! Give her the opportunity to grow into the job and learn from you.

If you’re smart, you’ll understand that a great assistant will do more than get you coffee or that file you wanted on the all-important Project Whatever. She’ll be your partner in the business, making it her job to make sure that you can do your job without having to worry about the little administrative details that, while critical, can eat up all of your time and energy. Use her skills and knowledge and make sure that you spend quality time with her—especially in the beginning—as she learns her role in the success of your department. Trust me: it’ll be time very well spent.