#58: Our Work (PART 3)

【Interview Class】
An effective resume advances you to the job interview, and a strong interview lands you the job. Along this track, the second part of our weekly job coaching program is Interview Coaching.
 
Interview coaching is carried out in a class setting with all participants of the day. Around 20 clients on a busy day, and 5 clients or so on a quiet day. How can you most effectively convince the interviewer that you’re the best prospect for the job?  We cover the basics such as what to wear and how to behave, as well as the Do’s & Don’ts and the detailed Q&A’s in an interview, all in about an hour and a half.
 
Present a positive and confident image. Speak up and make eye contact. Utilizing the 10 Common Interview Questions, prepare your own 30-second answer to each question that best conveys what you exactly want to tell the interviewer. All answers must show your passion for the job. Moreover, know the importance of preparation and practice so that your delivery in the actual interview will be effective and sincere.
 
Our interview class is designed to be both informative and interactive, not just a one-way lecture but a two-way communication. Our participants are encouraged to raise hands and ask questions anytime, with a reminder that we all have something to learn from each other. To engage everyone, we also ask questions to the participants.
 
Because people of all backgrounds and from all walks of life gather at once for the first time, the class can get derailed at times when all sorts of opinions and ideas are thrown around. In such times, we let the discussion play out until it starts to get unproductive, at which point we intervene to bring the class back on track to refocus on our primary purpose of Getting the job and into a permanent housing.
 
In guiding the class and, for that matter, in every interaction with the homeless people, there’s one important aspect that we always try our best not to lose sight.  That is, to try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to the feelings and emotions of each person.
 
Understandably, it’s not so difficult to imagine how emotionally tough it must be for a person to lose a job. Self-confidence can take a huge hit when we lose a job, let alone when we lose our home and, in some instances, our family. It can be a living nightmare, a devastation, and our clients may literally be in the midst of it. Our clients may be living through it as we speak with them.
 
All odds are stacked up against us. There’s nothing we can do to get out of this abyss. Even to those who may feel this way, it’s important that we try our very best to make a wholehearted connection to their emotional pain. It’s essential that we try to engage with them to see the positive light, that Maybe just maybe, changes can be made here on out and life can get better.
 
And in the midst of it all, we try to always remind our clients that the job interview system itself is an imperfect system. Having hired many hundreds of people throughout my career, I do believe so.
 
When we stop and think about it for a moment, it’s almost a common sense. Say, for instance, a couple who’s been happily married for several decades. Even for them, from time to time, they surely feel like they still don’t know some aspects about one another. So then, who really believes that we can get to know a person – I mean TRULY KNOW a person – in just 30 minutes or so?
 
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we utilize job interviews just because it’s still the best system available to us today. But at the same time, we should all understand its limitations, that it’s an imperfect system, nevertheless. As such, even if you don’t get hired after a job interview, there’s no reason to take it personal.
 
Sometimes, you don’t get hired after a job interview. You get the rejection and it usually stings. It happens to everyone, it’s happened to me, too. Nonetheless, it says nothing about who you really are – how good a person you truly are. That’s the most important thing. Jobs come after that.
 
In truth, the rejection simply means that the interviewer thought someone else was better suited for that particular position, at that given point in time. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
But remember, if you didn’t get hired after a job interview, it means that you can use more preparation and practice to get better at the ball game.

Read Next: Our Work (4)【Job Coach】
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