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Today’s questions are:
When a recruiter or interviewer asks you why you want to leave your job, what is the best answer? I usually say ‘I’ve been in the same industry for a while and I’d like a change’ etc. but is that a good answer?
What should I put in the subject line of an email while applying for a job?
Renegotiation is possible. But shall I wait to see the agreement based on the first offer (I proposed) then renegotiate?
Can a recruiter ask a job candidate if he or she owns a car?
A hiring manager contacted me soon after I sent job application and wanted to do an interview at that day via phone call. He said the interview would last only for 15-30 mins. What does it mean?
Career Coach Office Hours Jeff Altman 00:02 00:56 02:12 03:02 04:11 05:13 06:23 07:32
Hi. It's Jeff Altman, the Big Game Hunter and welcome to another episode of Career Coach Office Hours. I spend time on Friday mornings talking about some of the questions or answering some of the questions I've received from people over the course of the week that I didn't have a chance to respond to earlier. I don't want them going out over the weekend; I just want to make sure stuff gets handled. So, if this was one of your questions, I'll try and forward it to you so that this way, you've got your answer and it's going to benefit some other people, too. So, if you have a question for me, email at thebiggamehunter@gmail.com and in the subject line, put the words "office hours" or "career coach office hours," so I know that this is for that purpose that you will have a question that needs to be answered.
I don't want to open lots of messages in order to discover that there was an issue that someone wants support with, I wants you to make it easy for me. I work hard. I'm trying hard. I'm coaching people, I'm creating content, and I�m doing a lot of stuff. So, help me make it easy for me to help you. So, with that, I've got five questions this week. The first one is, when a recruiter or interviewer asks you why you want to leave your job, what is the best answer? I usually say I've been in the same industry for a while; I'd like to make the change. But what is a good answer, my head dragging on and it's starting to transcribe things. So, the best answer is the truth. Now, when I see people wanting to know the best answer, I tend to think of you're trying to be pleasing or accommodating and you're willing to say anything, but it's not honest. You may wind up in a situation where you get an offer for a job you really don't want.
So, you can talk about I feel stuck where I am right now, I do a great job and as a result, they're keeping me doing the same job. It's been two years now and they just want me to keep doing the same job. Or I'd like to learn something a little bit different. I don't mind bringing my skills, talents and experience to another role. But I want to feel like there's an upside to me here. So, I'm looking for an opportunity where I can bring my current experience and up skill it and another organization. These are all valid reasons. You can also talk about I'm being asked to work 90 hours a week and I've got a young child at home, I'd like to see them, not just simply paid for the therapy sessions afterwards because I was never there.
So, be honest, when you answer questions, but by doing it in the way where they get it, without making it seem like you're an angry, disgruntled employee, and they're going to be hiring an angry person. Put a smile in your faces, talk and say, hey, look, I've been with this firm now for two years, I've generally liked it. However, I'm looking for an opportunity where I can learn and grow. Their thinking is they've solved the problem and I'm going to be stuck doing this for the next three years. I don't want to do that. I want to learn and grow and get ahead and move up and learn new things and that's not going to be available to me because I've done a good job. So, that becomes a way of answering that question. What should I put in the subject line of an email while applying for a job is the second question? Well, two types of answers. One is for the situation where you're applying cold and the second one is for the situation where you're referred by someone.
When you're applying cold, you want to have some reference to the job that you're applying for. So, if you saw something on a job board or a job ad of some sort, put the title there. So, if it's a level 13 jobs, or software developer, grade 17, put that in the subject line and then in the body, of course, you'd make a case for you can do the same. If you're referred by someone, the subject lines should be referred to you by so and so and in the body, you would start off by use that name and saying, this person told me that you were trying to fill a position for such and such, I'm attaching a copy of my resume. I believe I would be good based upon what I was told, this is how my background matches up and you just summarize what you were told and how your background matches. But the subject line talks about being referred.
Question number three is a little confusing to me. But it reads renegotiation is possible. But shall I wait to see the agreement based upon the first offer that I propose and then renegotiate? I'm going to guess that they made an offer and you countered it. You're wondering whether you should count already 10! The answer is no. What you should be doing is waiting for their first response and if you haven't got it within a day or two, you message your contact there and say, I received your offer, thank you. I responded with a proposal of my own, and I have yet to hear a response from you. Where do we stand? That becomes a way that you open the door towards reminding them to respond. So, yes, you wait, you wait for them to address your concerns, your offer before offering up something new.
Question number four, can recruiter ask a job candidate if he or she owns a car? Well, let me give you an example. You live in one city and there's a job two hours away. They're not paying for relocation and the recruiter says, hey, do you have a car? Well, obviously, they want to know if you can get to work. Now, it's not like someone's going to drive you every day to work. It's not like you're going to take an Uber to the office every day, two hours away. They want to know if you can get there, if you're going to move. In most places around the world, it's not like you can take mass transit to work. I know in New York, you can and in certain cities, you can but in most of the countries, you can't, because you got to drive. They want to know if you can get to work, that's it. So, yes, they can ask, and that's true for third party recruiter. It's also true of an employer, recruiter.
Last question for today! A hiring manager contacted me soon after I sent a job application and wanted to do an interview that day via phone. He said the interview with last 15 to 30 minutes. What does it mean? It means that they want to interview you, and they're telling you how long the interview is going to last. So, you can figure out for yourself whether it's viable, anything more than that is conjecture. They want to evaluate and assess you for your capabilities for doing this job, that's it. Everything else is speculation. Don't go down that road. They just want to interview you. So, I'm Jeff Altman. That's it for office hours for this week. Again, if you want me to answer your question, I'd love to do that. All you have to do is send me an email at thebiggamehunter@gmail.com and in the subject line, put the phrase "Office Hours" or "Career Coach Office Hours." I'll try and address it during the week but if not, at a minimum. I'm going to get to it on Friday. I hope you have a terrific day and most importantly, be great. Take care!
Hi Sir ! How to start big & could u tell how some employees get promoted faster as freshers in company? Does soft skills overtakes hard skills ..or is it dependent on other issues ..
There are many reasons why some employees move up an organization faster than others. Everything you point to is it possible reason. I don’t believe soft skills ever overtake hard skills. But they become more important the more senior someone becomes. After all the more senior someone becomes, the more likely it is that they’re interacting with senior people within or outside of their organization. That ability to be effective with others reflects the importance of soft skills. I am sorry I can’t be more helpful. Frankly there are so many reasons why some people move up ahead of others including favoritism.
@Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter Thank you ! Would like to see u making some insightful videos on this in future 👍