How to answer the hardest interview question of them all

Picture this common scenario:

You’re in an interview and it’s going well. The rapport is good and you’re feeling confident in all the questions asked of you so far.

Then the hiring manager asks: “How much money do you currently make?” or “How much salary do you expect?” 

How do you answer?

Let’s say the employer’s budget is (secretly) £30,000 p.a. If you answer too high, say £35,000, you could instantly turn off your interviewer. If you answer too low, say £27,000, then what’s to stop the interviewer offering you the £27k?

For job seekers, the salary question is a bit of a poker game. The goal being to get the hiring manager to lay down their poker cards on the table first. That’s because, once you share a specific salary number, you might just have priced yourself too high (or too low) for the position.

Here are tips to prepare for the salary question/discussion during job interviews:

Research salary information

Before you even speak to a hiring manager, spend some time conducting research to find out average salaries and salary ranges for similar jobs in your area, industry and geography.

Websites you can visit include: Monster, Glassdoor, Payscale and Reed. The more information you have, the more you can be armed with the right knowledge to negotiate.

Try and deflect early on 

The earlier you tell a hiring manager your salary expectations, the less negotiating power you have towards the end of the process. Your aim should be to understand if you’re the right fit for the job before the hiring manager offers you a position.

If you do get asked early in the interview, or before the interview even starts, let him / her know that you’d ideally like a better understanding of the job requirements and how well you think you can meet those needs before discussing the salary.

Decide how much you’d like to make

This doesn't mean sharing an exact number, because it can place you above or below the budgeted salary for the position. Instead, provide a range you’d like to make. “Because I’m changing industries, I’m not expecting to exactly match my previous salary, but, I’d like my pay to be in the range of…”

Providing a salary range

This can be handled in a few different ways. You could provide the salary range you’ve researched, as in, “Based on salary research, similar positions in this geography and industry are currently paying between £X and £Y. Is this also the range for which you’ve budgeted for this position?” Or, you could share the salary range you desire, such as, “Based on what we’ve discussed, along with my knowledge, skills and experience, I would expect the salary range of the position to be between £X and £Y.”

 Honesty isn’t always the best policy 

When it comes to discussing salary during job interviews, avoid sharing with the hiring manager what you currently make. Focus instead on getting them to share the salary range they’re willing to pay. This isn’t always easy and you’ll need to be professional and respectful in your approach; however, it will help you walk away much closer to your desired salary.

For more advice, take a look at our blog or the candidate support pages on our website.

The foolproof guide to mastering telephone interviews

It’s common for hiring managers to use telephone interviews as the first stage of a job interview process.

Why, you may ask?

Largely, it’s down to cost. Using the phone, rather than a face to face session, means that businesses can screen many candidates quickly, with the lowest overall expenditure.

Here’s a step by step guide to mastering what could be one of the most important 60 minutes of your career:

Step 1: Preparation

Although a telephone interview is relatively straightforward, even highly capable candidates can be rejected at this early stage if they are inadequately prepared or not used to speaking in a professional manner over the phone. For many candidates, the whole situation can feel unnatural - without eye contact it can be difficult to build rapport and display a strong personality with your interviewer.

Ensure you are prepared well in advance, once the interview is booked. Find a quiet space, with good mobile signal (assuming you’re not using a landline), preferably indoors and free from distractions. Don’t forget to charge your mobile too!

Step 2: Practice

Practice is useful, especially if you haven't worked in an office or used a telephone to talk to clients in previous jobs. If you can, try getting friends or family members to call you and ask interview questions. Candidates who don't think they'll have any trouble with this style of assessment are often the ones that have difficulties.

Step 3: Research

It is important to find out as much as you possibly can about a company, and a job role, before any type of interview; a telephone interview is no exception. You may receive some information from your prospective employer, but make sure you also visit their website, competitor websites, read relevant trade press, and keep aware of current industry-specific commercial awareness issues. Be aware of the size of a company, its structure, its products and services, its markets, competitors, and future plans.

Step 4: Plan

Plan for possible questions you may be asked before your interview. Consider answers you can give, including good experience examples for competency based questions. It may be wise to prepare an ‘elevator pitch,’ i.e. a set couple of sentences describing why you’d be perfect for the new opportunity.

Lastly, asking your own questions shows you are interested in the company and job role. Ask questions that are relevant to you, but not questions that it would be easy to find out the answers to with a little research on a company website.

Step 5: Master your technique

Although it may sound strange, putting on smart, interview-style clothes before your scheduled telephone interview can help you to focus and get into a professional mindset. Before the session, you could study some relevant material on your company or industry before the scheduled call so that your mind is already focused on work.

Make sure you smile when answering your phone. If you force yourself to smile, you physically become more relaxed and therefore your voice will sound more confident, friendly and assertive.

Standing up, rather than sitting down, can be a good way to keep your confidence and enthusiasm levels high. Professional salesmen use this technique to keep them focused and alert when making high-pressure sales calls. You might consider using a headset, if you have one, which can help you concentrate on talking and thinking, rather than holding your phone. It also allows you to use your hands to complement your responses.

Finally, make sure you keep a copy of your CV, cover letter, application form, and any notes you may have made on the company in question to hand. Telephone interviews will usually be time limited, so questions will tend to focus on your work experience and academic history; your motivations for applying to the firm in question, the particular industry and job role; your knowledge of the firm itself (i.e. competitors, global reach, future plans); and your skills, qualifications and competencies.

Step 6: Conclusion

Part of the reason why firms conduct a telephone interview is to find out how keen candidates are about working at their company and in the particular job role applied for. It is important to be enthusiastic throughout your telephone conversation, but make an effort to be forthcoming at the close.

Your interviewer may be able to tell you at the end of your conversation if they would like to see you for a face-to-face interview. If they do not, there is no harm in asking when you might hear from them regarding the next interview stage. If they do, thank your interviewer and ask them for some further details, such as: when, where and with whom your interview will be; if there is anything you should bring with you to the interview, what the interview format will be and how many people you will be up against; and, what are the crucial skills and key competencies the employer is looking for in employees.

For more advice, take a look at our blog or the candidate support pages on our website.

This article was based on an original piece of work by Wikijob. We thank them for their permission to use it.

7 Ways to Become a Better Leader

Being a great leader is more than just having a high-ranking title and having some team management authority.

Even if you have the ability to delegate, if you're an ineffective leader, you won't be able to guide and motivate your staff to accomplish their goals.

Common scenarios of poor leaders can include:

• No one on your team has criticized one of your ideas in the past month.
• You spend more time planning your own career progression than planning that of your team members.
• You haven't had at least three completely non-work related conversations with a team member weekly.
• Different team members would provide different answers if asked your top three priorities for the year.
• Team members are afraid to fail.

So, if you aspire to be the best leader you can be, here are 7 ways to consider making improvements:

1.       Communicate

Leading a group of people requires a mutual sense of trust and understanding between the leader and the team members. This means that you’ll have to build your team’s trust and they’ll have to learn to trust you.

There’s no wrong or right way of doing this, but the best leaders communicate often and are transparent in their thinking. They’ll also take the time to figure out which communication mode is preferred by each team member and are authentically interested in any feedback received.

2. Know your team

Once you've mastered the art of communicating and connecting with your team members, you can really get to know them — who they are, what they're interested in and what their talents are.

You can know your mission and vision, but it is equally, if not more, important to know your people. If you care about and take care of your people, they will take care of your customers, and ultimately, you will accomplish your mission.

3. Encourage creativity

If you want your staff to do their best work, you need to give them the freedom to brainstorm and explore. Be open to your team's ideas and suggestions, and be ready to consider them and possibly develop them further.

A good leader also gives the team new challenges, preventing them from becoming bored and complacent while showing confidence in their potential.

4. Focus on the positives

As much as leaders wish that their team's day-to-day operations could run smoothly all the time, they're bound to run into the occasional obstacle. Whether it's a minor miscommunication or a major error, the way a leader handles a negative situation says a lot about his or her leadership skills.

5. Show, don't tell

An effective leader knows how to show others what is required, rather than simply telling them. Leaders should coach their team members toward a more collaborative, committed work environment — without coaxing them.

If you’re controlling people to do certain things in certain ways, you're not going to get the level of engagement that you're looking. Coaching is about helping the people you lead recognize the choices they have in front of them.

6. Be direct

Direct, honest feedback — even if it's criticism — is often the best way to guide your team in the right direction. You also need to know exactly where your business is headed, so you can give them the right advice.

If you're not direct, people won't know what you truly think about them and their work, and they will never be able to improve. Always share constructive feedback about anything that the team or each team player does. Positive feedback is as important as negative, and a good leader strives for balance.

7. Ask for feedback

Your team members aren't the only ones who can benefit from honest feedback. A true self-assessment of your own leadership can be difficult, so mentors, fellow professionals and even your own staff are invaluable in evaluating your effectiveness. Talking to friends and peers often brings needed perspective on your leadership approach and style. Leadership coaching can also help you discover areas that need improvement.

We've been nominated at the #COBBA's 2017!

ESA Group are delighted to announce that we've been nominated as 'Best Recruitment Company of the Year' in the 'City of Birmingham Business Awards 2017', managed by the excellent Downtown in Business.

We're really trying to change the image of recruitment and we would be grateful if you think we'd deserve recognition.

You can view the full list of categories and nominees in the voting link below.

Please show us your love at bit.ly/2vgPvvG and good luck to all the other nominees!

4 ways to help you land your dream job; that 99% of recruiting advice DOESN'T tell you.

Job searching can be incredibly frustrating. You can apply for 50+ jobs and receive almost no feedback for the majority of them; other than some sketchy reasons, which explain that you don’t meet the requirements of the position.

Except you think you do.

So, why did you really get rejected?

Sometimes you wish someone would just pull back the curtain, show you the mistakes you’re making, and point you in the right direction. When you look online or speak to recruiters, they’ll tell you this:

·         Tweak your resume and cover letter

·         Apply for jobs online

·         If you don’t hear back, apply for more jobs! Work harder!

So, then you apply for another 50 jobs. And guess what. This doesn’t work either.

Here’s what you should really do:

Forget “Networking.” Build relationships instead

The word – networking. It’s enough to strike fear into the heart of most of us.

It’s also a waste of time.

Going to career fairs, meetup groups, networking events. Showing up to these with nothing but an elevator pitch and a set of business cards is not going to land you a job. You want to get laser-focused on a select few people who can influence your career. Next, get in touch and provide as much value as you possibly can.

The truth is that relationships will land you the job you want, but not if you go about it in the traditional sense. Instead of networking, you need to be building relationships.

Applying for jobs online doesn't pay

On average, an open role at a company gets 250 applications. One of those people gets hired. That’s a 0.4% chance you’ll be successful.

Stop spending hours applying for 100s of jobs. Your dream job doesn't exist in every company. And your skills aren't going to be suitable for every position. Be patient. Shortlist all the companies you want to work for and do EVERYTHING you can to get the job you want at the company you want.

If you want to take control of the job search process and land a job you love, you need a different approach.

Find one or two highly influential people at your dream company, and use the strategies in this blog to begin building relationships with them. Learn about their career path, get interested in their role, become a potential resource for them.

Once the relationship is established, tell them you’re in the market for opportunities and ask them if they know anything that might be a good fit.

Do the job you love, whether you get paid or not

This is a classic example of a skills-based dilemma:

“I want to break into a new industry, but I don’t have enough experience — I’m not qualified.”

“Every job I want requires X years of experience, but nobody will hire me to get that experience in the first place!”

If you can't get paid for the job you want. Do it anyway by freelancing in your spare time. Or volunteering at a more junior level. By understanding what your dream job entails, what skills you need and how much you'll get paid, you'll know exactly what you need to do to achieve what you want.

Outside of building experience, freelancing also provides financial security. The greatest fear for anyone working a 9–5 job is getting fired or laid off. What would we do? How would we pay the bills?

Freelancing can allow us to enjoy new experiences and save while times are good, and they can help us bridge the gap if things don’t go our way.

Keep learning

There are 16 hours in every day that you're awake. To be paid upwards of £50k, you need to be very skilled - or work VERY hard. Watching hours of Netflix at night or going down the pub won't help you get paid to do what you love.

Does that mean you’re never allowed to play video games, see your friends, or watch Game of Thrones (if those things are important to you)? No! Absolutely not.

You have to pick and choose your battles. Understand what is most important to you and prioritise that.

Stop analysing, just pick something that sounds remotely interesting and inundate yourself for 60 days. You could absolutely love it! Or you could absolutely hate it. Either way, you’ve learned something about yourself. Each time you do this, you’ll become a little bit more clear on what you want and how to fulfil your career dream.

Master your body language to be successful at interviews

The majority of interview advice for jobs nearly always focuses on what you say and how good you are at answering questions.

But! Don’t forget we are all human and hiring managers aren’t necessarily paying full attention to your verbal answers. They’re also interested in how you deliver them and your personality. Do you look them in the eye? Do you fidget, play with your pen or fold your arms across your chest? All of these non-verbal cues end up being a part of the overall impression you make.

Your eye contact, handshake and posture can all help or hinder your chances of landing a job. Most hirers will be judging you on your performance within the first 5 minutes of the interview, so it’s important you can kick-off with a good impression.

Here’s some tips to help you prepare:

·         Bad posture. Leaning back can seem lazy. Leaning forward can seem aggressive. Aim for a neutral posture to find the right balance

·         Eye contact. We tend to feel uncomfortable holding the gaze of someone we don’t know. Staring can be rude, but try to look your interviewer in the eye when you are talking to them to show confidence in your answers

·         Crossed arms. Folding your arms is a classic defensive pose and is normally associated with being resistant. Keeping your body language open shows that you are approachable and willing to take on board new ideas

·         Fidgeting. Being restless and twirling your pen around your fingers is never a reassuring sign for interviewers. It’s natural to be a bit nervous, but too much fidgeting can indicate that you aren’t a focused person

·         Mismatched expressions. If someone asks you what you are passionate about, and you tell them without looking passionate, you aren’t going to be convincing anybody anytime soon

But what about nerves?

Anxiety can cause many body-language issues. But doing your homework before a meeting can help ward off those nerves. Solid preparation is most likely to be able to help you stop fidgeting or looking unsure of yourself.

Practice your interview skills ahead of time with friends or family members. When you're finished, ask them for feedback on things like posture, your handshake and eye contact. If you record your practice sessions, you can identify any mistakes you're making unconsciously.

Also, having set answers mastered can be a huge help. Knowing your elevator pitch to respond to the “tell me about yourself” question can really help you relax. Similarly, having specific examples prepared to showcase your skills and experience will help you come across as confident.

Try and relax. Taking a few deep breaths prior to the interview can relieve some of the anxiety that leads to fidgeting and other nervous tics.

Read more of our interview tips and advice on our blog.