Preparing for a huge job opportunity.

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Hi all,

Hopefully some experienced members can chime in. I have two big interviews on this coming Monday. One is a secondary interview i.e. face to face for executive manager trainee with the HR director and a regional manager for Napa Auto parts. The second later on in the day is for Store manager for Avis/Budget car rental. The regional director called me up and wants me to sit down with him. Other than looking up company history and statistics What can i do to really be prepared? Both jobs are a huge step up from where I'm at now meaning pay and management. How have people here demonstrated that THEY are THE person for the job? All help appreciated.
 
IDK about Avis but I work at Enterprise rent a car and besides the long hours it is fun but I don't work in a managerial position
 
My wife works for a firm that helps businesses by making them more efficient and profitable. She tells me a lot.

Don't brag about yourself. She says guys love to brag about themselves.

Don't lie.

The new trend is to throw in a question or two that doesn't make sense to see how you'll answer it.

Do not pause between questions and speak proper grammar.

I hope you don't have any social media accounts with you chugging beer, showing your support for marijuana... and/or having questionable friends.

Do you do any volunteer work like Habitat for Humanity?

Don't smell like an ashtray if you smoke.
 
Quote
My wife works for a firm that helps businesses by making them more efficient and profitable.


I despise those "outside contractors", Watch Office Space.
Thus the $15 dollar an hour minimum wage.

Going to watch Office Space again...
laugh.gif
 
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Be yourself. Smile. Ask questions about what you want to know about their company other than pay and benefits. Save that for last. What are the biggest problems they have in that positions etc. Be interested and friendly.
 
Originally Posted by loneryder
Be yourself. Smile. Ask questions about what you want to know about their company other than pay and benefits. Save that for last. What are the biggest problems they have in that positions etc. Be interested and friendly.



Good advice. Number 1 item is to be yourself. Don't try to impress but be polite and professional. Be 100% honest in every answer. Be interested. Be natural. Your sincerity, interest and energy are just as important as how you answer a question. I interviewed and hired dozens of people over the years, generally if you and your resume passed the first interview, and if it is meant to happen, you will get the job offer unless you act completely weird or look shifty and untrustworthy. Under no circumstances should you say anything negative about any past employers, bosses, or previous work colleagues.


Personal hygiene, grooming and appearance are still extremely important. Dress professionally (but not flashy), bring a nice notebook and pen. New shoes, absolutely clean relatively new clothing. Dental health - (meaning clean unstained teeth) is important. If you wear glasses make sure they are clean and in good shape. Old, dirty, grimy lenses and/or frames are ways to get rejected.

Have some questions for the interview already prepared/written down. Ask about the company's primary challenges, who their competitors are, ask the interviewer about what they like personally about the company and their specific job. Don't ask about salary, benefits, or vacation, - wait for the formal job offer to happen before asking anything like that. Above all relax and be sincere because people can subconsciously smell and feel when they are being fed some insincere or inaccurate BS from a candidate.

It is critical to understand and project the feeling and intention that both sides need to win in any professional job hire. Be positive and enthusiastic about your abilities, but absolutely do not try to BS your way into a job. You need to get the absolute best fit for your skills and goals, and the employer doing the hiring deserves and needs the best fit best skilled and motivated candidate to hire.

If you smoke/vape. Quit immediately. Absolutely nobody wants to hire a smoker. Any hint of that smell or the tacky smoker's paraphernalia, lighters,etc and in most cases in a professional job interview you will be history.
 
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Echoing be honest and don't badmouth previous employers. Also, spend a little time researching the company you're interviewing with. It says you care about who you work for and infers there are options. It's an excellent time to be job hunting. Good luck.
 
The best advise I could give you is to convey your message that they won't have to baby sit you!
 
Originally Posted by 97prizm
How have people here demonstrated that THEY are THE person for the job? All help appreciated.


Confidence.

I once had an interview that lasted 45 seconds - only 3 questions. I ended up working there for 15 years (2002-2017) and got 4 promotions.

It was a unique interview experience for a number of reasons, but when the guy who interviewed me tells the story to others - he said it was my confidence (not arrogance, BTW) that cinched the deal.
 
Originally Posted by 97prizm
Hi all,

Hopefully some experienced members can chime in. I have two big interviews on this coming Monday. One is a secondary interview i.e. face to face for executive manager trainee with the HR director and a regional manager for Napa Auto parts. The second later on in the day is for Store manager for Avis/Budget car rental. The regional director called me up and wants me to sit down with him. Other than looking up company history and statistics What can i do to really be prepared? Both jobs are a huge step up from where I'm at now meaning pay and management. How have people here demonstrated that THEY are THE person for the job? All help appreciated.


NAPA: Go to a local NAPA retail store, and ask to speak to whoever is the highest ranking staffer at that location. Tell him you need a favor: you are interviewing for a job and just pick his brain for 5-10 minutes, or however long they will put up with you. Take notes, record his name, date and time. Ask him-her what their greatest challenge is, some secrets to their success etc. Offer to take them to lunch, on your dime, and continue to ask for background info. I cannot guide you to other questions, but what you are trying to do is just gather info. When the time comes in the actual interview where they ask "any further questions", or "what do you know about the company?", or any opportunity before you leave, mention your visit and your information gathering. If your role has some sort of sales responsibility then try to formulate ONE idea to improve sales, or reduce returns, or improve customer service, or whatever you think will make either your potential boss or the interview panel look good to their boss. I.E. your trying to demonstrate your knowledge, your initiative, and ability to work in a team and make them look good, without coming across as too much of a butt kisser. When they ask you for the name of the person you spoke with, or store location, say "I would rather not say at this time as I want to protect my source". But have that info in your notes. [censored], buy something really cheap and get the receipt, then redact the store info and show the panel your receipt for proof. If you can do the same at a competitor that would be even better. -- You are trying to demonstrate initiative and knowledge gathering methods --. The actual knowledge , insight or whatever is not as critical as the fact you actually did the legwork. And try to be prepared to convey this entire idea in 60-120 seconds.

Avis - I think the above probably is true for this line of work as well
smile.gif


Interview- get with somebody and rehearse the interview. And I love what Linctex said: confidence but not arrogance. I am going to send you a PM as well.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
My wife works for a firm that helps businesses by making them more efficient and profitable. She tells me a lot.

Don't brag about yourself. She says guys love to brag about themselves.

Don't lie.

The new trend is to throw in a question or two that doesn't make sense to see how you'll answer it.

Do not pause between questions and speak proper grammar.

I hope you don't have any social media accounts with you chugging beer, showing your support for marijuana... and/or having questionable friends.

Do you do any volunteer work like Habitat for Humanity?

Don't smell like an ashtray if you smoke.




Do not curse, do not use slang, be clean, dress well. Practice the interview. Be prepared. Be early !! Be courteous to everybody you meet . One of my tactics is to ask the receptionist for a thumbs up / down. I also learned the hard way not to tell jokes of any sort: you never know who is in your audience.
 
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I have never been in management but I have had a few people doing work for me through the years (I am 60). You are interviewing with who will be your boss (the HR director assistant job). What I have felt during the few times I have had to supervise someone below me is this, managers want someone under them so they can offload some of their workload, period. So put yourself in their position. They have too much work, they cannot do it all effectively with the time they have. What they desire is to find someone that will take and run with some of their tasks AND do it in a way that does NOT cause more work for them. If you come across as confident and a self starter....the type that will run with my tasks and "get er done".....then you'll be the guy.

I have a draftsman/designer that does work for me. My biggest complaint is, he spends too much time asking me questions and not just figuring out how to do it. Secondly, his quality is not 100%, sometimes the tasks are done well, other times, I need to redo some of it. If you are busy, this is not an ideal situation.

You need to be the "get er done" kind of guy.
 
Used to do a lot of interviews with candidates for scientific positions when I worked in R&D. The thing that ALWAYS turned me off as well as other interviewers was the cold fish limp handshake and failure to look me in the eye when talking. I never voted to hire any of those people.

Don't crush the guys hand but be firm. Always look them in the eye when you are talking. Both show confidence and a "can do" attitude!
 
One question I have, that you can ask (yourself), is why does Avis hire their store manager from the outside? Why don't they promote from within? What is their entry level position? How do they judge their managers performance, is it by upselling the stupid insurance enough times? Is it a "managing" position or a mislabelled "sales" position and, if so, are you good at sales?

I suspect it's a way for them to work you 60+ hours a week for "40" under salary.
 
Emphasize how you are able to meet (and surpass) your weekly / monthly / quarterly metrics.... AND increase profits.

Big boss with a few clicks of mouse can see all the metrics....

That's good if your meeting them, bad if you're not.
 
You'd be surprised how many people I interview just don't engage. They answer the questions as carefully as possible and showing as little of their personality as possible. We don't hire those people. There are lots of people that can do the work but do I want to work with them everyday? Show up early. Even if you just sit there for 30 minutes. Word gets around that you're there early.

Questions I like: What traits make the perfect candidate for this position? Biggest challenges? Is the company growing or static? My HR doesn't like if candidates ask why the position is open. Seems like a reasonable question to me. At my company the HR people have a big say in who gets hired so don't think you just need to impress the hiring manager.

Good luck!
 
Originally Posted by Leo99
You'd be surprised how many people I interview just don't engage. They answer the questions as carefully as possible and showing as little of their personality as possible. We don't hire those people. There are lots of people that can do the work but do I want to work with them everyday? Show up early. Even if you just sit there for 30 minutes. Word gets around that you're there early.

Questions I like: What traits make the perfect candidate for this position? Biggest challenges? Is the company growing or static? My HR doesn't like if candidates ask why the position is open. Seems like a reasonable question to me. At my company the HR people have a big say in who gets hired so don't think you just need to impress the hiring manager.


Good advice.

On the question issue, HR is not allowed to comment on personnel issues, whether the person who left the position opened was fired, quit, retired, it's none of your business and they can't tell you why, so don't bother with that question.
 
Wear a dress shirt that has a pocket.
Put a couple of $100 bills in the pocket with them well exposed.
Might as well get down to the nitty gritty right off the hop.
 
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