Search Results for 'Sli Nua Careers'

Q: I’m in a job I don’t like – and that’s to put it mildly. My role is as an office receptionist, but it’s too narrow in focus for me. I’d much prefer to be working in a hotel doing sales and reservations, instead of just pushing calls through to my bosses, which I’m currently doing. Another job has come up in a hotel in sales, but, as I’m only three months in this job, I think it might look bad on my CV if I up sticks now and go. What do you think? Should I stay or should I go? (CS, email).

Q: I’ve just been called for a second interview for a job. I’ve a lot of experience in the sector, and know I’d be a good fit for the position. I felt I did very well in the first interview and am now just wondering what more I can do second time around. Any thoughts? (LR, email)

Q: I am going for a job interview next week that could prove tricky. It’s a new position within our organisation – we’re a charity – and while they have outlined a job spec, there are still a million and one unanswered questions in terms of how the job will pan out. Is it permissible to put questions to the interview panel to help me clarify a few key points? (LT, email).

We had this interesting correspondence from a reader this week and we think it is worth reproducing here. It might chime with some of you.

Q: I am going for a job in a company that’s undergoing significant changes right now. It’s a well-known company in a sector that is currently in a state of flux due to technological changes. Like many others, I am fascinated to find out what plans the company has to keep themselves relevant and profitable in the future. Would it be permissible for me to ask some questions about those plans in the job interview? (HR, email)

Q: I have been working as office manager in a company for the past three months – without actually getting the stripes. The situation was that the previous office manager took ill and they recruited me on a temporary basis to take over the job. Initially, there was some resentment among the other three people in the office – at least two of whom might have felt they should have got the job. But that has now dissipated and we have a happy working environment. One of the two even confided in me that he was glad I had come in as he didn’t feel he would be able to do the job as good I can. Anyway, that’s not my reason for writing to you. What’s bugging me now is that the job is now to be filled on a full-time basis. I had hoped I would get the job without it being advertised, but it has been advertised locally in the media. What should I do? Does this mean they don’t think my face fits? (RK, email)

— Think and talk through beforehand what you’d like to say, but avoid any temptation to learn answers off by rote. Rehearsed answers will lack passion and authenticity, and create a new pressure for you on the day as you try to remember what you’ve learned. Trust that your natural flow will click in and serve you much better than learning off your answers.

Q: I did a job interview last week. Two of the interview panel were fine, but one of them was downright rude. If he wasn’t looking out the window, he was tapping his biro on the desk. I’m pretty sure I caught him suppressing a yawn at some stage. I nearly asked him if he didn’t mind concentrating, but I resisted the temptation. I got the Dear John letter two days later. I regret now not giving him a piece of my mind. (Mary, email).

Job interviews are not unlike boxing matches: you can have all the plans and strategies you want, all the shapes and all the moves, the slides to the side and the dummies, but you have to remember that there is somebody else in the ring too.

I believe in the value of what is rather dryly called peer-to-peer learning. A good book to read on the topic is Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. We have been reared to put our faith in the ‘expert’ model – what is called in America the ‘sage on the stage’ model.