Not the cheeriest of titles for a Monday morning, but an important topic non the less.  I came across this article over the weekend via Twitter and as someone who has carried out numerous interviews in my career, and provided advice to people about preparing for interviews I thought it summed up some of the key reasons why people don't succeed when they go along for that all important job interview.

The article goes into more detail but it highlights the top 3 reasons why people fail.  These are:

• Not providing a relevant example of your skills.  So don't just say you can do something, give an example of how you've demonstrated/used that skill.  I am always going on about this one!
• Not telling the interviewer how your skills match the role that you are applying for.
• Not showing interest and enthusiasm. 

 So there you go, remember to do those 3 things and you'll be halfway there to interview success. 
 ,,,,         

In many of my consultations I see people who genuinely don't know what they want to do.  They may be just starting out in their career or are reflecting on their career and realised they (like many) simply fell into their current role.

I often suggest to people that they speak to friends and family about what sort of jobs they can see them doing.  They often know us best, and can often recognise skills that we perhaps never see as 'work' skills.

I found this article this morning, and I'm definitely going to start suggesting it in my consultations as an exercise to undertake for those of you who are looking for some inspiration.  The basic idea is that you write a job advert about the type of job you are searcing for, highlighting your motivations and interests, rather than your qualifications or a specific area of work.  You then send it to 10 people who you know who have a variety of interests, careers and backgrounds and see what they suggest. 

I'd love to know if some of you try it.  Let me know what people suggest!

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