Here’s What Hiring Managers Really Care About
You cannot penetrate the consciousness of the person sitting opposite you at the interview and know exactly what he is looking for. But fortunately, there are some basic qualities that most hiring managers think are very important to everyone.
In a survey of 800 people in charge of interviewing and hiring at their company, Netquote collected some general observations about the process. The things we’ve always considered personally important — our creativity, for example — are actually pretty low on the manager’s scale. This is what they actually do and don’t want to know.
Can you handle the conflict?
The most important question in the opinion of 69% of those surveyed was “Tell me about a case when you managed to cope with the conflict.” This response and the applicant’s ability to learn from mistakes had a large impact on the hiring decision. It makes sense; if they invite you for an interview, your resume must include basic qualifications. They try to select someone who is not only qualified but good for the job. This means that someone is respectful, sociable, and capable of self-reflection. All these qualities are reflected in this question.
Your previous salary doesn’t matter
It’s unclear if this is because it doesn’t actually affect their bottom line, but only 27% think that what you got paid in your last job was “very or extremely” important. However, salary issues become more and more important as we get closer to the recruitment process. If you pass this first interview, you may be worried about it.
Questions about what you dream of working and your interests outside of work also received a low rating. It turns out that companies are not very interested in you beyond who you are in the office. Surprise!
Strong soft skills
Soft skills are “intangible character traits associated with character,” not complex skills like programming. They are difficult to measure, but sometimes they do pop up in interviews. You know, for example, when you are asked about your “greatest strength.” This is not an easy question:
According to recent research, business leaders tend to value soft skills over hard skills because of their ability to adapt to any career path. Hard skills can be learned and improved, but soft skills are the root of character and are more difficult to learn.
These responses were sourced from Monster.com, and respondents were asked to choose three out of fifteen options. The three core soft skills are problem solving, communication, and time management. The top three are organization, versatility and patience.
Summary of Red Flags
Before you even enter the room, you are assessed on your resume. Apparently, people looked at the resume so often that surveyors asked about it. Stop! It turns out that 42% of hiring managers “have a negative attitude” towards those who do it, although about 24% have a positive attitude towards it. In my opinion, this is not enough to cheer you up.
Artistic resumes divided the group: 36% assess them negatively and 35% positively – the rest do not hold an opinion. Positive perceptions usually come from jobs in the arts, entertainment, recreation, technology, and marketing. If you have a more serious field, like jurisprudence, science or government, skip this D&D topic.
You can also go too far with a too long summary:
One of the biggest mistakes job seekers can make on their resume is adding too much information and submitting a resume that has too many pages. A standard resume is one to two pages long, so probably just over half of hiring managers said three pages was too much. For those applying for an academic or research position, the duration of the curriculum vitae (CV) is much more flexible.
Outside of academia, be brief.
Don’t say anything about it
There are some colloquial checkmarks that can be difficult to get rid of before an interview, but you can at least brush aside some of these nasty buzzwords:
While hiring managers are looking for specific answers, they also hope that you don’t say specific phrases. More than half of them pronounced vague words such as “things” or “things”, and the insertion words such as “like” and “mmm” were words that they did not want to hear from the applicant. The use of buzzwords such as “low hanging fruit” or “game changer” may have also elicited negative responses from interviewers.
Post-interview steps
If you’ve been interviewed and still want to get a job, the best thing you can do is ask your own questions about the job and the company, at least 67% of those surveyed say so. This is a great sign that you have paid attention and are genuinely interested in the work. Accompanying is also extremely important for 49% of hiring managers, but if you’ve puzzled over handwriting thank you notes for an interview, you may want to quit. Only 17% of hiring managers think this is important. On the other hand, if you also think it is very important, you can be a worthy companion to life in heaven.
Check out the rest of the review and helpful graphs here .