Article Title:  Interview Do’s and Don’t’s
Author Byline:  the medical sales recruiter
Author Website: http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress

So, who do you like in the presidential primaries?  No, don’t tell me.  I don’t want to start something here.  I do know that there’s an interesting horse race going on in both camps.  So, if the presidential race is on your mind, I found a couple of great posts on Bulls Eye Resumes that take a little something from the candidates to help you with medical device sales rep, laboratory and clinical sales rep, or pharmaceutical sales rep interviews:

Interview Do’s From the Presidential Race:  (a few of my favorites)

Bring your personality to the job interview.  You can be engaging and friendly and yourself while answering interview questions without feeling like you have to have false cheer.  The hiring manager is a person, after all, and will likely be as turned off by that as you would be. 
Answer the specific question asked.  Be prepared, but don’t have your answers so “canned” that you answer by rote and don’t seem engaged in this conversation.  (For a laugh, see some really honest answers here…)
Own your failures.  Don’t act like you don’t have any, because the interviewer knows better.  Focus on what you learned from them.
Interview Don’ts From the Presidential Race:  (again, some of my favorites)

Don’t make false claims about your past job performance.  You will be found out.  Recruiters, especially, will look up your references. 
Don’t schedule your interview during a time when your energy is low.  Are you a morning person, or are you more alert in the afternoons?  You don’t want to walk into an interview looking like you need a nap.
Don’t use the same tired lines everyone else is using.  Buzzwords, yes.  You show that you’re informed on the latest developments in your industry.  Using standard “interview speak” when answering won’t get you the positive attention you want.   
These really are very informative posts, with even more information than what I’ve highlighted here.  Definitely worth the read. Article courtesy of the  http://www.recruitingblogswap.com/ a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for  http://www.collegerecruiter.com/pages/internship-job-postings.php students looking for internshipshttp://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/ graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Ask Not…

     During a recent business development conference, a human resources speaker reminded us of the Mary Tyler Moore show and her character’s job interview with her soon-to-be boss, Lou Grant. As funny as the encounter was, it did bring to light an interesting point: what questions can we as business owners ask our perspective employees?  Lou Grant asked Mary about her religion.  She responded by reminding him that he wasn’t allowed to ask that… intimidated, she did finally answer.

     Discrimination is an issue that we business owners and human resources directors must keep in the back of our minds. EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) Laws were designed to protect potential employees.  Employers, however, must protect themselves against the perception of discrimination. An employer might not hire a 52 year old man because he lacks computer experience.  BUT if during the gentleman’s interview, the employer asks pointed questions regarding the man’s age and when he graduated from high school, college, etc., the perception of discrimination may become a huge issue.  

     The best way to avoid this problem when seeking additional personnel is to steer clear of interview questions related to age, religion (thanks Lou Grant), gender or children, race or ethnicity, or disability.  Interviewers should focus on the candidate’s ability to meet the demands of the job and the candidate’s employment background, training and experience. “Friendly” interviews sometimes lead to a discussion of children and their extracurricular activities… and it’s fine if a candidate volunteers such information.  But human resource directors must be careful to not to ask, “Will Johnny’s Little League schedule interview with our company’s meeting schedule?”  If Mom isn’t hired, she may believ e her status as a mother is the reason why.

     By the way, Mary was a Presbyterian.

LiveHire.com: Changing the Way Businesses Hire                                                      12/14/07: Hiring decisions are critical to business, as they provide the human capital required for organizations to execute their strategic objectives. LiveHire.com, the number one Interviewing site, introduces the “new way to interview”. It ushers in a cool new concept that dramatically reduces time-to-hire and cost-per-hire. Getting started and on your way to interviewing with LiveHire.com is a snap! You not only speed up the hiring process with the best talent, but move from ineffective and costly screening, to intelligent, effective hiring almost instantly, cutting down on the bottom line without sacrificing quality or convenience. Live communication over a webcam makes for “face to face” interaction. Real time interviews on LiveHire is just a matter of three simple steps:

1. An Employer identifies a candidate he or she wants to interview, and the same is conveyed to the applicant via e-mail.
2. Candidate logs into LiveHire and accepts the invitation to be interviewed.
3. On the scheduled time and date, the employer as well as the candidate log in to LiveHire.com, and begin the interview in real time via webcam.

 Both employers and candidates benefit from LiveHire. All that the employees have to do  is log in and start interviewing the best of candidates to fill a position in their company. Cost and time to hire is considerably reduced as LiveHire allows a candidate to be interviewed at convenience, without the necessity of incurring traveling costs by flying candidates on-location. Similarly, there couldn't be a better opportunity for candidates to start interviewing with top companies over a webcam, quickly and easily! Again, the costs involved in traveling are eliminated.  LiveHire also allows universities and colleges to use it's valuable services to increase the number of Companies recruiting at their school, and provides students with the right opportunity to make critical career decisions. LiveHire is currently available in Beta version, with a free 15 day to start. Visit www.livehire.com  to make your hiring decisions today!

 

As I currently sit in a hotel,  waiting to do a test of Livehire at 11pm in Orlando after a 12 hr day at Disney world with the kids, I decided to post to the blog for the first time.  I anticipate to go from Development to Production Server  within 2 weeks. As excited as I am for the release of the website, I’m also overwelmed with the amount of due diligence involved in starting an Internet company while having a fulltime job.  I’m certainly 110% commited to making LiveHire a success and will be Relentless in that pursuit. It is hard and fun work at the same time.  I can’t wait to get the site going and Live, However tomorrow I will have breakfast with the princess’ in Norway at Epcot.