25 questions to ask in a final interview

25 questions to ask in a final interviewYouve learned how to build a resume and cover letter. And youve built both docs to smashing success. Then, you jumped over the next big hurdle, which is landing the interview. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) The interview is going swimmingly. As it comes to a close, you sit there quietly patting yourself on the back. But then the interviewer drops a bomb by asking the one question that you are unprepared forDo you have any other questions for me about the company or the role?Your mind goes blank, and you start to panic because you cant think of anything to ask the interviewer. Suddenly, it feels like youve gone from hero to zero in the course of a single question.The reason that this occurrence is so relatable is this fruchtwein jobseekers prepare for every possible question in an interview except for this one. In a job interview, we all want to sound competent in our skills, informed about our ind ustry, and well-suited for the role.What we as job seekers often forget is that a job interview is also our gelegenheit to decide whether or not the role is the right fit for us. We, as job seekers, get to take a place in the interviewer chair too.Because the aforementioned question above is one that job seekers frequently space on, they often end up walking away with a ton of unanswered questions.Take the time to prepare your questionsBefore you go into an interview, its critical that you take the time to review the job ad and review the job duties and the skills the employer is seeking in a candidate. Having these skills and duties fresh in your mind will help you to formulate questions about the role itself that might not have been laid bare in the job ad.Next, look at the companys website. Go to the About Us page and study it. Here, you will find information about the companys projects, values, and company culture. This page will provide inspiration for other questions you can a sk at your interview.Since interviews can be nerve-wracking, dont be afraid to write out your questions and bring them with you. Itll show the interviewer that you have taken the time to prepare for the interview.Not sure what to ask? Below, we have compiled a list of 25 questions to ask in your next interview. Dont ask them all youll be in the interview room for hours if you do but do select three to five questions to take with you.Is this a new role, or was there someone in the job previously? If the role was previously filled, why did that partie move on?What would a typical day or week look like for your new hire?What are the working hours, and your expectations for overtime?How does this position help your department and the larger organization achieve their goals?Does your department collaborate with other departments? If so, how?What kind of training will your new hire receive?What technology will your new employee use on the job?How will expectations and assignments be com municated in this role?What do you hope your new hire will be able to accomplish in the first three months?Over the course of a year, how is success measured in this role?How would you describe your management style?How will you as a manager interact with your new hire? Will it be through a weekly one-on-one check-in, or do you have another system?How do employees receive feedback on their performance?In your opinion, what is the most fun or creative part of this role?What would you say are the top three most useful soft skills a person needs to be successful in this role?What is your background? How did you land in your current role?How accessible are the companys senior leaders? In what context do they interact with employees who arent their direct reports?When would you like your new hire to start?How would you describe the work-life balance for members of your team?Is there a dress code in your department?Is there travel involved in this role? If so, how often?Does the company o ffer employees any professional development opportunities?What are the companys policies on working remotely?What time do people in this department typically arrive at work?How would you describe your company culture?Dont forget about off-the-cuff questionsWhile its critical to have some questions prepped in advance, sometimes the best questions you can ask during an interview are the ones that occur naturally during the conversation. If you really listen to what the interviewer is saying, youll find opportunities to ask impressive follow-up questions.Since these questions will be contextual, its not possible to list them here, but they will present themselves clearly during your discussion. Its a good idea to bring a pen and paper to the interview so that you can jot them down as you think of them.If the interview is conversational and you have the opportunity to ask your questions during the discussion without derailing the process, do so. Be careful to stay on topic and not to mo nopolize the interview with irrelevant questions.LiveCareer offers assistance to jobseekers at every step of the journey. Access freeresume templatesandresume examples, plus acover letter builderand advice on how to answerinterview questionsof all stripes.

The Shocking Way Men are Secretly Shaping The #MeToo Conversation

The Shocking Way Men are Secretly Shaping The MeToo Conversation In the wake of high-profile workplace sexual harassment accusations and movements like the MeToo campaign, a wealth of research has come out to shed light on just how pervasive a problem sexual harassment really is in the workplace, in particular. And some of the latest research suggests that, while its a prevalent occurrence for women especially, their voices are largely left out of the conversation.The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, agovernment agency responsible for processing sexual harassment complaints, says that anywherebetween25 and 85 percent of women report having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. Nearly one-third of the 90,000 complaints received in 2015 included a harassment allegation, and an estimated 75 percent of all workplace harassment incidents go unreported altogether. Meanwhile, the Society for Human Resurce Management has witnessed a spike in questions pertaining to sex ual harassment from its members and, as a society, were having more of the critical conversations on the subject matter conversations weve been advocating to have since the beginning of time.But the Womens Media Center (WMC) found that during a 15-month period, men have fruchtweinly been leading the public conversations on sexual assault.On the one year anniversary of The New York Times expose on the sexual assault allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, the WMC released a MeToo report examining the press coverage from May 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018 (five months before and 10 months after the Weinstein revelations). Lauren Wolfe, director of WMC Women Under Siege, co-authored the report that analyzed headlines, bylines and articles in over 15,000 pieces of news content from 14 of the nations most widely circulated newspapers.We did a report on rape on campus in 2015, and like sexual assault, we looked at media coverage, Wolfe told Broadly about how where the research all began. We were already starting to do research for how media was covering sexual assault. So the Harvey Weinstein news kicked in at that time.Wolfe and her other co-author, media analyst and data manager at WMC, Eliza Ennis, found that, during the 15 months they reviewed, men made up the majority of bylines about sexual assault. Male names comprised of 53 percent of bylines, therefore suggesting that men have been shaping the national conversation. Despite being adversely affected by sexual violence, women had six percent fewer bylines than men over the research period. Moreover, despite the fact that women of color experience higher rates of sexualized violence than their white counterparts, their stories are often missing from coverage entirely.We did see a measurable difference in the number of bylines that went to women on sexual assault coverage over the months, Wolfe told Broadly. What was really interesting, at least, in this study, and I would assume it holds true here, women tende d to speak to more women as sources than men did. Men spoke to more men women speak to more women.The research doesnt come as much of a surprise.According to The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2017 Report by the WMC, women receive just 38 percent of bylines and other credits in print, web, television and wire news. With regards to topics pertaining to women such as reproductive issues and campus sexual assault female journalists claim just 37 percent and 31 percent of stories, respectively. Likewise, women arent quoted as sources nearly as often as men, even on matters that largely affect them for example, of the 12 outlets WMC researched, only three used more quotes from female sources in their sexual assault coverage. At 36 percent, women are quoted as experts more so than previous years (22 percent in 2005), but mens names are still attributed to the bulk of quotes.This is largely a result of the fact that 86 percent of American newsrooms are white with white men behind 55 p ercent of all outlets.The lack of female voices in media is a deficiency thats detrimental to the health of our democracy a deficiency that ultimately determines what issues we talk about, who talks about them and, therefore and most importantly, how we talk about them. But its up to the newsrooms to start hiring more women.The idea is that if newsrooms arent reflecting the people ... the way society is made up of different people of color, women, all kinds of minorities, Wolfe told Broadly. If newsrooms arent reflecting that, then their stories just arent being told as much or possibly even as well because you do have a vested interest in maybe LGBT issues if youre a queer.In partnership with The Female Quotient and Progyny, Fairygodboss conducted a survey of 400 men and women to get their views on home and work, and found that 78 percent of men and 75 percent of women say the MeToo movement hasnt made an impact at their workplaces.Were always curious to see if whats happening in the media actually reflects what everyday men and women are experiencing, Georgene Huang, CEO and co-founder of Fairygodboss said. While the MeToo movement has captured national attention, our survey shows that there is a lot more work to do to make a real impact in workplaces across the country.As it turns out, the media isnt always reflecting what everyday men and women are experiencing and possibly because most of the media has been curated by a demographic that isnt nearly as impacted by sexual violence in the first place.More on MeTooHerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram Facebook.

How to Start a Career in SEO

How to Start a Career in SEO I remember graduating undergrad with a decentfinance degree, ready to take on the world. I welches under the assumption that I had a golden ticket to a cushy, high-paying job. Dreams of being the nextWolf of Wall Street danced around in my head.Then reality hit. I applied to hundreds of finance jobs with no real promise. Sure, I was offered a few jobs working 70-hour weeks selling financial planning services to the wealthy, but that wasnt for me.I had to rethink what I wanted to do with my life, and fast.While researching new jobs, I saw the term SEO pop up here and there. In university, I had worked on websites and even sold advertising on some of them to lawyers and doctors, which turned out to be profitable. It was just a pastime for me, and I didnt realize that it was a viable career.I enjoyed working with websites, and I had a bit of experience ranking websites so I said, What the heck lets apply to some SEO positio ns.It was the best decision of my life. Im currently 24, and since the time I applied for my first SEO job, Ive- worked for four different absatzwirtschaft agencies as an SEO specialist- built up a nice SEO consulting gig on the side- traveled the world and paid off my student debt- and built an eCommerce website to half a million dollars in revenue in a year and sold the business.Currently, Im the marketing director for an up-and-coming software company andthe co-founder of an Indonesian eCommerce companyHealthy.co.id. This was all made possible because of SEO.SEO, or search engine optimization, is now a key part of the marketing puzzle for fruchtwein companies from corner stores to the Fortune 500. SEOwas even listed as No. 4 on LinkedIns list of the top 25 hottest skills that can get you hired in 2016.I think SEO work isa fantastic job, because its a happy mix of technical know-how and marketing. Also, theres still lots of potential in the field of SEO and content marketing.Would I recommend it? Absolutely.If I had to do it all again, these are the steps I would take to kick-start my career in SEO1. Get Some basic skillsWhen I got my first job inSEO, I had alreadyworked with websites in the past. Thats not to say that I was an expert. Even now, Im an absolutely terrible coder and hire people to do most technical jobs. But its important to know the basics of- HTML- CSS- graphic design (Adobe Photoshop)- wordpress- Google AnalyticsLucky for you, all of this can be learned for free Take some courses on UdemyorCodecademy,or just Google around and figure it out on your own. You dont need to be a proto start. Just get down the basics, like learning what meta tags are. As long as you are resourceful, youll be able to learn as you go.2. Read Everything You Can FindSEO is constantly changing. Its radically different now than it was even five years ago. Thats why its important to always stay on top of the latest nachrichten and always be reading. The best SEO profess ionals are the ones who are agile and can alter their strategies quick.One of the great things about SEO is that the experts love to share. Writing in-depth articles on SEO is what gets them their readers, so theres a wealth of knowledge online and most of it is absolutely free.To get started, I would recommendreading someguides. Ive put together a list of the19 guides you need to learn SEO. They cover a number of topics, including keyword research, technical SEO, and link building.I alsorecommend creating a Feedly account and filling it up with some good blogs. This list is a pretty good place to start. SEO news and tips come out fast and furious, so get ready to read every day.Fianlly, you should also be checking Inbound.org every day for the latest news on inbound marketing and SEO. Its a great resource, and I still check it daily. The beauty of Inbound is that it filters out a lot of the poor quality content. If an article has been voted to the top, its because a number of SEO and marketing professionals have voted it up there. Youre also welcome to jump in on the conversation and ask questions.3. Get Familiar with the ToolsEveryones heard the saying, Use the right tool for the job. While its possible to use a hatchet to cut down a tree, its much easierto use a chainsaw. The same applies for SEO.There are many moving parts ofSEO, including keyword research, link building, and auditing websites.Using the right tools can save you hours of time. For large enterprise projects, the right tools become an absolute necessity.A few basic tools I would recommend playing around with are-Ahrefs-Screaming Frog-Google Keyword PlannerBrian Dean has put together a thorough list of SEO tools that you can peruse. Take some time and use a few that you find interesting.You will be asked what SEO tools youre familiar with in an interview I guarantee it.4. Start ExperimentingI highly, highly recommend that you start your own website if youre interested in becoming an SEO prof essional. Thatsthe best way to learn the ropes, and it shows initiative to potential employers.One way to differentiate yourself from other applicants is to make a personal blog and use it as your resume. Rank the website for your name, which should be easy, and tell employers to Google your name. Its creative and shows that you understand the basics of SEO.You can take it one step further and start an eCommerce shop. You can start a Shopify store for as little as $9 a month and find products to drop ship, which means you dont even have to hold inventory Its a fun learning experience, and it can make you some money on the side, too.5. Go to Meetups and Talk to PeopleGet out of thehouse and go meet some people in the industry. Not only can you learn a lot from presentations, but you can also make some valuable connections. I landed two of my four agency positions through meetups. If you play your cards right, you may not even have to make a resumeYou can find SEO- and marketing-relat ed meetups through Meetup.com and Eventbrite.6. Apply, Apply, ApplyWhen somebody tells me they cant find a job, I ask them how many theyve applied to. All too often, people pick their favorites and only apply to 5-10 open positions. But finding a job really is a numbers game the more you apply to, the better. There is no downside to applying to more jobs. If you dont like one of the jobs you are offered,you dont have to take it.To get my first job in SEO, I applied to 100+ jobs. They werent all exactly related to what I wanted to do, but any job is better than no job.In the meantime, you can alsotake jobs on Fiverr or Upwork. Find simple work related to SEO, like article writing, and get some real life experience in the process.If you follow all of these steps, you will find a job in SEO. That, I can promise. Mop up all the information you can handle and hustle. Its well worth it. Working in SEO was one of the best decisions Ive ever made

Americans have lost over $10 million because of phone scams

Americans have lost over $10 million because of phone scamsAmericans have lost over $10 million because of phone scamsRecently Truecaller Insights released its fifth annual U.S Spam and Scam report. Although 87% of Americans say they try to only answer calls if they recognize the callers number, almost two-thirds of Americans (61%) worry they might miss legitimate calls because they suspect they are spam and dont answer, the studys authorsexplained.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIn the last twelve months, Americans have lost more than $10 million dollars because of phone scams. This means, $244 is the average loss per victim, given 43 million Americans fell victim to fraudulent calls in the last year. This is a 39% increase since last years report. In 2019 the average American reported receiving about 32 spam calls, and 11 spam texts a month. The amount of successful scams has experienced an even sharper increase. The study reported a 70% annual rise in Americans that fell victim to phone scams in 2019 (one in six).Which group falls victim the most?Young adults and men (18 to 34) fall victim to these kinds of scams the most often, even though, young men, in particular, reported receiving the least spam calls out of all the demographics reviewed (with 21 being the most cited number by this group).The study reports, Two in five men aged 18-34 (40%) claimed theyd been victimized by a phone scam in the past 12 months compared to only 13% of men aged 35+ and 28% of women aged 18-34.Parents were also found to be distinctly perceptible. In fact, parents with children living in their house under the age of eighteen are three times as likely to fall victim to being phone scammed, compared to adultswithout children.The majority of scams are attempted on mobile phones. Eighty-three percent of respondents reported receiving a fraudulent call this way, with only 22% s aying it occurred via their landline.For whatever reason, households that earned more than $50,000 but less than $75,000 reported the least instances of scams. This group experienced scams about 12% less than the average, and about half as much as households with incomes between $75,000 and $99,000.Most common tactics,Great credit deal, is one of the most frequent preludes to a successful phone scam, though many different methods are used. Some standard scam phrases are listed in order of frequency below.Great Deal70% of Americans have received calls about getting a great dealYouve Won Something64% received calls saying they have won somethingProblems with an Account53% received calls saying there is a problem with an accountOwe Money50% received calls saying they owe moneyPolitical callsNearly half of Americans (49%) report receiving political callsWhat can you do?When Americans receive what they suspect to be a spam/scam call, the vast majority simply dont answer (71%.) A little l ess than half either block or report the suspicious number (43%). Fourteen percent answer immediately, and 8% call back later.As technology progresses, more Americans are shying away from traditional modes of long-distance communication. Fifty-five percent of respondents said they communicate through text, social media and email, specifically to avoid talking to someone on the phone. It should come as no surprise that this number surges among 18- to 34-year-olds (73%).You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How to Avoid Backfill Hell

How to Avoid Backfill HellHow to Avoid Backfill HellA couple of years ago one of my employees took me aside and announced she welches leaving.Sure, I said. Need to leave early? No problem. Everything caught up? But she meant she is leaving as in quitting.Hiring her finally made my team full. And I had a very lean team already. I believed it was no small problem to backfill the position.I was wrong. Learn how you can stay out of backfill hell as a leader.Quick explanation Backfill is a verb meaning refilling an excavated hole with the material dug out of it. As a leader, I warn you to stay out of this as much as you can. The news my employee shared with me brought me a big step closer to it. And its the worst of positions to be in.Why backfill hell must be avoidedThe business does not slow down. Recruiting is caught off-guard and pressed for resources while the possible candidates want to know why there is a vacancy.It does not have to happen as much as it does. How to avoid itIf your e not meeting with your team each week, start now. I understand there is little or no time for one more meeting on the calendar. If youre looking for more time, stop right now. Time isnt found, its madeSchedule the meeting and set the agenda.The time your team would normally spend fighting fires, they can now spend developing actionable items to improve resolving them efficiently.departure with a game-changing customer focus approach to staffYes, your employee is (or at least should be) your number one customer. Without him or her, you really cannot serve your paying customer.So, to avoid the land of backfill, you need to focus on your employee like you would a paying customer. Listen with the intent to improve things. Act with an energy that results in improvement.Listen for the subtext in their wordsHow do I manage this? I already listen. How do I improve these listening skills? I listen for the subtext. Somewhere in what your employee is sharing, there is a complaint. Too little time. Too much work. The system is too slow.Each of these problems are missing a solution. Feed the complaint back to your employee and start discussing ways to resolve it.Dont stop tryingEverything I tried with my employee to prevent her from leaving was being stopped by her already-made-up-mind. There seemed to be no way to win this one.So, I simply asked, Whats the problem? She replied, Were moving at too fast a pace. And the light bulb turned onCreate a smoother onboarding experienceShe needed a smoother onboarding experience. Great. I can make that happen, so that is just what I did.fruchtwein of the processes at work can be tweaked a bit without disruption. I found room in the process to adjust things and my employee had more time to get to know whos who in the company.She learned the how/why of what we do, which rules she could bend, and those she could not.At the end of the dayThe smoother onboarding experience I created not only kept her from leaving but also allowed her to greatly develop in her role. She became quite confident and, as a result, she performed really well. Perhaps, even more important, when larger problems came across her desk, she had no hesitation bringing them to me for help.Meet with your employees regularly. Listen to them as you would a paying customer. Listen for your next opportunity.Finding and resolving it might make all the difference in proactively avoiding backfill hell

The Resourceful Job Hunt

The Resourceful Job Hunt The Resourceful Job Hunt The Resourceful Job HuntBy Carol MilanoTodd Spurgeon was showing interested parents and prospective students Virginia Techs Invents program, designed for engineering students. The mechanical and aerospace engineering major mentioned his self-made, hand-built open source design of a three-dimensional printer as the campus tour group passed it. I had modified the design to have more capabilities than the original with some improved components. One parent, a naval researcher who had previously taken additive manufacturing courses at Virginia Tech, recognized that I had been pretty quick to pick up the skills, Todd recalled.The parent knew of a Penn State professor seeking summer interns and offered to recommend Todd. I sent some You Tube videos of what I had built and links to my current project, Todd recounted, They hired me, via elektronischer briefHis job consisted of a paid 10-week 2013 summer internship in Penn States prestigious Ap plied Research Engineering Lab, I had a blast I got to do research and designs to keep the U.S. a world leader in manufacturing, Todd said.Todd was lucky, but he had also been planning carefully. Half my reason for building that printer, he confided, was to get more experience in this field. I want to use and apply knowledge, rather than just get a degree for the sake of getting a job. I have learned that people like it when students take a class, then apply it to what they can do, which makes it a very rewarding learning experience. Just one year after my first exposure to additive manufacturing, I was involved with it at Penn State, who is a leader in this area.As Todd realized early on sending resumes, answering job postings, and attending career fairs are basic job-hunting steps. Finding ways to stand out by making your skills and ideas noticeable is a better strategy.Todds colleague, Greg Jannaman (BS, 2009) did just that. In his fourth year at Virginia Tech, Greg joined the Bl ind Driver Challenge, to develop a miniature car that sightless teenagers could drive. He became team leader of the successful undertaking, but never expected it to lead to a job. National Instruments (NI) provided all the projects hardware and software. When two NI senior engineers visited, they were impressed enough with the nine mechanical engineering students work to provide additional equipment and technical assistance. The added support helped Greg appreciate NIs goal of assisting not only academic pursuits, but also finding projects involving innovative technology that could help improve everyday life. At Virginia Techs 2009 career fair, with hundreds of exhibitors, Greg targeted NI. Throughout the interview process, he highlighted his Blind Car Challenge experience, particularly his leadership and teamwork, and demonstrated understanding of real-world engineering challenges. My big advantage was a passion for NIs mission and vision, positiv familiarity with their products. I communicated that I was not just passionate about the Blind Car Challenge, I wanted to bring this kind of project to other people, through other similar things we could do. He was hired.Resourceful Job-Hunt StrategiesResearch three to five companies exhibiting at an upcoming Career Fair. Practice describing skills and experiences that match each companys specific interests.Take on projects that highlight your enthusiasms and strongest assets. Let people know about them.Utilize your colleges resources, including mentor programs and alumni associations.Join local and national associations, including online groups, such as LinkedIn. Participate Share information about interesting articles or programs so people learn who you are and what is significant to you.Seek activities where youll meet people from different backgrounds, such as community service groups or campus programs. Remember, broadening your network broadens your opportunitiesNow a regional services and support manager for NI, based in Austin, Greg Jannaman is one of their Virginia Tech recruiters.What does he look for? When I see a student with a passion, doing everything they can to pursue it that puts them way up on the charts.

Hiring Market for Technology Positions in Q2

Hiring Market for Technology Positions in Q2Hiring Market for Technology Positions in Q2*/Read the infographic text.Q2 2017 Hiring Market Technology PositionsUnemployment rates for many technology jobs are well below the national rate, making it challenging for companies to hire these professionals.UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FOR TECHNOLOGY JOBSComputer programmers 0.7%Software developers 1.3%Database administrators 1.9%Systems analysts 2.3%Network architects 2.7%National unemployment rate 4.4%MANAGERS HAVE A HARD TIME WITH HIRING49% of small and midsize business owners said most hiring managers underestimate the complexity of the hiring process.READY TO HIRE? CALL ROBERT HALF TECHNOLOGY AT 1.877.269.7066.Sources U.S. Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics Robert Half survey of more than 1,000 business owners and human resources managers in the United States at companies with 1 to 499 employees 2017 Robert Half Technology. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans.