Hey Marco, glad my stuff has helped you. By the way, please be respectful of people's time such as Denise Renee. She offered to answer interview questions here, but not perform full reviews of your resume and CV.

I also looked at your previous messages, and I didn't respond because you ask vague questions such as, "Check this article out and let me know what you think!"

You need to understand that it's not other people's obligation to go out of their way to read something, think about it, then respond to you with their synopsis.

In the future, please make sure to ask a SPECIFIC QUESTION that doesn't require the person to jump through hoops to answer. This will be a valuable skill for getting people to respond to you :)

Good thinking Denise Renee......I know of people who completely switched industries and flourished, because their original skillset translated GREAT to another industry!

Hey Jenelle,

I agree with Denise Renee, focus on the individual skills you posses. Maybe you don't have experience in a certain field, but you can:

-Use Microsoft Word really well.

-Use Microsoft Excel really well.

-Use Google Doc really well.

-Plan conferences and events really well.

-Do a variety of marketing activities really well.

I believe if a company sees how many things you're great at, they will easily overlook the fact you don't have much experience in that specific industry (unless it really really really matters).

Hi Denise

What a great article. I just hired in two new people and had to come up with interview questions from the other side of the table. I was wondering how you suggest to answer an off the wall question such as "Tell me about an opinion you have that everyone else thinks is crazy"

Thanks for the article! May I know if the t-shirt is still available?

Incredibly useful and helpful. Well written. Hats off.

Thanks Denise! That's a great insight for me.

Hi Denise & Neville. .. So happy to come across this article cuz I'm in the midst of looking for a job. I know that in resume it'd be good to highlight key achievements but what if I don't have any? Most of my job is admin-based so I do have skills in writing, Excel, presentation etc. But I have nothing noteworthy to talk about. I want to move away from admin jobs, would like to maybe get in supervisory role... But I have no results. So how do I go about this? Am I going to be stuck in admin roles all my life? FYI, my job experiences include being an insurance agent for 1 year, admin officer in a law firm for 7 years (I was stuck in my comfort zone even though the job and the place had no career advancement) and events coordinator for 1 year.

The "dumb drawings" you have on your posts are always brilliantly entertaining, Neville! :)

Hey T$, glad you found the article useful. My gut reaction is that this question, indeed, is a bit off the wall, so if they seriously want an answer, go off the wall with that too. Make it super silly and laugh it off and wait for the next serious question. Worst case scenario, they'll think you have a sense of humor (which I'm guessing is the point of that question???)

All the best to you :)

Hi C, glad you liked the article. Neville will have to fill you in on the t-shirt details :)

Hey there Jordan, I appreciate your compliment. Glad you found the article useful!

Hi June, thanks for reaching out.

OMG, I TOTALLY relate to your situation!!

I started off my career straight out of college as a high school English teacher in NYC and absolutely hated it. I worried that because my Masters was in Secondary Education, I wasn't qualified for anything else. When I stopped all my worring and decided that I would not be stuck doing something I hated, my next job opportunity literally found me within months.

Fast forward several years and I had wandered into administrative roles in different industries for about 10 years, including recruiting. Plus, some of my roles had me doing some HR functions without the official title. I hated the direction I had taken and I felt as though I might get stuck there.

Again, I had to change my mindset. (It also helped that I had been learning about copywriting and marketing and helping freelance clients alongside my day job for a while too.) I was able to parlay my side gigs to my current full-time role which is handling social media and content marketing for a software company. (But I still maintain my own business helping career professionals like yourself with their resumes and small business owners with their online copy).

The very first step to making a career change is to think differently. You have to believe and begin envisioning yourself doing something else, something you'll love (even if you're not sure exactly what it is just yet). The reason that is the first step is because once you get your belief together, you'll start taking actions that will lead you to the next opportunity. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, that is also when the right opportunity will start making it's way to you.

Practical steps you can take towards transitioning to a new industry or career is figuring out what you would like to do and start learning about it. Take online courses or a classroom course. Launch a side business where you help people for free or at a low cost in your new field to gain experience. That experience is then valuable to place on your resume.

Speaking of experience, let me address your other concern about representing achievements on your resume as an admin. Ultimately, there are 5 types of achievements to represent on a resume: (1) earning the company money, (2) saving the company money, (3) improving efficiency on internal processes (which makes the company money), (4) improving company culture/morale (which makes employees more productive and ultimately earns the company money), or (5) improving the company's brand visibility (which ultimately makes the company more money).

As an admin, you've likely done some projects that fell under #2 and #3. If you worked on any events or any PR/marketing efforts, then you've definitely contributed to #4 or #5. Even if you worked as a group and your team created wins, those are valid to put on your resume as achievements. Think about how your writing or Excel skills helped you contribute to the wins that they people you supported took credit for. Admins RUN companies... they'd be so lost without em! You have wins, girl, you just have to look at things a little differently.

I truly hope this has helped you. If you need more in-depth help, reach out to me at http://thederencoagency.com/contact.

All my best to you,

Denise Renee

Why thank you! People ask the "reason" why I make them:

1.) I like drawing them and they amuse me, but I suck at drawing anything other than stick figures.

2.) I think sometimes they convey the point BETTER than text!

3.) It's kinda fun to scroll through an article and see the drawings.

Dang Denise Renee, that was a great comment!! It's interesting to see how many people feel trapped like June and don't know how to get out.

Many people want to get fire out of the fireplace without putting any wood in it first. The steps you described can definitely pull people from out of a smaller job into a larger role if they put some effort into it!

I'm personally pretty impressed by people who self-learn skills. In fact I'm MORE impressed with them than if they have a college degree in the subject. Generally the self-taught people are so much more into what they're doing, and have taken their own spare time and initiative to do it.

Hi Denise, thank you very much for your answer. I might not been able to express that I was indeed inviting Neville to take a look at my CV, not you specially, so that he could relate what I've done with the work he does. In fact, I believe I did not provided any links, and wouldn't bother both of you just for the sake of bothering. Like I said, I was inviting (firstly) Neville to take a look, not asking you for a specific review. The missing «keyword» here might have been «kopywriting», in the way that I believe, at least I think I might have «touched» Neville's awesomeness in copywriting and doing so I was then inviting to take a look at my CV if you thought I was ok, any of you. Does this makes sense to you? I hope so, and I must address any apologies that you see fit, because I wasn't expecting to hand out too much work on you. That is completely far from my thoughts.

Anyway, thank you for your kindness and response.

Márcio Guerra

Hi, Neville. Thank you too for your answer. I'll apologize to you too if you felt that in any way I might disrespected you or Denise. That was not, by any chance, my intention. Truly sorry.

Back to what I meant, in my initial comment, I mean, well, I like your work, copywriting, better yet, «kopywriting», very much, at least from what I've seen. And I tried to incorporate that, what I feel that I've learned, in my CV, a few months ago. Just this. And, because this article, here, mentioned CVs, I made my using, or tried to, using your teachings, I was kind of «bragging», well, not bragging, nor showing off, but more «humbly trying to show you my CV» so that you could take a brief look and say «yes, this could be understood as creative writing» or «no, this is nothing like I've would've done». Just this. Not a review in the sense of a HR professional reviewing CVs.

If this, by any chance, felt wrong to any of you, my apologies, again.

If, after all this, and because now I also feel that the expectations might be too high from all this talking regarding my CV, any, or both, of you wouldn't mind taking a brief look at it, I would be most appreciated.

Regarding the second question, the email I've sent you, well, how to put this, you tend to analyze some actual cases in your blog. I also understand that many, if not most, if not all, related to you, but, I've sent you a link to a page so that you, if you feel so, could also take a look at it and address those questions there and offer us all, that read your blog, your view on those points of views mentioned there. Again, I wasn't just intending to make you loose time «figuring out» what I might be asking, but, and sorry for being honest here, if you felt that either a question was badly asked by me, or any other thoughts you had on my email that might have been poorly described, I don't know, you could've just gave me a simple «reply» telling me that, something like «Sorry, mate, don't understand what you want me to say, cheers, Neville», and I would certainly re-replied to you trying to explain it differently and, preferably, better than the first time.

If any of this sounds to you as offensive, again, I'm sorry. Not my intention. In fact, if you'd answered me the first time I would've said then, like I'm saying now, that it is a real pleasure to be answered by you.

Cheers to you all.

Márcio Guerra

P.s.- If any of you say «yes, I'll read your CV», I'll place here a link to it. Thank you!

Thank you.

Márcio Guerra.

Hi June,

I can recommend a book by Ken Robinson called Finding your element. By element he means that 'something' where your natural aptitudes meet your passions or in other words those things that really make you tick.

The book is full of stories, often from very ordinary people, who realised that what they were doing (and were often paid well for) wasn't at all what they enjoyed doing.

You can have more than one element of course, and I myself find myself split between wanting to write software, do graffiti art, skateboarding or woodworking (amongst 1000 other things). It turns out I can make a better living with software more than with skateboarding :-) but the point is I'd meddle around building things and making things even if nobody paid me for it. Find that thing for you and make it your job. Success will follow, I promise.

Life's so short it is really important to find your element. You sound unsure about admin or supervisory roles etc so maybe more important than finding that next gig and scoring that next interview is to make sure you know your element(s) and then go for it and make it happen. If you're passionate about something you are half way there.

Good luck!

[…] was reminded when I wrote a guest post on a one of my copywriting mentor’s site a few weeks ago on how to answer job interview […]

Hi Denise Renee (and Neville!),

I *love* your articles (I also read the one about cover letters). I hope I'm not too late to ask two more questions.

1. I work in an organization where salaries are mostly in the low rage so when looking for a job I always struggle with the question "What is your current salary?". I know I can't lie but a coworker who moved to another job told me that when she was job hunting she started to say "I'm sorry but my company doesn't want us to disclose that information" because whenever she said how much she actually made she was offered a salary that was only a bit more than what she made at the time. I'm not sure if this is the right approach, though. It has also happened to me that companies use this information as benchmark when negotiating salary, regardless of my qualifications and/or relevant experience. Are there any better ways of answering (or deflecting) that question?

2. Many times I've been asked "How do you see yourself in 5/10 years?" Maybe most people think it's an easy question but to me it's tricky because I might be talking to a person who wants to fill in the position with someone who wants to commit in the long run. On the other hand, if I say that I see myself in the same position (even if it's performing at the highest level) in the next 5 years for instance, to some people I may sound like a lack ambition. Any ideas would be really appreciated.

 

I'm aware these two questions are unrelated to one another so if you only have time for one, it would be great if it can be the first one.

Thank you very much in advance and congrats on an excellent article.

All best,

Dew

Hi Dew,

First off, thanks for the *love*! Second, as long as notifications still work, nope, it's not too late to ask a question or two :)

As I mentioned in someone else's comment, I'm not a fan of being asked what's your current salary. The HR people already know what they plan to offer the job at, so I personally think it's rather invasive when a candidate is asked how much they are currently making. If you are asked, rest assured they are trying to save the company some money by offering the job at the low end if you give them a low number. But you already know that from your own experience.

Most candidates are caught off guard with that question so the first thing that tumbles out of someone's mouth is the truth. But being prepared can help you nab the best possible salary.

I absolutely LOVE your friend's answer... I mean, what are they going to do? Call up your current job and try to verify your current salary? (No, they won't!) The reason I love it is because it makes the interviewer assume you are under some type of confidentiality clause with your company (and you very well could be. After all, salary is privileged information about a company that a competitor can leverage) and it just shuts down this line of questioning cold. This answer is brilliant! I never thought of it before so I'm permanently borrowing it and putting it in my arsenal :)

Another approach is to say something like this:

"Well, Ms. Interviewer, I think more important than my salary with my last employer is the salary range that has already been determined for this position. I believe I've demonstrated that I am qualified enough to merit a fair offer in that range. May I ask what it is please?

This answer is a little risky because you don't want to come off cocky or defensive (they might assume you're trying to hide something). Some interviewers may back down and give you the range but others might push back (if they are a more senior person). Whatever happens, don't get flustered.

In my opinion, if a company can't come straight out and tell you want the salary range is for the job, and you are getting a bad feeling like they're trying to play games with you about it, that's a red flag. You should consider if that is the type of company culture you want to be a part of.

Know your worth and don't let a person or the process de-value you. Remember that companies need you and your skills just as badly as you want their paycheck!

For your second question, I've always felt this was a trick question! I've been brutally honest with this one in the past and it has bitten me "you-know-where!" I will say, though, that companies are looking to hire for culture fit and they will prefer to invest in people who can see themselves being with them for the long haul. So my first suggesting is not to lie. But my second suggestion is that your answer must always be some version of where you could potentially see yourself growing with one company for a while and advancing your career.

At the end of the day, I think this is another crazy question because whenever a company want's to let someone go, they're not thinking about the long term. And if an employee wants to leave before that 5-year mark, they certainly will. But my point is to successfully answer this question, you must help them see what they want to see. You have to find an answer that is true and authentic to you and simultaneously satisfies their nervousness that you're not a job hopper.

Hope this helps!

Hi Denise Renee,

Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. I'll certainly take it into account in my next job hunting adventure :).

Have a great week,

Dew

[…] beg for a job and hope it works out.  Superstars however can go above-and-beyond to impress (see what recruiters are looking for in a job interview). For this template I created a one page Google Doc with an outline for the help I can offer the […]

Hi Denise,

Thanks so much for your wonderful article! I'm currently prepping for my second interview (after a phone interview) so if possible, I'd like to get some advice on what to do since most of the questions previously mentioned have already been asked. Are they going to re-ask most of them? Will there be newer questions? (Feel like I got pass the mid-boss and am now facing the final boss :P) It's my first copywriting position so I'm especially nervous because I have 1) no prior experience 2) a rather blurry impression on the price range even with extra research. The amount seems to fluctuate a whole lot more than other jobs. O.o

They also asked me to bring down hard copies of my resume and 'relevant documents', which I've already sent through email. I'm a little confused as to why they'd need them when they could print them out but okay...Mostly I'm just a bundle of nerves because I really want to ace this interview. XD (It's this week!)

Have a good one!

Cheryl

Thanks a lot for this valuable insight, Good article!

Among several interview questions, this is one such tricky one and you need to be wise in your outlook. Thus explaining wisely is very important when you go for next interview and asked by an interviewer. Now i have got an idea on how to answer this question, thanks a lot!