There is a chance that one day you find yourself interviewing for a very large company – the type of company that, when you go to their website, overwhelms you with the amount and diversity of their various business units. Perhaps the classic example of such a company is General Electric. Though maybe a fraction […]
Reflections from an Alliance Alum
Today we’d like to highlight a recent conversation we had with Dylan Allen, USMA 2018. Dylan is a former Army Engineer officer that came through the Alliance program and secured a project management position with Vulcraft. He took time to meet with Ryan Wilde to discuss his transition experience.
Approximation vs. Precision on Your Resume
This week’s message focuses on some best practices for reporting numbers in your resume. My experience is that most candidates realize the importance of using numbers to describe their responsibilities and achievements. As a leader, it’s probably been beaten into your head: you gotta hit your numbers, you gotta hit your numbers. It’s generally understood that using numbers […]
Ask this question instead
As a candidate, it’s vitally important to ask good questions when given the opportunity during a job interview. Over the years, I’ve heard some pretty insightful questions that were guaranteed to spark interest from the interviewer. I’ve also heard those questions that might cause the interviewer to think: “Why on earth would he/she ask me […]
What are you worth? Answering the salary question
One of the more challenging, and some would argue unfairly, asked questions you may face in an interview is: “What are your salary expectations?” I personally don’t have a problem with the nature of the question, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy question for a candidate to face. Forms of this question are commonly […]
Put Yourself in the Interviewer’s Shoes
One of the keys to nailing an interview is to have a good variety of stories prepared ahead of time. And one thing I really love about my job is that for the last 15 years I have heard some truly amazing stories. But a story is only effective when the interviewer has a good appreciation […]
Don’t let your iPhone cost you an interview
This week I want to share the many ways your very expensive high-tech cell phone could hurt you in an interview. And by the way, you should expect that you will have to conduct a telephonic interview at some point. Several of our corporate partners like to conduct interim follow-up interviews over the phone. While […]
Wasted Space
When teaching resume classes, I like to say that you should treat your resume like a valuable piece of real estate. But here’s the thing: it’s also a very tiny piece of real estate measuring at a mere 93.5 square inches! That’s assuming it’s a one-page resume, which we require at Alliance. So given this valuable real estate, you […]
Resume Tip: Quantify – but within reason
Most people have heard that it is important to quantify things on your resume. Numbers don’t lie. Well actually they can, but that’s another story. But the point is that quantifying a responsibility or result can help the hiring manager better understand the scale of your achievement. The corporate world is very numbers- and result-driven. […]
Interviewing Tip: Eliminating Uh’s And Um’s
Recently we covered how to overcome nervous jitters in an interview. Obviously, one way that people display nervousness is by inserting filler words like uh’s and um’s throughout their responses. Yet, these annoying utterances aren’t always due to nervousness. Whatever the cause, it can derail an interview. Here are several effective techniques that will help […]