Interviewing When You Have a Job - Tips from a Recruiter - Career Sidekick

Interviewing When You Have a Job - Tips from a Recruiter - Career Sidekick Interviewing When You Have a Job Tips from a Recruiter Interview Preparation / https://www.edenscott.com/blog Interviewing when you already have a job is one of the best ways to advance your career.Theres not as much pressure, and companies view it as a good sign that youre currently employed, so theyre more eager to hire you.Going on interviews while employed can still be stressful, though. In this article Im going to share my best tips to help you successfully manage your job interviews and job search while you have a job.Tips for Going on Interviews When You Have a Job:1. Be selectiveJob searching while employed is your chance to upgrade your career and salary in a big way. So be specific in what you want, and stick to it. Dont be afraid to say, no to an interview request.Or one of my favorite strategies you can try: Take as many phone interviews as you can, since its very easy to schedule them on lunch breaks, coffee breaks, etc., and then be very picky about who you go in for a face-to-face interview with.So do tons of phone interviews, but only say, yes to the absolute best companies for an in-person meeting (based on what you learn in those phone interviews).2. Ask questions upfrontA big part of looking for a job when you have a job is protecting your time and managing your time.I mentioned above that you should be selective, and the only way to do that is to know about each opportunity BEFORE agreeing to interview.So ask for a job description before an interview if you dont already have it.Ask great questions in each phone interview so you can make a better decision about whether to go in face-to-face if they invite you. You can get a huge list of great questions to ask here.Then youll be able to accurately decide which roles make sense to pursue and spend time interviewing for, and which dont.As an added bonus, making sure you know about each job before interviewing is going to help you answer a lot of questions like, why do you think youd be a good fit for this job?, why do you want to work here? and more.If you want more quest ions youre likely to hear, and sample answers so you can practice, its all in this article.3. Get creative with schedulingIf a company proposes a time that you cant do, tell them, and ask for what you need. Early in my career I had a company schedule my interviews from 7 AM 8:30 AM, so I could get to work at 9:30 AM.Getting to work slightly late is a lot better than having to take a full day off. When youre interviewing while you have a job, you want to save sick days for when you absolutely need them, so ask for early or late interviews when you can.They wont always say, yes, and thats okay. Have the conversation, and dont be afraid to ask for what you want. Just be reasonable and if they cant do it, work with them to come up with something that will work.4. Be ready to compromiseGetting time off from work to go on interviews isnt easy. But neither is organizing a hiring managers time to interview you (plus anyone else youre going to meet because more and more companies are havin g you meet multiple people before they hire you).So be reasonable, and be willing to compromise. If you make a scheduling request and they simply cannot do it, stay calm and try to understand their needs.If you just think of it as a conversation where both sides are trying their best to make it work, youll be able to find a way to get it done.5. Use your sick time wiselyYou can use one or two sick days in most jobs before your boss starts getting suspicious that youre job searching.So try to save them for when you really need them (a full day interview, etc.)You can also think about whether you can use one or two vacation days as needed.I mentioned earlier that one strategy to save sick days is schedule early-morning or late-afternoon interviews so you dont miss a full day of work. So thats another way to save those full sick days for when you really need them.Coming in one hour late (you can say its for a doctors appointment or anything else), is better than missing a full day.6. D ress up (or dont)Lets say they agree to interview you from 8 AM to 9 AM, so you can still make it into work later that morning.Now, normally youd want to wear a suit for most interviews. But if you wear business casual at your job, walking in with a suit at 10 AM is going to be a dead giveaway that youre interviewing for another position. Not good, right?So you have two options:You could ask them, Im going to work immediately after. Is it alright if I dress in business casual?Most companies will understand and say its okay, and then the person youre meeting with will know why youre dressed-down.Or, you could always just wear a suit and tie (or full womens business attire if youre a woman), and then remove the jacket, necktie (if youre a man), etc., before going to work, so that youre not too over-dressed at your job that day.Its up to you. The point is, dont be afraid to ask for things and have a conversation to make interviewing more comfortable for you.7. Remember your goal and st ay focused on thatLooking for a job and going on interviews while employed is going to be a bit stressful, so be ready for that. On one hand, its less pressure when you have a job, but the scheduling part is more stressful.So remind yourself why youre doing this when you feel stressed, and think about what you stand to gainA higher salaryA job youre more excited aboutA better boss, better coworkers or bothMore exciting projects and workA better career path or brighter future for youAnd remember youre lucky to be interviewing when you have a job. A lot of people and most of the readers of this blog do not have a job when looking for a job. They have no income coming in and its very stressful/difficult mentally.8. Dont cut corners on interview preparation!Chances are youre only going to be able to go on a few face-to-face interviews before your boss figures out youre job searching. So make the most of them.One way is to be selective and say no to interviews that youre not excited ab out. I mentioned that earlier.But the other way is to make sure you walk in ultra-prepared and ready to wow the hiring manager and turn the interview into a job offer!Here are a couple resources I recommend to make sure youre 100% ready:1. How to introduce yourself in an interview and answer, tell me about yourself  Article + video.2. Complete interview preparation checklist9. Make sure to follow up after your interviewsThink about how much time and energy it takes to get interviews from writing your resume,  talking to your network, applying for jobs online, sending endless scheduling emails, and finally taking time off from work to go to the interview.So after the interview, doesnt it make sense to stay organized so that you can follow-up, check for feedback, and thank interviewers for their time to boost your chances of getting get hired?I recommend you track everything in a spreadsheet including:How many interviews youve had with themDate of last interviewNext steps in processWh en they said theyd send feedbackWhether youve followed up already or not, and on what dateThen send  thank you emails a day after the interview, and  follow-up emails after 5-6 days if you heard no response.10. Dont tell coworkersIf you have friends at work, it may be tempting to tell them youre interviewing, but dont do it!Gossip spreads fast in most work environments. They might think theyre just telling another friend harmlessly, but then that friend could tell a third person and before you know it your boss finds out.Then what if you dont end up accepting a new position? It looks horrible.So just play it safe, and tell your friends AFTER you find a new job. Theyll understand if you tell them you were waiting because you wanted to keep it professional and wait until things were final.In fact, as another tip, Id actually recommend handing your 2-week notice or resignation letter to your boss before telling friends too.You do NOT ever want to risk your boss finding out youre resig ning, via gossip, before you formally hand in resignation. So after youve accepted a job offer, resign formally, then tell your coworkers and friends.If you follow these tips youll have a lot less stress interviewing when you have a job, and youll be more successful in those interviews.As a final note, if you do have  interviews coming up and don’t want to leave anything to chance, I’ve created a new guide where you can copy my exact step-by-step method for getting job offers. You can get more details here.