Notes from 8/7 OCA Meeting

WELCOME to new member, Lavonne Williams - business developer / sales, most recently with Swedish.

INTERVIEW PREPARATION TIPS - brought to us by Ed Ferguson (courtesy of his time spent with Career Horizon's Matt Youngquist):

View yourself not as a job 'hunter,' but as a 'consultant.' Through research, find out what the pain points are and position yourself as someone who can come in and solve problems.

Useful sources for published and inside information are:
- whostalkin.com
- glassdoor.com
- jobvent.com
- Proquest (library resource)
- LinkedIn

Use a systematic approach to prepare for the interview by using the job description (and information from screening calls) to document what is important for the company and the role - and how you can map your skills and experience directly.

List out the following:
- Requirement
- What it is / what it means
- An example
- Wisdom (or insight) - your thoughts on the requirement
- Question that you can then ask back to the interviewer

Master the answers to the following five questions:
- Tell me about yourself. (Remember to tailor your answer to address the key points discussed earlier.)
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What are your salary requirements?
- What interests you about this job?
- What interests you about this company?

Editor's Note: This is not the 1st time I've heard of Matt. I haven't met him, but a few folks I've talked to have and all have said positive things. Click on the Career Horizons link above to access their blog, which I'll also add to the Blog roll for OCA.

AGENCY TOUR info - Duane Hobbs gave a rundown and his take on the 5 agencies included in the SVC's agency tour: DNA, Creature, Wexley, Copacino, and WongDoody. All had things going for them. All of them have felt the crunch of the economy, but are surviving.

PROLANGO - Geoff Tucker provided us with information about ProLango, a career consulting agency with a twist - using "communication and business psychology" to get an edge in today's job search environment. They offer FREE seminars on resume writing, career search '2.0', and the Psychology of Interviewing.