An angry customer threatening to sue the company he used to love because the salesman did not tell him the important terms and conditions, or a motivated employee who decided to resign from his so-called ‘dream’ job once he realized a lot of the promises made during the interview could not be materialized.

Yes, we’ve seen and heard about all such examples. And all of them are due to (in one way or another) this reason – the failure to set the right expectations.

You can argue that it is the customer’s fault (or the interviewee’s) for not asking the proper questions. Yeap, you can definitely do that, just like what most people did. The thing is, this same group of people always end up finding themselves with a pissed off customer or an extremely demotivated employee. And the end result is not going to be the win-win situation everyone wants to achieve – for the customer, he will spread the negative comments (well, you don’t really need to care if your product is so good that everyone will still flock to your shop) and stop buying from you…..and the employee will also spread the negative comments and go look for another job. Either way, it’s definitely not good outcome for both parties in the long run.

Why do they (the customers and the employees) behave this way? Speaking from experience, it’s because we feel betrayed by the people/companies we trusted. Let’s say we buy an expensive product from you. We thought about it for a very long time and finally decided to buy it. We asked A-Y but missed out on Z. And you assumed you don’t have to tell us about Z just because we didn’t ask about it. Big mistake. If Z is important, then you should tell us about it. If you don’t, and once we found out about it, we’ll be very angry.

That’s why I always believe in setting the right expectations. It’s part of being a good salesman, consultant, interviewer, customer service officer, etc. Heck, I can even say it’s part of being successful in life!

So always always remember to set the right expectations and stop assuming people know about it just because they never ask. If you feel it’s important, then say it out. Set the right expectations before they make their decision. Remember that you should be helping them in making the right decision, and not trying to cheat them into making one.

p/s…. I understand that sometimes it’s not possible to clear all their doubts and set all the expectations right… so if you are unsure what kind of expectations to set, try to look at what are the important things that they should know. Things that they will be very pissed off if you don’t tell them about it. Things like conditions, clauses, possible contracts or bonds, etc.

p/s…. I’m writing this post because I became a victim twice in a month just because the salesman did not set the right expectations. I asked many many questions and they assumed I would know the few important points (clauses, missing software, etc) which I did not ask. Yes, I was pissed and they received a lot of lectures from me.

I do understand that in certain conditions, you might be quite desperate for a job. And when you are desperate, you tend to come out with lies and become dishonest. You will start saying that you know this and that, but in actual fact, you know none of them.

By doing this, you might be able to get your desired job. But at what cost? What if the interviewer realized that you are not who you said you are? Believe me, if you try to cheat your way into a job……you will end up suffering because the job might not be what you want, and you might struggle to do things that you do not know.

So it’s important for you to be honest in the job interview and also for the interviewer to be honest with you. Set the expectations right. The key elements here are your honesty, your experience and also your attitude.

Remember, there’s no point to cheat your way into a job that you are not suitable, only to change job again few months later. It’s not good for both yourselves and for the company.

By the way, if you like my articles on career, job, life and motivational, feel free to subscribe to my RSS Feed.

p/s…. I went for a job interview on Monday. I passed the technical test but it didn’t work out because the interviewer was looking for a potential technical architect and I’m not. On the other hand, I’m looking for a job with more client interaction, which they don’t have. So our expectations were pretty different. Some people said I should’ve lied and get the offer first but I chose not to do that. I prefer to be honest upfront since I don’t want people to waste their time.

Guess what happened next?

The interviewee, or in other words, the person who needs the job, started complaining to my friend in a not-so-polite manner. The person told my friend why didn’t she inform him earlier that the interview process was going to take so long, bla bla bla and he has this appointment he needed to attend in another far far away place at 4pm.

When my friend told me this, my first response was “Friend, just fail that guy. He’s an idiot who doesn’t know how to manage his time and he’s too unprofessional to blame others for his own mistake”.

As a job candidate, one should always allocate at least 3 hours for the entire interview process. I’ve been to an interview which took me 5 hours (the manager forgot about my existence). This is because each interview process can be quite different from one company to the other. Some companies require you to take a lot of tests, some don’t. Some companies have long-winded interviewers, and some just don’t bother that much. So it’s pretty hard to predict how long the actual interview is going to last. That’s why it’s very dangerous and risky to schedule another important appointment right after the interview. Always leave a buffer of 2 to 3 hours between the 2…. unless you can fly or teleport.

Remember that time management is very important. If you cannot even manage the schedules for your interviews and appointments, what makes you think your employer will give you the job? You are just another disorganized person to them.

Oh, and even if nothing is going right for your schedules……you should never ever blame the interviewer. That’s way too unprofessional.

I came from a consulting firm and my company encourages people to be flexible and able to adapt to a situation FAST. Due to the nature of our business, we cannot really focus on specific technologies since at any given point, we will just have to take whatever that comes. That’s why in this field, we need people with very good working attitude and also people who are very flexible. In other words, a generalist.

But what proves to be our selling point, happens to be our biggest weakness when we go out for job interviews. Most companies are looking for specialists and not jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none. This is a reality that I’ve faced.

However, when you come to think of it, do you think a company should hire someone who is a generalist or only pick someone who is a specialist? Here’s a brief overview about the pros and cons of each.

Generalist

• Flexible, has good attitude and willing to learn.
• Dedicated to serve and contribute to the company no matter what has been asked from him.
• Has good technical exposure and knows what kind of technologies (or skills, if you’re not talking about IT) to use based on requirements and needs.
• Salary will not be high but easier to find a ‘normal’ job since he can just move into any role. Most companies will hire such people as junior or medium level roles.
• Is not expert in the technical side of things. Will not know the very low level kind of stuff.

Specialist

• Is expert in his field or even in a particular technology/skill/product. Can be the lead for that knowledge.
• Only certain companies can offer positions for these individuals because the skillset requirements might not match. But if there’s a position, it is usually medium to senior level.
• The salary is normally pretty high but not as easy to find a job since certain companies might not require his specialty.
• Might have good technical exposure to other technologies but his priority is to focus on his specialty. Anything too far away from that, will be ignored.
• Can be quite not-so-flexible and not willing to pick up new technologies as the project requires. This is because picking up something different will make his existing skill to become rusty. He will become a generalist if this continues.

I’m a generalist, and I’ve met some specialists who would just refuse to do anything outside their scope. If you try to force it to them, they will quit. Simple as that.

This is quite similar to the football world. If the manager asked you, a striker, to play as a midfielder……will you do that? If yes, it proves you are loyal to the club but your overall value will drop. If no, it just shows you are not flexible enough and does not want to commit to the club. They will just try to sell you off.

So pros and cons actually. It really depends on what you want and who you are.

As for me, I still prefer to be a generalist even if I’ve failed 2 interviews in a row. In my opinion, if a company really wants me, then I should be fully committed and do whatever they need me to do. It can be my biggest weakness, but it can also be my strength.

So for now…just wish me luck. LOL.

P/S….. I’m actively looking for freelance projects. Do let me know if anyone of you have any. Thanks in advance.

Why is it important? Because job interviewers will most likely call the referees for a reference check if you managed to pass the interview process. And this is where your past behavior will either help you in your job application….or ruin your chance.

And it wouldn’t help if you are only putting your friends or relatives as referees. You can put at most 1 close friend but most of the referees should be those individuals who have worked with you before. They should be the people who know how you work, and what is the attitude that you bring to a workplace. They should either be your supervisor, former supervisor or senior colleagues.

Also, by putting your supervisors/colleagues as your referees, it is very obvious that you have nothing to hide and you are willing to let the interviewer knows about your past records. If you can’t find anyone from the company or your ex-company, then finding someone (from within the same industry) who knows you well will help too. It’ll even be better if that someone holds a senior position in a reputable company.

However, one thing that you must always make sure is that these referees will say good things about you and not the other way round. You wouldn’t want to get a referee who would back stab you. Also, always remember to ask permission from the person before you actually put their contact details inside your CV.

Last but not least, be honest in your job interview. The referees are important but they are only there to prove whatever you said during the interview is correct. They are more like the supporting casts. The main cast is you.

As for me, I’m very fortunate that I have good supervisors (former and current) who are willing to help me out by becoming my referees.

p/s…… if you don’t have any good referee…maybe it’s time to perform better in your job so that you can get good testimoninals from your bosses or even ask one of them to be your referee.

Better to check what's on the other side first, Mr Fishy

And all the signs are pointing to one thing  – get the hell out of there and find yourselves a better job!

But how true is that? How much “better” do you want your new job to be?

The thing is, when changing job, there’s always the risk of leaving a not-so-good company for a super-duper-bad company. Or in other words, jumping into a deeper shit.

But how can you do that? Here are few things you need to pay attention to.

• Research the company. Check the company web site, information, history and also Google around for any information related to the company. It’s not difficult to actually know more about the company by using Google.
• The outlook of the company web site. This is quite important. If a company does not pay close attention something as simple as web site, which is the first thing clients see (and clients here mean $$$), what makes you think they care about something more complicated like their own employees?
• Try to search Facebook and LinkedIn for contacts within the company. Most likely you will have some friends who have worked in that company before…or their friends. Try to dig some information about the company and its working culture.
• Study the office and its atmosphere. If you are not comfortable with the office and the environment, or some of the employees there look pretty much like zombies, then maybe it’s better for you not to put too much hope in that company.
• Be yourselves during the job interviews. If the interviewer is trying to find faults with you, or is not being polite and friendly, then most likely he will be the same after you’ve joined. If you think you can work with such person, fine. Otherwise, it’s better not to torture yourselves by joining them.

So make sure you do all these homework before you actually make the decision whether to join a company or not. And if you’ve done all those stuff listed above, and you personally feel it’s safe to join the company, then by all means go ahead. The last remaining element is your luck, which is completely out of your control.

But if you’re afraid that you have pretty bad luck and thus might end up jumping into a deeper shit…then take some time to think of what you really want. Grass is not always greener on the other side but if you don’t have the courage to go to the other side……..how would you know?

A year ago, her company could not find enough resources. She said it was very hard to get the right people back then. Thus, her company actually went an extra mile to get the right people – publishing on newspapers, conducting walk-in interviews, posting up on Jobstreet, etc. Still, it was very hard to hire.

This year, a lot of people will be desperate for jobs

A month ago, her company conducted another walk-in interview. This time, the queue was so long that it took them few hours to finish all the interview sessions. And among the interviewees, there were few remarkable candidates which my friend can remember.

Candidate 1 – not the youngest of the candidates, but she has no job experience. She used to be a house wife but was forced to find a job because her husband recently lost his, and they were not able to support their family’s living cost.

Candidate 2 – 1 of the youngest candidates and did not have any proper qualification for the job. And when told that the job role was not suitable for her, she started to cry and beg the interviewer to give her the job. She said that her mum was sick and she needed the money to pay for mum’s medical expenses. The salary from her father was not enough.

And these 2 candidates were not alone. In fact, there were quite a number of them having financial issues due to the bad economy (retrenchments, job losses, etc).

Even Spidey lost his job

Then my friend told us that the job positions offered, all of them, did not have a good remuneration package. Those remuneration packages were well under the medium income bracket. And yet, there were so many people who came for the interview.

So if you still think you’re in a bad situation because of no bonus…or no increment, then think again. If you think your salary being cut is very unfortunate, then think again. There are many more people out there who are in a worse situation than you.

And for those people who refuse to do certain things because it’s not part of their job (without proper justification)….either you leave that attitude of yours, or you leave the job. Give that job to people who need it more. I’m pretty sure that they have a much better attitude than you.

Don’t want to do that? Then change your attitude.

p/s…seems like most people do realize how bad the economy is nowadays. 1u was shockingly quiet on Saturday. I was in Italiannies for lunch and the usually crowded restaurant has only 4 to 5 tables with customers. Anyway, I didn’t pay the bill since it was for my birthday. LOL. With my current financial status, I doubt I can dine in such expensive places.

From what I can see, networking and preparing yourselves (in terms of skills and mindset) are 2 very important things before you look for a job. Because if you’re without the proper skills, you will not be attractive in the eyes of the interviewer and might just become one of the hundreds of average job applicants. On the other hand, if you have a negative mindset and do not even believe in yourselves, your low confidence will be very obvious during the interviews. An employer does not want to hire someone who does not even believe in himself. Thus, it’s very important to be optimistic and remain positive….even if you’re suffering from a pay cut or a retrenchment.

Anyway, do have a look at the article and hopefully it can provide some insights in your job hunting.

Good luck and hope it helps.

Start doing something when you’re not desperate for it.

I think things are getting very desperate for this kid

Those are the tips given by various career, motivational and marketing gurus. And I couldn’t have agreed more.

I’m currently at a stage where I’m pretty desperate for a good paying job – which is pretty rare this year. I’ve yet to mass email my CVs out but I’m planning to do that soon. The thing is, with my current mindset, it’ll be very risky to go for any job interview.

Because desperation will not help anyone in the job interview. Eagerness, yes but not desperation. If you’re desperate, you will become very nervous and might not be able to answer some of the important questions thrown at you during the interview. You are not the actual YOU and if faced with a difficult interviewer, you will be forced to the corner. And that is not a situation you want to be in.

Maybe that is why the experts always tell others to apply for a job or a better opportunity, when you are not desperate for it. Because you still have the power to say NO. If you’re desperate, you will lose that power and everything might backfire.

Remember, do that something when you are not desperate in order to get the best out of it (I think I’ve been telling people to attend a job interview with a nothing-to-lose mindset).

As for me, I believe I can change my mindset quite easily. After all, I’m not that desperate yet. I’m still better than lots of people out there who are without a job.

p/s…. this applies to other things too. Businesses should not be selling stuff ONLY when they’re on the brink of closing down. People should not start saving up for the emergency ONLY when they’re jobless and have no money to survive. And programmers should not try and finish a project ONLY when the deadline is 24 hours away.

Mmm, maybe this can be used in job interview instead?

A friend of mine recently interviewed a fresh graduate. The fresh grad was doing fine in the interview until the question & answer session where he took out an A4 paper full of questions. He started asking whether the office is safe, the surrounding area is safe, will there be terrorist attack since it’s near KLCC, the working culture, will people work late, is there compensation for OT, is it easy to get food, how’s the traffic, etc.

The questions were so annoying that my friend replied the candidate “Our office is very safe but if you step outside of our building, I cannot guarantee if you will get robbed”.

So the next time you attend a job interview, be careful of what you ask. Keep the questions at a tolerable level….and also make sure they’re relevant. Remember that the Q & A session is like a bonus round. If you do well, you’ll most probably give a good impression…..but if you don’t do well……..you’ll definitely get a very bad impression. So if you seriously don’t know what to ask….just keep quiet.

And if you really want to ask, here are some ‘strandard’ questions.

• How’s the working culture like?
• What kind of tools is the company using?
• How many employees?
• What is the organization’s plan for the next five years, and how does this department fit in?

For more examples, head over to – HERE.

Hope it helps