Written by: Henry Chow & Sandra Lee
Last month, our crew hosted the latest event from our crew’s “Career Series” – a lineup of various information and networking sessions, directed at youth trying to break into the job market. Each of these events has provided a wealth of knowledge to all attendees; this session dealing specifically with prior experiences of interviewers from companies such as MEC, to workplaces like the US Embassy situated in downtown Vancouver. This is what they had to say on the topic of hiring processes…
Dylan Book – MEC – Inventory & Services Team Leader:
“The most memorable interviewee gave an example of when he operated a boat, and ran into a mechanical problem. The first thing he said he did in that circumstance was to check the manual after contacting upper management. This example shows that said individual possesses the ability to stay calm under pressure. This useful trait can be easily applicable to many diverse work situations. Most interviewees just give a vague example when asked about a specific situation where they had to deal with adversity.”
Karina Lee – Regus – Community Manager:
“Your ability to build a community with strong networks is valuable. Exceptional candidates are those who are passionate about what they do. Hiring Millennials might also seem scary for some, but hard work will always beat talent when talent doesn’t work. We prefer someone who can stay on target, is willing to learn, and strives for continual improvement.”
Crystal Wong – US Embassy – Consular Intern:
“We tend to think of interviewing and landing a job as a mechanical process where showing a certain skill set to interviewer will prove you’re qualified. In order to stand out in a person’s mind, (and another interview from a stack of resumes) you must be the individual to build rapport and make a significant connection with the interviewer.”
If you would like to know more about the ins and outs of job hunting or career advice in general, please take a look at our other blogs, and stay tuned for the next event in our Career Series!