Interviewing

In a production environment, the ability to understand how the equipment works is an important skill. Having extensive mechanical experience can speed up training and make an employee more versatile. It can also help an employee work safer and more productively.

Continue reading Production Worker Interview Questions: Mechanical Ability

As a job seeker, you want to show how you will work well on a team and add to the overall performance. To do this, you should prepare to discuss times when your teamwork led to success. Also, prepare to discuss specific situations when you encountered conflicts with co-workers and supervisors. You want to show how the conflict arose and what you did to help resolve it.

Continue reading Production Worker Interview Questions: Attitude

Being reliable is an important attribute for every job seeker to demonstrate. For production workers, this is especially important. Manufacturing firms often have complex operations where every worker is fulfilling an essential role. Workers may only be trained on a few pieces of equipment, making it difficult to find backfills. A single worker who fails to come to work can disrupt an entire department.

Continue reading Production Worker Interview Questions: Reliability

In an interview for a production worker, questions about the job seeker’s work ethic are routine. Hiring managers want to hire individuals who are going to take initiative and strive to be successful. They don’t want to hire someone who is going to try to get out of work at every opportunity. In addition to be a drain on the company, individuals with a poor work ethic are more difficult to manage because they must be watched much closer.

Continue reading Production Worker Interview Questions: Work Ethic

This year, we have watched the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs. The job market in manufacturing is tough, but it is far from being a lost cause. Manufacturing firms need to maintain certain staffing levels to meet production requirements. For a displaced production worker, particularly individuals who may not have looked for a job in the last twenty or thirty years, preparing to interview can be very difficult.

Continue reading Preparing for a Production Worker Interview

I’ve got a friend working on a Caribbean island on a large construction project. The island is small and there are few jobs available. Residents are routinely walking on to the job site to ask for work. Their typical approach shows what NOT to do in a job search.

Continue reading No Worries Man

When going to a face to face interview, many job seekers wonder when the best time to arrive is. Should you get there exactly when the interview is scheduled? Should you arrive early, and if so, how early? Will you kill your chance of getting hired if you are late?

Continue reading When to Arrive at an Interview

If you network well, there’s a good chance you will eventually interview with a former boss or coworker. This can feel awkward. The interviewer has firsthand knowledge of many of the experiences and accomplishments from your background. They also know about your failures and weaknesses. Preparing for an interview like this can be difficult.

Continue reading Interviewing with a Former Boss or Coworker

On Wednesday, I’m going to conduct a webinar teaching job interview techniques. The “Job Interview Basics” class will be held on Wednesday July 8th at 11AM EDT. The session is free and I invite any job seeker interested in improving their interview skills to attend.

Continue reading New Job Interview Prep Webinar

Failure is a part of learning and growth. It is important to fail and learn from the experience. Despite this, few people are comfortable talking about their failures – especially in a job interview.

Continue reading Failure and Your Job Search