Getting a job is not only about having the right qualifications. Sure, that is important, but it is not necessarily a guarantee you will be hired. You need to make the recruiting agent like you and a fundamental aspect is to strike them as a trustworthy person. Here are a few tips to win over a HR manager.
Be Honest
Keep in mind that a recruiting agent has way more experience than you do as far as job interviews are concerned and can easily spot a lie. Some of their questions are specially designed to test your honesty and humility.
For instance, what is your main weakness is a standard job interview question and the HR guy doesn’t want to hear you bragging. They’ll want an honest answer. You’re human, therefore you must have some weakness. Everybody does. Talk about it in such a way as to demonstrate you are capable of self-analysis and are trying to overcome your problems.
Don’t talk bad about previous employers
A recruiting agent will want to know why are you thinking to change jobs or why did you leave your previous place of employment. You might have very legitimate grudges against your previous employer, but keep in mind that HR people always side with management. That’s life!
You can certainly explain you didn’t find your previous position rewarding enough, but don’t say anything bad about your previous employer or, even worse, go into details on how things were going inside that company. The last thing an HR manager wants is an employee who likes to gossip and would gladly share confidential information.
If you were fired from your last job, be honest about it, as they can easily check and probably will. It’s best to explain candidly what happened, acknowledge your role and show you’ve learned a valuable lesson from that experience.
Show you have nothing to hide
There’s a growing trend among Human Resources managers to ask potential employees about their criminal record. If they mention doing a background check that should not be a cause for alarm. In many cases it’s standard procedure and has nothing to do with you.
If you know you have nothing to worry about, simply say you agree and move on to the next question.
However, if you do know a police check might bring to light a past offence your best bet is to open about it. Explain that it happened years ago and it was a one time thing. You’re sorry about what you did but you’ve learned your lesson.
If you know there’s something on your record you might try to surprise the recruiting agent by getting a background check done beforehand and presenting them with the results. You can easily do that online by using a service like australian national character check, which is an increasingly popular means to get a criminal history check online. You can show the HR manager that you have nothing to hide.
By voluntarily disclosing such sensitive information you’re showing a potential employer you’re honest and you’re not trying to hide anything from them. At the same time, they will appreciate the fact that you’re not there to waste their time on your job application. It’s best for them to know from the start who you are rather than discover some criminal offence on your record later on.
Another thing you need to know is that an employer cannot reject your job application based on your criminal record if the offence committed is not relevant to the position you’re seeking. Should they do so they’re liable to be sued for discrimination and it’s a good thing to show that you know your rights.
