Shalomesq Snippet Weekly LinkedIn Newsletter #15

Hello Family & #TGTIG!! (Thank God Today Is Great),

We are just 5 days away from the most wonderful time of the year - Christmas!!

I am really looking forward to my vacation, spending time with the family & relaxing after a big year of performance & overflow.

How are you doing with your set goals & targets for 2024?

How are things moving along towards achieving those goals & targets?

What % completion rate are you at considering the days we have left in 2024?

What are the things you will need to adjust to finish strong & get a good start in 2025?

If you need support, you can reach out to me here on LinkedIn & I will be more than happy to help.

You can also book a call with me here

This is our 15th weekly LinkedIn newsletter as a brand (Shalomesq Snippet) & we are so happy we could publish consistently despite all of the various activities & projects we are engaged in on a weekly basis.

Career Acceleration

So far, we have taken a deep dive into the topic of Career Acceleration as we lay one brick after another, here is a recap:

1. Attitude & Skill as 2 key ingredients for a great career.
2. The 7Ps to do to have a great LinkedIn Profile
3. Resumes & CVs
4. 10 tips for a successful Interview Session

You can re-visit all the previous newsletters to catch-up on our discussions.

Today, we provide a few extra tips for a successful interview session to land the job of your dreams.

As someone who has been on both sides of the interview table for the last 26 years, I feel I can give some insights into a few things that would help you land that dream job of yours.

First and foremost, I am grateful to God for my education, career and experiences in life that has made me the person I am today. If not for God I don’t know where I will be today?

Secondly, just like the game of table tennis, I realize that I have my part to play and God has got his as well, so I am meticulous on my part, doing my due diligence while I leave a space for God to provide his Favor, accurate timing, etc. it’s a joint effort, I do my little part and God gives the increase and blesses me accordingly.

These are tested principles that has worked for me & for those that I coach for interviews.

So far my coaching record has been a 100% & just early this week another person shared the good news of getting her offer letter after 2 interview sessions with her desired organization & 2 coaching session with me.

I am always delighted to be able to add value to people in my own small way.

Here are the extra tips:

1. Be Confident (But not Proud)

So in any interview process, your confidence as someone being interviewed is? very vital.

I like to say it this way your content will determine your confidence.

If you know your stuff very well, it will come across during your interview, however you need to ensure it doesn't slide over to pride.

In the recent interview experience, here comes a young guy (Obviously) who thinks he is the best thing since slice bread.

During the initial phase of introduction,?he mentioned that he won a Hackathon which gave him a scholar to attend a Russian University for his Masters & when he got back to Nigeria he started working as a business consultant (on contract) with a major software company & earning in dollars.

Then he joined an ISP (Internet Service Provider) as their Business Development Manager which is his currently role.

All of that was great. I have no issue with blowing your horns & flaunting your achievements.

Then we started asking questions & his true nature started to show.

He started feeling irritated by our questioning claiming its beneath him.

Wow!! I was shocked as someone on the panel asked him, "Mr. X is our question irritating you?" & he said YES!!

Then he says currently he leads a team of 2 people & they earn big money for their company.

At this point we all lost it on the panel.

Then we asked him if he understands the role he is being interviewed for, that he will be handling a team of over 50 people across the country.

Also he boasted that his team's monthly revenue & numbers is a certain value.

We just stopped him right there because the numbers that he was so proud of achieving is what we do in an hour.

Because this was a remote interview using Ms. Teams we all had to turn ON our videos & speak to him directly.

Everyone on the panel is older than him & have years of experience in the Telecoms industry more than he has with his ISP & business development background all put together.

And his current company & achievement is more 10 fold less that what we currently do even at our lowest productivity levels.

Then he started arguing to prove his point & right there we just shut it down.

He lost the chance right there.

I do hope you are reading this post, please try to understand that your pride got in the way of your opportunity.

But again you might be too proud to acknowledge it or maybe it's not meant to be & you will find another organization that will gel with you...

Please GenZ's & Millennials do get someone to coach you about interview ethics & regularly practice with a tool/software/app or a person who can help guide you aright.

It's good to be confident but don't ever show pride.

2. Value Yourself (Don't sell yourself short)

In addition to being confident about yourself, you also need to value yourself.

For another candidate, we had gone through the series of questions & he was doing fairly well.

Then the HR person on the panel asked about his current salary & what his expectations are.

Then he goes down this rabbit hole to say "I know this is a well-organized company & you will have our own standard of reward, renumeration etc."

I had to stop him midway & say, "sorry guy I'm sure when you were dressing up this morning & looked at the mirror you had a value in mind. Please tell us that value".

He says yes he had a value in mind & that it was a range.

Wrong answer!!!

Never give a range to say between N200k to N350k (Net), every recruiter or panelist will choose the lower range over 90% of the time.

Always stick to a number & ensure that there is some level of defense for that number.

For example if you currently earn say N500k monthly (Net) & you are asking for N750k [i.e. 50% increase] then say you are looking at N815k (Net) which is negotiable (always say you are willing to negotiate).

When asked why N815k?

Say something like you looked at the value you are bringing to the table, coupled with some trainings you have done & personal development books you bought, read & applied, you feel that is the right amount to compensate you & don't forget to say you are open to negotiation.

It is true that companies have a range of budget for roles people apply for but if you are exceptional, the HR personnel can push for additional approval to go beyond that range for a talent that fits & meets the company's needs based on both hard & soft skills.

3. Be Agile (Don't be rigid)

Display some level of agility as you go through the interview process.

Be honest about questions you don't know, currently don't have an answer for or need clarity about stating that you are resources to find out the answers if given the chance instead of just saying nonsense.

Also for a Technical role, ensure you are backward compatible with old technologies as well as being in tune with new ones too.

Always come across as someone who will be willing to learn new things & add to yourself as opposed to the stance of "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"

4. Be Patient (Don't rush up the Corporate Ladder)

Lastly for this session, there was yet another candidate who was just beyond his depth as all the questions we asked kept flying over his head.

I had to stop the line of questioning & asked that he calms down & talk to me.

Then we realized that he applied for a lower role & there was a mix-up.

I told him that he should have said something from the beginning.

He said he wanted to try it out.

Please note that interview process is like going to war, if you are not prepared, you will be hit with arrows & bullets that are not meant for you.

If you get into the process & you see that the role is higher than what you applied for, quickly say something & don't just wing it thinking you can skip & get a job that you don't have the knowledge or experience to do.

Be patient & don't rush up the corporate ladder, take time to gather the right experience & move along smoothly up that career path.

We essentially stopped the interview for this person & just asked the HR personnel to correct the mix-up & ensure that he is interviewed for the right role.

I have so many other points to share but I will only do so when I get comments from you stating if this has been valuable to you or not.

Share these tips & essentials with that your friend, family member or colleague who is job hunting right now & let me know if it truly helps them or not.

Newsletter Focus

This weekly newsletter will be focused on sharing applicable nuggets about life & living with a slant on Family, Work/Career & Professionalism based on insights I have gleaned & used over the last 26 years of my Career.

You can also checkout all of my social media touchpoints & handles by searching for Shalomesq or Shalomesq Snippet to get regular tips & tricks.

My blog is at ShalomesqSnippet & you can check it out as well as subscribe to getting the weekly postings & this newsletter by email.

We are surely looking forward to your subscription & interactions.

Tots Eclectic Season 2 (SHMILY)

On the 4th of December 2024, we launched Season 2 of Tots Eclectic & my focus this season is on Matters of the Heart & we have called this season SHMILY - See How Much I Love You

Please check out the Episodes of Season 2 so far:

Episode #1

Episode #2

Episode #3

This podcast will be weekly every Wednesdays till the end of the season, so stay tuned for this.

Until we catch up again next week Friday, stay liquid & keep moving forward.

I AM SHALOMESQ!!!!!!!