Simply Hired Blog

The Interview Questions that Haunt You

In honor of Halloween, we’re going to focus on possibly the most frightful part of the job search process: the interview. Similar to sitting through a horror movie, interviews may induce heavy breathing, uncontrollable sweating, and flashbacks to moments that make you cringe.

To help you prepare, here is a list of some of the common questions that an HR Manager may ask you during an interview.

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why did you leave your last job (or why are you planning to)?
3. What are you looking for in a new job?
4. Why do you want to work here?
5. What relevant experience do you have?
6. What would your previous coworkers/manager say about you?
7. What motivates you?
8. What are your strengths?
9. What are you weaknesses?
10. What are your salary requirements?
11. Tell me about a time you… implemented an idea, had to deal with a difficult customer, came up with a successful solution to a problem, etc.
12. What is your greatest accomplishment?
13. How well do you work under pressure?
14. How well do you work on a team?
15. Why should I hire you?

 
Arriving with answers prepared for these questions will transform your interview from a fright into a delight!

Happy Halloween!

Top 15 Best and Worst Places for Job Seekers – August

Simply Hired just released data on the best and worst metro areas for job seekers from August. This data is based on the number of job seekers for each unique job in metro areas around the U.S.

Top 5 Best Metro Areas for Job Seekers

1. Burlington - Plattsburgh – 1 unique job for every 3 job seekers
2. El Paso (Las Cruces) – 1 unique job for every 3 job seekers
3. Paducah - Cape Girardeau - Harrisburg – 1 unique job for every 3 job seekers
4. Omaha  – 1 unique job for every 5 job seekers
5. Washington, DC – 1 unique job for every 5 job seekers

 

Top 5 Worst Metro Areas for Job Seekers

1. Youngstown – 1 unique job for every 52 job seekers
2. Fresno - Visalia – 1 unique job for every 51 job seekers
3. Detroit – 1 unique job for every 40 job seekers
4. Harlingen - Weslaco - Brownsville - McAllen – 1 unique job for every 40 job seekers
5. Miami - Fort Lauderdale – 1 unique job for every 30 job seekers

To view the full lists of the top 15 best and worst metro areas for job seekers, click the images below. 

September Job Trends

Simply Hired just released our September Job Data Report, which is filled with information on the month’s employment climate. Using data from the Simply Hired database, this report presents the performance of unique jobs based on state, metro area, job title, ONET code and keyword.

September showed a number of noticeable trends:

Help for the holidays
     Jobs related to seasonal work tend to rise in the last few months of the year as employers look for additional help to get them through the extra load from customers over the holiday season. September data shows that this is the month when seasonal positions are opened. In Sept, Hawaii was the state with the highest increase of unique jobs, up 9% from August and Honolulu as the metro area with the highest increase in unique jobs (up 13.1%), most likely in preparation for the increase in tourism to the state as vacationers seek warmer weather over the holidays.

     The retail industry seemed to begin their seasonal hiring, many of the most popular unique jobs by title are related to the retail, including Merchandise Associate (2nd - 1,864 jobs), Sales Representative (3rd - 1,611 jobs), Customer Service Rep. (7th - 1,011 jobs), and Store Manager (8th - 941 jobs).

     In addition, the top3 keywords with the most unique jobs were related to retail and other industries with seasonal needs: part-time, customer service, and sales. “Seasonal” topped the list of the keywords with the highest increases in the number of jobs in September. 

In need of healthcare workers
     In September, the healthcare industry proved to be strongly increasing. “Physical Therapist” topped the list as the title with the most popular unique jobs with 2,100 jobs and “Occupational Therapist” making the list at number six (1,080 jobs).

     Healthcare jobs still ranked high based on jobs by ONET with the Registered Nurses ONET being the second most in demand with 69,900 jobs. And coming in second on the list of jobs by ONET with the highest amount of new jobs in September was Physical Therapists, with 3,800 new jobs (over 125 new open jobs per day).

     Finally, all three of the least competitive jobs by ONET were in the healthcare sector (Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and General Pediatricians), meaning there are the most amount of available jobs per job seeker.

Going Mobile
     The demand for Computer Software Engineers for Applications topped the list of most new jobs by ONET, with 4,600 new openings in September, indicating the rise and demand for mobile technology and social sites. This is the third consecutive month that this has appeared on our reports.

Simply Hired Celebrates Diwali

This past Friday, Simply Hired celebrated Diwali, or the Festival of Lights (though this year, the festival actually occurred on Saturday, October 17). An official holiday of India, Diwali is traditionally celebrated with lighting Diyas, which are small earthen lamps.

This year, we celebrated by painting our own Diyas to light in our homes. The creativity flowed as we painted our small clay pots in all of the colors of the rainbow.

Shubh Diwali!

SimplyHired.com Named as a Top 50 Website for Professionals

Website Magazine recently included SimplyHired.com on their list of the Top 50 Websites for Professionals, among Internet giants such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and YouTube. The list is featured in the November 2009 edition of the magazine. Sites that make the cut are considered the most important for Web professionals based on their popularity among Web professionals, the business community and consumers.

The article accompanying the list pointed out that a fascinating trend was the number of job and careers sites that made the list, including SimplyHired.com, which ranked number 40 overall. While the economic climate has influenced the popularity of job related sites, they pointed out that sites like ours “can standalone as a vital resource regardless of what’s happening on Main Street, USA.”