A quick preliminary phone interview can help hiring managers screen candidates and narrow down a wide applicant pool before the formal, in-person interview process begins. So when you’re selected for a phone interview, expect a brief conversation designed simply to help interviewers scan for red flags.

Since you won’t have the benefit of body language or eye contact during your phone interview, try to sit up straight and smile when you greet the caller. These things won’t be visible, but they will affect the tenor of your voice and make you seem more confident and approachable. Make sure you accept the call in a quiet place with few distractions. Be prepared to answer questions like the following:

Tell me something about yourself.

Don’t be caught off guard by this common question. And by all means, don’t respond with “What would you like to know?” Instead, provide a brief summary of your career path so far, highlighting episodes relevant to this specific position. Your answer should be 1) on message and 2) interesting. Stick to the point (this job) and don’t ramble, but feel free to add one or two interesting details relevant to your own life. For example, if you first took an interest in this field while on a trek in the Himalayas or while recovering from a broken leg, mention that. Then move on.

What are your experiences in this specific field?

If you answered the first question well, then this question will allow you to add dimension to what you’ve already said. Be careful how you phrase your response, since your interviewer will be scanning for key phrases and comments that highlight your understanding of this position.

Explain some of your strengths and weaknesses.

Have a list of strengths already in mind before the interview begins, and again, stay relevant. As for a list of weaknesses, most savvy interviewers skip this tired question, since it doesn’t provide much valuable information and it comes off as somewhat hackneyed and manipulative. But be ready for it anyway. And answer honestly, but briefly. Don’t dwell on the subject of your weaknesses. Just gently take control of the conversation and steer it back to a list of your qualifications. Consider telling the story of a weakness that you had years ago but have since overcome.

How much would you like to be paid?

This question is more appropriate for an in-person interview, but phone screeners often test these waters when a candidate seems especially overqualified or beyond the company’s financial reach. (There’s no point bringing in a candidate for an interview if there’s no way she’ll accept an offer later.) If you sense that you’re being asked about salary because you’re overqualified, allay these fears in a diplomatic and honest way. Otherwise, explain that you don’t yet know enough about the position to provide a clear answer. If you feel pressed to respond, offer a wide salary range based on your research and experience.

Do you have any questions for us?

Your final question, if you haven’t discussed the subject already, should be as follows: “When can we meet in person?” If you make it through the first round of cuts, the in-person interview will offer you a true opportunity to shine.

If you have additional questions about the job search process, feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to the experts at CSS using the contact information on our website.

Standout resumes usually have similar qualities regardless of the specific position or industry. We all know that resumes should provide an honest and easy-to-read summary of a candidate’s greatest assets, they should be concise and grammatically correct, and they should reflect a general aura of competence.

But there are a few details that hiring managers specifically look for as they staff positions in engineering. And there are a few resume no-brainers that engineers seem to struggle with more frequently than employees in other fields. Oddly enough, in the engineering/resume-writing Venn diagram, some of these categories overlap. Let’s take a closer look.

Details matter

Hiring managers in engineering fields are usually engineers themselves, or at least they were at one point. They’re often attuned to mechanical detail and they don’t like errors. So when they come across a resume with a spelling or grammar mistake, they’re even less inclined to be forgiving than hiring managers in other fields (and that’s not very forgiving).

At the same time, engineering applicants (especially young graduates with minimal experience), don’t often see things this way. A surprising number of engineering candidates forgive themselves for resume errors by saying “What does it matter? I’m applying for work as an engineer, not a grammar expert.”

The bad news: This logic doesn’t hold. The good news: There are plenty of messy engineering resumes out there. If yours isn’t among them, you’re already a step ahead.

Replace your objective with a summary

The resume “objective” is a typically a brief opening statement describing your goals and intentions. This is a wise inclusion if you’re in the midst of a career transition; otherwise, take a different approach.

Replace your objective with a “summary”, a few opening lines that provide a quick overview of your most important and relevant skills. The summary should be placed at the top of the page just under your contact information, and it should be between one and four lines long.  This will be the most important section of the resume, so it should showcase you at your best. Think of it as an advertising tag line: Few words, big impact.

Keep it short and tight

When it comes to resumes, engineers like to ramble on for some reason. They seem to have a difficult time deciding which information to keep and which to cut. If in doubt, take it out. Remember this rule of thumb: hiring managers make a decision to keep or toss a resume within the first 30 seconds. Your most important projects and skills should hit home within that time frame. Don’t make a hiring manger sift through line after line of irrelevant detail and empty adjectives.

Shape your resume (and cover letter) to the position

It’s wise to mention the specific company and the hiring manger’s name in your application materials. But even more important, make sure the projects you list and the awards, certifications, and courses you include are all relevant to the position at hand. You’re not trying to win a prize for Greatest Number of Accomplishments. Rather, you’re trying to appeal to a hiring manager who has a specific task to complete: staffing this position. Don’t bombard her with generic qualifications. Just demonstrate that you’re a match for her needs.

For more expert tips and tricks that can help you with the job application process, contact the staffing team at CSS.

As a manager, your job is to build company productivity by getting the most out of your employees. But doing this successfully requires an understanding of human nature and view for the long term. Sure, you can bully and scare your employees into a short burst of increased productivity…until they leave. And sure, you can win false, temporary respect by swaggering through the office, taking credit for employee’s ideas, and emphasizing pecking order above the needs of the company.

But wouldn’t you rather look around the workplace and see engaged, thriving employees who respect each other, care about the company, and stay late because they want to, not because you’re making them?  Wouldn’t you prefer this even if it means employees who sometimes question you? Or employees who may even, heaven forbid, know more than you do about the nature of their work?

If you’re a great manger, or want to be, the answer is yes. Consider the following as you take steps to make this happen.

Stop Saying No, and Start Saying Maybe

Of course you need to prevent employees from doing the wrong thing. This means giving black-and-white answers and dictating precise instructions when you need to. But whenever the opportunity arises to help employees navigate a grey area or make a decision on their own, take advantage of that opportunity by letting them do it. Don’t just prevent them from doing wrong: give them the tools, resources and opportunity to do right, and do it by themselves.

Replace Disconnection with Genuine Engagement

Again, step-by-step instructions and black-and-white answers will help employees execute tasks like robots. But over the long term, you’ll get more out of your employees and they’ll experience greater loyalty and commitment if they actually know what they’re doing and why. If they see the big picture, they’ll be more inclined to engage with their jobs rather than just go through the motions. But encouraging engagement sometimes means taking risks and having the patience to teach, rather than just give orders.

Be a Fellow Learner, Not a Know-it-All

False leadership means constant bluffing and blustering in an effort to keep followers in line. But true leadership requires humility. Stop trying to be a font of all wisdom and recognize that, like your employees, you have much to learn about this business. A fellow learner is more interesting, more highly respected, more approachable, and more trustworthy than a blustering windbag.

Stop Commanding, Start Inspiring

Workplaces have always been influenced by the culture at large, and in earlier generations, workers responded to top-down leadership differently than they do today. In the modern workplace, employees thrive when they’re inspired and coached. They don’t respond as well to being ordered around. This is especially true among younger workers and members of so called “generation Y”. These young workers are savvy and self-confident, and trying to fool or overawe them won’t make them more productive. Instead, earn their respect by teaching them, coaching them, and giving them agency over important decisions. As always, great leadership means placing the long term needs of the company ahead of your own.

For more tips on becoming a great manager, contact the staffing and HR experts at CSS.

It’s starting to seem like your relationship with your employer has run its course. You may be frustrated with the culture or the company, or you may be searching for growth opportunities that simply aren’t available here. You may even be moving or altering your circumstances, and this current job just isn’t meeting your needs any longer. Maybe you get the sense that you’re about to be fired or laid off.

Any of these are valid reasons to start searching for a new position. And to avoid a treacherous gap of unemployment and uncertainty, it makes sense to start looking while you’re still employed. There’s often a feeling among hiring managers (justified or not), that employed candidates are more trustworthy than those who are not currently collecting an income. According to this logic, a working candidate is desirable and has no glaring red flags associated with reliability or performance. There may be little substance to this myth, but in order to do their work successfully, hiring managers and recruiters need to make quick judgments about candidates based on very limited information.

Warnings for the Employed Job Seeker

So before you leap, start looking. But keep a few important caveats in mind as you do so. There’s freedom in unemployment; out-of-work candidates don’t have to show company loyalty or tiptoe around socially awkward scenarios. They can, and should, network aggressively and pursue any and every opportunity in their path. By comparison, an employed candidate will need to show more caution and discretion. Take these considerations into account as you begin your search:

1. If your employer knows that you’re looking for work, it’s in her best interest to start searching for someone to replace you. Once those wheels are put in motion, it may be difficult or socially complicated to slow them down. So don’t announce your search until you’re ready to give notice.
2.  A secret search process, by nature, is socially fraught. You don’t want to tangle yourself in a web of lies or come off as a sneak, but at the same time, you have a right to look out for your future. Be savvy, quiet, and dignified as you navigate the situation. Never use your company email or office phone to talk to recruiters. Do that using your own resources, and do it on your own time.
3.  Go out with class. Don’t let your performance or relationships slide as you wrap up the last few weeks or months with your current employer. In fact, it’s best to do the opposite. Give the current job a final burst of intense energy and commitment. That way your contacts and your reputation will both remain strong.
4.  Monitor your speech and behavior even when you aren’t at work. Until you’re free from your current position, aggressive networking should take a back seat to discretion. Don’t reach out loudly to anyone and everyone. Before you tell someone about your search, even a casual friend, consider that person carefully. Does she have your best interests in mind?
5.  Get it over with. Don’t live in this awkward state of limbo indefinitely. If you’ve been searching for more than a year while still employed, ask yourself a few tough questions. Maybe your current job has something to offer after all? No matter what decision you make, make a decision. And as you do so, exercise your diplomacy skills and always keep your mind open.

Reach out to the job search experts at CSS for more information and guidance with the job search process.