Job Interview & Career Guide

Sample Resume Headers: Resume Headings Examples

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:19:48 +0000

The resume consists of various sections/paragraphs in which you highlight your background and skills.
The order of these sections is related to the job you are applying for, your professional experience and the industry you belong to.

You can change the order of these resume headings/categories based on your job target, putting the most important and impressive information first.
You may even decide not to use some of these headers.

Functional Resume Heading Example

Here are sample of Resume Headers that you can edit & customize according to your needs:

PERSONAL INFORMATION

[Last Name, First Name]
[Address, Zip]
[Phone No., Mobile, Fax, Email Address]

OBJECTIVE

Detail your career objectives and ambition. You may also write about your 5 year career plan and your job target.

• Refer to Resume Objective Examples.

CAREER OVERVIEW/SUMMARY

Summarize your career. Overview and highlight the achievements.
• Refer to Resume Career Summary.

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Start with your formal education (academic) and qualifications
[BA in .. ] [Institution details], [Location] [year]

Training – Professional courses you’ve attended, Job related training and professional development.
[Certificate .. ] [Course details], [Location] [year]

WORK HISTORY/EXPERIENCE, EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND

Start with the last job.
[Job Title]
[Company details], [Location] Year – present
Detail your work experience using resume related action verbs and resume keywords. Briefly detail your employment background.

ACHIEVEMENTS

At this section you can detail your work accomplishments, awards, portfolio, publication (academic & /professional articles).
• Refer to What is Your Greatest Achievement.

KEY TECHNICAL/PROFESSIONAL SKILLS & COMPETENCIES, AREAS OF EXPERTISE & STRENGTHS

Note – This sction sometimes called – ‘Summary of Qualifications’ and can be part of the Career Summary.
Highlight your key technical Knowledge, skills and capabilities. Demonstrate your abilities and areas of expertise.
• Refer to Resume Skills: List of Skills for Resumes.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION/MEMBERSHIPS/INTERESTS

List the releted groups you have joined and other community involvement. You may detail your interests and hobbies at this section.

LANGUAGES

[Language] [Level of knowledge, such as: fluent, reading/writing]

REFERENCES

List the referees who will speak positively about your professional background on your behalf.

Teamwork Motivation: How to Motivate a Team?

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:09:54 +0000

As it can be hard to motivate yourself, motivating others can be even harder.
How would you inspire people to work together for a certain goal?
Team Motivation at workplace is an important task - this task falls on the shoulders of the team leaders.

Many team leaders ask the question – how do I get the most out of this team? Motivating employees to their best performance starts from the basic methods of team and teamwork performance.

Motivating a Team

Here are couple of points to work on:
Why motivating a team?
Have you ever asked yourself the simplest why questions? For example:
• Why do you focus necessarily on motivation?
• Why do you want to drive the team motivation? For what reasons do you want to stimulate motivation in their teamwork?
• Why do they “need” you to get extra motivation? Do they really have to be motivated? Is it necessary?
Don’t skip answering these above questions. It would be wise to define and reshape (again) your targets before any activity is launched.

Define your team members: know your team – select them
It goes without saying that selecting the right mix of talents, expertise and leaders to the team will ensure that the work they do leads to success.
And the right mix of people for any specific teamwork is the most important part of the process.
Therefore, who are your team members? With whom you are going to the battle?
Sign to yourself – the leaders, the talents, the initiators, the hard-workers, the professionals, the creators, the individualists, those who matured/responsible and those who really need directions to get the job done. Make your research and select the right mixture.
These insights of your team members will help you on deciding who needs extra motivation and how to start motivating these team members.

What motivates the team members?
Find out what motivates your team members. What brings each and every one of them to the highest level of performance?
Ask them – What do they want to achieve at work? Ask them on a regular basis and once you understand their professional needs and goals you are on the right track to know what can motivate them.
If you understand your employees, they will take more interest in understanding what you want from them.

Define the goals and challenges
Set achievable goals with them.
Share your vision with the team members in order to drive the first teamwork motivation:
• What are the team goals & challenges – the short term and long term goals?
• Why these goals and not other goals?
• How do you want to achieve these goals?
Focus on clear, specific, reasonable and achievable goals. Give them reasons for the challenges and while discussing you might even let them set the goals for themselves.
It is known that a stimulator for motivation is ‘participation’ – they should be part of the decision making process.

How to delegate work – clarify expectations
You as a team leader, have to delegate tasks to the right person. For instance – if you give out these hard or uninteresting activities to a leader (in nature) in your team, don’t expect for the best. How do you expect him see the work leading him to any significant professional growth? In time, he begins to resist the task.
Teamwork motivation starts from little things.
When you turn work over to some of your team members, you still keep a certain degree of responsibility. Set clear expectations and responsibilities for each one of your team members. If things are not clearly understood, they may unknowingly miss the target, and then fail for not doing what they have never really understood.

How to motivate your team with incentives and recognition?
Provide positive feedback for a good teamwork.
If you offer no recognition for a good job done by your team members, the likely scenario is that the next time they will not do jobs as expected. Why? Because if their good performance is not appreciated, they will think; “Why bother? No one appreciates it anyway.”
However, don’t limit yourself for positive feedbacks only. If they fail to achieve something, make a lesson learned procedure.
As for incentives, feeling of belonging is an incentive too. Remember that other employees and teams in the company watch your team performance and people would want to learn/join the success.
You may present a clear result for high level of performance in order to drive the team motivation.
Financial reward is not always the best answer for motivating a team. Bonuses are not necessarily motivators as you have to think of the next tasks – they would expect not less of these incentives. Something a simple a thank you or a small reward is more than enough.

And – Let go
While you as a team leader should clarify expectations, coach and follow, don’t expect the team receiving the assignment to carry it out exactly as you desire. A team work motivation can not be achieved by force. You must let go, allowing them the right to do the job with their own skills and styles. You don’t have to control each and every task they do – they will object. Let them inject their uniqueness and even appreciate their uniqueness. Let them grow in the teamwork and assignments and you may find they do the job even better than you imagined.

5 Tips to Fast Track Your Career Success

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:32:13 +0000

Finding a job today is far from easy.

That’s why, more than ever, it’s essential to do everything you can to stand out from the pack. Blending in is not going to get you noticed.

It’s time to be distinctive and memorable…if you’re going to be the next big catch for an employer looking for someone special.

5 Tips for Fast Career Success

1. Sell yourself like a pro

When you’re on the prowl for a new gig, always be ready to introduce yourself with confidence and a great story to tell. Pitching is critical to landing great contacts, jobs, new clients or even dates! You never know where that next great opportunity might come from. Every new person you meet could be a prospective lead.

2. Explore!!!

It’s impossible for you to know all of the opportunities that exist or all of the potential things you’d enjoy or be great at. So, don’t limit yourself! Opportunities truly are everywhere; they’re just not always that easy to recognize. Sample what the world has to offer, and soon your eyes will open to possibilities you never imagined. Every night, weekend, holiday or other pockets of free time you have, take a taste of new things that interest and intrigue you. A habit like this will constantly open you up to new experiences throughout the rest of your life.

3. Lay safety nets and back up plans

Imaging the worst isn’t fun, but a little preplanning can make all the difference when tragedy or the unexpected hit hard. And far too often it does at some point or another. Having back up plans for your work and life is critical to not only survival in some cases, but giving you the confidence to make bolder moves with bigger payoffs. Regardless of where you are in your job search, start to collect offers and opportunities wherever you can. Leave your options open. Stay in contact with employers or business owners who like you and have expressed interest in working with you at some point. You never know what might be attractive, or even just necessary for you to consider in the future.

4. Build and manage your network lovingly

Who you know can make all the difference in your pursuit of success. Don’t be shy. Get yourself out there. Introduce yourself to new groups and bring wonderful new people into your life every chance you get. Your professional outlook or even financial position can change dramatically with just a few of the right connections and encounters. Be sure not to dismiss people you meet along your job search who cannot offer you a job, but whom you hit it off with. You never know what opportunities they might have down the line. Build and manage your network carefully to maximize your potential. Your network is one of the more precious assets that you’ll be able to leverage beyond your wildest dreams.

5. Create a powerful online brand

The first thing most people do to learn more about you is search for you online. What they find can make all the difference in whether they want to have anything to do with you or not. And those decisions are made in minutes, if not seconds. Take control of your online identity and build your brand with purpose and passion. Employ a little strategy. Be proactive and make sure that what people find leaves them with the most positive possible impression. Then your job is to reinforce that in person and embody this glowing image of you both on and offline.

To fast track your career, help you land a better job, get promoted or find greater success in any new venture, these tips can make all the difference. But of course, there’s still so much more you can do too. Become fluent in the rules to making it in any industry, at any stage in your career. For help in putting these strategies to work in your life instantly, there’s a new online program that will speed you through the process.

Fast Track to Success:

30 Days to Transform Your Life and Career, from our friends at YSN.com (your success network), is guaranteed to make a difference for you.

After all, your success is their business!

Don’t make one of these 50 job interview mistakes..

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:04:11 +0000

Avoid giving the interviewer rational for a decision – “this candidate is not good for the job”. There are many job interview mistakes that you’ve probably heard.
This article summarizes these ‘horror stories’ for you.

You’d be surprise to know what employers tell about ‘bad things’ job applicants make during job interviews and you absolutely don’t want to make these mistakes in your upcoming interview.
Read further..

50 Job Interviewing Mistakes

Arriving late.
Arriving too early.
Bringing a friend to the interview, or your mother…
Being rude to the receptionist.
Smelling like a cigarette.
Being dressed inappropriately.
Wearing sunglasses.
Wearing too much perfume or aftershave.
Wearing the cell phone Bluetooth earpiece.
Leaving the cell phone on.
Shaking hands too weakly or too strong.
Complaining that you were kept waiting for the interview.
Sitting before invited by the interviewer (not waiting to be invited before taking a seat).
Sitting in a sloppy manner.
Chewing gum, a pen or playing with your hair.
Forgetting the name of the interviewer.
Forgetting to bring a copy of the resume.
Forgetting about what is written in your resume. Which is even worst…
Not matching yourself to the style of the interviewer’s communication.
Failing to listen carefully to the interviewer’s questions.
Being unprepared to the standard job interview questions.
Failing to do your homework about the potential employer.
Lying on qualifications, experience and your knowledge.
Not showing enthusiasm/interest on the job.
Bad mouthing you previous boss.
Explaining in detail about the cause of the job layoff.
Sharing too much..
Failing to explain how your skills match the job in question.
Speaking for most of time of the interview.
Interrupting the interviewer speech.
Asking too many questions or irrelevant questions.
Failing to ask good questions.
Yawning.
Waving names to boast or sounding like you think you know everything.
Asking to use bathroom during the interview.
Being too humble.
Not making eye contact (or maintaining prolonged eye contact).
Getting angry or defensive.
Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.
Saying phrases like “you know”, “like a”, “I guess” and “Hmm”.
Showing nervousness.
Showing apathy.
Complaining.
Being “Laughy” and “Giggly”.
Sounds desperate.
Checking the time – looking at the watch.
Too early asking questions about salary/bonuses/benefits.
Placing salary requirements too early.
Being too prepared. Blurting your answers out. These “home prepared / ready made’ answers.
Not specifically show an interest in the job + Failing to ask for the job.

What to Bring To a Job Interview?

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:34:39 +0000

Remember the times when you were a student preparing yourself to the academic exams. You thought of any tricky situation that might cause you to arrive unprepared and therefore worked accordingly.

The job interview is very similar to an exam. You’d want to be ready down to details.

Needless to say that forecasting is important in order to take the necessary steps for tackling any unthinkable situation.
What you should bring to an interview is one of the last questions you may ask yourself when you make the last preparations.
Here are list of suggested things to bring to an interview –

Documents

Copies of documentation -

Your resume (2 copies): You’d be surprised to realize that some interviewers are not ready with your resume. Some haven’t even read it.. They spend the first minutes of the interview printing your resume and scanning it. For these cases, you can hand out your resume.
Your Reference list (2 copies): Refer to the article Job Reference format.
Your previous works (Samples): If you have good samples of your work, it can be a good idea to present these to support what you are telling the interviewer.
Performance/ Appraisals Reviews: If you’ve received good documented positive feedback, find the appropriate time to deliver these documents to the interviewer.
Other copies of documents: Academic certificates, related professional courses’ certificates, driving license and social security card.
Your business card: The interviewer may want to exchange business card with you for having your contact information available to him.

Appearance

You may need to fix your appearance before the interview -

Make-up (for women)
Comb/Brush (for men & women)
Extra Tie or extra Shirt
Breath Mints

Other accessories

Some other improtant needs -

A pen and note pad: In case you need to write down information delivered to you during or after the job interview.
Bottle of water: It is known that many interviewees tend to be thirsty during interviews and don’t have water available… Drinking fresh water will reduce your anxiety.
Driving Directions and a Map: Bring these along and don’t take the risk of getting lost. You don’t want to miss the interview location.
Your Cell Phone: In case you’d have to contact the company (see above) or the interviewer would want to contact you for any reason such as – time of interview etc.
Company contact details: See above.
Cash: You may need to pay for parking.

Good luck!

No Work Experience: Resume with No Work Experience

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:04:25 +0000

If you’re just graduating from high school or college, a work experience resume will be a challenge to create.

You’re faced with applying to positions, even entry-level positions, that list a number of requirements and you might feel a resume without work experience will render you unable to compete in the workplace.

The Student Resume – No Work Experience

Think about it, everyone starts somewhere, so how is that done? Employers want to see resumes with work experience because it gives them confidence that you will be able to do the same or similar tasks for them without much difficulty. It proves competency.
Little work experience on a resume can be overcome, however, by showing your potential.
Here are some examples:

• Use youth to your advantage.

• Research needed skills/experience and acquire them.

• Show a clear direction on your resume.

sales jobs

• Show an interest in the field.

• Make sure what you do have is perfect.

Your Job is to Stand Out

It is important to consider what employers are looking for in order to fulfill what they are looking for. Always research the position and company so you know how to tailor your resume and cover letter. As you search for a job, try to fill in those gaps by gaining experience, even in small ways.

Remember, employers understand that you’ve just graduated college and have little experience. It is up to you to stand out among other graduates just like yourself.

Lynn Mattoon is a Career Writer for SalesHeads.com, a Beyond.com career community. You can follow her on Twitter at BeyondCareers.

Sample Resume for Freshers: Sample Resume with No Work Experience

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 06:03:51 +0000

In many cases, employers would like to hire fresher employees – those with a little to no work experience.
With an aim to find effective performers (or to ‘create’ good performers), they would want to recruit motivated/educated people that are seeking to start their careers.

It is known that many professionals with years of experience are hard to adjust for changes – especially when they change jobs and get new responsibilities.
In the other hand, entry level positions have the potential of the following strong aspects:

Ability to quickly learn from scratch.
Adjusting to new work environment.
Easily gaining new skills – without difficulties.

These people are called “white boards” or “white papers”..

However, writing a resume for those with no work experience is challenging. Here is an example of a resume of a talent (and educated person).
This guy has no work experience but his resume still looks impressive.
Refer also to -

No work experience resume: Get a step by step guide on writing resume for those whith little to no work experience.

Resume Writing Tips and Examples: Comprehensive guide on writing resume with examples and tips.

Sample Resume format for a Fresher

You may use the format of this fresher resume according to your needs.
[Last name, first name]
[Email address]
[Home address]
[Telephone, cell-phone]

OBJECTIVES
Refer to Resume Objectives Examples.

EDUCATION
2004-2009 PhD in Genetics, the direct track program, the Department of Human Genetics & Biochemistry, [name] School of Medicine, [University], [Location]. Research was performed under the supervision of Dr. [Name] at the Endocrine Institute, [Name] Medical Center, [Location]

2005-2006   Research fellow at the Gene Therapy Center, [University], [Location].

2000-2003   BSc in Life and Medical Sciences. The School of Medicine and The Faculty of Life Sciences, [University], [Location].

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Molecular biology:
Cloning, real-time PCR, siRNA, microarray, construction and purification of recombinant adenoviruses, analysis of protein expression, confocal microscopy, FACS, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation.

Tissue culture:
Extensive work with Tissue Culture, including isolation and propagation of human and pig liver tissues, plasmid transfections and viral infections (adenoviruses and lentiviruses).

Animal studies:
Highly experienced with mice and miniature pigs animal care; including intravenous administration of recombinant adenovirus and tissue processing analyses.

COMPUTER SKILLS
Highly experienced with Office applications and Photoshop software. Experienced user in biological databases platforms including Pubmed, UCSC genome browser, TRANSFAC, ENSEMBL.

LANGAUGAGES
Fluent in English and in [other languages].

PUBLICATIONS
1. “Adenovirus Infection Activates Akt1 and Induces Cell Proliferation in Pancreatic Islets.” Mert Icyuz, Stacie M.J. Bryant, Henry K. Fortinberry, [your name], Gene P. Siegal, Juan L. Contreras and Hongju Wu. Transplantation, Volume 87, Number 6, March 27, 2009.

2. “Nkx6.1 induces pancreatic beta and alpha cell differentiation in human liver cells”. Shiraz Gefen-Halevi, Itzhak Rachmut, [your name], Graciela Kuperstein, Irit Meivar-Levy, Nicholas Onaca , Eytan Mor and Sarah Ferber. Submitted.

REFERENCES
1. Dr. [name, email and telephone #]
2. Dr. [name, email and telephone #]
3. Prof. [name, email and telephone #]

Personality Interview Questions and Answers

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:14:18 +0000

Often the most dreaded questions in a job interview are those that relate to personality. Even if you feel you have a wonderful and well-suited personality for the job, you might feel you’re being put on-the-spot or falling into a trap because you don’t know what kind of answer the interviewer would like to hear.

You never know when you’ll be faced with such questions related to personality traits. Some interviewers use them and some don’t. Industry-wise they are used across the board – so it doesn’t matter if you’re on a healthcare job search or interviewing for a sales position, these questions can come up and they can be downright tricky.

How to Answer Personality Questions for Job Interviews

Here are a few example personality questions that could come up on an interview. Of course, the number of questions that could be asked is unlimited so there is no way to anticipate every one:
• Tell me about your weaknesses

This one is tricky as no one wants to focus on the negative when they are interviewing for a job. Talking about your flaws can only show the employer why not to hire you. So what do you do? The best thing to do in this situation is to turn your weakness into strength. A possible answer could focus on an area where you have more to learn about a particular skill. As long as it isn’t an essential qualification for the job (one where you need a high level of proficiency) you can say: “I haven’t had enough experience with electronic health records and desire to learn more about them. I believe this position will offer me an excellent opportunity to enhance my skills in this area.”

• Tell me about a time you tried an innovative approach. What was the result?

• “What books have you read lately?”

This is truly a question of a personal nature. It may seem unrelated to the job, but the good news is you can make it relate to the job. When conducting your job search, it is important to keep up with your industry. What publications should you be reading as a career-driven person of your industry? Are there manuals, magazines, books, online sites, and blogs? If you’re prepared, you have the perfect opportunity to show you’ve been keeping your skills and industry-knowledge up-to-date. This is also a great way to save yourself if you aren’t a pleasure reader. If you do enjoy reading, you should discuss these books, as long as they seem appropriate. Discussing titles that show your appreciation of literature (even popular fiction) or your desire to learn (non-fiction) are fine. For instance, if you truly are reading a biography about Benjamin Franklin, then be sure to say so. If you aren’t, don’t ever lie to “look good” because you never know what the interviewer may know about the topic. Maybe he or she is a Ben Franklin enthusiast! Always be honest. Preparation is the key to having something to say and being honest about it.

• Other personality questions that can be asked:

Surviving Personality Based Interview Questions – It Can Be Done!

As we’ve discussed, a personality interview doesn’t have to be frightening if you prepare well by reviewing your own history and researching your industry, the company, and available position.
Don’t get too nervous about potential questions. Not every interviewer will use them. With those who do, just be calm, confident, and stay on the positive side. Employers know that personality questions and personality tests are difficult for those in the interview seat. Often they want to see if you can keep your composure.
They also use them to weed out anyone who would reveal something bizarre or extremely negative about their history, attitude, or methods. Don’t worry about things you can’t control. Always be ready to bring any topic around to how you can make a positive contribution to the company.
Personality job interview questions give you the opportunity to show how you are the perfect fit for the position!

Lynn Mattoon is a Content Editor & Career Writer for HealthCareJobSite.com, SalesHeads.com and other Beyond.com career communities. You can follow her on Twitter at BeyondCareers.

Interviewers often ask behavioral interview questions in order to assess the personality traits of a candidate.
More Interview questions for evaluating personality can be found reading the following articles:
Sample Behavioral Interview Questions and Examples of Competency Based Questions.

Covering Letter for Job Application- Samples

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:32:04 +0000

What is job application cover letter?
The cover letter is attached to the first page of the resume in order to introduce yourself and your interest in the said job.
No resume is completed if no cover letter accompanies it.

Why it is important to write a good covering letter when applying for a job?

Be the hiring manager for a moment, and think about you scanning lots of job applications. Which resumes would you read? Would you read the ones with cover letters or resumes with no cover letters?
Most likely, you read resumes which their cover letters ‘convince’ you to go on and read the resume.
This is why having a well written cover letter is so important.

But first, be sure that your resume is 100% completed before you start writing the covering letter for any job application. Needless to say, that your resume should present how you match the jobs you’re applying for.
For the resume writing task, refer to the index page – Resume Writing Examples| Resume Writing Tips.

Covering Letters for Job Applications – Where to start?

While you are looking for a job, you probably will find some interesting job openings. Write down the following details:
1. Job position.
2. Job description and main job requirements.
3. Company name, location and some detail about the hiring department etc.
4. Your main/key competencies for that specific position – why are you a good match?

Then, make a short research to verify some basic info about the company and the job. You should be ready to apply for the job after having the above four details in hands.

How to Write a Cover Letter for a Job Application that works?

The covering letter may include (some or all) of the following details and actually ‘speaks to’ the recruiter. Here is the stracture/template:
Introduction -
• Your details
• The job details – Job title and number + where you saw the job opening.

Body -
• Who you are and why you want the job - What type of professional you are. How do you match the job requirement?
• Tell about your work status – What are you doing now etc.
• You may include information about – Why you want to change your job and apply for the said job. You can also mention your key skills.
• Be yourself – As opposed to the resume, in the covering letter you can add your personal touch. It is the best piece of paper where your personality can be expressed. Therefore, tell why you are interested in this particular job and why you like the company in question.

Ending-
• Final statement – A statement that will attract the reader to read the resume.

Remember that, your objective when writing the covering letter is that your resume will be read by the employer, getting him selects YOU for the job interviewing stage.
Further reading – how to write a cover letter for a resume.
The article discusses in details the approach you may take for different types of job application & cover letters.

Writing a cover letter for job application – Samples

For selecting the proper template when writing your covering letter, refer to:
1. Resume cover letter samples – The article provides sample cover letters for job application. It gives you 3 templates you can customize to write your own cover letters when submitting job applications.

2. Cover letter for job application submitted by email – Email Cover Letter Examples for Job Applications.

3. Cover letter for career changers who apply for a new job – Career Change Cover Letter Examples.

4. Some recruiters require/instruct you to include your salary requirements in the cover letter. Obviously, unless it is required by the employer, you shouldn’t provide these details so early. Read more on how to tactfully handle this issue – Cover letter with Salary Expectations.

Reference Checking: References Questions – Reference Check Form

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:55:48 +0000

As an employer, you would want to check the prospective employee reference in order to have a better insight on his past performance.

Some references will give detailed information about the employee, while others won’t share all the information they have.
Those who are willing to discuss in details are most likely references that had good experience with the employee.
They can tell you their experience on the candidate’s job performance, attitude and other important aspects that may be the ‘make or break’ for taking a decision about the candidate.

The article deals with checking references. It provides questions for reference check form and discusses about some reference checking points to consider.

This article is part of the articles’ series called – reference check for employers.
Refer also to:
1. Job Reference example: job reference format for applicants.
2. Employee Reference Check: Questions for Reference Checks (this article is for candidates).

Reference Check Form: Questions for Reference Checks

Employment Reference Check Questions: The first reference check questions are aimed to verify the basic employment info about the candidate such as: employment dates, positions and responsibilities.
If the basic employment information doesn’t match what you’ve heard from the candidate during the interview process, you’d get the first warning sign to have doubts about the candidate ethics.

The other questions may give you a better insight on the candidate’s performance and other personality aspects.
Here is a reference check questionnaire as a reference check template/form:
1. Tell Me about [Candidate Name]. How many year he work for [the company name]? When did s/he leave?

2. What was his/her Work Experience? Position, job title and responsibilities.

3. Was he promoted while working with your company?

4. Did you evaluate his performance on a regular basis? How did s/he react and cope with feedback?

5. Did he lead a team? How effective he was? How would his teammates describe him?

6. Can you describe the main traits of [Candidate name] for us?
• Some leading questions could be: Is he/she a problem solver? A good communicator? An initiator? An organizer? Is he a team player?

7. Why Did [Candidate Name] Leave his Job? If he/she was fired – What were the reasons that he/she was fired?

8. Can you tell us about any issues that impacted his job performance?

9. What interest him about the job?

10. Why do you think he chose this career?

11. How did he handle/cope with challenges?

12. How did he handle conflicts or pressure and stressed situations?

13. What are his/her Strengths and Weaknesses?

14. What did [candidate name] like/dislike about the job?

15. What was his/her relationship with supervisors and co workers?

16. What motivates him?

17. What was his/her Greatest Achievement in the [company name]?

18. If it’s possible to tell – What was is salary?

19. Can s/he be a manager or a team leader?

20. Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

The last question – Would you hire this candidate back?

How to Check References – Checking Employee References

You can establish a reference check policy before the hiring process based on the following factors:
• Ask for references: Tell the candidates that you’re going to perform due-diligence (reference check) before taking the hiring decision.

• Who is the reference: Ask each candidate to tell you the type of working relationship he has with the reference.

• Questions to ask the reference: Ask those questions that are important for the job requirement and those that you would want extra information based on what you learned from the applicant during the interview process.

• Reference Answers: Listen carefully to the answers. Are these answers made up or prepared before? Are the answers too similar to the candidate’s answers?

• Positive or Negative reference: If the reference has only positive comments about the candidate, you would be wise to give less weight to this particular reference.