Interview skills/Syllabus/Fall 2017

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Interview Skills: Effective Strategies and Techniques for Mastering the Interview Process

Course Syllabus
Fall 2017

Instructor: Shawn Randy Fisher
Email: sf623@scarletmail.rutgers.edu
Course: 37:575:393:04 14705
Section 03: 9/23; 9/30 - NO CLASS; 10/7; 10/14; 10/21; 10/28
Day/Time: Saturdays, 1:30 - 3:50 pm
Duration: 5 classes over 6 weeks
Location: C/D Labor Education Center (SMLR), Room 133
Office Hours: Saturdays, TBA - C/D Labor Education Center TBA; online appointments (Skype / Facetime / Zoom)

Contents

Instructor Bio

Shawn "Randy" Fisher has experience as a high tech recruiter, business and career coach with DigiWise Career Services(http://www.digiwisecareerservices.com). He has a keen interest in career development and supporting people to acquire the skills, confidence and insight for meaningful jobs and careers and effective interviews. Randy has an MA in Organization Management and Development (Fielding); a post-graduate degree in journalism (University of King's College); and a BA in Political Science (McGill). He also holds a certification in advanced technology management. Randy began his career as a journalist in Canada with the Globe and Mail, Financial Post and CBC Radio. In his spare time, he spends time with family, enjoys biking, yoga and racewalking, teaches seniors about computers and likes taking his dog Maggie to Colonial Park.

Course Description

This course is intended to help you showcase your personality, strengths, interests, and abilities to potential employers (hiring managers, decision-makers) through the interview process.

Required Text

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • describe appropriate behavior and dress for the interview;
  • list and prepare for commonly asked behavioral interview questions;
  • list suggested questions to ask hiring managers, human resources personnel, headhunters, third parties, and so forth;
  • explain the perspective of a hiring manager
  • describe techniques and tactics to study prior to your first interview;
  • list questions to ask yourself after the interview to evaluate your success and areas in which you can improve;
  • list tips to manage different types of interviews and special situations
  • develop an effective strategy for negotiating salary issues

You can use the learning outcomes to help organize your learning and gauge your progress.

Course Requirements

Attendance. Due Dates & Assignments

  • Prompt attendance is required and expected for every class.
  • Absences affect the learning experience - yours and your colleagues. If you are more than 10 minutes late for class, it will count as an absence. This is STRICTLY ENFORCED.
  • As this is a short-duration course (5 classes), a second (2nd) absence may result in failure of the course. If you are absent for any reason, you are responsible for the information presented in class and any assignments submitted. Absence from class is NOT an excuse for late or missing work—if you know you are going to be absent, you must submit all work that is due BEFORE class. If you are going to be absent, it is your responsibility to let me know via email.
  • Sakai (https://sakai.rutgers.edu) will be frequently used as a means of communication. Every student is responsible for any information conveyed via Sakai. Be sure that you are able to receive announcements through this platform. Check your email inbox to ensure you are receiving emails.

Sakai & Google Docs

  • Some assignments are to be submitted via Sakai; others Google Docs - Be sure that you are familiar with the functionality of both.
  • The standard format for written assignments (unless stated otherwise) is APA-style, using 12 point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with one-inch margins.
    • Documents MUST be named this way: Assignment Name_FirstName LastName (For example, CAR Stories_RandyFisher).
  • Other than blogging, all Assignments are DUE THE NIGHT AFTER CLASS (i.e., Saturday, 11:59 PM). Late papers (i.e., 12:00 pm onwards) will NOT be accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS
  • Documents will be reviewed and commented on as a Google Doc, and shared with students,
  • All required assignments must be submitted to pass the course.
  • For some assignments, we will use www.turnitin.com.

Google Docs: How To Video (Sharing Links) & Help Files

Grading

Final Grade (100%)

Final grades are based on the following:

  • Attendance, Class Participation and Daily Work - 10%
  • Blogging & Responses - 30%
  • Customized Resume + CARs - 10%
  • Mock Interviews & Information Interviews (Behavioral Interview Questions / CARs) - 10%
  • Final Paper - Employer Research & Strategy - 40%

Assignment Instructions

Attendance, Class Participation and Daily Work

  • Students are expected to attend class on-time, participate and contribute with substantive ideas and comments (vs. rah-rah) individually (as called upon by the instructor); in pairs and in groups. Work is required in-class and online, and is monitored and evaluated by the instructor.

Blogging & Response

  • Each week, students are required to blog about their experience of the interview process.
  • The theme for each blog post, will follow the class sequence for the course
  • Students will be expected to post a blog (200-300 words) to the following questions:
  1. What did I learn? How has this affected my understanding of the job search / interviewing process - from the perspective of employee and employer (hiring manager).
  2. What will I do differently as a result? How will I demonstrate this learning (i.e., experiment, put it into practice?)
  3. What are the Top 3 Actions that I will take to learn more / achieve my goals? Make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-based).
  • Students as Peers / Colleagues
    • Please reply substantively to at least two (2) blog posts of your peers and colleagues - and continue the discussion thread / conversation as appropriate.

Customized Resume + CARs

  • Students are required to complete a resume in response to a job posting (1-2 pages) utilizing the Challenge - Action - Results (CAR) Methodology.
    • These CAR Stories can be multipurposed for use in cover letters, LinkedIn Profiles, networking and interviews / behavioral interview questions.

Mock Interviews & Information Interviews (Behavioral Interview Questions / CARs)

  • Students are required to conduct mock interviews (as interviewer and interviewee) to obtain practical experience to anticipate and answer behavioral interview questions (as interviewee) and posing them (as interviewer).
  • This activity will be done in pairs, in-class. (The instructor may assign this activity to be done outside of class, in pairs and recorded for uploading to YouTube.
  • Students will be asked to post a link to their YouTube video with a post on Twitter using the hashtag #InterviewsForLearning
  • Students are required to conduct information interviews aligned to the job description of their choosing. This information interview will be incorporated into the Final Paper (below).

Final Paper - Employer Research & Strategy

  • Students are required to write a research paper (5 pages or 1500 words) based on a real job description (i.e., found on LinkedIn, Indeed, Idealist.org or a trade / association website) covering the following:
  • detailing their strategy for researching an employer;
  • conducting information interviews (where applicable);
  • preparing answers to likely research questions
  • outlining a plan of action (integrating the SMART Actions) contained in the blog posts)

The paper will also have a final section:

  • What did I learn about myself?
  • What did I learn about the company?
  • What did I learn about the hiring manager?
  • What did I learn about the hiring process?
  • What did I learn about other opportunities - where I could be of service?

A Note About Digital Projects

  • Any digital project / work that you do, may be used in your portfolio. This can be very impressive to employers.
  • Be sure to capture and organize all relevant links - i.e., URLs, videos, tweets, etc.
  • A good practice is to organize them in a Google Doc - and make sure you share it with your personal and Rutgers email addresses.

Content, Readings & Weekly Activities (Fall 2017)

Week 1 / Class 1 - Saturday, Sept 23

Course Introduction / Syllabus Review

  • Experiential, interactive, participatory
  • Receive feedback, practice (mock interviews)
  • Review assignments, grading

Readings

Lecture

  • Background, Skills, Experience & Transferable Skills
  • CAR Stories & Behavioral Interviews
  • Easy as PIE Model

In-Class Activities

  • Activity: Who Are You (Introduce Yourself) - (in groups of 4 - 30 min)
  • Activity: Why do you do that (3x) - authentic self/energy (in pairs, 10 min)
  • Activity: Bios (Google Docs)

Assignment(s) - Coming Up + DUE

Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Week 1 + Week 2 / Class - NONE - Saturday, Sept 30

Research Thyself, Research Employers

Readings

Lecture

None.

In-Class Activities

  • Activity: Discuss How to Research Companies & Desired Job / Role

Assignment(s) - Coming UP + DUE

  • Write three (3) CARs (DRAFT) based on your experience - for use in Cover Letters, Resumes, LinkedIn Profiles & Behavioral Interviews
  • Find Advertised Job Description - keep a copy, as you will need to submit it for the Final Assignment
  • Visualize and practice your response - CAR Story to Behavioral Interview Questions
  • Begin thinking about your customized Resume + CARs (re: advertised job description)
Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Week 3 / Class 2 - Saturday, Oct 7

Critical Success Factors for Interviews

Readings

Lecture

  • Researching Employers
  • Hiring Manager's Perspective (i.e., Recruiter, Manager, Owner)
  • Incorporating CAR Stories + Transferable Skills into Your Interview Response.

In-Class Activities

Assignment(s) - Coming Up + DUE

  • Conduct information interview(s)
  • Begin writing customized Resume + CARs (as per advertised job description)
Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Week 4 / Class 3 - Saturday, Oct 14

During the Interview: Questions & Answers

Readings

Lecture

  • Grooming, Nonverbal & Cultural Situations & Strategies
  • Legal Questions
  • Challenging Questions - Acknowledge, Pivot, Return to CAR Stories / Transferable Skills

In-Class Activities

  • Mock Interviews

Assignment(s) - Coming Up + DUE

  • Conduct Information Interviews with target employer / competitor (as per advertised job description)
  • DUE: Customized Resume + CARs
Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Week 5 / Class 4 - Saturday, Oct 21

Negotiating Salary & Compensation

Readings

Lecture

  • Negotiating Salary and Compensation

In-Class Activities

  • Mock Interviews continued
  • Challenging Situations: Acknowledgment, Transferable Skills / Experience, Pivot Activity (groups)

Assignment(s) - Coming Up + DUE

  • Conduct Information Interviews
  • Work on Final Paper
Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Week 6 / Class 5 - Saturday, Oct 28

Post-Interview & Followup

Readings

Lecture

  • Integrating all the parts
  • Special Situations: Lack of response, followup
  • Unwritten, unspoken rules of job hunting, interviewing - "everything is negotiable"

In-Class Activities

  • TBD

Assignments - Coming Up + DUE

  • Final Paper DUE
Blog Posts + Replies
  • Write one (1) Blog post + 2 substantive replies (before next class)

Course Evaluation

  • TBD

Rutgers Policy on Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is essential to the success of the educational enterprise and breaches of academic integrity constitute serious offenses against the academic community. Every member of that community bears a responsibility for ensuring that the highest standards of academic integrity are upheld. Only through a genuine partnership among students, faculty, staff, and administrators will the University be able to maintain the necessary commitment to academic integrity.

The University administration is responsible for making academic integrity an institutional priority and for providing students and faculty with effective educational programs and support services to help them fully understand and address issues of academic integrity. The administration is also responsible for working with other members of the academic community to establish equitable and effective procedures to deal with violations of academic integrity.

The faculty shares the responsibility for educating students about the importance and principles of academic integrity. Individual faculty members are also responsible for informing students of the particular expectations regarding academic integrity within individual courses, including permissible limits of student collaboration and, where relevant, acceptable citation format. Finally, all members of the faculty should report all violations of academic integrity they encounter.

Students are responsible for understanding the principles of academic integrity fully and abiding by them in all their work at the University. Students are also encouraged to report alleged violations of academic integrity to the faculty member teaching the course in which the violation is alleged to have occurred.

For more in depth description of official Rutgers University policy view this website: http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/

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