In an interview, stay out of the "Excuse Zone!"

There are simply some things you do not ask in an interview.

And there is one area in particular that you absolutely need to stay away from. I call it the “Excuse Zone.” In the Excuse Zone reside many pitfalls, many traps: journey there during an interview and it cannot help your prospects. In the Excuse Zone – any questions about vacation, sick time, breaks, lunches – anything to do with time off.

If you are asking about sick time, an employer figures you are planning to take time off. If you are asking about breaks, an employer figures you will be taking advantage of that opportunity. If you are asking about lunch time, an employer figures you are more concerned with how you can relax, instead of what you may be able to offer.

None of these things help. An employer will get the impression that what you don’t have to do and where you won’t have to be is more important to you than anything else. Frankly, it’s a turn off to prospective employers.

Ask several Excuse Zone questions during an interview, and there is a good chance that much of the positive effort you had already put in will not count all that much. It’s human nature. We remember the best and the worst more than the mediocre. When the worst stands out more than the best, we don’t remember so much about the good side.

Of course, time off, lunch, sick time, etc. matter in a job. However, until you are offered the job, it doesn’t matter at all, does it? When someone offers you a job, you can ask about benefits and also ask about Excuse Zone area questions. At that time, employers don’t mind. They want to hire you, and are happy to provide answers.

Focus on what sells you best: your talent, your experience, your accomplishments, your education. Show an employer you are a motivated solution provider. That can create a positive impression and certainly can help your chances.

If you are working hard to find a new employment opportunity, play to your strengths. It’s easy to stay out of the Excuse Zone. And it’s very important that you do so in an interview.

Keywords, not Categories

Most job boards let you search by category and keyword. Employer sites often do this as well.

The most effective way to search them is not by “category,” but by “keyword.”

Here’s why keywords win the day, and categories can tend to be the wrong direction: when an employer posts a job, that employer gets to choose what category the job goes in. Most of the time, no one from that job board makes any suggestions on that front, either. People doing the job posting can struggle with choices here. They are left to their own devices to both write an effective ad and put it where it will be seen by the most candidates. And they may not make the most logical choice.

Here’s an example.

Suppose a company has an opening for an IT Director, who has management experience and a CCNA. One would think you would find that job in an “IT related” category. However, since the IT Director is a manager, someone might post it in the “Management” category, instead. If this job is in the Banking sector, someone could post it in the “Banking” or “Finance” categories, rather than Information Technology. If this job is with a not for profit organization, it might get posted under “Non Profit.” None of the categories is really “incorrect.” Most of us would look in an IT related category for IT positions. In this example, this particular position won't show up there.

Since folks do their own job postings, this happens more frequently than you might think.

That’s why keywords are your best friend.

Let’s say you put “CCNA” as a keyword. Jobs that have CCNA in the title and/or description will come forward, no matter what category they were placed in. Use “CCNA” and “Director” (or “Administrator” or “Manager”) and you’ll further narrow the field to more senior level CCNA relevant positions.

If the job board allows you to pick “all categories” choose “all.” If it doesn’t ask you to get specific with categories, go that route. If, like for Career Builder, you can only choose several categories at a time, and “all” isn’t an option, you still have options. Keep your keywords the same, and choose as many categories as you can that you believe might be relevant. Repeat the search with different categories. In any of these cases, your use of keywords will help you find things that others might miss. Two very good resources to check this way are Indeed.Com and Craigslist. Indeed doesn’t even have a category search.

By using keywords instead of categories, you can be very specific and find opportunities others may have missed. It’s also going to save you time. You won’t have to look through every recent job in a specific category to see if it is relevant to your search.

It’s a simple way to make your job search more effective.