Our guidance how to effectively turn down an offer.

If you’ve only ever received one offer at a time, then the thought of turning down an offer might be quite odd. However, the more you listen to Career Tools and make yourself into a desirable candidate, and the more you listen to the Interview Series and ASK for offers, you will soon find yourself in the enviable position of turning down offers.

It’s totally possible to turn down an offer, continue to have a great relationship with the company and the hiring manager and get another offer from them later. Your aim is to decline the offer, gracefully and professionally, and avoid doing anything which irritates the hiring manager.

So, how do you do that?

  [Play in Popup]

Our guidance on what to do when you receive a counter-offer.

As the economy heats up, those of you in professions where talent is short will receive multiple offers for new roles. In addition, when you try to resign, your current company will counter-offer. That is, they will offer you more money, benefits, training or a promotion to stay.

In some areas of the economy, this is already happening. In our experience, the first time most people are counter-offered, they don't know what to do. This guidance addresses that situation.

  [Play in Popup]

The conclusion of our guidance on how to interview when the interview is conducted over Skype.

We have been getting questions about Skype interviews for some time, and the incidence of this type of interview will only get more frequent as time goes on. Whilst tele-conference interviews never became as common as was predicted – it was much harder to schedule and the technology was and remained much more expensive than expected – Skype is cheaper and easier to use. In addition, most of us have a computer at home which will run Skype, and most of us have webcams. Therefore, companies can expect the interviewee to have the requisite equipment at home, and that requesting a Skype interview doesn't cause an unnecessary burden.

So having put forward a case that you're likely to be asked to a Skype interview – and even more likely in the future, what do you need to do?

  [Play in Popup]

Our guidance on how to interview when the interview is conducted over Skype.

We have been getting questions about Skype interviews for some time, and the incidence of this type of interview will only get more frequent as time goes on. Whilst tele-conference interviews never became as common as was predicted – it was much harder to schedule and the technology was and remained much more expensive than expected – Skype is cheaper and easier to use. In addition, most of us have a computer at home which will run Skype, and most of us have webcams. Therefore, companies can expect the interviewee to have the requisite equipment at home, and that requesting a Skype interview doesn't cause an unnecessary burden.

So having put forward a case that you're likely to be asked to a Skype interview – and even more likely in the future, what do you need to do?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives our guidance on how to deal with role-play exercises in assessment centers.

Over the years, we've heard hundreds of people say 'I hate role-plays'. They say it at our Effective Communications Conference, and a couple of hours later, they are doing great version of a High D or C or whatever we have asked them to do.

We only don't like role-plays because they put us out of our comfort zone and make us feel awkward. But isn't the fabulous new job you want worth a bit of awkwardness?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives examples of cover letters for particular roles.

We get a lot of requests to look at cover letters. We also get a lot of emails from members who say, I can't create a cover letter for each application I want to make – it'll take too long. In this cast, we're going to show what the implementation of our cover letter guidance looks like, and how you can create a cover letter in less than fifteen minutes.

Ready?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives our basic guidance on dealing with Assessment Centers.

Assessment centers are used by companies for two purposes: hiring and development. They usually consist of a day or two days, or sometimes up to a week of assessed exercises which allow the company to assess your competence in the various aspects that the role requires.

The company is generally looking for a range of skills, traits and abilities, and the different exercises are designed to look for your competence in one or more of them. In future casts we’ll look at the specific types of exercise. In this cast, we just want to give you guidance on effective behaviors in the assessment center in general.

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives our guidance on finding a recruiter.

Whether you're currently in a search or not, having a relationship with a recruiter is important. Recruiters connect you to the marketplace, giving you valuable information about the density of available roles, salaries and growth. Recruiters also give you an opportunity to give back to the rest of your network by passing on (non-sensitive) information or making referrals.

The question is — how do you find one?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast concludes our guidance on answering illegal interview questions.

This cast addresses a question which people ask us a lot, and which comes up often on the forums … far more often than we've seen examples of illegal interview questions being asked. As we'll explain, more often it's a case of a clumsy interviewer, one who didn't quite express himself properly, or poor training, than actual INTENT to discriminate. At the end of the cast, we'll explain how the question is predicated on false assumption.

That said, if you are asked a question that you think is illegal, what do you do?

  [Play in Popup]

This cast gives our guidance on answering illegal interview questions.

This cast addresses a question which people ask us a lot, and which comes up often on the forums … far more often than we've seen examples of illegal interview questions being asked. As we'll explain, more often it's a case of a clumsy interviewer, one who didn't quite express himself properly, or poor training, than actual INTENT to discriminate. At the end of the cast, we'll explain how the question is predicated on false assumption.

That said, if you are asked a question that you think is illegal, what do you do?

  [Play in Popup]