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help!
this is me, asking advice from people who interview better than i do.
background: when last i was up DC-way, waiting in the lobby of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jgesteve and datlowen's building for them (and fafou, mearagrrl, and fafou's G-Lurve) to return with the porn and chicken, i was chatting with the very nice lady behind the desk and it came up that the management company is always interested in hiring new people; provides moving assistance for their employees; and also gives a substantial (though she didn't say how substantial) rent discount to employees. so my thought was, get hired by that company full-time, get moved, get the rent break (without which i certainly couldn't afford to live in one of their buildings), cut back to part-time after seven or eight months when (god willing) school begins, and keep the rent break (which the nice lady seemed to think would be no problem). so i applied.
and got a call today! applied yesterday afternoon, got a call at about 9:30 this morning. huzzah!
sadly, it turns out that the website didn't mention that the gig i'd applied for was 11pm-7am wednesday through friday (and 3pm-11pm saturday and sunday). SUCKS! (other listings, for the same position at different properties, did mention the hours. this one didn't. grr.) but the girl who called me said she'd forward my information to other properties who might need someone in the day shifts. so i don't actually have an interview scheduled right now -- the position, by the way, is in this case Resident Relations [Associate/Coordinator] (i've applied for both of these, but not for Manager) -- but when i do, i'll need Good Answers to the following questions:
clothes: i thought i'd wear a suit. that's never wrong, is it?
hair: is pulling it back (not into a plain ponytail, but something moderately decorative) enough, or does it need to be up? i assume leaving it loose would be bad.
makeup: is it okay not to wear makeup? will this be shooting myself in the foot?
jewelry: all i have pierced is my ears, but i have six earrings (three pairs, i mean). i assume i should take out all but one pair? i don't tend to wear more than one ring at a time, so there's no worries there.
the actual interview: if the interviewer doesn't bring it up, what's a graceful way to ask about benefits -- specifically, in this case, about the housing discount, which if it's not big enough i won't be able to justify not taking this other, cheaper apartment in a location that's Very Good but not as good as some of the ones where this company's properties are (the feature making the difference being proximity to the metro)?
all thoughts welcome. thanks!
background: when last i was up DC-way, waiting in the lobby of
jgesteve and datlowen's building for them (and fafou, mearagrrl, and fafou's G-Lurve) to return with the porn and chicken, i was chatting with the very nice lady behind the desk and it came up that the management company is always interested in hiring new people; provides moving assistance for their employees; and also gives a substantial (though she didn't say how substantial) rent discount to employees. so my thought was, get hired by that company full-time, get moved, get the rent break (without which i certainly couldn't afford to live in one of their buildings), cut back to part-time after seven or eight months when (god willing) school begins, and keep the rent break (which the nice lady seemed to think would be no problem). so i applied.and got a call today! applied yesterday afternoon, got a call at about 9:30 this morning. huzzah!
sadly, it turns out that the website didn't mention that the gig i'd applied for was 11pm-7am wednesday through friday (and 3pm-11pm saturday and sunday). SUCKS! (other listings, for the same position at different properties, did mention the hours. this one didn't. grr.) but the girl who called me said she'd forward my information to other properties who might need someone in the day shifts. so i don't actually have an interview scheduled right now -- the position, by the way, is in this case Resident Relations [Associate/Coordinator] (i've applied for both of these, but not for Manager) -- but when i do, i'll need Good Answers to the following questions:
clothes: i thought i'd wear a suit. that's never wrong, is it?
hair: is pulling it back (not into a plain ponytail, but something moderately decorative) enough, or does it need to be up? i assume leaving it loose would be bad.
makeup: is it okay not to wear makeup? will this be shooting myself in the foot?
jewelry: all i have pierced is my ears, but i have six earrings (three pairs, i mean). i assume i should take out all but one pair? i don't tend to wear more than one ring at a time, so there's no worries there.
the actual interview: if the interviewer doesn't bring it up, what's a graceful way to ask about benefits -- specifically, in this case, about the housing discount, which if it's not big enough i won't be able to justify not taking this other, cheaper apartment in a location that's Very Good but not as good as some of the ones where this company's properties are (the feature making the difference being proximity to the metro)?
all thoughts welcome. thanks!
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clothes: i thought i'd wear a suit. that's never wrong, is it?
That should be fine. I don't know how conservative this place is, but you might be better off if it's not totally boring. Shouldn't matter too much, though.
hair: I don't remember how long yours is now, but leaving it down is probably fine if it's neat. Otherwise pulling it back is fine, maybe use a barrette instead of an elastic.
makeup: I never wear makeup, but I usually do put it on for interviews. And, at my last job, if I was meeting with customers, I'd wear some. I'd suggest using a little, but don't go overboard.
jewelry: Personally, I wear two pairs to interviews all the time--usually a little pair of studs in the second holes. These days I honestly don't know if anyone would care about your three. They'd probably be happy it wasn't your tongue.
the actual interview: I don't know if I'd talk benefits during the first interview. That could be part of the negotiations if they make you an offer. I know when I was interviewing, if people got too hung up on benefits, it would make me a little wary. And you'll have more power if you wait till they're sure they want to hire you than if they're still interviewing a bunch more people.
Good luck! It sounds like this might work out really well.
no subject
nope. Always better to be overdressed than underdressed.
hair: is pulling it back (not into a plain ponytail, but something moderately decorative) enough, or does it need to be up? i assume leaving it loose would be bad.
not necessarily. as long as it's neat and clean, leaving it down is fine. You may feel that you look more together or dressed up with it pulled back, and that's cool.
makeup: is it okay not to wear makeup? will this be shooting myself in the foot?
this is a toughie. as i recall, you don't ordinarily wear makeup. the only problem is that you don't want the interviewer to get the impression that you didn't make an effort for the interview, which they might think if you are not wearing any makeup. I would suggest wearing just a little, but only as much as you are comfortable with.
jewelry: all i have pierced is my ears, but i have six earrings (three pairs, i mean). i assume i should take out all but one pair? i don't tend to wear more than one ring at a time, so there's no worries there.
hmm. if you take any out, just the one pair. double piercing is practically conservative now.
the actual interview: if the interviewer doesn't bring it up, what's a graceful way to ask about benefits -- specifically, in this case, about the housing discount, which if it's not big enough i won't be able to justify not taking this other, cheaper apartment in a location that's Very Good but not as good as some of the ones where this company's properties are (the feature making the difference being proximity to the metro)?
well, there would inevitably be a point at which the interviewer asked if you have questions, and you could just say "could you briefly run over the benefits? the woman i spoke to mentioned something about a housing discount?"
no subject
i was just about to mention this too. you might want to have some other questions ready too, about your duties and whatnot so you appear interested in doing the job*, assuming that they haven't covered everything you thought of. (if they have, try "well, you've certainly answered all the questions i had about the job itself, but i did have a question about the benefits....")
* not that you wouldn't be interested in the job, of course, but communication of that is key, etc. :)
on the other hand, remember that an interview is as much about the employer selling the job as about the employee selling their job skills. they'll want to make this job sound fantastic, even if it's not. listen carefully to what they offer!
no subject