Some lucky people look at a job interview with happy anticipation. Others — most of us — don’t.

Here are some tips to help you ace the job interview.

1) Before you go to the interview, be sure you’ve researched the company a bit. Study the website, Google the firm and see what comes up. You can practically guarantee that the interviewer will ask you to “tell me a bit about what you know about the company.” You’ll want to know something. And the more, the better.

2) As you prepare for the interview, select three to five of your best accomplishments or skills that you feel best showcase your candidacy As you interview, you’ll want to aim to keep or steer the conversation so that you’ll be able to bring these accomplishments/skills up to the interviewer. Doing so will help the hiring manager see what you bring to the company.

3) Remember that there really are two purposes to an interview. The first is to showcase your talents (see above). The second is to ascertain if the position is something that will benefit you, that it will move your career in the direction you wish. You also should aim to thoroughly understand the job’s requirements.

You’ll do this by 4) asking intelligent questions. A good interview is not one where the hiring manager alone asks questions while you just sit and answer. No. A good interview is one in which you ask questions, too. Doing so shows the interviewer that you’re really interested in the job. When you ask questions, keep the queries about pay, benefits, paid time off, out of the equation (for the time being). Instead, ask questions such as “Why is the position open?” “What opportunities for advancement are there?” “If you had to require just one skill for this position, what would it be?” “What projects are in the works?” “What would be the very first task you’ll want the person you hire for this position to tackle?”

5) Don’t forget to prepare for “hard” questions. Questions such as “Why should I hire you?” “What do you bring to the table that no other candidate does?” “Tell me about a time you made a big mistake on the job and what you did as a result?” (Hint, the hiring manager wants to know how you fixed the problem and what you learned as a result.)

Understand that the better prepared you are the better your chances of receiving a job offer. When choosing between candidates who generally have the same skills and background, employers tend to go with applicants who took the time to prepare for their job interview.

Bring your résumé, your three to five accomplishments — and a list of great questions to ask — to C.R. Fletcher, Inc. Associates. We can help you find your next position in marketing, human resources, administration, accounting, IT, purchasing, legal and light industrial at some of the Syracuse area’s best firms. We look forward to hearing from you.

The differences between Boomers and Generation X workers is both more simple and complex than one would think.

Or so says research conducted by the University of Illinois and published in the Academy of Management Review in 2010 .

The study found that companies lean toward relying on stereotypes at the expense of other relevant facts.

Researchers also stated that “there are no one-size-fits-all-solutions. Just as we don’t want to take more simplistic approaches in race and gender issues, we shouldn’t automatically assume that a gray-haired man isn’t on Facebook or good at technology. Assumptions based solely on age can lead to some very faulty conclusions and missteps.”

The study took data from years and decades passed and identified three factors that researchers felt could contribute to what it called “generational factions” which could keep workers from working together and spreading knowledge.

Age, of course, was one of the factors. However, researchers found that workers were more differentiated by their common experiences of significant events, giving as examples workers who lived through World War II, compared to those who came of age when President Kennedy was shot or who were working when the 9/11 attacks occurred. These, the researchers found, could grow subgroups within single generations.

Another factor was multi-generational. For example, even if a worker is in his late 20s or early 30s, if he or she started at your firm 10 years ago, the worker may have more in common with another worker in her 40s or 50s who also started 10 years ago than another late-20-something who started just two years ago. The workers with the decade-long tenure will remember when your firm didn’t use e-mail as much to communicate with workers, for example.

According to one researcher (Aparna Joshi, a professor of labor and employment relations), “[w]hat we are headed toward is creating a better understanding of the complexities of generations in the workplace and, we hope, more realistic solutions. Businesses need to make targeted diagnosis like a doctor diagnoses an illness, rather than just prescribing penicillin for every ailment.

“It’s human nature that workers interact with their cohorts, seeking out their own,” Joshi continued. “Figuring out ways to bring them together will allow companies to tap into all of those knowledge silos and reach full potential.”

When looking or great temporary or direct-hire employees for your Syracuse-area firm, contact CR Fletcher Associates, Inc. We’ll help you find talented and reliable workers for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire assignments. Contact us today!