How to Turn Interviews from Interrogations into Conversations

Hello Everyone, 

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by speaker Joellyn Schwerdlin. The facilitator for this week will be Gil Krispien, filling in for Laura Startzenbach who has a phone screen Friday morning. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Important Note: We are going to start the meeting on time at 10:00 AM. In the second hour, Joellyn will talk about "How to Turn Interviews from Interrogations into Conversations."

This is the 5th anniversary meeting of the Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) and what better way to celebrate this special occasion than to have Joellyn come back for her eighth visit.

How to Turn Interviews from Interrogations into Conversations

She will deliver the information in two parts: 

1) Performance and Preparation: How to use a “four categories of interview questions” strategy to help you: a) cut down on interview prep time; b) ease nervousness and performance anxiety; c) allow your best communication and human relations skills as well as enthusiasm for the job to shine through; d) engage authentically with the interviewers instead of feeling like you're stuck under the "kleig lights" of Q & A mode. 

2) Close-out and Follow-Up: a) How to answer “Do You Have Any Questions for Me?” at the end of the interview; b) how to establish a solid foundation for following up professionally at the end of the interview and afterward.

Joellyn will also be raffling off a book: "301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview" by John Kador. 

Joellyn Schwerdlin

Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin is a Certified Career Management Coach in private practice, serving executives, managers and professionals who need help with career redirection and productive job searching. Since 1991, Joellyn has coached countless clients in multiple industries and situations onto perfect career paths that are fun, fulfilling and financially-rewarding. Learn more about her services at www.career-success-coach.com.

Recap of HNG Meeting of April 4, 2014:

Our 119th meeting of HNG had 32 people, this is 11 more than the previous meeting; 2 signed the New Member list. William Lam was our facilitator. There were 2 introduction speeches. 

Four landings:
Chris Gruszka Started April 14, 2014 at Hitachi Data Systems in Waltham. (He was out nearly 11 months)
Gail Brodie Started April 14, 2014 at Saint-Gobati (She was out 5 years and 5 days, with short duration jobs in between)
Denise Pellegrino Started April 7, 2014 at Asend Learning in Burlington
Tom O'Connor Started Aril 7, 2014 as a Business Systems Analyst at Beacon Health Strategies in Boston (He was out 11 months)

We had speaker Randall Warniers who talked about "Networking From A to Z."
His topic included:
Networking is much more than an outreach activity you do when you are unemployed. It is an ongoing strategy for building and maintaining good relationships in the workplace and in your personal life. In this slide presentation and discussion he used the alphabet as an organizational tool to find new ways to highlight the essential components of a networking strategy. If your networking skills need to be energized, then this talk provided new insights and a new context for looking at what you can do.

Schedule for HNG Meetings:

May 2, 2014 Tom Ingrasia and Jared Chrudinsky "Motivating to Activate Your True Potential"

General Information 

The networking group meets in Hopkinton, at St. John the Evangelist Church parish hall. The meeting occurs, from 10 to 12 noon, and will meet the first and third Friday of the month. The parish hall has a capacity for 250 people and there is plenty of parking spaces in the parking lot and on the street. Around the perimeter of the parish hall are rooms to allow us to have focused network groups or for any other purpose we need. We chose the first and third Friday to allow everyone to attend the Acton Networking Group or any other networking group, if they wanted, on the Friday we do not meet.

We will maintain our close affiliation with Acton Networkers by using the same list-server to share information between the groups. Any e-mails specific to the Hopkinton Networking Group (HNG) will be indicated in the subject line either by "Hopkinton Networking Group" or "HNG"; this way anyone attending these meetings will know the e-mail is intended for them.

We will follow the following agenda items:
* Welcome
* Landings (with doughnuts)
* Announcements
* New member introductions
* Needs and Leads
* Speaker(s), Workshop, or Focus Group
* Cleanup

For those new members who give their introductions, this is what we would like to know:
* Name
* Skills and Value Statement
* Where have you been?
* Where are you going?
* Your title
* Your target companies
* Geography of search
* Name and e-mail address

If anyone wants to join our team, please let one of us know; we could always use the extra help and input for ideas.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Regards,
Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) Coordinators: 
Sheri Ablaza sheriablaza@gmail.com
Grace Carcich gracec814@gmail.com 
Emilia Gordon emiliagne@gmail.com 
Gil Krispien g.krispien@verizon.net 
William Lam wmlam508@yahoo.com 
Laura Startzenbach laura.startzenbach@gmail.com