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February 25, 2019

Entropy

“Only entropy comes easy.” – Anton Chekhov

Entropy, plainly defined is a lack of order or predictability or gradual decline into disorder. Entropy in our world is ever increasing, with the following framework, I will explain why.

Entropy

Entropy is a measure of disorder in a system. If for instance, your room is really tidy and organized, there is little entropy. When everything is laying around everywhere, there is a lot of entropy. In other instanced entropy is used to describe the lack of predictability or order, the decline into disorder. The above framework states that over time information increases, I will argue why information is equal to entropy, how these concepts are related, and why it is increasing.

Arrow of Time

My argument starts with the arrow of time, the travel from past to future. We cannot (in most cases) predict the future, but we can look back into the past. We can take actions to affect the future, but not the past. And more practically, we can turn eggs into omelettes, not the other way around. The arrow of time defines a distinction between the past and the future, something that is observable throughout the observable universe. Over time information increases in open systems, but lets first see how entropy influences closed systems.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics states: the entropy of a closed system will (practically) never decrease into the future. If for instance, we have an ice cube in a glass, over time it will dissolve into water. To argue that entropy has increased we only need to look at the arrangement of its molecules. To arrange them to make ice cubes, there are fewer ways of doing so than making the puddle of water. But what about putting the water back into the freezer? Won’t that decrease entropy then? The answer is no, you will burn calories, the freezer turns energy into heat, and overall the entropy in the whole system will increase. Here are some more examples:

Examples

A campfire – the fire and resulting warmth and ash a more dispersed (in terms of energy) than the original wood
The Sun – now a big ball of plasma, it will one day (in the far future) expand and dissipate
You – although your body may reduce entropy in the short term, in the long term your molecules will disperse again

Quantum Mechanics

Why does entropy increase? Why is there more entropy now than right after the Big Bang? Quantum mechanics is probabilistic and every quantum event, therefore, increases the disorder in the universe. Let me explain; there is no way of predicting where an electron is going to be, you only have probabilities where it might be. Therefore if you measure an electron – if you define its position – you add information. But how then is information equal to entropy?

Information is normally associated with order. For example, the tidy room can easily give you the information where your shirts are, or in which drawer your socks are. For ten different items of clothes, you will have ten points of information. Now consider the messy room, for every different item you have to remember the exact spot, there is no logical relationship between one sock and another. So if you have ten pieces of each different item of clothing, you will have 100 different points of information. Randomness or disorder therefore equal information, and when the one grows the other does too. Along the arrow of time, entropy and information in the universe increase.

When to Use

What does this mean for us mere humans? Should we embrace entropy and aim for as much information as possible? My answer is no. When you have a maximum amount of information, you will not necessarily have a maximum amount of meaning. Meaning is derived from a balance of order and entropy. This is why we people use models/frameworks/theories, to order information and at the same time leave room for randomness. This is where I believe we receive the most value and can learn the most.

On an ending note, I love that quantum measurement is not predictable. It means that we cannot predict the future, that all life is not determined before us. As much as we know that entropy will increase, we do not know how and where. We have the power to shape our own future and to use entropy to increase information.

“Entropy isn’t what it used to be.” – Thomas F. Shubnell

Fredkin’s Paradox

“Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.” – Albert Einstein

Fredkin’s Paradox states that the smaller the difference between two choices (making the decision less significant), the tougher the decision is to make; below is the associated framework

Paradox

A paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself, yet might be true. “This statement is false” is an example of the liar paradox, a second paradox type. The statement cannot be true and false at the same time. A proverbial paradox can be the following statement “To be kind, you sometimes have to be cruel”. This third kind of paradox refers to a person that acts in contrary to his character. The last refers to statements that conflict with common belief. Fredkin’s paradox best fits the last category.

Fredkin’s Paradox

Ever stood in the store deciding to have peanut butter with or without chunks for what seemed an eternity? Or have you taken more than an hour finding a flight that is just €10,- cheaper than the alternative? Then you have been exposed to the workings of the Fredkin’s paradox. The paradox states the following “… in a choice situation, as the options become more closely matched on utility, the decision becomes more difficult, but the consequences become less significant”. A decision between jam and peanut butter makes a bigger difference than adding nuts, but in most cases will take people only seconds to decide upon. When people have to decide between similar options, decision time may become longer instead of shorter.

The Curse of Choice

There are two related concepts that intertwine with Fredkin’s paradox, 1) too many options, and 2) cost of not deciding. In a chocolate store, there were more than 100 different kinds of chocolate on display, customers came from far away to see the shop, yet ended up buying only small amounts of chocolate. The shopkeeper could not figure out why people were not buying more chocolate and asked a psychologist to investigate. The psychologist soon found out that the customers were baffled by the number of choices and did not know whether to buy ‘orange dream cream’ or ‘fine peach white chocolate’. So he tried an experiment, setting up in the store a small part in which people could choose between (only) 5 different flavours. Although there was less to choose from (thus reducing the chance people could find their favourite chocolate), people now bought much more chocolate. This paradox can be explained partially by Fredkin’s paradox, and by the fact that people now had to process less information and were thus spending more time buying, and less time deciding.

Not deciding also brings along costs, costs that we might sometime forget to see. In his amusing book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely describes how a friend of him decided on buying a camera. He compared brands, he compared prices and eventually came to compare two almost identical models. He studied each detail and eventually picked the one best suited for his needs. Then Ariely asked him about how many photo opportunities he had missed in the last three months whilst he was comparing cameras? We do not get to see the answer, but it sure is more than the advantage of picking one nearly identical model over the other. Fredkin’s paradox not only scoops away time, but the indecision in the meantime also costs you.

Examples

Comparing two cars on the account of one having a cup holder
Fighting over which route to take when both differ in time by only 5 minutes
Deciding between 50 types of Italian ice cream for the next 10 minutes

When to Use

What are we to do with this information you may ask. The takeaway message is to stop worrying about small decisions. Think about the impact the outcomes will have on your life and how insignificant the decision will be in the long run. Even when you are making a truly big decision (e.g. which job to take), do not get lost in details (about vacation days and other benefits), take most or your time to think about the things that make the largest impact (the work you will be doing). Next time you are in the supermarket think about the Fredkin’s paradox and challenge yourself to half the time you spend there.

“We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.” – Oscar Wilde

How to Learn Anything Faster With The Feynman Technique

“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.” – Richard Feynman

The Feynman Technique helps you to understand, recall and explain anything in under 20 minutes. Do you want to know how; use the framework below

Why

Because learning is not about remembering something difficult, but it is about making things easier. The Feynman technique can be used for anything, from understanding a simple problem to grasping quantum physics. By forcing yourself to make something easier, you will remember it better!

1) Choose a Concept

Everything from gravity or our solar system to business cards or bonsai trees goes. The Feynman technique can be used to tackle most of the world’s concepts. Even if a concept consists of multiple parts (e.g. how wars start), you can use multiple paragraphs to explain it…

2) Explain it like I am 5

… like I am 5 years old. This forces you to make it really simple. You cannot use words like ‘transpose’ or ‘novella’, keep it simple. One other way, most useful for explaining technology, is to put yourself in the shoes of your (grand)parents. This has the advantage that you will not accidentally be patronizing your public. Sidenote: I took the ELI5 acronym from the subreddit /r/explainlikeim5 – a great place for explanations!

3) Pinpoint Your Knowledge Gap

If you cannot find the words to describe your concept in layman terms, get your nose back into the books. Making a simple explanation thus pushes you towards really understanding and interpreting what you read, not just skimming the text.

4) Use an Analogy

Working with abstract concepts, or is your concept still just too difficult for the 5-year-old you? Try using an analogy to link the concept to something you already know. This has the advantage of connecting old and new knowledge in your head and helps you better remember the new concept.

5) Simplify the Concept

If in the end, your concept is still too hard to grasp, try simplifying it once more. Sometimes it is better to lose some details along the way if that makes it easier for you to remember a concept (versus forgetting it altogether).

Examples

Gravity is the attraction of very large objects on smaller objects, like the earth on you and me
A novella is a short book that tells a story just from the perspective of the main character in the book
A bonsai tree is a miniature tree. Just like your miniature car, it is made of the same things as the big thing, but only smaller

When to Use

Almost always. Use it to explain things to yourself when you are studying, use it to explain difficult concepts to others (e.g. in this blog), or of course when talking to your 5-year-old niece/nephew.

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.” – Richard Feynman

More onthe Feynman Technique:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrNqSLPaZLc – Youtube video on the Feynman Technique

http://trevormcglynn.co/2014/05/29/learn-anything-with-the-feynman-technique/ – Related blog on the Feynman Technique

http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2012/04/learn-anything-faster-with-the-feynman-technique/ – Another related blog on the Feynman Technique

February 25, 2019

Factfulness

Please read Factfulness by Hans Rosling! Although I was already familiar with quite some of his work, Hans does a great job of showing how the world really is. And it’s middle-class, more equal (at least in education) than expected, more beautiful than you see on the 6 o-clock news. Through misconceptions we have, interspersed with personal anecdotes, the book is a perfect (and not too long) read to get you seeing the world in a new light.

Here are the misconceptions, but before that, his TED Talks.

https://www.ted.com/playlists/474/the_best_hans_rosling_talks_yo

Gap: Look for the majority (they are at level 2 instead of 1)
Negativity: Expect bad news (even if the trend is positive)
Straight line: Don’t always assume a straight line as the trend (it can curve in many ways)
Fear: Calculate the risks (don’t only trust on gut feelings)
Size: Get things in proportion
Generalisation: Question your categories (think not Muslim and terrorist)
Destiny: Slow change is still change
Single: A hammer needs a nail, you can see things from different perspectives
Blame: Resist pointing your finger (and as with single, don’t seek one simple explanation)
Urgency: Take small steps!

And this is what Bill Gates has to say:

https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Factfulness

” My late friend Hans Rosling called the labels “outdated” and “meaningless.” Any categorization that lumps together China and the Democratic Republic of Congo is too broad to be useful. But I’ve continued to use “developed” and “developing” in public (and on this blog) because there wasn’t a more accurate, easily understandable alternative—until now.”

February 25, 2019

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

As with my first attempt about 2 years back, I’m struggling to get through the whole book. The level of detail is great, but too much for me personally to get through. I will continue to the conclusions to see if I can find anything else that I want/should mention before writing down my notes.

In the end I did finish the whole book and found it a very interesting read/listen. Here are some pointers:

Inequality is real and growing
That by itself isn’t perse bad, but the consequences of it, and the position it brings a large portion of the population in, is bad
It’s poverty we don’t want to have / want to reduce, and to raise the living standards of millions. (also see Factfulness)
Capital makes more money than wages ( r (rents) is greater than g (growth)). There really isn’t a way around it
Population isn’t growing much in level 4 (developed) countries, and this will be the same the world around sooner than later
Taxation of capital could be the way to go, but with taxation competition between countries, this is very unlikely to happen
The 1% in terms of wealth is much richer than the 1% of income. Many (from memory 40%+) doesn’t really own anything. A very small percentage owns most
And when talking about that small percentage, focus on the 1-5%, not the 0,0001%, they might have a higher relative percentage, but in terms of total influence, the former group is much more important

All right, these are my notes for now. I might add some more at another time.

February 21, 2019

Enlightenment Now

Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker is the follow-up to Better Angels of Our Nature. It’s another great epic that looks at human progress. This time not only at war and violence, but also at many more of the progress that we’ve made in the 21st century.

A critique I hear (with the Effective Altruism) community, is that he isn’t realistic/pessimistic enough about future threads. In this review I want to mainly focus on that and see if I can distil my thoughts here too.

ABC TBD

February 21, 2019

Reaching Goals with Implementation Intentions

Making goals is only half the story on the long road to achieving them. For a person to successfully reach a goal, he or she first has to avoid many temptations. Along the way, there may be more compelling goals, activities or opportunities to pursue. You are left wondering what will help you reach that goal in a convenient way, a way that makes use of the less is more heuristic. Luckily such a system exists and is called implementation intentions; ‘I will do Y when situation Z presents itself’. This article will explain the way implementation intentions work and how you can best benefit from them.

To better understand implementation intentions the first focus will be upon goal intentions; ‘I am planning to achieve X’. This is in itself a good thing to do, to set a horizon and know what you want to do. To be as successful as possible a goal intention should be both challenging and specific. It should be able to give you feedback, be proximal (rather than distal), framed as a learning goal (rather than performance), and promotional (rather than prevention). A good example would be ‘I am planning to write one article next week’ (see that one part is missing however). By making a goal intentions you are committing yourself to the goal. The only bad luck is that goal intentions only predict 20-30% of the variance in behaviour, or in other words, it is not very predictive of future behaviour. This is where implementation intentions make their contribution.

An implementation intention specifies how, where, and when you are going to achieve your goal. You are now not linking yourself to the end goal, but you are linking yourself to the fact that you are going to react a certain way in a certain situation. Implementation intentions, via this mechanism, lead to the automating of the goal-directed behaviour on the moment the situation occurs. The control over the behaviour is given to the environment. The less is more heuristic at work here is that you will not have to constantly remind yourself about the goal, only when a certain situation occurs you will perform the goal-directed behaviour. The conscious and effort-full control of the goal-directed behaviour is being automatically controlled by selected situational cues.

Let us now consider two examples of implementation intentions directed to support our earlier goal intention. One to promote the achievement of the goal could be ‘I will work on my article the next time I am at the computer and on the internet’. This is a cue that will most definitively occur in the coming week and allows the person to achieve the goal rapidly. Implementation intentions can also be used as peripheral statements, for instance, to stop behaviour that inhibits productivity. One statement could say ‘I will read my articles when I am on my computer’, through this the person will do his homework first and only then write an article.

Knowing now what goal intentions and implementation intentions are, it is vital to know how effective they are. The most effective way of implementing implementation intentions is to make them for difficult-to-implement goals. There is a high likelihood that you will be tempted to do other things (for instance, watch a series on the internet) and implementation intentions can effectively steer you to do the goal-directed behaviour. For more easy-to-implement goals an implementation intention has a little extra effect since a person was already likely to reach a goal. This does however not mean that it has any negative effects and can always be used.

To take home is the advice to use implementation intentions. The theory behind the principle is easy and making use of implementation intentions is even easier. Every time you make a commitment to achieve a goal you will specify when to execute the behaviour. This will help you develop both good habits (e.g. I will do my exercises whenever I open the curtains) and reach difficult goals.

References & Further Reading:

1. Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions – Strong effects of simple plans.American Psychologist, 54, 493-503.

2. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstatter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 186-199.

3. Sheeran, P., Webb, T.L., & Gollwitzer, P.M. (2005). The interplay between goal intentions and implementation intentions Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,31, 87-98.

4. http://psp.sagepub.com/content/23/9/945.abstract

5. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/22/a-formula-for-success-the-power-of-implementation-intentions/

6. http://zenhabits.net/fear-not/

February 21, 2019

Less is More

Trying to meet with an executive can be a tough challenge, they never seem to have the time. When people climb the hierarchy of organizations their agenda’s become more and more cluttered and workload only seems to increase. But why do the brightest and best in their job have to work more and more? Why do they not decrease the amount of time spend working and start doing more in less time? This article is about doing the right things and provides the reader with useful tips along the way. In this article three topics are covered; meetings, project management, and time management.

Meeting Cancelled

Meetings should serve a goal, and that could be one of three; 1) informing others, 2) making a decision, and/or 3) working together. When none of these goals is achieved or will be likely to be achieved, a meeting can be cancelled. The only reason for getting together with a group of people is to advance the work, not to express your frustrations, bore others to death, or stay indecisive. Therefore meetings that were planned in advance and no longer will be likely to fulfil one of the goals should also be cancelled.

Are you however still in need of informing others, making a decision, or working together? Ask yourself if there is an alternative like phone calls, Skype, emails, or IM. All will probably reduce the time needed for travel, unnecessary attendance, and frustrations. When you do decide that a meeting is necessary the next decision should be about who to invite. As a rule of thumb, you should only invite people who help to develop one of the three goals a meeting can have. Fewer meetings with fewer people can significantly allow for more time to work on other things.

During the meeting itself, the goal should be clear per topic. Of course, there should be an agenda and appropriate facilities for presentations or alike. More tips on how to conduct an effective meeting are stated in a previous article – Effective Meetings.

Give Responsibility

Working with a team means that you will have to delegate some of the work. This principle is the same for a CEO as is for a project leader at a high school project. Both groups, and everyone else can benefit from delegating tasks. This does not mean however that you give other people a task, and then ask/check/control them every single minute of every single day until it is finished. This means that you should be able to (mentally) let go and trust the other person.

Trough this act of letting go, you empower the other person. When done right your team-member will feel ownership for the assigned task and will be intrinsically motivated to accomplish the task. Less control will result in more productivity, and less wasted time by both yourself and the person you have delegated the work to.

Reserve Downtime

Not only does the less is more principle apply for meetings and working in a team, for your personal effectiveness rest is of vital importance. When working continuously, as many CEO’s do, people forget to take time for breaks, family or weekend. Your cognitive capacity starts to hinder already after 2 hours of work, imagine working at 80% or 60% for the remainder of the day. So make sure to take regular breaks, even as many as one per hour (for 10 minutes).

Also, be aware that some of the best idea’s pop into your head when you are not actively focussing on a certain topic. So take time off during the evening and spend it with your family. Keep the weekend clear of appointments and reserve time to do things that have nothing to do with work. This will allow your brain to recover and ideas to settle/crystallize. Less work can result in more productivity.

Less is more is, of course, a rule of thumb. A very useful one, one that you should keep in your minds-eye before planning unnecessary meetings, keeping a close eye on your team members, or when you want to go work after having worked 10 hours already. And maybe there is even one more place where less is more applies; less worrying is more happiness!

References & Further Reading:

1. http://lifehacker.com/5992224/if-youre-not-making-a-decision-sharing-information-or-brainstorming-dont-have-a-meeting

2. http://vpaa.unt.edu/how-to-effective-meeting.pdf

3. http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/cd/other/fs9729.pdf

4. http://people.ucalgary.ca/~design/engg251/First%20Year%20Files/effect_meet.pdf

5. http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2013/03/01/5-simple-steps-to-more-efficient-effective-meetings/

6. http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/2013/03/28/how-to-delegate-work-effectively/

7. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_98.htm

8. http://greatist.com/happiness/how-stay-focused-work

9. http://ergonomics.about.com/od/ergonomicbasics/f/What-Is-a-Human-Cognitive-Capability.htm

10. http://blog.haygroup.com/five-steps-to-effective-delegation

11. http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2013/09/27/in-praise-of-lazy-managers/

February 21, 2019

4 Steps of Transformational Leadership in Practice

This post was from September 2013.

This is a guest post by my Canadian friend Naomi Cheng, she was an inspirational leader for the Avenue 15, SIFE/Enactus project. Motivating people and giving personal consideration are no stranger to her. As a recent graduate and HR Analyst at Shell she found the time to make this incredible guest post, please visit her Tumblr

Transformational Leadership in Practice

Leadership has always been a particular interest of mine ever since I started university and became involved in many extracurricular activities. Like you probably have, I’ve come into contact with many ‘good’ leaders, and also many ‘bad’ leaders in both school and work. So although I had a general idea as to what makes a good leader due to these past experiences, I wanted to see what the research said and consciously make an effort to become a better leader to other people. In addition, there is an increasing trend of companies evaluating potential interns and new grads not just on their grades, but also on their leadership experience. Extracurricular experience, at least in Canada, is now no longer an option if you want to be competitive with other students when looking for jobs. And it’s not just a line on your resume – it’s your tangible leadership experiences that employers want you to be able to explain and quantify.

Although there are varying definitions of leadership, it is generally accepted as the process where an individual influences others toward the accomplishment of collective goals. So what makes a great leader?

There are many theories of leadership and what makes a great leader, but transformational leadership has arguably been one of the most popular areas of leadership research in the last two decades. Research has shown that transformational leadership produces higher job satisfaction and increased productivity and morale, among other things. As job satisfaction is another interest of mine, I delved deeper into transformational leadership.

Bass’ 1985 theory sets out four dimensions of transformational leadership. These components were initially drawn from interviews where participants described the types of leaders that caused them to perform above and beyond their expectations, and later, through refined questionnaires and analysis. The four dimensions are as follows: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration.

1. Idealized Influence

Idealized influence is often seen as the most important dimension because it includes being a role model to others around you. In practice, it means ‘walking the talk’. If the group you’re a leader for prescribes to a certain set of standards and behaviour, make sure you embody these standards. Others will want to look up to you and respect you if you follow the rules and act in a way you expect your followers to act. Your behaviour should influence your followers and as a result, they will become empowered due to the your dedication, purpose, and confidence to the group. They want to be like you.

2. Inspirational Motivation

Inspirational motivation includes communicating an engaging and inspiring vision to others and transferring your enthusiasm for your vision over to your followers. In practice, this means being truly passionate about your vision and spreading that passion to others through words and actions. For example, if your student club is focused on volunteerism and making a difference in the community, you can start your group meetings by highlighting one notable volunteer event coming up or having everyone come to the meeting prepared with a community organization your club may want to partner with. By making your vision a focus at every meeting and event, your followers will be more likely to ‘buy-in’ to the greater goal of your organization. As well, you are providing meaning for the tasks at hand so that your followers understand how their work contributes to the larger objective.

3. Intellectual Stimulation

Intellectual stimulation is defined as stimulating innovation and creativity among your followers by questioning and challenging the status quo. This means adopting a more participatory style of leadership where your subordinates are able to question your ideas and think for themselves. For example, I ran a project that taught job skills to homeless youth and pregnant young women. While I had a basic slide deck for my presenters to use, I encouraged them to be creative when facilitating these sessions and use their own experiences and resources to deliver the class. I was pleasantly surprised to see many new ideas come up from my group members that made the job skills sessions more interactive, interesting, and relevant to the target population. In addition, my team felt more empowered to make decisions themselves and hold themselves accountable. They were challenged, and responded well to the challenge.

4. Individual Consideration

Individual consideration involves being supportive of and giving attention to each individual follower’s feelings and needs. Especially if you’re in charge of a large number of people, it is easy to focus solely on the work that needs to be done and making sure all deliverables are completed on time. It’s extremely important to make time for each of your followers by checking up on them once in a while on a personal basis, and listening to their concerns or ideas. Your followers need to feel like they are a valued part of the team (especially if they’re volunteering their time) and that you truly appreciate their contributions and care about them.

Final Thoughts

I believe we can all learn to be better leaders not just by emulating those we look up to, but also by structuring our own behaviour to reflect what research has shown makes a great leader. And even if you don’t have time to stay up-to-date with research publications, my best advice would be to be open to feedback from others. Ask your group members or direct reports how they feel about your management style and solicit suggestions for improvement (this is like individual consideration, see?). I find people will respect you more when you’re a confident, capable leader, and also willing to take constructive feedback and always looking to improve yourself.

References & Further Reading:

1. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York, NY: Free Press.

2. Bass, B. M. (1998). Transformational leadership: Industry, military, and educational impact. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

3. Hautala, T. M. (2005). The effects of subordinates’ personality on appraisals of transformational leadership. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 11(4), 84-92.

4. Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2000). Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 751–765.

5. Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2004). Personality and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 901-910.

6. Kent, T. W., Crotts, J. C., & Azziz, A. (2001). Four factors of transformational leadership behavior. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 22(56), 221-229.

Written by Naomi Cheng

Naomi Cheng is a student leader just turned employee leader – she will get very far in life

February 21, 2019

How To Rock Your Job Interview

First written in May 2013.

A job interview, it is every student’s biggest nightmare, every applicants moment of fear. Yet at the same time, an interview is your moment of glory, a moment to express your qualities and show what you are worth and what your future potential holds. This article will describe in depth some steps leading towards the job interview, the interview itself and what to do afterwards. The advice given follows both from the literature and the experience of the author in interviewing applicants.

Curriculum Vitae

Two pages of text to describe your whole (student) career up until this point, that is all you get. Or actually even less than that if you take into account how long every hiring manager will probably be spending reading your resume; about 20 to 30 seconds. It is, therefore, most important to stand out and have a perfect resume. Choose for quality over quantity, name the things that you have done well and turn your responsibilities into achievement statements. Be concrete, use examples (and numbers) to validate your achievements. At the same time, keep it simple; no one will be impressed by the word-art anymore nowadays.

Not so long ago resumes were sent via the post office, now you will most probably send it via email. Make sure to send it as a .pdf. Nothing is more regrettable than sending a .docx that you forgot to save when you updated or that is full of red underlining. By saving your resume as a .pdf you make sure you will both check the CV and that it will look exactly the same when arriving at the company.

Of course, you do not want to send the exact same resume to every company you would love to work for. Personalize your resume for every different job. Write the language they speak, appeal to their values (which are probably on their website). Next to change the description of your former experience also edit the former jobs to display, to make the job your applying for look like the natural thing to do.

One last tip for writing a resume is to be creative. There is a big chance that a lot of other applicants have searched the web and have optimized their resume, customized it for the job and showcased their achievements. Make your resume stand out by doing something others do not have, this can be everything from a special design to having an experience or skill that no other applicant has. See below for an example CV.

(I had an example here, but it’s a bit outdated now)

Motivation

Now that you have your customized CV for the job, it is time to start working on the motivation or cover letter. The goal is to show your interest in the job, your specific motivation, your skills and how to follow-up. This all must be conveyed on one page, remember that the hiring managers have a limited amount of time. The first paragraph includes why you are applying for the job. Give mention of where you have found the application. If this is via a person working at the firm, feel free to mention his or her name.

The following paragraphs are to describe what you have to offer the employer. This is the place to describe your skills that match the wanted skills on the job offer. Do not hesitate to use the language the job offer is using too, but do not overdo it. You are taking things from and are relating to your resume, but here too do not have too much overlap. Here is also the place to elaborate on something that is really great about your resume, or something where there might be a gap.

The final paragraph is to thank the employer for considering you for the position. It is also the place to refer to your resume and to include information on how to follow-up. Most of the time this will be a referral to your means of contact and that you would love to be invited to a job interview (to which we will come next). End the letter with a complimentary close (e.g. Respectfully yours,) and add a signature.

Job Interview – Preparation

Now that you have passed the first two hurdles it is time for the job interview itself. There is a vast amount of things you can do beforehand and on the day of the interview itself. Always read up on the company, know what they stand for, but also zoom in on the department you are applying for, know what they do. To do this you can always call the company itself if you have not done some of this research beforehand. A good candidate prepares both for the questions that will be asked (e.g. Name 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses), but also prepares questions himself. Ask something about where the department or company is heading, how the interviewer got there or how the culture is at the company, and what they expect from you if in the next 30-90 days if they hire you. One other type of question is to specify on something the interviewer is asking you if he is being unclear on what he wants to know you have all the right to ask for clarification (which will improve your answer significantly).

But back to the preparations. When anticipating for questions about the job skills, your experience and abilities it is good to write your answers down. It is even better to practice with a friend (or multiple friends). You will find out that practising the answers to common questions allows you to answer them fluently, reduce your thinking time and makes you more confident about your answers. When practising with a friend make sure to ask him or her to add some questions, this will keep things novel and also prepare you for those questions that were not on your list.

On the day of the job interview, you will want to wear the clothing you will be wearing on the job itself. If in doubt what to wear, choose to overdress instead of underdressing. Here again, it is not a shame to ask someone working at the company what is customary. Have a good night sleep before the interview and reserve time in the morning for a good shower, shave and breakfast. Nothing is a bigger turndown than someone not looking fresh, they also expect you to look your best when you have the job. The breakfast serves the function of providing you with rich nutrition and energy during the interview. For an interview that is during the afternoon, exercising is also a good idea. This promotes the blood flow and reduces stress levels, but do not forget to change back into your formal wear.

Job Interview – The Interview

When you walk into the building, about 10 minutes before the interview, be courteous to everyone you meet. You are there to leave the best impression possible, this also includes the lady from the front desk. Smile friendly and sincerely, an interviewer most probably knows how to read body language very well and spots a fake smile from a mile away. Speak clearly and sit in an active position (chest up, shoulders back, chin up). This allows your voice to carry better and showcases confidence.

One thing that is overlooked sometimes, is to be honest. During an interview, you may feel you need to conceal things that do not make you look good. But remember that there is a large chance that the interviewer already knows this (via a background check). And by telling something about something not so great (e.g. failing a study) you have the chance to show your side of the story and make the truth look as good as it gets. This also shows character on your part, and who knows this gives way to a connection with the interviewer who has had a similar experience.

When you are invited for the job interview the employer knows you are a competent and smart person. So keep it short and simple during the interview. Structure your answers to be between 30 and 90 seconds of length, any shorter will make you look unqualified and any longer will make them lose interest in the answer. Incorporate some humour into the interview, you do not want to come over too stale, and at the same time avoid slang-words and humour that can be interpreted in a bad way or that are off-colour. Also talk about what your friends think you are good at, skip the part where you refer to your friends and be confident in that you possess the skill you are speaking about.

As with your skills, also get your personality across, be personable. The interviewer has to remember you for who you are and not think of you as number 3 from school X. Try and come over as genuine a person as possible and show that you are warmhearted or extrovert when you are. Have something pop out, make them remember you by the thing that characterizes you best.

Job Interview – After

When you came into the door you give a firm handshake to the interviewer with which you expressed your confidence, liking of the interviewer and excitement for the interview. You looked the interviewer in the eye and made a connection. Do this again when you leave, convey that you found the interview to be pleasant and that you love to hear from them again. You can also send a thank you note or letter after the interview, thank them for the time and if you really forgot something important you can subtly add it too. If after two weeks you still have not heard anything from the interviewer you can contact them and inform about it.

In this rather long article, the author has tried to give an oversight of the things to do before, during and after a job interview. There are a lot of techniques mentioned. There are however many more out there that will help you succeed in finding your dream job. Please do take some time to read through the materials and practice beforehand. Although it may seem like a lot to do, it will determine the rest of your life and will have a significant return on investment!