If you would like to be considered for any of our current positions or your experience matches the areas of our specialties: supply chain, operations for supply chain & manufacturing, or engineering, please send us a copy of your resume with the following additional information:
• Your Relocation or Commute Limitations
• Current Salary and the beginning salary we should contact you about a position
• Specific Career Desires or Will Nots we should know

We will contact you if you match a current search, but time does not allow us to respond to everyone, we hope you understand.


BASIC INTERVIEW PREPARATION Some of this you may know- our experience says it will help you prepare!

1. Put together a list of questions to cover the four topics listed below. You want to do this for several reasons. These questions will make the interview more conversational and less like an interrogation. You want to learn as much as you can about the job, to determine if this is what you want or to choose between different job opportunities. Just because the interviewer is doing the interview, it does not mean they are good at interviewing. So you can ask questions that only someone that knows as much you, would even know to ask and that can be more impressive than good answers. It lets them know your depth of knowledge, even if they don’t ask the right questions. The four main topics are:

• Write questions about the job and the kind of person they are looking to hire. Besides direct questions like “What are the duties and responsibilities?”, ask probing questions like, “After 3 months, how will you know if I am being successful?”

• Write questions about the company, to show interest in the company. To show that you are taking this seriously, begin a few questions with a statement of a fact that you have researched and tag the question on to the end.

• Write questions about the person that is interviewing you. You want to build some rapport and people like it when you show an interest in them as a person.

• Write questions about the hiring process. It shows an interest in getting the job and the answers help you prepare for the next step and give you an idea of the timeline.

2. Put together your list of your accomplishments. It is IMPORTANT. It is not how long you have been working, but what you have accomplished while you are in a position that determines how good your are at doing that job. The accomplishments can be cost savings, increases in sales, increases in productivity, reduction in time to complete a project or product, reduction in damage or loss of goods, or increases in accuracy in inventory, etc. The best way to communicate an accomplishment is:

• State what the problem was that you found
• State what solution you determined would work best
• State the result that you produced and include numbers to be powerful

Also, put together mini stories to answer behavioral based questions, such as “What is worst (personnel or customer or supervisor) problem you ever had to deal with and what was the outcome?” These are put together just like accomplishment, but they deal with situations and people and are not numbers oriented.

3. Next, put together the answers to the tough questions. They are question about anything you wish you did not have to talk about, like getting fired or staying at a company for a short time. It is also interview questions like “What is your biggest weakness?”, “Where do you what to be in 5 years?”, “Why are you interested in our opportunity/company?”, “Why should we be interested in you?” There are many of these questions and you can visit job boards or career sites and go to their interview section to review questions they show as examples. Always deal with negatives that are true, by briefly stating it exists/happened and then quickly add positives on how you have overcome it, use it to your advantage, or changed so that it is not a problem. Even if I were fired, I would say, “ Yes I was, and I learned my lesson. As you can see in my next job, I was there for 4 years, I got promoted, and I am looking for another good company where I can help them reach their goals and advance my career.” It is all positive.

BASIC INTERVIEW PREPARATION Continued

4. Dealing with perceived negative information can be a problem. You can ask clarifying questions, however they need to be phrased positively. If you show any negative reaction or ask negative questions, for whatever reason, probably self defense, the person will think, “ I don’t think this is what you are looking for in an opportunity.” which is taking the decision away from you. Not good!

5. During the interview it is important to let the interviewer know that you are interested in the opportunity. Say it a couple of times, “ I think this is a very good opportunity.”, or something to that effect. Toward the end of the interview, if you are not getting a clear indication that you are moving forward, you should try to discover the hidden objection, if there is one. Ask if you can summarize the meeting, state the basics of the position as you understand it and briefly state your match to that position and then ask, “Is there anything about me or my qualifications that keep me from being an excellent candidate for this position?” You want to have the chance to either clarify, expand upon, or offer compensating experience, if they give you an answer to that question other than no.

6. The first impression is IMPORTANT! The decision can be made to; not want to hire, in the first few minutes. So, it starts with the visual and for most interviews, the best outfit is a Navy Blue suit, if not that then dark is better than light, men or women, with a white shirt or off-white blouse and a conservative tie for men. The suit should fit good, be pressed, not be a dated design and the shirt should fit comfortably, be well pressed and the tie should be snug and the proper length. You need to pay attention to details like hair, fingernails, shoes and wear very little jewelry and cologne. You have to have a good smile and eye contact to greet the interviewer and a couple of little positive things to say that you can use as you walk to the interview location. You don’t need to fill the time, you just want to keep things positive. “What a great day.” or “ What a nice facility/office you have.”

7. It is also important that you treat everyone nicely along the way. Many companies ask other people that would have inadvertently come in contact with the candidate, what their impression was of the person. Be on your best behavior even when you are in the parking lot. Avoid anything that can ruin the interview, drinks, gum, or smoking.

8. While you are there you should get business cards, if at all possible, for everyone you meet with in the interview process. You should first send an email thanking them for the interview, recap an important aspect to the job, connecting your strengths to that aspect, and ask for the next step or the job. Then follow it up with a letter to the person you would be reporting to if hired.

9. All the preparation should be done well in advance. Work on it and add to it. You cannot have to many questions, because you don’t have to use them all. However, you don’t want to be left without any at any point in the interview. You should write down all the first three steps and you should verbalize the accomplishments and the answers to the tough questions. Those tough questions, the real exercise is that we may have thought about them, but today we are deciding exactly what we are going say if asked those questions and that is an exercise that helps the brain prepare for this event. The President of the United States does not read the State of the Union address for the first time on TV. This is preparation to present yourself in your best light and after that what happens, happens, but you know you have done your best and it will get you an opportunity you want and will accept.