Workshop aims to get job seekers ready for interviews

The Idaho Department of Labor is trying to get job seekers ready for the job interviews they’ll undergo at a job fair in Idaho Falls on Tuesday, April 8.

The department held a pre-job workshop for applicants Thursday that covered everything from how to dress to preparing for tricky interview questions.

“I was kind of wanting to look over my rsum, things like that. Learn some tips and tricks. Just to kind of better my job search,” said John Ellif, who was recently laid off.

“If an employer comes up and says, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ what are you gonna say? The first thing that comes to mind is, ‘I have four kids. I’m a grandma, you know.’ We don’t want that information,” said Tanya Alban, with IDOL.

Oftentimes, this is just the first in a long list of tricky questions.

“Some of the really difficult ones are, ‘Tell me what weakness you might have?’ That catches everyone off guard. So how do you prepare for that? It’s by setting it up, by going over ‘What are the things that I could put here?’ and preparing in advance,” said Alban.

Alban said a lot of employers are interviewing in groups these days and job seekers should be prepared.

“What if you get into a panel interview? Are you prepared for that? If you haven’t even thought that that could be an option, it might really throw you. And how do you do it when you have five people asking you questions?”

IDOL’s job fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 8 at its Idaho Falls office on Lincoln Road.