Preparing Yourself for Success in Property Assessment Administration
Changing jobs this summer? In addition to updating your resume try these tips and suggestions from an expert who has landed nine jobs in property assessment administration and interviewed dozens of applicants for assessment jobs over a 30-plus year career. And if you haven't updated your resume in awhile (say the last three years) do so after reading a few recent online articles on resume writing. Like most other things in the world, resume writing and what employers are looking for have changed since your last resume.
* View several advertized positions to identify the typical areas of expertise that potential employers are looking for. They don't have to be in cities or counties where you are interested in working. They just need to give you a flavor for what experience, training, and skills employers are looking for right now. Model your generic resume (and the cover letter for that you'll use in your job search) so that it emphasizes your experience, training, and demonstrated skill in these same key areas.
* When applying for a specific position, use a cover letter and specific resume (not a generic one) that focuses on the available position. Using the position description or any other available written description about the job, prepare a list of your own experience, training, and skills that address each requirement. If you lack one or more of the desirable or preferred skills, prepare a note for later use during the interview process that gives equivalent knowledge or skills or reinforces your ability or learn this quickly or on-the-job (giving examples of your ability to do this). If the requirements for the job are sketchy, call the personnel office and ask for a position description. Some cities and counties even have position descriptions avialable online.
* Prepare a well thought-out list of anticipated questions and your planned response to each question. If you have been around property assessment administration for long you can probably guess what most of the questions will be. If you haven't, ask someone who has been in the field longer for ideas. There are many websites for job seekers that include some excellent articles on preparing for interviews that include typical questions asked. While these may not be specific to property assessment administration they'll give you some good ideas and point you in the right direction. Here are just a few assessment related questions that come to mind that I would include if I were interviewing candidates for an assessment job:
1. What are some of the greatest challenges you have faced so far in your career?
2. Describe a problem situation that you encountered on the job and how you solved it.
3. What have you accomplished during your career that you are most proud of?
4. Given all of the qualified candidates that we are interviewing, why should we hire you?
5. Why are you leaving your current position or why did you leave your last position?
* Prepare a well thought-out list of questions that you will ask at some point in the interview when the interviewer says, "Do you have any questions?" Absolutely never say that you don't have any questions, unless you really don't want the job and just want to get out of there. Your ability to ask questions is expected by employers. These questions show that you have a sincere interest in the available position and give you an open door to state your best qualifications by asking the questions you wished the interviewer would have asked, but didn't. Here are a few ideas to get you going:
1. What does success in this position look like? Or, alternatively, how do you see the successful candidate for this position benefitting or adding value to your team?
2. What are the most pressing public relations challenges facing the assessment office at the present time?
3. What are the most important duties and responsibilities of this job that I'm applying for?
4. In your view, what are the most difficult challenges facing the assessment office right now?
6. Can you give me an overview of the current status of the city or county computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) system?
7. Are there special use or unique properties in the jurisdiction and is in-house talent available to value such properties or must appraisals be outsourced?