The next Northern Fairfield Professionals (NFP) meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 5:30-8 pm. NFP is a free networking group that hosts a guest speaker whose presentations are geared toward business professionals, focusing on topics relevant to the job search, and ongoing career development. NFP organizers usually include a “Landed Talk,” where a former NFP attendee briefly shares their job-search success story and insights from their journey.

This month’s speaker is Mary Ann Gontin, a well-respected and experienced business coach and trainer. She is recognized for her “sixth sense” in working with people. She focuses on communication, strategic thinking, collaboration, effective teamwork, and leadership development.

Gontin’s topic is “Assumptions — The Number One Mistake Made During Interviews and Onboarding a New Job.” Most people work hard preparing to answer questions and speak about their strengths and accomplishments during an interview. It is normal to feel anxious and to be focused on “putting our best foot forward” both during interviews as well as during the first few weeks on a new job.

However, it is also normal to “hope for the best” and therefore “hear what we want to hear” during interviews. This presentation will highlight ways applicants can fail to gather clear information needed to assess if a job is the best fit for their skill set and professional/personal needs. There are countless stories of people accepting jobs who later admitted they saw a few “red flags” during the interviews and first few weeks on the job, but they assumed it was not that bad and they could overcome these “small issues.” Reality hits hard and they realize they made a mistake in accepting the job.

Gontin will walk attendees through ways to not only “hear more clearly,” but also how to ask relevant questions to confirm specifics instead of “assuming” something that turns out not to be true. Typical assumptions include expected working hours, salary and/or bonus, reporting structure, expected amount of business travel, number of direct reports, and scheduling of vacation time.

Gontin’s talk will begin at 6 pm. Two 30-minute networking opportunities will be available to attendees from 5:30-6 pm and again from 7:30-8 pm. Meetings are held at the Knights of Columbus building on St Rose of Lima church grounds, 46 Church Hill Road. To receive an NFP Evite e-mail and other information on upcoming NFP meetings, e-mail johnbarryitech@gmail.com.