After 14+ years in corporate management and consulting, I am still amazed at the lack of preparation I see from job applicants.
Based on my experience, there are five important ways to inspire any hiring manager to offer you the job.
1. Identify the Needs of Others
When you are looking for a new job, you are admittedly thinking about the benefits of gainful employment: steady paycheck, affordable health care, time off for vacations and holidays, retirement plans, and valuable professional experience. All of those factors are important and all of them are about your needs. That being said, if you want to be hired, you have to focus on the organization’s needs during the interview.
You are being considered for employment to address an organizational need. It is your job in the interview to clearly identify what that need is. You must get the decision makers to talk about their needs (often in the form of objectives, opportunities, and challenges).
2. Tell Relevant Stories
Since early childhood when our parents and teachers read books to us during story time, we have been conditioned to connect with stories. Every day we share our experiences in the form of stories with our friends and family. When a friend shares a memorable experience with us, we often share that same story with other people. Top public speakers, trainers, and professors are great storytellers. They connect with the audience by reinforcing goals or lessons with relevant examples. They know that stories stick.
If you want to make a positive and lasting impression on the hiring manager, you too have to be a good storyteller. In an interview setting, you need to demonstrate behavior (through your own stories) that is consistent with the responsibilities of the position and the culture of the organization.
3. Keep It Simple
Simplicity is a very effective way to inspire people to make a decision. The same rule applies to job interviewing. Applicants must convince the hiring manager that they know how to keep things simple.
The first way to demonstrate this valuable organizational skill in an interview is to respond succinctly to the common interview question: Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself? If you respond with a 5 minute (or longer) answer about your professional life story, you are not inspiring the hiring manager. You are unfortunately demonstrating poor control of your thoughts and a lack of preparation for the interview.
A second way to keep it simple during the interview is to tell your success stories in an orderly but insightful manner. A third way to keep it simple during the interview is to ask the right type of questions. Do NOT ask questions that are overloaded with strong vocabulary. This will only cause confusion and create resentment toward you.
Lastly, it is also important to limit the number of questions you ask. A good rule of thumb is not to ask more questions than you are asked.
4. Show Gratitude
People love to be recognized every day for their hard work, for their patronage, and for their simple acts of kindness. When you interview for a job, you must be very mindful and appreciative of the amount of time and effort people have put into your interview. Multiple people invest their valuable time reviewing your resume, setting up an interview schedule, coordinating your visit, and speaking to you directly. Taken together, these individuals are taking the time to assess your fit into their organizational culture. Their internal culture is an important part of their lives and it is near and dear to their hearts.
If you show gratitude throughout the entire interview process, you will have a more positive experience, and your positive attitude may easily inspire someone to hire you.
5. Take Action Now
The final important way to inspire the hiring manager to offer you the job is to take some action during the interview process. The interview is your opportunity to demonstrate how you would act on the job. You need to have the mindset that you are performing the job as if you already have it. You are expected to be prepared. You are expected to execute the interview in a professional manner. You are expected to follow through after the interview.
In contrast to the interview, your resume is simply an advertisement for what you can do for an organization. It represents ideas and experiences that if applied may be of value. If you do nothing more than regurgitate the information on your resume during an interview, you have not taken any action.
Brent Peterson
Founder
Interview Angel, Inc.
http://www.interviewangel.com/
Saturday, December 27, 2008
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Brent,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Couldnt agree more on these. If I may, Id like to also add one important factor that way too many candidates forget about:
-- If you want the job...ASK FOR IT.
Now...you dont have to beg (nor should you), but let me give a real world example.
Joe interviewed for a .NET development position. A very well qualified candidate. Great rapport with the hiring manager, a bullseye with skillset, attitude, culture, salary requirements, etc.
A done deal, right? Not as easy as it seems.
During the follow up meeting with us, Joe said its pretty much his dream job and he would absolutely take it if offered. Man, we are getting excited over here!
So, next step...call Mr. Hiring Manager and make it happen. Mr. hiring manager says, "yep, we liked Joe. Great guy, etc. The problem is we dont know if he liked us or is interested in the job...so we are going to interview other people..he just didnt seem like he wanted to work here."
Had Joe just wrapped up the meeting thanking Mr. Hiring Manager for his time, leaving a few lasting impressions about how he could do the job, and finally said, "I would really enjoy working with you, Mr. Hiring Manager and feel like the team, the environment, and the project would be an ideal situation for me..and I think I can help you and your department reach their goals."
Take the guesswork out of it. If you like a company and a job...tactfully let the manager know. It works.
Logan Bragg
Udig Technologies
Great question. There will be jobs, but the competition for those jobs will be fierce. Candidates fresh out of school will be competing for the same jobs as people with 2+ years of experience.
I have many recommendations for college grads, but Ill be brief. Having coached and presented on this subject, I tell anyone getting ready to enter the real world to:
1) Get some real experience. You wll be competing with people that definitely have experience. You need to get some. Volunteer, talk to neighbors, friends, your friends' parents, business owners, churches, etc, and ask to do something. Better yet...FIND a solution to a problem someone is having (ie. I recruit for IT folks and recently hired a 'green' candidate. The client chose him because he developed a pretty saavy database for his church that helped them streamline their membership, send out updates/emails, increase pledges/offerings, etc.
2) Taking the same example...Be flexible. My candidate was easy to work with. He didnt ask about vacation or try and negotiate his rate. He just wanted to get in and prove himself. New grads that want to be on the network support/admin side, you must be flexible to start out in Helpdesk/Desktop positions, and be flexible to work any shift available. Folks with experience typically do not like 2nd or 3rd shifts. Be flexible.
3) If you have a year left or a summer left, work for free at your college's helpdesk support center. That is the very best way to leave college and immediately get either a contract or perm position troubleshooting.
4) Attitude is everything. In this market there are a lot of "the glass is half empty" candidates. They have gone on numerous interviews and each one leaves them less and less optimistic. Be the ray of sunlight that the hiring manager has been waiting for. You might be surprised how many candidates in front of you just cant hide their negative emotions.
In summary, competition amongst the entry level jobs will be compeitive at least for the remainder of 2009. You have to show what you can offer than others cant, be flexible with what the company wants you do to, at their pay, and on their hours. Being flexible for that, and having a great attitude can help you land your first job.
Logan Bragg
Udig Technologies
I accept all LinkedIn requests http://www.linkedin.com/in/loganbragg (I accept all requests)
Logan -
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your post in the Interview Angel LinkedIn group and in this blog. I completely agree with you that the candidate has to close the deal by "asking for the job". In the Interview Angel product, I advise customers to "Tell the hiring manager in person, at the end of your meeting, that you are interested in the position available. Do not assume he or she knows."
As a hiring manager, I always take the time to walk candidates out of the building after they have completed interviews for one primary reason...to see how they will close the conversation. Almost all candidates simply say "it was nice talking to you. bye." When the recruiter calls back later in the day, my first statement (among many) is always...I have no idea if he wants the job.