Interviewing – The Three Stage Process

Ah, interviewing – you sent out a thousand resumes – well it felt like a thousand anyway - and finally someone called you and now you have that thing you’ve been hoping for – an interview.

Now what? What do you need to do to prepare for this audition? That really is what it is – an audition for a job. I have found that there are three stages to an interview and each one has its keys to success.

Most interviewers make their decision to hire someone on intuition rather than facts. A lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I think that even for those people who are fact oriented, the subtle things make all the difference in those who get hired and those who do not. Much of this is beneath the surface of the interviewer's consciousness but it is still how they make the decision.

What it comes down to is they have a vague, "I’ll know it when I see it", list of characteristics they are looking for and as the interview goes along, they will make a mental check mark next to those things you seem to have and those that you don’t and there will be a tipping point where you go over to the side of getting the job offer or go to the side that says, no way.

Below I have broken it down into three stages and what happens in each and what you can do to pass each stage:

Stage One

The first 30 seconds – Whether we like it or not we are going to be judged in the first 30 seconds whether we are a yes, no or maybe. If we are a yes it’s because for whatever reason we look and act like what the interviewer is looking for and unless we shoot ourselves in the foot in the next two stages we will get a second interview or a job offer. Here are some tips for helping you become a yes in this process.

· You look the part – this means that you dressed for success for this company. This could mean a dark suit, rep tie and wing tips for a man or a business suit for a woman or it could mean something a little more casual if that is the style of this company. But there is a huge disclaimer here on dressing casually. A job interview is a formal affair in the sense that you only get this one chance to put your best foot forward, there are no second first impressions. You need to demonstrate to them that you know how to dress according to the seriousness of the occasion. A job interview is a serious occasion. If you are dressed too casually this will give the impression that you don’t understand the rules of the professional world even if you know that this company has Dress Down Day, everyday. So dress up and show them you have the intelligence to know what counts and when. Of course, always have groomed hair, nails, shined shoes, little or no cologne and simple, classic jewelry for women.

· You smile when the interviewer comes out to the waiting room to greet you and you shake their hand with a firm, but not vice grip handshake. This is especially important area for women, no limp fish handshakes – that could make them think you don’t have good self esteem or that you won’t be assertive when this is needed on the job. Remember, this is a job interview not a tea party – being soft and yielding isn’t the impression you want to make. If you don’t know if you have a good solid handshake then ask a male friend to practice with you.

· You have researched the company and the job. If you know the company and you can demonstrate this by what you say and do in the interview then you are half way there. If you have what they are looking for in terms of skill, talent, education and experience and you believe in their product or service – your attitude says “ I’m good at what I do and we’d make a great team.” then you're probably on the yes side of the interviewers mental checklist.

Stage Two

The “Tell me about you” stage. In this stage the interviewer will almost always ask you about yourself. Here are the tricks at this stage:

· Talk only about yourself in relation to the job - even though you both might end up being from Tuskaloosa, you're there to get a job not bcome buddies, plus you never know, the interviewer might have a long standing dislike of people from Tuskaloosa - better to stay focused on why you are there. Practice by creating a 30 second sort of infomercial about yourself.

· Let the interviewer take the lead and answer his or her questions in a thoughtful manner. Have a few questions of your own so that when the interview asks if you have any you will demonstrate that you prepared for this interview by doing some research. Make them about the job and not too intrusive, remember they will not be telling you anything negative about the company so don’t even ask at this point. It will just make you look like a negative person who is looking for trouble.

· Be someone who can think on his or her feet – what I mean by this is they will no doubt ask you questions you didn’t expect – so don’t have all your answers prepared. Stop and think and don’t worry if there is some silence – the idea that someone has to think before they speak shows they do think – a good quality in an employee.

· Be yourself and be honest – if you are right for the job, in most cases you’ll get it – if you pretend to be someone you’re not, it will show up and intuitively the interviewer will know this.

Stage Three

The close – when the interview is over or almost over, you will get a sense of it by the non verbals that occur – the interviewer will begin to straighten up the papers on her/his desk and so on. This is when you need to make your closing argument for the job. If you are still a maybe this is where you can cinch the deal and if you are a yes, this is where you might lose it if you don’t say directly that you want it. A weak stage three closing could virtually erase great stage one and two performances - so make a solid close. You'll reap the benefits in most cases. Here are some ideas on this final stage of the process.

· Summarize what you have heard about the job and how your experience and skills match it.

· Ask what the next step in the process is and ask for the interviewers business card if they have not already given it to you.

· Tell them you are excited about the opportunity and think you’d be a great addition to their team and would love the opportunity to prove this to them.

· Ask if you can call or email to check up on the process the next week.

· Thank them for the interview and leave

· Go home and immediately write a thank you email.


Those are the tree stages of the interview process and some ideas of what to do to make it work for you. If you don’t get the job then I suggest a review of your last interview and see if you can pinpoint which stage may have gone south. Look for ways to shore up the places where you were weak and to congratulate yourself on the places where you did well. Remember too, that often a job you did not get is one that would not have worked well for you anyway so keep moving forward – it’s the only way to go.

Blessings, Lorraine

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly vs. The Great

Resumes

When it comes to putting together a resume most people would rather get a root canal. It feels like torture and even if they have the money and the inclination to hire someone to do it for them, a professional resume writer, they are still not off the hook. Without all the details of what they did, when they did it and what happened as a result of their actions even a great resume writer will only come up with a good resume. But in the job getting game, good is not good enough. Times are tough out there – the world of work is changing at the speed of light and the unemployment rate is rising. In order to get in the door, that is, face to face with the powers that be, your resume has to stand out – it has to be a great resume, not just a good one. But before we talk about what makes for a great resume let’s talk about what constitutes the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good Resume – The Boy Scout Resume

The good resume has all the information in it that is required by employers. It has your contact information, a list of the jobs you’ve had in the last ten or so years and the names of all your employers. All the words are spell correctly and it has some nice key words such as excellent and outstanding and makes a case for you being a decent employee. It may or may not be focused on a particular job but may instead be a shot-gun resume. In other words, you can send it out to lots of companies hoping for a hit. I call this the Boy Scout resume because it makes you come off like a good boy or girl. This resume may get put in the HR departments slush file of potential employees. This file is rarely ever looked at and banking on this is like banking on VCR’s making a comeback over DVR’s.

The Bad Resume – The Life History Resume

The bad resume is too long, too detailed, is not focused on anything in particular and tells everything you have ever done since your first paper route or babysitting job back when you were fourteen. It’s usually two to three pages long and is chronological and explains everything you have ever done in great detail. It is not only boring but it’s egotistical as well. Who cares if you won first place in the 5th grade science fair if you are now in mid career and are going for a job in marketing. You may be proud, your mama may be proud, but the hiring manager thinks you are full of yourself. Prima Donna’s he/she can live without.

The Ugly Resume – The I Can't be Bothered Resume

The ugly resume is just that – it’s filled with misspelled words, it lacks coherency, the dates are jumbled up and there is missing information. It could also be filled with misrepresentations and outright lies. It may start with the first job you have ever had, the one back in 1973, and then end with one you had three jobs ago. It says at the top that you are seeking a job in sales, but nowhere on the resume does it mention a sales job or even attempt to make a case for why you think your experience in customer service is transferable to sales. This is a resume written by someone who believes that they can do anything and they just need a chance, but they are not interested in doing the work to create a good, much less a great, resume and the idea of selling themselves and their skills is distasteful to them. The hiring manager looks at it for about a nanosecond and knows that what you see is what you get and tosses it into the wastebasket. He/She wonders why the person bothered.

The Great Resume – The Marketing/Sales Resume

A great resume is like a great marketing piece – it sells you to a potential employer and it’s targeted to the job you are seeking. It focuses on what you have accomplished in pervious jobs and proves this with examples of what you did that went beyond the job description. It uses numbers and statistics where possible and it paints a picture of you as an outstanding individual, someone they can’t wait to interview. The great resume packages you as a product much like a car, a computer or a restaurant. It highlights what’s great about you and leaves out what isn’t. It’s only one page long and it has five parts to it:

Position Statement – Accounting Supervisor – Trucking
Paragraph about you as a worker with your years of experience and personality and work ethic
Highlights of what you have done and accomplished in other jobs with most impressive first even if not your last job
List of jobs and company information
Education and training

The great resume also uses adjectives that describe what you did, not what you were suppose to do – it never uses the word responsible. It uses clear concise language, short sentences and is focused on what you are seeking with that particular employer. It is job specific and not general. The great resume is targeted to a particular company and a specific job within that company. If you are seeking more than one kind of job, then you have a great resume for each job title. Great resumes are unique to the specific job and sometimes the company or industry.

Cover Letters – Never send a form cover letter

All cover letters are specific to the job, the company and the individual doing the hiring if it is at all possible to find this out. Watch the spelling of their names. Never send a form cover letter - make it interesting and vibrant.

When a hiring manager gets a great resume and your targeted cover letter he/she picks up the phone and calls you – he knows from the resume that you are the kind of employee who takes the time to do a job right and the resume is his/her first indication that you will do it for him/her as well.

Next week, I’ll talk about interviewing because even those with great resumes and cover letters sometimes shoot themselves in the foot during the interview. Stayed tuned.

Blessings, Lorraine