Interviews

“The Celebrity Apprentice” and Job Interviewing

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Donald Trump’s, “The Celebrity Apprentice” puts a number of “B” and “C” actors and actresses together on two teams for several weeks working on projects together. Each team will select a project manager for the task that they are competing over.

Each week, one team wins; the other team loses. The winning team’s project manager wins a contribution to a charity of their choice; the losing team’s project manager gets to bring two people into the board room to argue as to who was the one most at fault for their team’s failure. Trump ultimately fires at least one of them.

It’s reality television so the cameras follow the teams around and you get to see what is going on behind the scenes. Who complains about whom. The trivial anxieties blown out of proportion. The egos inflamed.

But looking at it as a hiring process, Trump has put these people into a position where he has an actual opportunity to see them do the job that he would like to hire him for and see if they can do it . . . not just once but many times.

Several smart employers I am working with have constructed their own version of “The Celebrity Apprentice.” One this week, flew up several people for interviews and, after the interviews, put the three program managers together on a project to work with one another.

The project was more symbolic (siting a building in a foreign nation and how you would prepare and present the program to government officials) but the process would be the same. The hiring firm had a team of people watching how the team worked, how they assigned work and how it was done, then listened to the proposal.

Some companies are having people do a presentation at the white board; some are asking potential hires to teach a class or do other tasks that relate to the job the candidate is being considered for.

Start to keep in your metaphorical back pocket a simple presentation you could do at a white board about how you did something for your current employer.

Be prepared to do a short project related to your current work or sell something to the interviewer.

Just don’t always expect to recite some facts about what you do and how you do it and expect to be hired.

 

 

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2012

Closing The Job Interview

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Most job interviews follow a fairly predictable pattern.

They start with an open ended question like “Tell me about yourself and what you’ve been doing professional,” that is designed for you to give an interviewer an outline of your experience, it proceeds to an inquisition to determine if you have adequate experience to do the job, and concludes with, “Do you have any questions for us,” where you ask them to tell you about the job.

If you don’t know my philosophy from “The Single Best Question You Should Ask on Any Interview,” I want you to find out about the job first before they even ask you to tell them about your experience so that you can find out the current thinking about the job and target your answers to what they care about in your experience.

But this leaves a hole for you when they get to the part where they ask you about questions you have. I offer up many possible questions in, “No B.S. Questions You Should Ask on Any Interview,” but have a new one that I will be adding to that report in its next edition that I want to give to my readers.

So when you are asked about questions you have the first one I want you to ask is this:

(First name of the interviewer), we’ve been speaking about my background for a while now. Is there anything that you have heard that give you reluctance to recommend me for the role that I might be able to address now?”

Asking this question or one like it that you language so that it is comfortable for you will give you a chance to satisfy the interviewer in case they missed something in your background that you can speak to. It also never allows you to walk out of an interview with a false impression of what the interviewer thinks about you and your experience

From there, ask how you stack up with the other people who they have interviewed. Again, this helps you by giving you the opportunity to speak to elements of your experience that have been left uncovered in the interview that will help you present a better case to the potential employer.

Sometimes, people are stunned by the objections they hear and do not do a thorough job of refuting the negatives they hear. Use your thank you letter to speak to the elements of your experience that need to be highlighted.

You see, most thank you letters are innocuous they say something like:

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on January 12th and discussing the opportunity the xxx position with you.

“I believe that my experience with A, as well as my 4 years of experience with B will serve me well in delivering this project for you.

“I look forward to hearing from you about the next steps in the process.

Now, instead of using this innocuous note, modify the second paragraph so it reads:

“When we met, we briefly discussed my qualifications vis a vis those with whom I am competing for this role.

“What I have not discussed until now is my three years of experience with such and such firm where I did exactly that– and then you discuss exactly what you did that relates to the concern voiced to you, the objection raised to your candidacy or the perceived superiority of your competitor.

Send this “thank you sales letter” via email as soon as possible in order to influence the employer’s thinking before they become so hardened to your candidacy that the note becomes purposeless.

© 2010, 2011, 201 All rights reserved Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Ending the Interview

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A lot of attention deservedly goes into how to effectively interview. Yet much of what goes into the advice you receive is strategic and not tactical. Most people who interview understand the theory of what they have to do but, because they under under pressure and have little experience with interviewing, miss many opportunities to take control of the interview in a good way and create a great impression.

I can’t help you obtain the experience you need to demonstrate to an employer that you are an extremely skilled and knowledgeable professional; I can help you with tactical approaches that will allow you to positively standout from your competitors.

If you ordered my book, “The Single Best Question You Should Ask on Any Interview” you have already learned the benefit of that powerful question and how it allows you a huge advantage in an interview.

But how should you end an interview? How do you create an impression that sticks in the interviewer’s mind that you are a fit?

Do you know how most people are asked the “Tell me about yourself” question? I want you to use a 30-60 second scripted version of your answer to that question as your closing to an interview.

And, to be clear, I don’t want you to babble some generalities about you and your experience. I want you to give them a 30-60 laser focused commercial that demonstrates your fit with the job that they are trying to fill.

Like in boxing where a fighter will try to end each round with a flurry to create a positive impression in a judge’s mind, answering in this way will help you put information into an interviewer’s mind that will help them see how you can do the job they need done.

Finally, after you have done this, just as you shake hands, I want you to say, “I want you to know how interpreted I am in the opportunity we’ve discussed and I look forward to hearing from you about the next step in your hiring process.”

ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTED!

If you do this all the time, you ruin things for other people who say the same thing and eventually people will start to remember you as someone who B.S.’s.

© 2009, 2011, 2015 All rights reserved

Being Flown in for an Interview? The 7 Keys to Succeeding

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After an initial phone interview or two, one of my clients flies people in for in-person interviews at various sites around the US. They don’t, for example bring all the people in the Southeast together in Atlanta or the Northeasterners in New York or Boston. They schedule all the people who they have screened for one type of role to be flown to a location regardless of geography.

Interviews are done of Fridays and candidates are flown out Thursday night so that flight delays generally do not affect the Friday interview schedule (sometimes snow will change things).

Here are a few keys to being successful when you are interviewing away from home:

1. Try to have your interviews scheduled to respect your body clock. It is easy for someone traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast to be ready for a 9 AM interview. After all, for a New Yorker, that feels like noon. For a Californian traveling to DC, that’s 6AM to them and they may have needed to be up at 7:30 Eastern or 3:30 Pacific to get ready. Better to see if you can get yourself scheduled to start at 11 AM instead.

2. Find out the names of everyone you’ll be meeting with, what their title is and how much time you are slotted to speak with them for. Look them up on LinkedIn to get a sense of their background and function. Google them to learn more and obtain texture about them.

3. Have your flights scheduled to give you time to unwind when you get into your hotel.

4. Be respectful of your driver from the airport. They may be asked to report back on your behavior.

5. Don’t deviate from your usual diet. You don’t want to overeat and feel sluggish at your meetings.

6. Knowing your agenda and how much time you are slotted to meet each person, be sure to start each interview with enthusiasm and passion and finish everyone the same way. We all have an internal clock. Use it! End each meeting with a great handshake, smile and eye contact even if you are being hustled out the door for your next meeting.

7. Often there is an HR person in attendance to coordinate the day’s activities. At the end of your visit, before you head to the car to take you to the airport, thank them for their efforts and express interest in the job that was discussed with you (Only express interest if it is true! Otherwise, tell them you have a few questions you might want to discuss).

I cannot help you with how to answer the professional questions you are asked. I can help you with “the wrapper” of everything that precedes and folls your meetings.

© 2011 all rights reserved

The Job Interview Over Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

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When someone I am representing for a job with a client emailed to tell me he was scheduled for a dinner interview with three people on Monday, I was reminded that how to do a meal interview is a subject I have not addressed in my articles and books yet.

Lunch or dinner interviews are actually very easy. It is an interview. It is an opportunity to assess your knowledge and manner, just as they would in an “in the office” interview. The problem is that most job hunters succumb to the more casual setting to lower their guard and be sufficiently revealing as to make it easy for an employer to disqualify them from consideration.

There are obvious ways that this occurs— the person who drinks too much at the interview and acts like a fool. There is the more subtle way of ordering the wrong dish and leaves food on their face and makes it hard for them to be taken seriously (never order a dish with lots of barbecue sauce).

Here are a few points to remember when having a meal interview:

•  Arrive on time; if you are going to be late, call ahead. When you arrive, apologize and explain the lateness (the cab driver got lost; there was an accident that caused a traffic jam; the GPS in your car gave you the wrong directions).

•  When introduced to each person by your host, offer a friendly smile and a handshake (if the handshake is denied, there may be a religious reason for a denying the handshake; just move on in your mind and don’t get caught up in it).

•  When seated, ask where they would like you seated. If told to seat where you like, try to sit opposite your host.

•  This type of interview is just like a panel or group interview in an office setting but it includes food.

•  As I mentioned before, avoid sloppy food. Avoid drinking an alcoholic beverage. If you are encouraged by your party to do so, reply by saying, “As much as I would like to, I am on an interview and want to make sure I’m at my best.” If you are uncomfortable with this wording, pick language that fits your personality.

•  Before ordering, if you are at a restaurant you are not familiar with, ask the members of your party, “Have you been here before? What would you recommend?” Ideally pick something they recommend.

•  Avoid the most expensive item on the menu; pick something that is “middle of the road.”

•  Generally, the interview part of the “festivities” begin after everyone orders. Be ready!

•  My preferred way of starting the Q&A is for the job applicant to start it. As I suggest in traditional interviews, start off by thanking them for taking time to meet with you. Then continue by saying, “So far, I’ve spoken with (mention who you’ve spoken with about the role) and they have given me their take on the position but, I was curious about yours. Tell me about the role as you see it and what I can be doing to help.” This may result in being asked what you’ve been told so far. Be prepared to answer!

•  When asked a question in a panel or group interview, you would not speak only to the person who asked the question. You would speak to each individual person starting first with the person who asks the question, switch your gaze to the second person, then a third before concluding with the questioner. The same is true in a meal interview.

•  Make sure you don’t only speak about what you’ve done. Speak about what you’ve done in the context of what you’ve been told they are looking for someone to do (or have experience doing). Too often, people lose track of what the goal is in the interview—demonstrating that you have experience that fits what the employer needs done. Nowhere does this happen more often than at a lunch or dinner interview.

•  When the food arrives, start to enjoy your meal. If they ask you a question, put your knife and fork down to insure that you are not tempted to eat and talk. Use manners that will make your mother proud of you!

•  Be prepared with questions to ask when offered the opportunity ask some. These may include milestones that need to be met, what success would like for you, commitments that need to be fulfilled, reporting structure . . . work related questions, not compensation questions.

•  Avoid dessert even if the others are having it. Stick with coffee or tea instead. Sweet things and after dinner drinks have a way of causing interviews to go badly.

•  When the bill arrives, thank the person who charges the meal simply by saying, “Thank you.”

•  Before everyone separates at the table or at the coat check (offer to pay the coat check for everyone if you can afford it), make a point of saying, “I just want you to know that I am interested in the role we’ve discussed. What would you expect the next steps to be?”

•  Send a thank you email to each person and expressing your interest in the role. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.

If you follow my advice, you may not be hired but it will not be because you committed a faux pas or “misbehaved” during the meeting. It will be because they perceive a skills deficiency they judge is essential for the role.

And more often than not, you will be hired because, the fact is, when asked to a lunch or dinner meeting, they are already favorable disposed to hiring you and you have done nothing to change their mind about you.

© 2011 all rights reserved.

Presenting at the Whiteboard? It Doesn’t Have to Feel Like Torture!

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Two people I was representing for different jobs were asked to go to the whiteboard and present to their audience. One truly excelled; one fell flat on their face proving the truth of the statement, “A mediocre whiteboard presentation will result in interview death.

Here is how to excel.

1. Practice your impromptu drawing and your presentation. Never, Never,  Never wing it. If you think there is a possibility of having to present at the whiteboard, practice the presentation.

2. Be aware of what you wear. For a Caucasian, wearing white shirts or blouses at the whiteboard will cause your audience to lose interest in your presentation as you blend into the background.

3. Use strong colors when you write and reserve red for particularly important points

4. Try to avoid starting your presentation at the whiteboard. Try to use your movement to it to making an initial strong point in your presentation.

5. Make sure your handwriting can be read clearly anywhere in the room. This also involves checking the room for glare and dimming lights if appropriate. Write with letters that are about 2-3 inches large at a minimum.

6. Be aware of how you appear when you walk around during your presentation.

7. Want to point out something factually incorrect and do it in a powerful way? Tell people what most people believe and write it on the whiteboard. Then write down what you discovered and put a big red “X” right through the incorrect statement.

8. If someone wants to start sketching things out with you at the whiteboard, treat it as a fun exercise, rather than a threat or “an ego attack.” Often, interviewers will try to “break someone” by walking up to the whiteboard and challenging a point of the presentation and watching for your reaction.

© 2009 all rights reserved.

Smart Candidate. Great Interview Results

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Before a job interview I schedule, I talk with the job applicant about the job, the company, what they can expect on the interview, who they will be speaking with and send them the LinkedIn profile of the person and tell them to go to the company website.

Other than listen to the job description and the LinkedIn profile, you can tell who’s listening and who isn’t.

But this person actually did listen and he actually went to the company’s website researched the line of business that he would be working in and casually mentioned some things that were not in the job description but were on the website.

“That’s great,” the practice head said excitedly. “We need two people like you to do exactly that for different clients!

 

Now that’s the way to make a great impression!

 

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Video Job Interviews

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Someone I am representing for a job has done well on his initial rounds of interviews with my client. They want him to meet his future boss but schedules have been a problem. He is a successful account executive, travel all the time supporting clients; so is his future boss. The solution was simple– a video conference set up at a facility in a city each will be in so they can finally connect.

Don’t just think of a video conference as being something formal like this. Some firms are scheduling with Skype and others are using other online services to interview potential hires. And, frankly, sometimes I use it when I am interviewing someone. It gives us a way to connect better than just using a telephone or email.

So how can you prepare for an effective interview?

1. If you’re using Skype or a webcam, just make sure everything is working properly so you don’t have a last minute disaster.

2. If you are being interviewed at a facility, I would like you there early so that you can become familiar and comfortable with the set up.

3. Practice. Do not walk in to the interview cold. If you own a webcam, record yourself talking to the camera and notice how you look. Do you find yourself NOT speaking to the camera or looking away?

4. Read any written material that the facility makes available to you. They want this to be a successful experience for you and have much more experience than you do creating a successful experience.

5. Dress for an interview. Whatever the convention is for your field, dress the part. The expectations of a a business leader in circumstances like this generally are different than those for a web designer. Dress appropriately.

6. Check the lighting, particularly if you wear glasses. Glare off your lenses can be a distraction for someone meeting you. Check it out before you start.

7. Look at the camera when you speak. Look at the monitor for the interviewer when they do. It will be tempting to look at the interviewer the entire time . . . but they won’t be seeing your eyes or feel like you are speaking to them if you only look at the monitor that they are speaking from. When you watch the news or an experienced interviewer, generally, they are speaking to the camera or the tv audience. You an audience of one–the person interviewing you. Talk to them!

8. If you must have notes or a note to refer to, do not keep it on the desk in front of you. They will see the top of your head as you look at your notes. Instead, print it on an oversized piece of paper and tape it under or above their monitor so you can see it without breaking eye contact.

9. If available, use the “Picture in Picture” feature so that they appear on the same monitor as you are speaking to.


© 2011 all rights reserved

 

7 Tips to Winning Interviews

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Let’s take a minute and examine what many interviews look like from the employer’s vantage point. This means not just listening to the answers to questions about behaviors that occur during the interview that affect our judgment and decision-making. Now, before you start a campaign criticizing me for suggesting that it is stupid to take such trivial matters into consideration, you are naive to think that it is not irrelevant to look at behavior during the interview. After all, when advertisers, television producers and movie directors create a product to sell to you, they do so conscious that every detail of their presentation affects whether you would consider buying their product or liking their movie. They target every detail for optimal affect.

So, let’s think for a second about how a receptionist at an employer feels if he or she is treated abruptly or rudely when you arrive at an interview. Do you think they might they periodically mention something to an interviewer? And if you refuse to complete an employment application, saying that all the answers are in your resume, how does an employer interpret that behavior?

These are a seemingly few trivial mistakes that people consistently make year in and year out. There are many others that people make. Let me share a few things to do and not to do.

1. When you are asked to wait for a few minutes until the interviewer arrives to greet you, sit facing the greatest number of entry points to the room so that you can see them approaching you. There are few things worse that you can do, than to lose your focus in that book that you are reading and not be conscious when someone comes out to greet you.

2. The handshake needs to be proper. There are many cultural differences that exist between proper interview behavior in the US and elsewhere in the world. Here, a firm handshake and eye contact while you do it is expected. To shake hands weakly, to “pump the handshake as though you were a well,” to break the other person’s hand off while you shake it, to avoid eye contact are interpreted poorly in this culture. If it is a winter’s day, you need to arrive at the office building where the interview is being conducted early enough to warm your hands; in summer, you need to arrive early enough to cool off. There is nothing worse than shaking hands with someone whose hands are frozen or in summer with someone whose hands are slippery from sweat.

3. What do your shoes and clothes do or not do? Every firm has a corporate culture–formal or informal. Whichever one it is, you need to dress appropriately for it. Your clothes should be well-pressed, your shoes having a shine to them. Your wardrobe should suggest success without screaming “PAY ATTENTION TO ME.” This is true for men and women alike.

4. Prepare for what interviews ask. Most interviews start in a fairly predictable way, asking you to summarize your career. They may even ask something like, “Tell me about yourself and what you’ve been doing professionally?” Prepare your answer to questions like this before arriving to the interview. Also prepare for the natural follow up questions to your answer without giving the impression that you are too well-prepared. Practice. Practice. Practice. Make your answers seem spontaneous, even when they are rehearsed. You know what the job description is that the company is attempting to hire for, what would you ask to confirm that you are qualified?

5. Try to make a personal connection with every person who interviews you. Do I need to say more?

6. Be prepared to speak about what you’re looking for and why? This is both a tangible question about the nature of the job you’re looking for and a question that speaks to your character. Many people arrive with unreasonable demands and expectations. Some people answer as though they lack ambition. Think about it before you arrive for an interview.

7. Have some questions to ask the interviewer? Look at the company’s website before the interview to learn about the company. Ask them to speak with you about the project the group is working on and how your role would fit into the team. What their expectations are for you? What is the due date for the project? What would you have to do to be rated as an exceptional employee vs. an average one? NOT asking questions suggests lack of ambition or disinterest. Ask a few and ask the interviewer to clarify a point or two about the job.

© 2004 all rights reserved.

Skype Interview Basics

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It may be hard to imagine but there was a time when there were no phone interviews. After all, employers and job hunters were local and each expected to meet one another in person several times before a person was hired.

At a minimum now, the initial screening interview is done by telephone and no one thinks twice about being interviewed by phone.

Skype has made its way into the arsenal of tools both third party and corporate recruiters are using for pre-arranged sessions. So although I don’t like video resumes, I do like Skype and I know a number of my clients use it to reduce costs for interviewing and save time.

Assuming you have a Skype account (and if you don’t, here’s where you can sign up to get one or download an app to your smart phone), here are a few basics you need to consider when preparing:

1. Select a simple but basic background for your interview

A blank wall is boring. Busy print wall paper is distracting. Think of having a book case with books neatly placed on them. Think of having an étagère with plants behind you. a simple backdrop that provides some depth to the view, is not distracting but does not give the impression of you taking “a mug shot photo.”

2. Setting up an account? Make sure your ID is not obnoxious or immature.

Enough said.

3. Be aware of lighting on your face.

You don’t want to be in shadow or have fluorescent lighting make your face too bright (in my case, having the light create a shine from my bald head). Natural lighting on your face is ideal however, if you are doing the session at night, be sure to test your appearance to highlight your face.

Don’t forget to check for glare in your glasses!

4. Dress for an interview

From experience, I know that even if an employer wants to hire someone who has dressed down for an interview, they often offer less money. Dressing down for the interview can cost you thousands of dollars.

For example, if an employer offers you $5000 less (and often it’s more) than they might have otherwise and you stay with them for 3 years, your lost earnings are almost $15500 (three years of lost income plus the lost value of a modest 3% raise each year).

Do you really want to give up that much money to dress in a t-shirt?

In addition, be aware of your background when you select color. Generally darker colors will allow you to appear strong against a lighter wall.

5. There are two schools of thought about where to look.

One says look at the camera; the other says angle your camera to create the illusion you are looking at the interviewer.

The look at the camera advocates believe that it creates the impression of creating eye contact.

The “angle the camera” advocates believe people waste too much energy staring at the camera and underperform on the actual interview.

I haven’t formed an opinion yet on this; experiment for yourself with this by askinga friend to speak with you via Skype and offer their impressions.

6. Smile, particularly when the session connects.

One of the things I learned early in my career is that it is more powerful and effective if someone smiles at the beginning of their interview and then becomes serious than if they are only serious.

The “only serious” person is asking the interviewer to only hire them based upon their knowledge or skills. The “smile, then serious” approach affords the candidate and employer a few minutes to connect as people before getting serious. Often that connection can be the tiebreaker between candidates.

7. Keep your answers to 30-60 seconds

Most people have a limited attention span. Keeping your answers to 30-45 seconds but “slipping” to 60 seconds helps to create a give and take to the interview. The interactive nature of the conversation will keep the interviewer engaged.

8. NO DISTRACTIONS!

If others are home when you are doing the Skype interview, make sure they know to keep things quiet, not interrupt you or “stomp around” while you are interviewing.

Ideally, others should be out of the house to guaranty this (take the kids to the supermarket for something) but sometimes this isn’t possible.

9. Speak clearly and enthusiastically

Skype isn’t perfect technology and for people with accents, sometimes it is hard to be understood. Remember to enunciate and not rush what you say.

10. Practice

I believe you rehearse/practice everything in job interviewing and this is no exception. Don’t listen to other’s negativities; it is just another skill to be practiced and mastered.

© 2013 all rights reserved.