Interviews

Group Interviews: The Way to Answer Questions

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There are a group of men who I have been meeting with for the past five years. We help one another with being the men we have always wanted to be. Sometimes, those involve personal issues; sometimes, it involves professional matters.

One of the men came in this week and spoke about an upcoming interview he has at a university where he will meeting with two or three people who will jointly interview him (He did not ask for advice but he subscribes to my ezine so I hope he reads my suggestion here).

When you are in a group interview and are asked a question, start answering the question by speaking to the person who asked it.

Since most answers take 5-10 sentences, as you finish the second or third sentence, turn your head to continue answering by speaking to the second person. If the person is seated at a distance from the questioner that makes doing that physically difficult, use your legs to gently turn toward the second person while continuing to speak.

If there is a third person, look at them as you speak the next sentence.

No matter what, your last sentence needs to be spoken to the person who posed the question.

Doing this is much of what experienced tv guests do when they are on a panel show. Watch them, they look at differnt people as they answer questions. Sometimes, they look directly at the camera. What they never do is only speak to one person unless they are being interviewed by one person.

© 2008 all rights reserved.

Phone Interviews: Prepare to Ace Them!

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Almost all companies are saving time and effort by doing initial telephone interviews before committing themselves to hours of time assessing and evaluating applicants. They are doing this because, frankly, it’s a good way to save a team’s time from interviewing obviously unqualified people. From your standpoint, this means that you need to develop an additional interview skill.

One of the disadvantages of doing a phone interview is that they can’t see how well you look or what a great suit you’re wearing to the interview or that you own terrific ties. It also means that you can sit in the comfort of your home, rather than trudging to their site. With this opportunity, comes problem. The major problem is that they can’t see how well you look or what great clothes you own. All they can do is listen to your voice and the energy that you convey and listen to the answers to your questions; you, on the other hand, can’t see when you’ve lost their attention or when you’ve bored them. There are no visual cues for either of you.

But with preparation, you can do a fabulous job and get in the door. Here’s a few pointers.

1. For any interview, go to the company’s website and learn about the firm. Also, if you can read a job specification on their site (or elsewhere) do so. After all the spec is the road map to what they are going to assess your abilities for.

2. Take some notes to remind yourself of points that you may want to make or about things that you might forget. Sometimes people get nervous, just like they do in person. Have a few notes nearby about your role, responsibilities and accomplishments as helpful reminders. Support your statements with detailed examples of accomplishments when possible. Remember, they can’t see if you have a manual open to something you might be a little rusty in! They can’t see that you have your resume in front of you!

3. Rehearse. Have someone call you and listen to your voice on the phone. Maybe your cordless phone makes your voice sound tinny. Maybe you speak too softly, mumble or speak too quickly to be understood by others. Ask someone you trust to critique you.

4. Pick out a place in your house where the kids won’t interrupt you or the tv won’t make noise in the background. I hate interviewing people who have the stereo playing in the background (it happens more often than you can imagine).

5. Write down their questions so that you can stay on purpose. Too often, people forget the original question and go rambling about something far a field. Stay on target.

6. Your voice is your only sales tool. Don’t allow yourself to sound tired or blasé over the phone. Sounds energetic and excited, even if they’ve asked you the same questions that every other interviewer has for the last six months!

7. At the time of the phone interview, log off your computer (If you can’t definitely get off of instant messengers and other services that chime. These may sabotage your concentration just when you need it most.

8. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. I can’t emphasize enough that you need to practice phone interviews, just as you have in person one.

9. Don’t use your cell phone if you can avoid it. Cell phones rarely allow your voice to sound as clear as a standard land line. Try to avoid using it for interviews.

10. Be courteous and try not to speak over the interviewer or cut them off. If you do, apologize and let the interviewer continue.

11. Do not hang up until the interviewer has hung up.

Follow these pointers and I’m sure you’ll do better on your interviews.

 

 

© 2004, 2011 all rights reserved.

Researching the Company You Are Interviewing With

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Although I prepare people for interviews all the time, I make certain assumptions about interview preparation that sometimes prove false.

I assume that people will have

clean clothing to wear,

dress properly,

arrive on time,

be prepared to speak about your experience,

research the company you are interviewing with,

. . . and a few other things.

This week, I was surprised to hear from a client that someone she interviewed had not taken any time to research their firm.

How would you ever join a company you know nothing about?

And research is so easy these days because of the availability of four tools:

Their website

LinkedIn

Google

YouTube

Looking at a firm’s website is so easy and most firms will, have an “About Us” page.

On LinkedIn on the top of the page, the search default is set to search people. If you use the drop down, you’ll find it also includes a “Search Companies.” Search for the company and you’ll not only find basic information about the firm, but people in your network who work there.

Reach out to those people about the company and about the person you are interviewing with.

Google lets you search for information about a company but it offers something else that is incredible–resumes of people you have previously worked for the company.

YouTube may show information that the firm and others are sharing about the firm.

Walking in to an interview without knowing anything and trying to learn about the company on the interview is ridiculous when a few minutes can pay an enormous return.

© 2005, 2011, 2015 All rights reserved Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Using Informational Interviews in Your Job Search

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When people join social networks, it seems like all they do is try to add lots of people. They never consider there are actual ways to use the social networks to help meet employers and make USEFUL connections.

Informational interviews were very popular many years ago as a way to learn about an employer, industry, career change or something you wanted to learn. They are a way to pick someone’s brain, create a favorable impression, learn, ask for a referral and a host of other things that can facilitate being hired.

When you target an employer, go to the firm’s page on LinkedIn and see whether there is someone you are already connected with who works there or if one of your university alumni works there or has worked there.

Search Twitter for mentions or Twellow for people who list the employer in their profile

On Facebook, try BranchOut as a way to hook up with people.

If the person is not local, see if you can arrange to call or skype them for a few minutes of time.

How should you reach out to them?

Give some thought as to what you might want to learn from them. If you are someone reaching out for advice about a career change, your questions might be pretty obvious– How did you start out? Did you have a plan to get to where you are and what was it? What training did you receive and how did you get it? There a million possible questions you can ask but distill them to the important ones for you.

If you are job hunting, you might want to speak with them about the function they perform, how the department is structured, the nature of the work, who runs the function . . . again, a million possible questions.

See if you can find out about the entry point to the firm. Everyone will send you to HR or a website but that is often useless. See if they can point you to the person who manages or is the Director of the function.

Just get to the point quickly and don’t waste their time.

Remember to follow up and let them know the result of using their advice or referral.

Social networking isn’t about “the scoreboard of connections.” It’s about using your connections and helping your connections.

Informational interviews are a great way of doing that.

© 2012 all rights reserved.

Preparing for a Final Interview

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Recently, a colleague of mine sent a job applicant I referred to him to a final interview with one of his clients and cc’d me on his confirmation note.

Although he was going to speak with him to prep him for the interview, I took this as an opportunity to offer advice to the job hunter.

This is what I wrote:

This may be obvious but in my many years of doing recruiting I have learned to never forget to remind people of even obvious details before they interview; after all, people are often distracted from their work days and forget to do obvious things.

The reminder I have for you is that there is no such thing as any interview being a formality; each one, particularly a final interview, is a chance to “sell” your ability to help solve their problems and help them feel good about hiring you.

Even when you aren’t, always think and act like you are competing with someone else for a job; after all, even when you aren’t, you are competing with the idea “that there is someone else out there better.”

Jeff

© 2012 all rights reserved.

Big Company Person Interviewing at a Small Company?

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This week, a friend referred someone to me who used to work at a global firm with a few thousand people on staff and offices around the world.

I asked him where he had been on interviews and what he liked and didn’t like about the places he had interviewed with.

“Well, I met with a small firm a few weeks ago, a family trust with about 20 people working for them. I thought it went well but I didn’t gotten a call back.”

He talked to me about the interview and spent some time talking about how well he handled the question about whether he would be OK working with a small firm. He said they seemed to be a little apprehensive.

He told me about the very logical way in which he answered the question (after all, he is an auditor) and that he thought he had impressed them with his answer.

I told him that the recruiter who had scheduled the interview had not done a good enough job dismissing their legitimate concerns about working at a “big company guy” adjusting to working at a small company. “If he had,” I continued, “they would not have raised this as a subject or used it as the basis for rejecting you.”

“A job interview is an exercise in theater. The person who does their job well, the person who may be performing the exact function best for a competitor may not be hired because they just don’t interview well enough to inspire confidence that they can do the job or fit into the corporate culture.

“In this case, what you should have done when asked about working for a small company is put a big smile on your face and brighten your eyes and say something like, ‘I’m dying to work at a smaller organization! Every organization has politics and ways things are done so I know I’m not walking into a place where none would exist. In big companies you just have it coming at you from so many different directions that I am looking forward to a chance at a smaller firm.”

And the key is in the acting . . . in behaving in a way that is congruent with their notion of how someone who really wants to work at a smaller firm should behave.

A little “acting” can go a long way in a job interview to make people believe that you are excited about an opportunity (that you know little about) and that you are passionate about what you do.

© 2011 all rights reserved.

The Best Little Job Interview Differentiator: What Makes You Different?

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Most interviews begin with a fairly traditional question:

“Tell me about yourself and what you have been doing professionally.”

They may not use those exact words but they ask you an open ended question that is designed to be answered in 30-45 seconds.

It sounds something like, “I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $1,250,000.

Mentioning the money almost always gets their attention. Otherwise, you give them an answer that leaves them thinking, “So what?” I’ve interviewed 25 people already who say much the same thing).

But I can assure you that none of them have used this new tactic I’ve developed and it works like a charm.

So for your next interview, I want you to be armed with the best little differentiator. So let me repeat the answer to “Tell me about yourself” with one little twist.”

“I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $250,000.

But I suspect you’ve heard similar answers from a lot of people you’ve interviewed but what makes me different is that …………..

What can you say?

I stepped into a situation that was behind schedule and over budget and delivered it ahead of time or on time and back on the new budget.

I worked for a boss that had left my last three predecessors running for the exits and was able to tame him/her and make him/her happy.

Get the idea?

You offer up a success you had and that becomes the basis of the conversation instead of a simple review of your resume and experience.

NOTE: You have to be prepared to answer questions about this success and not make up your answers on the fly.

© 2010 all rights reserved.

Second Interview Secrets

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You received a call from someone, spoke with them for a few minutes and they have invited you to come in for an interview with HR. Yippee! Well, passing the initial phone screen means little more than that you said all the key words that were in the job listing and that you did not sound like you were a mass murder . . . you are not particularly close to getting hired.

And you went to the firm’s offices, met with Human Resources and, a day or two have passed, and you have been asked to come back for another interview, Yippee!

But the fact is that all that has happened is that you were not rejected based upon superficial criteria and the potential employer is not so shallow to turn you away as to reject you based upon a superficial chat with HR.

To me, the second interview does not start when you speak with the first person from the department or business unit you would work in that has been asked to evaluate and assess your experience, competence and character.

To me, your second interview begins when you have completed meeting with that person from the department or business unit and been invited back to speak with someone else. That person may be a peer to the evaluator but it is another meeting.

What is their plan?

That’s easy . . . It’s usually one of three things.

a. You did well at the first meeting,

b. You did OK but they have some lingering doubts about you and need to investigate further, or

c. They did great and want to see you a second time to confirm their great impression of you.

How can you tell the difference?

That’s hard to say. Some second interviewers do nothing to let on their firm’s interest in hiring you. But there is one trick to knowing that they are really interested . . . The more they talk, the more they like you and spend time “selling you.”

What are they trying to find out at the meeting?

The simple answer is, “More.” They want to get more of you– more of your knowledge, more of your personality, more trust of you. Sometimes, it almost seems like the interview repeats the first. That may more reflect failings in the interviewer, that person may not know any more than the first person about how to interview for the job.

Here are a few things you can do before the meeting:

1. Find out who you will be meeting with and what their role is

So you get the call or email asking to come back for another meeting. Confirm the data and time and ask, “Who will be on my schedule and what is their role with the firm?”

The employer may only respond with a name. Immediately go to LinkedIn and/or Google and search for the person or people by name and company name. You’ll find out their employment history, what their function is, how long they have been with the firm, publications they’ve written, speeches they’ve given, sometimes their home address and phone number (don’t call or write them). You’ll learn more about the employer and their taste in employees from knowing this.

From LinkedIn, you may also find people you know who are connected with this person and may be able to give you advice about them or put in a call and provide you with a proactive reference. What can be better than having a friend, former colleague or subordinate call up a manager and say, “I understand you are going to be interviewing Buddy Miles. He’s really good.”

“How do you know I’m interviewing him?”

“He contacted me for advice and tips about you in anticipation of meeting you.”

And if you are asked at the interview why you contacted them, you tell them about trying to be well-prepared before starting any project and doing your homework.

2. Refresh your memory about the questions they asked and what they seemed interested in.

Often doing a review will give you clues about what they were interested in particular and possible areas of concern. Once you know the areas of concern, you can adopt a strategy to ease their worries and make you the winning candidate.

3. Put together a “brag book”

A brag book is a compilation that consists of a discussion of what the company does, the department does, and why you would be a terrific fit for them.

Preparing a brad book gets you prepared and focused for your meeting.

4. Prepare great questions for the meeting

One of the measures of the intelligence a candidate possesses is the questions they ask. Here’s one that is far better and much more sophisticated than, “Tell me about the job.”

The question is, “Let’s say you hire me and join your firm. A year has elapsed and I haven’t done just done a good job—I’ve done a great job. What would I have done or accomplished during that year that would result in you writing the most glowing review of an employee’s work that you’ve ever written.”

You do two things with this question:

a. You make them think of you as an employee performing the job

b. You find out what to aim for in the way of a great performance

Armed with all of this, you are ready to turn a second interview into a victory lap around the track.

And if you meet the department head or leader of the function, notice if at some point they seem to be doing all the talking for a while. Doing all the talking is a signal of their interest–The more they talk the more they like you.

© 2011 all rights reserved.

Practice Speaking

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For many people, interviewing is not a natural act any more than going on a blind date is. You are asked a bunch of questions about your work. You answer them. They ask a bunch more; you answer them. You’re graded on your performance (you receive a job offer or not). Yet interviews are predictable processes and as such can be planned for

What does an employer want to know about you?

1. Do you have the skills to do the job that needs to be filled?

2. How will you fit in with my company?

3. If I hire you, are you someone I will need to worry about?

How does this get determined in an interview?

1. By asking questions about what you have done and how you did it or decided it should be done.

2. By asking behavioral questions that will give an employer a sense of the scope of your experiences

3. By asking concrete questions to ascertain your knowledge

4. By observing your body language or physical response to questioning
to observe whether it is consistent with a successful person.

The fourth way (observing body language or physical response to questions) is particularly interesting because it is not skill or experience based and is completely subjective and emotional. AND it is part of the decision process.

And want are firm’s trying to find out about you? Leadership. Honesty. Trustworthiness.

You can practice with a friend or family member but they may not be much better than you. So how do you practice you presentation and get immediate feedback in order to improve your presentation and demonstrate these attributes?

Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) offers people an opportunity to practice how to speak throughout their program. Whether you answer extemporaneous questions off the cuff for 1-2 minutes in Table Topics (“It’s warm! It’s summer! People start to go to the beach and spending time outdoors. Tell us about a time you had fun at the beach, Jeff.” Notice that you only find out when you will speak at the end when you hear your name) or by doing actual 4-6 minute speeches, Toastmasters offers concrete opportunities to get used to being “on the spot” as happens in an interview. It also gives you an opportunity to observe others and learn from them and from the evaluations that are given.

There are Toastmasters clubs throughout the world.

© 2007 All rights reserved Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Late to the Job Interview

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No matter how hard you try, sometimes being late to an interview is unavoidable. Sometimes being late to an interview is something that can be avoided. No matter how it occurs, being late is something that shouldn’t be ignored at the interview.

This week, someone I was representing was being flown from Chicago to Atlanta for a day of meetings. The interviewers give up a day working from home to do this and generally try to be on flights by 2:30 PM to head home and have dinner with their family after a week on the road.

Weather caused flight delays and my candidate’s flight was delayed and his gate changed unbeknownst to him. Thus he missed his flight to Atlanta.

He immediately re-booked himself for what was at that time the first flight out the next day and sent me an email with his new itinerary. It was a little before midnight my time and I did not receive it until the next morning.

I contacted the client as soon as I thought they would be in to receive messages. they told me that based upon this schedule, he would probably miss meeting anyone.

Meanwhile, he was able to get himself on to an earlier flight and arrived about an hour after the meetings began and was able to maintain his cool rthar than arrived flustered.

This was a key to the client because delays sometimes happen and they look for people who can maintain their composure when adverse conditions occur.

He made apologies to them and went to work on his interviews.

Sometimes, traffic or trains cause the delays. If you can, make a quick call from your mobile to let your interviewer know of your potential late arrival. This lets them time shift other tasks into their newly created free time that they would have done later.

Upon arrival, give yourself a minute to get yourself focused on your meetings and not your lateness, walk in composed, as you shake hands with your interviewer (and each person thereafter), acknowledge the lateness and apologize if it threw their schedule off, explain the lateness (there was an accident on I-84; you weer on a train that should have gotten you there 30 minutes early but trains were delayed by 45 minutes; don’t explain if it was caused by Junior waking up and not wanting Mommy or Daddy to leave), then, get to work creating a fabulous impression and winning the job interview!

© 2012 all rights reserved.