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So many are not . . .

Being Honest is the 4th “B of Interviewing.”

Just as it is easy for you to find out all kinds of things about the company through your research (or even while you are sitting in the waiting area!), so too can the company verify all the information you provide.  It is vital you speak openly about your accomplishments, just be sure the information is accurate.  This is especially important when you are asked to explain gaps in your employment, a termination or other blemishes on your resume or record.  I’m not saying you need to point them out, just that you must have a credible answer when asked.

Next on the list?

Be gracious.

Based on the company’s preferred method, follow up with a handwritten note, a letter or an email.  If it’s unclear, ask.  I would much rather have a candidate ask how, when, and with whom she should follow up than to have her guess and get it wrong.

Have you employed any of the “B’s of Interviewing” yet?  If so, let us know the results in the comment area below.

And, if you need a quick refresher (or have missed the previous posts), here are the “B’s” covered thus far:

• Be on Time
• Be Prepared
• Be Interested
• Be Honest
• Be Gracious

Check back next week when we wrap up the “B‘s of Interviewing.”

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

The whole month of April we have been focusing on The B’s of Interviewing — tried and true tips to ace your interviews.  We began with a discussion on Being on Time, moved to Being Prepared and today, tip #3, is Being Interested.

Being Interested is comprised of two parts.  First, building rapport.  Seasoned interviewers are skilled at small talk, which puts the candidate at ease and allows the interviewer to test the “fit” of the interviewee.  Be prepared to engage in this small talk and engage honestly.  If the woman across the table asks about the local college’s basketball team and you don’t follow them, be honest.  Don’t pretend to engage where you lack experience or knowledge.  Remember the integrity thing?  It applies here, as well.

The second component of Being Interested is to ask sincere questions. The easiest way to do this?  Follow up on questions asked of you.  Ask for additional information or clarification.  Ask questions from your research, about the company’s direction, about what keeps them up at night, about the goals for the department or position.  Employers are much more likely to remember a candidate who engaged in meaningful, thoughtful conversations about them.  Remember, this is a two-way street.  Both parties are dancing — trying to decide if and when to close the deal.  Even if you aren’t interested, ask questions to practice.  Yes, I said practice at the interview.  Don’t share this with anyone, but I know people who go on interviews for positions that don’t interest them just for practice.

And, what will you practice?  The B‘s of Interviewing, of course!  Be on Time, Be Prepared and Be Interested.

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

The next “B” of interviewing is:  Be prepared.

Being prepared involves several things:  knowing the company, knowing your stuff and knowing how to present it.

I always ask candidates what they know about my company and am surprised by the number of times I hear, ” . . . not much . . .”, “. . . nothing, really . . .”, or, worst of all, “I really haven’t had time to research.”  Really?  When your cell phone has more computing power than the one used in the Manhattan Project, enough to stay connected to several hundred people simultaneously, the ability to shop or get a dinner reservation at a moment’s notice and you didn’t have time to research?  If you aren’t interested in the company, the employer won’t be interested in you.

What should you know to be prepared?  You should know:

• The history of the company and what the company does.
• Their competitors and their competitive advantage (and their weaknesses, for that matter).
• How your skills and experiences match the requirements.

Use company contacts, social media, internet research, stock market information and, even the library, as your sources.

Next — knowing your stuff.  An effective candidate speaks to his resume without looking.  You remember the details and can recite them.  You know the steps you took to drive sales to record highs in the Atlanta division in 2009.  You remember the names of your supervisors, the years you won awards and why you received them.   In my book, a candidate that gives me different information than what is reported on an application or resume has trouble in the integrity department.  Is it fair?  It doesn’t matter.  It is what it is.  Knowing your stuff keeps you out of trouble.

Last, you must not only know your stuff, but also know how to present it.  Great information and big opportunities have been lost in poor presentations. My advice?  Practice.  Even well paid, experienced speakers practice constantly.  Think about it.  Interviewing is something we rarely do.  It takes skill to speak to seldom used information in front of total strangers.

My advice on how to get better?  Go to the internet and find the 100 most common interview questions.  Put them in a word processing document and answer them.  Once you’ve answered them, find someone with which to practice.  It could be your spouse, significant other, neighbor or someone else with whom you’re comfortable and, most importantly, will give you honest feedback.  Have them ask the questions while you practice answering them until your presentation is smooth and natural.

Once you know the company, know your stuff and know how to present your stuff, you will be much more confident.  This confidence helps you relax.  When you are more relaxed, you are more yourself.  Your confidence will show!

Next week, we dive into Being Interested . . . are you?

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

April is bringing me a very unique adventure — more to follow on that soon!  Part of my adventure includes spending fun time with amazing people and, as such, I asked a few of them to guest post on this blog and share their thoughts on interviewing, building great teams and other relevant topics.

The April guest posts focus on  “The B’s of Interviewing” — tried and true tips to ace your interview.

Let’s get at some tips to help you prepare for a knockout performance in your interview.  The tips are compiled from my experience on both sides of the table.  I do want to confess that I’ve never particularly liked interviews, but once I began to view them as simple conversations the whole process changed for me.

Let’s prepare you for your conversations.  My first “B” tip is:

Be on time.  I know, I know.  Still happens, though — candidates fail to account for weather, traffic, poor directions, etc.  My conversations with late candidates are very brief.  I confirm the time of our appointment, then tell them that being on time is a non-negotiable expectation on my team.  I tell them it’s not a fit as I escort them to the door.  If you aren’t able to get to the interview on time, what makes me think you’ll show up to work on time?  Besides, being early has its advantages.  You have an opportunity to talk to the receptionist, the administrative assistant or the VP you met in the elevator.  You have time to mentally go over last minute preparations or fine tune your questions.  There’s zero downside to being early.

So, “B” on time next week when I share with you the next B of Interviewing!

-Mark Key is a retail professional known for driving results in diverse and challenging retail segments.  Mark’s interviewing insights come from companies big and small — having worked with organizations with just a few employees to Fortune 100 companies.

Hope your Labor Day weekend was wonderful!  My weekend was great and so was last week.

Labor Day celebrates – work and workers – I love my work.  I help talented professionals land the job they want and advance a career they enjoy.  It is amazing to see the results.  I know the processes and methods I share work, yet I never get tired of hearing the success stories.

I am always delighted when someone I am working with tells me just how they added themselves to a tip, technique, tactic or a strategy and presto … like the magician who pulls the white rabbit out of his top hat with skill and a smile … the tip shared becomes theirs, the result theirs too and it is dead on prefect!

Last week was one of those great weeks.  By Thursday, the fourth day of the week I that heard from four people that I had been working with that they had job offers – that does not happen every week.

Here is part of one of the messages I got last week:

“… I have wonderful news to share with you. I got an offer from the job interview! … This is to reinforce how important it is to …. I didn’t do it for a previous phone screening interview and, of course, nothing followed. This time, I was determined to … and I did, and I’m glad I did. Thank you for emphasizing the importance of … in your career workshops!!! It really could mean getting hired or NOT getting hired….Thank you Cindy, for all your professional help! … Both my husband and I are very lucky to have worked with you! …”

So often it is a little thing or a simple fine turning that changes the result very quickly.  Doing one small thing better or different can be the difference between being hired and not being selected for the job.

I can’t lie I love getting notes and updates on the success others are creating in their careers.  See, I’m a bit unusual and bizarrely passionate about people succeeding and having the job and career they want and love.

Are you ready for better results? Do you need help to Accelerate Your Search?  Give me call; I’d love to help you be successful too!

First if you got the interview you can bet someone saw value in you, your skills and your experience.  Often being told “no” encourages people to try harder or push on doing the same things.  Most people believe coming in second means they just need to try harder to be first.

In job searching that may or may not be the case.  Far too often I see people who don’t really fit in a job or an industry, yet they fail into it, got hired again and again into a similar position so they just keep pushing in that direction.   For some it is time to stop, to assess, plan and execute something new.

Joe (not his real name) had eight jobs in eleven years in the same position and industry.  After his last termination, 120 weeks of unemployment and nine interviews he decided to explore help for interviewing skills.  He assumed his interviewing skills were his problem and the reason he was not getting hired.

When we discussed why and how his past jobs ended his answer was the work ended, then he collected unemployment until he was hired in the same position again.  I ask if I could call his references and check with this last two employers and he agreed. 

 The discovery from his references and his employers was different than his point of view for each of his last positions.  All of his professional references painted a different picture than Joe did of his work and his work style.  His references spoke well of his skills, yet painted a different picture of his work style. 

One reference shared that often when he was called as a reference he asked if he enjoyed working with Joe he said no.  One reference disclosed that after working with Joe at two different businesses he would answer the call with an example about Joe’s work style and how is affected him and let the new possible employer draw whatever conclusion they would from the example.

The reference valued Joe and his skills, yet Joe had a few blind spots about his work style and this caused issues, problems and a diconnect in cultural fit within the industry.  After gathering the information and sharing it with Joe, he said that his references had told him all of the information I shared before and one had offered to help him change to another unit were the work culture was a better fit.  However Joe had declined the transfer or the assistance to adapt his behavior. 

Joe had choices to make.  He could change is occupation, or change his style or change the positions he was seeking to find a work culture where his work style fit the culture and the needs of the business.  Joe decided to seek other positions using his skills and where the work style and culture of the organization was more suited to his work style. 

He was hired after 3 interviews and returned to work within 2 months of his decision to seek work that was a better fit for his style. Recently I got a message from Joe, he has been on the job a year, enjoys it, got his 2^nd pay increase, things are well.  Additionally, he noted thanks for helping him see the impact of his blind spots and assisting him to find the first job he ever liked and the only job where he had worked for a over a year.

What are your blind spots?  Do you have the confidence to take a hard look at your search and see what might be holding you back in your career?  

Are you pushing in a direction that will not help you accelerate your search or accelerate the success you want.  You may need to dust yourself off, stop pushing and head in a new or different direction. 

Do you have a question about your search?  Look to the right and sign up for next Q & A session, join the session and ask your question.

Using LinkedIn Continued …

In additional to just being active online LinkedIn can helpful to you offline as well. The odds are you will have an interview if someone hires you.  Most, yet not all interviews are face-to-face, LinkedIn and other social platforms can help you be more effective and better prepared for a first meetings or an interview.

On Thursday, Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer) of Buzz to Bucks posted “LinkedIn: More Effective Personal Meetings?”  and she shared several good reasons why LinkedIn may well be the best social networking site to help you connect, engage and have more effective personal meetings.  Enjoy reading Maria Elena Duron’s post and share your thoughts.

How are you using LinkedIn to help you have more effective meetings? Share your tips.

Do you have a question about using LinkedIn during your search?  Look to the right and sign up for next Q & A session, join the next session and ask your question.

It is the job you want, you landed the interview, it went great, you are leaving and planning your follow up and the first day at work – yippee!  Then it hits you – you didn’t ask for the job.

Don’t be afraid or forget to ask for the job.  Landing a job is about sales and in sales you don’t close deals if you don’t ask for the sale.  It can be scary, intimidating, or just plain uncomfortable but you must do it.

Do you believe in your skills?  Your value? Your ability to do the job? Can you help this company get results?   If you answered yes, then help them hire you and ask for the job.

Practice a few ways to ask for the job.  You don’t get what you deserve you get what you ask for, state you value and what you can do for the company and ask for the job! 

Have a question about how to ask for the job at the end of the interview? Sign up and join me on the next Q & A call, ask your question and get an answer.

Need specific ways to speed up your search?  Look to the right and request my gift to you – “162 Ways to Accelerate Your Job Search and Land the Job You Want”.

Have a comment or thought?  Post it below.

People are often afraid of something new.  You might be afraid because interviewing is out of you comfort zone, or had a bad experience, or have no experience interviewing. 

Fear does pop up for all of us from time to time – at least if you are like me and honest with yourself. I am afraid of different things, usually for me it is either something new or something I do really don’t have much experience or practice doing.  Fear does pop up in my life.  Does it in yours?  I have discovered most of people I know don’t share what they are afraid easily.  Do you?

On Friday, I was with a group of great and talented people, discussing interviewing and we did honestly talked a bit about interview fears.  Why, because the talent in the room understood that if the fear remained it would hold them back. 

You know what I mean – don’t you?  

It is like when you were a kid and you were afraid there was something under the bed, outside, or in the closet.  As soon as you shared the fear with someone you trusted like a parent, friend, brother or sister – what happened? 

Well for me, I only shared those fears with trusted people, who would not judge me for the fear, because to me that was as scary as the fear.  What I learned was if I picked people I trusted, they would then help me explore my fear. 

I usually I discovered with help and guidance that my fear was “False Evidence Appearing Real”.  Like the noise I heard was not evidence of something under the bed that would harm me, but the bedcovers brushing the floor when I moved in bed.

What I learned by sharing my fear, was to reduce the fear to a concern.  Once I did that then I could discover what the concern really was and how to address the concern. 

If you have interview fears, try this. What is your interview concern?  How can you address it?

A common concern I hear often is what if the interviewer doesn’t like me.  Reduce the fear to a concern and take action to address the concern.

Need a tip for this fear?  Here is mine – like the interviewer first! 

Here is how in simple steps:

1. As soon as you meet the interviewer, notice something about him/her you like.  It could be a tie, shoes, smile, anything. 
2. Hold the thought of what you like in your mind for 30 to 60 seconds.
3. Got it. Say to yourself (doing this aloud might work, but works better to yourself)   “I like John’s <use his/her name> smile <insert what you like> he is very friendly <insert why you like whatever you like>.”  
4. Now, repeat the message and make eye contact.  “I like John’s smile, he is very friendly.”  
5. Then let the thought go.

When you like the interviewer in some way first, think about it and then let the thought go, you have taken action, moved your fear to a concern, and addressed the concern.  From fear, to concern, to action. 

Have a question about interviewing? Sign up and join me on the next Q & A call, ask your question and get an answer.

Need specific ways to speed up your search?  Look to the right and request my gift to you – “162 Ways to Accelerate Your Job Search and Land the Job You Want”.

Have a comment or thought?  Post it below.

What is the best answer or best way to sell myself to land the job I want?

Not a week goes by that someone does not ask this question – there is not one best answer or one best way.   No two people are alike and no two candidates are alike.

The most successful approach it to focus on who you are, your strengths, what you offer and your unique talents.  That’s what sets you apart from the other candidates who will interview for the job you want. 

This approach is not hard but does require focus.  Begin with an assessment of your strengths, skills and talents.  Then plan how to communicate your value in each area.  Build your marketing message and tools showing how you can and will use your talents to provide consistent, performance to help an organization achieve its crucial business goals.  

The reason this is hard for most people to sell their talent and strengths during a job search is they get too focused on the past, or on what is missing or what’s wrong.  Focus first on you and your value. 

It is easy to get focused on what you don’t have, what you need to “fix” or what your weaknesses are, and move into comparison mode, but that is a dead end road to mediocrity.  Invest some time and focus on assessing your strengths, what you do well, your talents and how you can best apply these to the marketplace. 

When you know yourself, your value, your talents, your strengths, and how to communicate what you want, then you don’t dread an interview or talking to a potential employer.  Nor do you need to spend hours fixating on re-wording a résumé or writing a cover letter to fit a job posting, instead you can spend your time on targeted interactions within the organizations who can use and are looking for your skills and talent.

What are your natural talents? 

What pertinent knowledge and skills do you offer the marketplace? 

How can you use your talent to help the organization achieve a significant return on their investment in your salary?

Can you clearly share this information with a potential employer in a few minutes?