Know What Your Scared of to Interview Your Best

When I do interview coaching with job candidates they often tell me they are nervous about the interview. As soon as I hear that statement I respond by asking them “what are you scared of”. This is an important question and I work with the candidate to get a specific and detailed answer.

First it is important to change the word “nervous” or “anxious” to “scared”. Nervousness or anxiety is generalized fear which is not anchored to a specific concern. By using the word “scared” the fear can be anchored to a specific concern and then the concern can be addressed.

Typical interview fears
Not being able to answer a question: Candidates often state they are scared they will be asked questions they cannot answer. Many candidates try to prepare for this by studying the most frequently asked interview questions. A good tactic, but it is impossible to prepare to answer all of the possible 2000+ interview questions. More importantly, understand your fear of not answering a question. What is your fear of what happens if you are asked a question and you do not know the answer? Does that mean you blow the interview and lose the job? Does it mean that you are not qualified for the job? Does it mean you have to feel stupid and inadequate? Does it mean you will never get a job? Identify these, often irrational, fears and decide if they are true. When you discover they are not, the fear will diminish.

Getting nervous and rambling:
Many candidates are aware of a tendency to ramble and go on tangents when nervous. To avoid this, never speak for more than two minutes at any one time and use a specific format like STAR (situation, task, action, result) to stay focused.

Not being qualified for the job:
On occasion a candidate does not understand why they were invited for an interview and they doubt their match with the position. The fear here is of not being qualified and performing poorly in the interview. To combat this fear realize that a company rarely wastes interview time on unqualified candidates. They must see something in your background and experience that interests them. A perfectly reasonable question for you to ask in the interview is ‘What is it about my background and experience  interests you in relation to this position?”

Ultimately, not getting the job:
The ultimate fear is doing poorly in the interview, not being offered a desirable position and feeling terrible about it. This is exacerbated when a person is unemployed and desperate to get back to work. Every interview has tremendous importance and a high price for failure. The best way to combat this fear is to have a active job search with multiple opportunities. If all your eggs are in one interview basket the interview becomes far more scary. If you have multiple interviews and the possibility of more, each interview is less important and less scary. Maintain an active job search!

Fear of being judged and rejected
Adults do not like to be in the position of being evaluated or judged by another person who has the ability to dramatically influence our lives. This feels powerless and scary. The reality is you are judging them as well. Do you want to work at that company and for that person?I understand you may be desperate for a job, however a bad job is worse than no job at all. You will be unhappy and then out of the job looking for another job with a short term job to explain on your resume.

The general strategy to dealing with interview fear is to state specifically what you are scared of and then understand the rationality of your fear.  Interviews are very subjective and are not definitive statements of your experience, qualification, or worth as an employee or person. Prepare for your interview, perform your best, keep active in your search and don’t be scared.

Use an InterviewBest Presentation to reduce your interview fears

Know What Your Body is Saying While Your Mouth is Moving to Interview Your Best

What does your gut say?

Many interviewers claim they make hiring decisions based on their “gut reaction”. Have you considered what makes up a gut reaction; most interviewers have not. Gut reactions are complex, however a substantial portion is based on unconsciously reading body language. Body language is a combination of eye movement, body orientation, hand movement, head position, and leg activity. When messages from all these parts are combined there is a lot your body is saying. The important question; is your body communicating a “hire me” message?

Lets examine some body language-

Eyes
Eye contact 60% of the time indicates interest and agreement however, eye contact 100% of the time indicates aggression. Frequent avoidance of eye contact may indicate a person is hiding something or lacks confidence. Rapid blinking indicates resistance to what is being said.

In your interview think about your eye contact. When you are asked a difficult question and you are not sure of the answers to you will tend to look away. This communicates lack of confidence in your answer and lets the interviewer know you are unsure maybe even fabricating an answer.

Think about maintaining good eye contact even when uncertain or nervous about what you are saying.

Your head
When a person’s head is tilted towards you it indicates interest. When tilted away at an angle with glances from the corner of the eye, it indicates suspicion, mistrust and disbelief. The head supported on a hand indicates boredom. Nodding indicates interest and agreement.

During the interview keep your head tilted toward the interviewer particularly when they are speaking. They will get the message you are interested in what they are saying. Avoid cradling your head in your hands. Nod in response to what the interviewer is saying, although not like a bobble head doll.

Your hands
Here is some hand communication:

• When hands are open and palms up, it conveys truthfulness and openness
• Hidden palms indicate something held back
• Clenched hands indicate tension, discomfort, or anger
• Hands covering the mouth or the nose or tugging at the ear indicates that a lie may be concealed
• A limp handshake with palm up betrays submission
• A firm handshake with palm down conveys strength and confidence
• A hand gripping the other hand, wrist or elbow communicates a desire to quell rising anxiety
• A hand behind the head betrays a need to fend anxiety, danger or discomfort.
• Steepled hands bear power and proclaims confidence and business
• The hand stroking the chin indicates ongoing evaluation of something just said
• Hands flat on the table indicate readiness to agree

Pay attention to your hands. What are they communicating to the interviewer? What are the interviewer’s hands communicating to you?

Body position
A closed position, slouching with arms crossed, communicates evasiveness and resistance. When you lean towards the interviewer you sends signals of interest. By leaning away you communicate disinterest or resistance.

In your interview keep an open body posture. If you cross your legs do not turn sideways. If your interviewer displays a closed body posture things are not going well.

Your doing well in the interview when
The interviewer maintains eye contact  70% of the time and is smiling. She faces you directly, nods frequently, leans toward you, and her arms and legs are uncrossed.

If you are not getting these body signs you will naturally,based on your gut reaction, tend to tighten up. Stay open, take a deep breath, and think about what is going on in the interview. You can even ask for some feedback about what the interviewer is thinking.

Use an interview presentation to improve your communication

Why Your Brain Keeps You From Interviewing Your Best

We are all walking around with primitive brains more suited for surviving in caves than managing the demands of the 21st century (including interviews).

One of the things our primitive brain does is that when we get stressed it narrows our thinking. When extremely stressed we can only think of one of two things-fight or flight. However, even under lower levels of stress we lose full access to our creativity, memory, problem-solving skills, humor, and interpersonal skills. Here is some proof-have you ever been in a situation where you were in a heated or stressful discussion and the moment you leave the room you bang yourself on the forehead and say to yourself  “I should have said…” The moment you left the room you calmed down a bit, your thinking expanded, and you remembered what you could have said. I just spoke with a client that when driving home remembered a lot of things he wished he had said in his interview.

Interviews are stressful situations. Even if you do a great job of preparation, you will be nervous and your thinking will be diminished; know it plan for it. Here are a some suggestions for overcoming your primitive brain:

Remember this

Prepare a list of reminders:
On a pad of paper write down the things you want to remember in the interview. Include things like smile, good eye contact, no ums, take a deep breath, and don’t fidget. Also include a list of questions to ask, a list of accomplishments, a reminder to ask for a business card, and the interviewer’s name(s). As you take notes on the pad you will see your reminders and remember to follow them.

Take a deep breath
Swami’s have know for centuries that good breath control leads to calm. During your interview, about every 5 minutes, take a good deep diaphragmatic breath. This will calm you down and improve your thinking. Put this on your pad as one of the things to remember.

Slow down your answers
An interview is not a timed test. You do not have to have immediate answers for every question. Slow down and take some time to formulate your answers. By slowing down you will be less stressed and will think more clearly.

Shift your position
When under stress many people tend to tense their muscles which raises their heart beat. By shifting your position you will relax your muscles and you will calm down.

Smile
When your facial muscles are smiling it causes a calming effect. So smile in your interview. This will also invite the interviewer to smile and help relax her.

Prepare an interview presentation
The best way to support your primitive brain is to have a written presentation to use during your interview. An interview presentation will insure you communicate all the information the interviewer needs to know about you to make a well informed hiring decision. Because all the information is written, none of it will be forgotten and you will be more confidant and relaxed.

You primitive brain does a couple of other unhelpful things including focusing on the negative and assuming the worst in the face of uncertainty. So you probably did better in your interview than you think and just because you haven’t heard yet it does not mean you did not get the job.

Help your brain with an interview presentation

Read this Rant to Interview Your Best

The interview process is broken  and its is time to fix it. From my point of view here are some things about the interview that needs repair:

The interviewer has to be control
There is this belief that the interviewer is in “control” of the interview and any attempt by the candidate to assert themselves is usurping the interviewer’s power. When did this get established and what’s the point? This belief causes lots of problems including:

• A bad interviewer (unfortunately not rare) results in a bad interview and the candidate is powerless to improve the situation.
• The candidate feels powerless and “one down” and their anxiety is increased
• The interviewer feels compelled to completely manage the interview, gets nervous, and ends up talking mainly about themselves.

Here  is the way it should be-The candidate should be prepared to sell themselves in the interview and share in the responsibility for communicating the critical information. Candidates should be told to come to the interview prepared to actively present themselves as the best fit for the position. Then the candidate should be given time to “sell” themselves.

How is interview behavior indicative of on the job behavior?
How often and on how many jobs does a person walk into an office and have to answer a series of question with little if any prior knowledge of the questions or the exact situation? Thinking on ones feet is an important skill but doing it with little situational knowledge is rare. And for many positions it never happens. Why do it in an interview? Why not give candidates more information so they can be prepared to interview their best. “Our most pressing issue is XYZ, please come prepared to talk about how you have worked on similar issues in the past.”

The candidate is asked to do actual work
Some companies actually have the chutzpah to ask candidates to produce valuable pieces of work. “Please put together a marketing plan for the next fiscal year”. The unstated message is “don’t do it and don’t get hired”. Done by  a senior executive this piece of work may be worth thousands of dollars. This is different than asking a candidate to display their thinking about a work related task. If a company wants a marketing plan they should pay for it not take advantage of a job candidate.

Cross examination
One of candidate’s greatest complaints is that the interview is like a cross examination; question answer- question answer- question answer- verdict. Two adults trying to decide an important issue should be in a conversation. In an interview conversation there is an exchange of information between two adults that are working together to decide if the job is a good fit for both the company and the candidate. In any good conversation there is a give and take of information as well as the opportunity to talk about what is going on here and now. “So how do you feel about how the interview is going?”

Lack of Trust
A job interview is basically a sales call. Like every sales situation there is an element of suspicion about the sales person, how good is their product/service and what does it cost. Beginning from this underlying belief, the interview becomes subtly adversarial with the interviewer trying to figure out if the candidate is really who they portray themselves to be. The interviewer then uses a series of questions (tell me about your greatest weaknesses) to find any inconsistencies or misrepresentations.

This is a hard one to overcome. The candidate is portraying themselves in the best possible light and trying to avoid any weaknesses or problems. They want to make the sale. However, a candidate should keep in mind selling themselves into a bad situation is worse than no sale at all. After a stressful period of time they will fail,  be back where they started with a short term job on their resume and  looking for their next job.

Untrained interviewers
Since when did interviewing become an innate skill? Many managers think interviewing is a simple “gut/instinct” process and they are good at it. Typically they are deceiving themselves. Interviewers should get training or at least let the candidate be more active and assertive in the interview to balance out their limited interview skill.

Lousy job descriptions
Candidates cannot match their background, skills, and experience to unknown job requirements. Poorly developed job requirements are like saying “I want to buy something to help us with customer service but I have no idea of what I want, I will just know it when I see it”. Hiring managers should take the time to figure out and then specify what skills, experience and personality type they are looking for and then let candidates know.

So those are my thoughts- let me know if you agree or even if you have more to add to the rant!

InterviewBest improves the interview

How to Establish Rapport and Interview Your Best

Build rapport

The first challenge of any job interview is establishing rapport with the interviewer. Rapport can be described as the feeling you experience when you are with someone you intuitively like. People only hire people they like; rapport is critical.

How do you establish rapport in a job interview?

Here are some of the common things-
Be on time
The first tactic may seem obvious but it is critical…be on time. If you are late to the interview you have destroyed the foundation for rapport. Be there 15 minutes before the appointment.

Eye contact
Look the interviewer in the eye. Eye contact establishes a connection and a trust. I am not suggesting a stalking type stare but do look the person in the eye for 2-8 seconds and then look away and then back again.

Smile
Be sure to smile. Smiles are contagious and will set a tone of friendliness and connection.

Be yourself
Be yourself be relaxed. This may be a challenge in an interview situation but keep in mind an interview is two human beings meeting one another. Treat the interview as an opportunity to meet someone and get to know them. This shifts the context and helps to develop rapport. Also, being authentically yourself communicates honesty.

These are a bit more advanced
Be observant
Look at the interviewer and and the surroundings, really observe them. What do you learn about them from what you observe. By paying attention to the interviewer you tune into their world and become more open and sensitive to them as a person. This will be communicated in your attitude and verbal/non-verbal communication.

Be tribal
Human beings are basically tribal. We tend to like and trust members of our own tribes. Fortunately human tribes are very broad and include almost any connection. Search for a commonality that will put you in their tribe. The commonality can be geographic, interests, sports, hobbies, schools, prior jobs, etc. etc. Almost anything will do to establish a tribal connection. However caution; avoid discussing anything that will put you in another tribe so politics and religion are areas to avoid.

Ask questions, listen, and communicate understanding
When you ask questions really listen and understand. It is helpful to echo the answer just to be sure you understand and to let the interviewer know you are tuned in. “Am I correct that you are saying that the company is very family friendly but at the same time focuses on performance?” Being heard and understood is very appealing to human beings and fosters rapport. Listen particularly carefully for the interviewer’s goals and concerns, position, expectations and needs.

Be relaxed be confidant
Recent research shows that emotions are contagious. Come into an interview nervous with low confidence and the interviewer will sense it. Anxiety (fear) and low confidence inhibits rapport. The one best way to increase confidence and reduce anxiety is to be well prepared.

Be curious
This is the most critical element in establishing rapport. Be genuinely curious about the interviewer as a person. I am not suggesting you ask about personal issues; an interview should be professionally focused. Find out how the interviewer came to their position, what they like about their job and the company, their challenges on the job, their professional goals, their management style. It is important to be genuinely curious. If you ask questions as an “interview technique” you will not come across as genuine and you will be perceived as less honest.

Establishing rapport is essential to being selected for a position. As mentioned above, the most important part of establishing rapport is being open, curious, and genuinely interested in establishing a relationship with the interviewer.

Using an interview presentation will help you be confidant and establish rapport

Being Like Sully Sullenberger Will Help You Interview Your Best!

In an extraordinary performance of aeronautical skill Sullenberger exhibited the following life saving presence of mind-

Preparation: Like any pilot, Sullenberger was trained in flying and landing under duress. But he went further: he researched and studied crash situations and even consulted others on the matter.

Poise Under Pressure: When stressed by a challenging situation based on his training and preparation he knew the most effective routine. Once the plane hit the water, and he followed the routine to a T.

Execution: Not only did Sullenberger have to act fast when his plane encountered engine trouble upon takeoff, but he had to warn his passengers (the now-famous “Brace for impact” warning he said through the intercom) and then help them evacuate.

In interviewing preparation is 85% of the equation for success. Preparation provides the insights and information you need to answer questions and gives you the confidence to be relaxed, think clearly, and use the information to your best advantage.

The interviewer may throw you curves and ask unexpected questions however, being prepared and having a plan for your interview will give you the poise to perform under the pressure of the interview. Be prepared to introduce the information you want the interviewer to know about you so they know you are an excellent candidate for the position. The best plan is to have an interview presentation prepared to use during your interview.

Taking this analogy a step further, the interviewer is the pilot you are the co-pilot in the interview; you are not a passenger.  If the interviewer is doing a good job of steering the interview then sit in the second seat and do your job as a co-pilot by following the interviewer’s lead. Should the interviewer go off course, not obtaining the information they need to make a decision about you, take the controls.

Be prepared, have a plan for communicating the information you want the interviewer to know, and then execute calmly. And just like Sullenberger, don’t leave the interview until you have executed your plan.

Use InterviewBest to plan your interview

Sharpen Your Ax to Interview Your Best

Sharp Ax

Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax.” Wise words about preparation. Same for interviewing, if you have one hour for an interview spend three or four hours preparing.

78% of all job candidates “wing” the interview. This means they go in with no or very minimal preparation. The #1  turnoff for a hiring manager is lack of preparation for the interview which typically comes down to not knowing anything about the company. With the advent of the internet and all the easily accessible information about virtually any company, being unprepared has become even a greater interview sin!

So what do you need to know? Lets go from basic to sophisticated.

Basic

• What does the company do
• What is their market
• How big are they (revenue/employees)
• Geographic location (local/regional/national/international)
• Years in business
• Corporate structure (private/public/non-profit)
• Names of products or services
• Are they growing, stable, shrinking

More Sophisticated

• Competitors
• Market trends affecting company and their market
• Significant company and industry risk factors
• Primary competitors and their strengths
• Life cycle of company products (early stage, growing, mature, outdated)
• Company culture
• Quality of leadership team
• Interviewer’s background/experience
• Vulnerability to takeover

Information can be easily learned from the company website, industry publications, news articles and press releases. Also, there are a number of new internet sites that provide insider information such as GlassDoor.com.

With only a minimal amount of effort you can be better prepared than 78% of your competition. Going into your interview with a sharp ax will prepare you to chop down the job and bring it home.

An interview presentation is a sharp axe you can bring with you to the interview

Do You Know Why They Are Not Hiring You Today? Find out to Interview Your Best

In the car showroom the salesperson is finished with their sales pitch and their final question to you is “Is there a reason you would not buy this car today?” This is an “objection question” and any good sales person in any sales situation asks a variation of this question (What would I need to do or provide to get you to sign the contract today?).  Once the salesman hears the objection(s), their challenge is to overcome the objection(s) and make the sale.

Is there a reason the hiring manager is not offering you the job today? Do you know what the reason is?

In the interview ask the objection question. However, you need to ask an objection question that works in a job interview and gets you the information you seek. Many interview books suggest a direct question such as, “Is there a reason you would not hire me” or even more direct “So do I get the job?” In my experience hiring managers simply duck a direct “objections”  question by saying “Well we have other candidates to interview so…”. My suggestion is to ask a less direct/confrontational question that will give you good actionable information.

Here is the question:
“Based on my background and skills what do you think would be the greatest challenges for me in this position?”

A “challenge(s)” is an objection to hiring you. The challenge may be major- you will not get the job, minor- you are in the running, or inconsequential- if no better candidate shows up you are in.   If there is a challenge voiced do the following:

1- Make the challenge specific
For example the hiring manager may say “You may not have the experience we need”. What experience do they need what experience are you lacking? Keep asking questions such as “please tell me specifically what you mean?” until you get the details and you understand the challenge.

2- Probe for the concern behind the challenge
“You are correct,  although I have worked for a financial services firm I do not have experience in commercial banking what is your concern about my lack of experience in commercial banking?

3- Play back the challenge to the hiring manager
So your concern is that I do not have enough client facing experience is that correct?

Once you know the details of the “challenges” you can formulate a way to overcome the challenge. It may be proposing a strategy you can use once hired to overcome the challenge or it may be emphasizing another area of skill or experience which is equally important and can overcome the hiring manager’s concerns.

This challenges question should be asked in every one of your interviews. It will give you very valuable information as well as provide a question you can ask whenever the interviewer asks you “Do you have any questions for me?”

Use an Interview Presentation to differentiate yourself, overcome objections, and interview your best

Think About Hiring Yourself to Interview Your Best

Like most job candidates you are probably concerned about being able to answer interview questions. You might resort to reading book after book about the most frequently asked interview questions or cruising numerous web sites to find interview questions. However you may be overlooking the easiest and most effective method of preparing for interview questions – consider hiring yourself.

In preparation for your interview, ask yourself this question;
“If I were  hiring someone for the position for which I am interviewing what would I want to know about them?”
Make a list of these questions and develop answers for them. I is helpful to organize the questions into the three basic interview question categories. These are:

1- Can you do the job and do it well?
Questions in this category are typically about background, experiences, skills and education that you have shown or acquired in prior positions and prove you can do the job. Develop a list of questions that elicit information about exactly what you have done on previous jobs.

2- Will we like you, will you fit our culture and will you take supervision?
Questions in this category are focused on your personal qualities and job success factors that give insight into how you work with others and if you are likable. Develop a list of questions that elicit answers about your work style, strengths/weaknesses and your preferred work culture.

3- Are you interested in and motivated for this position?
The questions in this category explore if you are interested in the work required in the position and if you will apply yourself and work to improve your skills and performance. Develop a list of questions that elicit your career interests and where you see yourself  in the future.

Using your knowledge of the position and the above three categories, you should be able to develop a comprehensive list of questions and answers. Even if you are not asked the exact questions, your preparation will inform you about how to focus the answers to the questions you are asked.

Develop an Interview Presentation to interview your best

Why Curiosity Helps You Interview Your Best

Curiosity actually saved the cat

Most job candidates interview for jobs in industries in which they have experience. Some candidates have 15 plus years of experience in a specific job in a particular industry. Many experienced candidates make the mistake of assuming they know all they need to know about the industry, the company, and position for which they are interviewing.

It is easy to understand how a candidate may make this mistake. Take for example a Chief Financial Officer, a Chief Information Officer, or an experienced manager who has 10 plus years of experience in their job. For years they have been exposed to industry trends, competitors, new developments in their field, colleagues and other professionals,  etc. It is natural for them to assume they know all they need to interview well and they short change themselves on their interview preparation and do not listen enough in the interview. This is the same mistake experienced sales people make when they think they know as much or even more than their customer.

Here is what even experienced candidates don’t know- they do not know about the job from the hiring manager’s perspective.

As in any good sales process, the initial part of an interview should be spent getting to know the needs of the customer (hiring manager). Listen for the following in the hiring manager’s words:

• What specific problem is the position solving
• What are the immediate, mid-term, and long term priorities of the position
• How will success be measured
• What are the specific skill sets the position requires
• Significant industry trend/challenges
• Personal success factors that fit the company culture

To learn the above information, maintain an attitude of curiosity. According to Dictionary.com, curiosity is “the desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness.” Curiosity also includes an openness to view things from others’ perspectives.  The challenge is to avoid having your preconceived notions and existing beliefs block learning the hiring manager’s views and perspective. You may think the hiring manager’s thoughts are incorrect, however it is her thoughts and you need to know them. I am not suggesting agreement only awareness.

Curiosity exemplified by good questions and open mindedness communicate positive traits in the interview. Also, it is a good approach to disagree by asking questions. For example, “I understand you think the emerging trend in energy is drilling for more oil, I am wondering what your thoughts are about alternative energy such as electric and hydrogen?’ You may learn something very interesting about the hiring manager’s thinking.

Once you are aware of the hiring manager’s perspective you can target your answers more specifically to the requirements of the position. In addition, you can determine if the job is for you.

Differentiate yourself with an interview presentation