Here’s How to Interview Better- Hey Are You Listening?

A number of listening pitfalls will trip you up in your job interview. Don’t fall in these listening pitfalls:

• Being so intent on what you have to say that you listen mainly to find an opening to make your point. You may be thinking that you have a very important point you want the interviewer to know, and if you don’t say it now, the opportunity will be lost. In reality, you won’t lose the opportunity, and this pitfall often results in an interruption[md]never a good thing during an interview.,
•  Formulating and focusing on your answers quickly, based on what the speaker is saying. Candidates often are so concerned about giving the “right” answer that they get nervous and stop listening. They also have the misconception that they have to answer a question immediately after it is asked. It is perfectly acceptable to say, “Let me think about that,” and then take 30 to 40 seconds to formulate an answer. A thoughtful, considered answer is better than a quick, confused, or off-target response.
• Focusing on your own personal beliefs about what you’re hearing. Your personal beliefs form a filter that may distort the interviewer’s meaning. It is important to be aware of how your beliefs distort what you hear and adjust for the distortion. You can do this by becoming consciously aware of your beliefs. For example, the interviewer might be talking about the importance of offshoring certain functions in their department. Perhaps you are opposed to sending jobs overseas. Your opposition may impact how you listen to the interviewer’s message. However, if you say to yourself, “This is an area of disagreement for me. I need to stay in active listening,” you will be able to focus on the message and not your internal resistance and judgment.
• Evaluating and making judgments about the speaker or the message. While the interviewer is busy making subjective judgment about you, you are busy making subjective judgments about her. Judgments can distort how you hear things- both positively and negatively. If you have a positive impression of the interviewer, you might tend to believe what she is saying and not ask clarifying questions. If you judge the interviewer negatively, you might prematurely dismiss what she is saying and not listen fully. Be aware of your judgments, which can be as simple as whether you like or dislike the person, so that you don’t lose the message.
• Not asking for clarification when you know you don’t understand. Many candidates think that asking for clarification is a signal to the interviewer that they don’t understand and that, as a result, they will appear stupid. A candidate of mine walked out of an interview sweating because the interviewer used an acronym he did not know, and he didn’t ask what it meant. Throughout the interview, the candidate was hoping he wouldn’t be caught; as a result, he was a nervous wreck and performed poorly. It turned out that the acronym was an obscure, little-known term that he couldn’t have known anyway. The interviewer was either impressed the candidate knew or guessed that he was covering up- probably the latter, since there was no job offer.

As it is in all sales situations, listening is the most important activity in a job interview. The more time you spend listening and understanding the job, the better you can match your background, skills and experience to the critical job requirements.

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to listen in interviews

Interviewing? Know What Your Selling!

What Are You Selling?

Most job seekers can easily classify their professional identity and what their services generally include- for example, they may be an IT project manager, a banquet chef, a state representative legislative aide, a stockbroker selling energy stocks, a brand manager for consumer packaged goods, or an accountant. However, most job seekers do not sufficiently define the full range of services they provide, including intangibles that make them successful at the job. In addition to high-quality services, in a competitive marketplace intangible success factors differentiate you from your competition.

Services, Features, and Benefits

In defining your services, think like a business. What is the full range of features and benefits you offer? One business might differentiate itself by promising outstanding customer service, or it might offer a highly specialized component of the service that other companies do not have. One business might offer the base service but have ancillary services that add value and tip the buying decision in its favor. For example, a veterinarian might provide excellent pet care but may also have a mobile van for house calls.

What is the full range of base and add-on services you provide? For example, one of my clients was applying for a position as a manufacturing-plant manager. The position to which he was applying did not include reading blueprints or managing construction in the job description; however, during his interview he spoke about how he learned to read blueprints and manage construction contractors after having been involved in building a plant. The interviewer told him, “That’s great! We’re not currently building, but we anticipate that within 18 months, we will be expanding our current plant or building a new plant.” My client was hired

As another example, a client was applying for a staff accounting position. During his interview, he spoke about having been involved in evaluating, selecting, and implementing an accounting system. The posted job requirements did not include selection and implementation of accounting systems; however, coincidently, the company was beginning to consider purchasing an accounting system. My client was hired.

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to sell in your interview

An Expert Interview Secret; Sales Techniques Enhance Your Interviews

Sell Yourself to Win Your Interview

There is an entire industry dedicated to teaching the science of selling. Google “sales training,” and you get literally millions of hits. Selling is a serious and well-researched discipline. Unfortunately, job interviews have not gotten the same level of research and training. Fortunately, many sales skills and techniques are applicable to job interviews.

The typical job candidate reads interview tips, many of which are standard, common suggestions. Using a sales approach opens a large inventory of strategies and techniques that elevate the interview. It gives you added dimensions and skill sets to prepare for your interview, manage the interview, and follow through after your interview.

Applying a Sales Process to an Interview Helps You Understand What Is Going On

The hiring process follows many of the same steps as a sales process. However, many companies have a haphazard hiring process that makes understanding the job-interview process confusing. Even companies with an organized process do not communicate well with their candidates. (It’s interesting how many of these companies include good communication skills in their job descriptions!) In the face of confusion and lack of communication, candidates spend a great deal of time guessing about what’s going on.

Using a sales model can help you understand the process and the stage of the hiring cycle. During the initial interview (typically a phone screening), it is important to ask about the selection process. Questions include:

     *     How many people are involved in the hiring decision?

     *     Who are the decision-makers?

     *     What is the general availability of the individuals involved in the selection process?

     *     Who are the influencers?

     *     How many rounds of interviews are there?

     *     What is the selection timeframe?

     *     How many people are being interviewed?

     *     Are there internal candidates?

     *     How urgent is it to fill the position?

     *     If this is a new position, is there a budget for it?

     *     Does hiring for this position depend on landing new business?

     *     Are there multiple positions being filled, and is there a more senior position that needs to be filled first?

     *     How will communication with candidates be maintained?

     *     How should candidates follow up, with whom, and when?

When you have these answers, you can gauge how far along the selection process is by comparing it to a sales process. Have they selected their final candidate (vendor) list or are they still accepting resumes and phone-screening candidates? Have they scheduled interviews with other candidates (vendors) yet? Have they been through a round of interviews but did not identify a suitable candidate (vendor)? Are there internal candidates (competitors) that may have a competitive advantage? What is the timeframe for making a hiring (purchasing) decision? As a candidate, you may not get answers to all these questions, but asking the questions is important and will position you as a knowledgeable, sophisticated, and motivated candidate.

While in the interview, use the stages of a sales call outlined above to understand the progress of the interview. Is the interview in the warming-up, fact-finding, sales-presentation, or closing stage? By identifying the stage, you can manage transitions or make sure you haven’t missed or shortchanged a stage. For example, if the interviewer is asking you questions about your experience and has not given you enough information about the job, you may want to revisit the fact-finding stage. Also, there may be a good opening in the interview to move to the sales-presentation phase, at which point you can introduce your interview presentation. Identifying and labeling the stage of the interview will help orient you and provide a sense of where to guide the interview next. Even though the interviewer is ostensibly in control, by using the sales stages, you can influence the pace and direction of the interview.

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to sell in your interview

The Shocking Truth About Interviewers

Interviewers Are Poorly Trained and They’re Scared

Most hiring managers are poor interviewers. The vast majority of them receive no interview training, and they hire infrequently. Even hiring managers who have received training may not hire for months after interview training, and by then the training is forgotten.

One secret of job interviews is that hiring managers are often as nervous as the candidate- they’re stressed about having to make a critical hiring decision. A bad hiring decision is one of the biggest mistakes a manager can make. Studies have shown that a bad hire can cost a company anywhere from two times a person’s salary at lower employment levels to as much as 40 times a person’s salary at higher levels. The financial ramifications of a bad hire include costs for recruiting, training, lost productivity, bad morale, and the manager’s time spent trying to salvage the employee. At higher levels of employment, contract buyouts in the millions of dollars are not unusual. No wonder why the hiring manager is stressed when interviewing!

Many hiring managers compensate by spreading the decision-making around. They will have candidates go through multiple rounds of interviews with numerous interviewers. That way, if the employee does not work out, at least the hiring manager can say everyone was involved.

The problem with this approach is twofold. First, the other interviewers are typically no better at interviewing than the hiring manager is. Second, this burdens the candidate with numerous interviews conducted by poorly trained interviewers.

According to Development Dimensions International (DDI), candidates commonly complain about the following interviewer behavior:

*     Withholding information about the position

*     Turning the interview into a cross-examination

*     Showing up late

*     Appearing unprepared for the interview

*     Asking questions unrelated to job skills

And a recent survey of interviewers by Monster.co.uk found that:

*     Almost a third (30 percent) say they have forgotten a candidate’s name.

*     More than a quarter (28 percent) confess they have gone to interviews unprepared.

*     Almost one in five (19 percent) admit they have forgotten an interview entirely.

*     Fifty-four percent of employer respondents admit they have taken an instant dislike to a candidate.

Don’t let a bad interviewer torpedo your chances of getting the job! Win your interview by taking leadership and providing the information a bad interviewer should know about you to make a good hiring decision.

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to beat bad interviewers and land the job

An Interview Presentation Is a Sales Presentation that Wins Jobs

Unlike a sales presentation, which can be for selling unlimited services or products, every interview presentation has the exact same goal: landing a job. Because the goal is well defined, similar to a resume an interview presentation has a defined format, and the content is sharply focused.

An interview attempts to answer three questions:

     *     Can you do the job?

     *     Are you motivated to do the job?

     *     Will you fit the culture of the company, and will they like you?

Using these three questions as the focus, the interview presentation includes all the information a hiring manager needs to answer these questions. Using a presentation, you will clearly communicate the information the hiring manager needs to know to make an informed hiring decision.

An effective interview presentation consists of a structure that frames the objective (presenting the reasons you are the best choice), covers all relevant material, transitions smoothly from topic to topic, and finishes strong. In addition, it should be well organized, short, focused, and relevant. A powerful interview presentation includes the following:

     *     A purpose. This is the one thing you want the interviewer to remember when you leave the interview. Typically, this is the same for any interview: “Based on my background, experience, skills, education, and personality traits, I am the best candidate for this position.” You introduce an interview presentation with this exact purpose: “I have a presentation that communicates how my background, skills, and experience match the critical requirements for this position and makes me an excellent candidate. May I share it with you?”

     *     Critical information. The critical information in an interview is how well you can perform the job. Performing well consists of doing the job tasks with high quality, fitting into the company culture, and getting along with others. To communicate your ability to do the job, there must be agreement about the job requirements. The first part of the presentation addresses the job requirements: “These are what I consider to be the critical job requirements for this position. I would like to discuss them with you to make sure we are in agreement about them.” This aligns your and the hiring manager’s expectations. When there is agreement about the requirements, the rest of the presentation focuses on your match to the requirements.

     *     Benefits. Every person listening to a presentation is thinking, “How does this affect me or benefit me?” If there is no effect or benefit, the person quickly loses interest. Each item mentioned in an interview presentation should link to a benefit for the hiring manager. For example, “You’re looking for a person with experience in new consumer product introduction. In my previous position, I introduced three mass consumer hardware products that accounted for $4.5 million in sales. As part of the introduction, I was responsible for consumer research, product development, marketing strategy, and sales. As you introduce new products, I’ll be able to provide expert leadership in each of these areas, which means that you will require fewer managers, save personnel costs, and bring products to market more quickly and successfully.”

A visual presentation (which makes an excellent leave-behind) with all of these elements and good, insightful questions make up the most powerful way to communicate in an interview. Candidates who have used interview presentations report dramatic results, and hiring managers are bowled over by their level of preparation, professionalism, and organization. And even without a written document, developing an interview presentation as part of the interview-preparation process is an excellent way to organize critical information that you can present when there is an opportunity in the interview.

Use an interview presentation to win your interview

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Focus on Your Contributions to the Company to Win Your Interview

Focus on Them

Focus on the buyer

Nobody cares about services or solutions. That’s the hardest thing for sellers to realize. Buyers only care about the benefits the services or solutions will provide his or her organization. Similarly, buyers don’t care about the gains a salesperson makes from a sale. Would you be more motivated to buy if a salesperson said to you “Buy this car and I will make my quota for the month, I will get a bonus, and I can finally put that addition on my house”, probably not!

If you mention to a hiring manager that the job is a good career move for you, it is a shorter commute, and it is a higher salary with better benefits, they’re not interested. Focus on them, talk about the tangible outcomes they’d get from using your skills and they will be interested. In interviewing, focus on your value to the organization. Avoid talking about how the job will benefit you.

For example, if asked where you want to be in five years rather than talking about the progress of your own career, relate your answer to the organization. “In five years I want to have taken on more responsibility in the organization and have increased the value I bring to the job.” Similarly, if the interviewer asks “Why should I hire you?” focus your answer on the benefits you will bring to the organization in general and the hiring manager specifically.

Use an interview presentation to communicate your value

This book has the strategies you need to win interviews

The Only Hiring Issue You Need to Know to Interview Your Best

There is only one hiring issue; your value to the company

When a company or person purchases any product or service, they are looking for value. Nothing is purchased without the prospect of getting value from the purchase. More expensive items have greater value expectations. The same is true for hiring, the higher the salary the greater the value expectation.

The hiring process is to determine one thing, can you and will you deliver the expected value to the company. This is a two sided issue. One side, based on your background skills and experience, is can you deliver value to the company and the other side are you interested and motivated to deliver the value to this company.

During your interview always think value; what is your value to the company, how will you provide value, how will you provide more value than your competition, and how will you provide value quickly?

Use an interview presentation to communicate your value

Learn the Strategies you Need to Know to Win Interviews

Do you Differentiate Behavior From Performance to Win Your Interviews?

Behavior VS Performance

Participating is not enough

It is not prior behavior that predicts success it is prior performance. Just because a candidate has done a task does not mean they have done it well. Most interviewers, including interviewers using “behavioral interviews”, ask questions and focus on the candidate’s past behaviors but do not adequately tap into performance- another indication of broken interviews.

To fix you interview, talk about your performance not just your behaviors. For example, question- “Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.”

Candidate “I was working with a team to determine if my company should submit a proposal for a $15MM piece of business. The business would have grown the company but we were not sure we had the internal systems and personnel to deliver on the project and failure with this high profile customer would have severely damaged our reputation and chances for further business. I developed a decision matrix which contained all the pertinent factors and used the matrix to make the decision.”

Where is the performance aspect? A better response,

“… I developed a decision matrix which contained all the pertinent factors and used the matrix to make the decision. The decision was to pass on the business. This decision turned out to be correct, saving the company a significant loss and positioning me as a thorough and logical problem solver. As a result, I received a nice year end bonus and was promoted to Director.”

Adding the performance element will differentiate you from other candidates that simply report their behaviors, impress the interviewer, and position you as a stronger candidate.

Use an interview presentation focus on performance

This book has the strategies you need to win interviews

Cover the Past, Present, and Future to Win Your Interview

Past Present and Future

Our brains have evolved the ability to recall past experiences and learn from them, to come up with strategies for managing things in the present, and to imagine future possibilities and outcomes. This is known as a person’s time perspective and each individual tends to view the world in relation to which time perspective they find most comfortable. Although every individual uses all three time perspectives, individuals differ in the degree to which they use each of the three thinking perspectives to make decisions.

• Past thinkers want verification, they place a high value on testimonials, a proven track record, credentials, or the research/proof that went into creating something. These thinkers try to get to “beyond a reasonable doubt” level of certainty.
• Present thinkers are interested in how a product or service can help them solve or manage a problem they’re dealing with now. They analyze probabilities of any given outcome and to manage to them. A present thinker is goal oriented.
• Future thinkers look at a product or service and imagine the possibilities it opens up, and how it might impact their life moving forward. These individuals are able to imagine an infinite set of future possibilities and engage in creative and innovative speculation. They tend to be less concerned about rules.

In your interview listen for the interviewer’s time perspective. For example, one interviewer will delve deeply into prior positions and your success stories which provide proof you can do the required work- they have a past perspective. Another interviewer may be uninterested in reviewing your work history but is very focused on asking questions and discussing how you would solve certain problems- they have a present perspective. Another interviewer will speak about future plans and want to explore how your skills and experience may contribute to future success- they have a future perspective.

Throughout your interview it is important to address each time perspective- past, present, and future. However, if you detect the interviewer’s dominant time perspective, spend extra time presenting information and use language which supports the perspective. For example, with an interviewer who has a past time perspective you can answer questions with the preface “As I did in my past positions….” With an interviewer with a present time perspective you can use the preface “With my skills and experience I will immediately be able to .…”“ With an interviewer with a future perspective you can use the preface “ I imagine I can use my skills to ….”

Use an interview presentation to cover the past, present and future

This book has the strategies you need to win interviews

Here’s the Secret to Beating Your Competition and Winning your Next Job

It's a long line

With our economy it is difficult to just get a job interview and with so many applicants interviewing for the same spots, it is important to find a way to edge out the competition and win the job.

Luckily, there is a new and inexpensive resource for job seekers to use when preparing and presenting themselves at their next interview; the iBest Presentation.

The iBest Presentation, featured on InterviewBest.com, is an interview tool that assists job candidates to communicate their job specific qualifications and personal attributes during the job interview. Not only does it quickly and clearly show the interviewer how they fit each requirement, but also leaves a powerful impression of professionalism and enthusiasm for the job.

“It’s really designed to create a conversation,” said Eric Kramer career expert and creator of InterviewBest and the iBest Presentation. “The best interview you can have is a conversation rather than the typical interrogation.”

Kramer said that the design of the presentation is based on his belief that every interview is, essentially, a sales call. Therefore, Kramer said candidates should enter each interview with a sales style presentation that clearly answers the three main questions of all job interviews—can the candidate do the job well, are they motivated, and will they fit the company’s work environment.

The iBest Presentation

The iBest Presentation is a brief eight to ten pages in length, beginning with the requirements of the position and the candidate’s qualifications that directly match those requirements. The interviewer can read through the booklet to find the candidate’s personal strengths, career accomplishments, and a 30 and 60 day strategic action plan detailing the candidate’s initial goals. It finishes with a list of reasons the candidate should be hired and questions the candidate has for the interviewer.

How do I prepare?

When candidates walk into an interview, Kramer said only about 25 percent are fully prepared. He said that many do not do the necessary company research or prepare for difficult questioning. By creating the iBest presentation, Kramer said applicants walk in with a clearer assessment of the job, the company, and how they specifically fulfill the requirements of the position.

Janice Bilotti, who successfully used the iBest Presentation while interviewing for a Customer Service Supervisor position at Jones Apparel Group, said that the presentation enabled her to be prepared for the interview in addition to keeping her thoughts organized during the interview.

“iBest helps to make sure you cover the most important things that you want to discuss,”
she said, “because now it’s right there in writing and it organizes you during the interview as well as beforehand.”

Bilotti introduced her presentation in the interview when the interviewer asked her to describe herself. Pulling out iBest, Bilotti said that she and the interviewer read through it, touching on the important points she felt the company needed to know about her qualifications.

“It keeps you focused,” she said. “It makes you talk about what you want to focus on when you’re having your interview with the company.”

Bilotti said that her presentation impressed both of the individuals who interviewed her, adding that she didn’t think they had seen anything like it before.

It's a win and a job

Bilotti got a call later that same day with a job offer.

In addition to the iBest Presentation, InterviewBest.com has information for anyone involved in the interview process including candidates and hiring managers. Information includes links and tips for things to do before, during, and after the interview. The site also includes information about how to conduct an interview and ways to improve the selection process.

To create an iBest Presentation, job-seekers can go to www.InterviewBest.com and find an easy-to-use program that automatically generates a presentation as they add text. Included are expert libraries with phrases or words suggested for use in presentations. These libraries make developing an iBest quick and efficient. Once the presentation is made, users can either print it at home or take it to a local office supply store for professional binding.

Bilotti said that she would use the iBest Presentation in any future interview due to the positive impact it had on her last one.

“…It sets you apart,” she said. “Very few people would even go to that point of having a presentation much less having one of this quality.”

Go to InterviewBest for a Free Trial of iBest

 

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