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

Did You Know That Actively Selling Yourself Wins Interviews?

Companies acquire talent the same way as they acquire any other service, and job seekers benefit by taking an active sales-oriented approach and using sales techniques in their job search. Using a sales approach will empower you to be more assertive, directed, and organized in your search. The more you use these skills, the more interviews you will be invited to. And the more interviews you have, the more interview practice you will get[md]and the more skilled you will become.

The benefits of using a sales approach include the following

*     You will have a well-defined service you are selling to the job marketplace and a strong set of marketing and sales documents.

*     You will be more focused on establishing a good sales process and less focused on the outcome of landing a job. Focusing on the process rather than the outcome will improve your chances of landing a job.

*     Companies know how to purchase services, and if you use a sales approach, it will be easier for them to purchase your services.

*     Many candidates have a hard time “bragging” about themselves in an interview. Selling is not bragging, and it will empower you to present your most commanding reasons for why you should be selected for the position.

*     You will have a better answer to questions regarding your strengths and weaknesses.

You have all the selling skills you need to do well in interviews, you just need to learn how to apply the skills!

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to sell yourself in interviews

Are You Using a Success Story to Win Your Interview?

Our Stories Define Who We Are

Our stories define who we are. Our sense of identity is forged by the stories we tell ourselves and share with others. The success stories of our careers tell about the defining moments when we were at our best, using our strengths, and contributing in meaningful ways. Our stories build and communicate our brand.

Most of us have multiple examples of career successes. The key is to understand that a career or job success is not defined by its size or financial value, but rather by how we feel about it and its contribution to the organization. One person’s success story might be about turning around a corporation, saving millions of dollars, and getting his profile in Forbes magazine. Another person’s success story might be about helping a troubled student feel more confident in school and having him progress to the next grade. Interestingly, both these success stories probably depend on many of the same personal success factors, including creativity, persistence, courage, hope, persuasion, and leadership.

When my clients write success stories, they come alive. They remember the times they felt productive and were fulfilling their purpose in their careers. They become energized and get in touch with the skills and strengths they enjoy using in their jobs. Some realize that they are doing what they love, while others are reminded of things they need to return to. Regardless, the stories are important statements of the contributions they have made in the past and indications of contributions they can make in the future[md]if they have done it once, they can do it again.

When telling your success stories, you have energy, enthusiasm, and confidence, and you feel a sense of pride. You are persuasive, engaging, and interesting- all the qualities you want to bring to your interviews! Telling success stories in your interviews will help you differentiate yourself, will impress the interviewer, and will make you memorable.

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to develop interview stories

Are You Leaving Hiring Managers in the Dark and Losing Job Opportunities?

Turn On The Light

Don’t Let Hiring Managers Guess about Hiring You

The traditional interview consists of a question-and-answer format resulting in the hiring manager putting together the information she has heard and making a decision (guess) about which candidate to hire. But why let the hiring manager come to her own conclusion? Following your interview(s), the hiring manager should have a clear picture of why hiring you is a good idea- because you have told her exactly why!

Part of your interview preparation is developing a list of the benefits the company will get from hiring you. These benefits are even more powerful if they differentiate you from the competition. Going into an interview with this list of benefits will help you be focused and more confident. However, this list is of value only if you share it with the hiring manager.

Why Hire Me?

During your interview- typically toward the end- make a clear statement about why the company should hire you. This statement combines your features with the benefits the company will get from those features. The benefits are based 100 percent on the company’s needs as you have identified them during the interview process.

“As we discussed, I have six years of experience selling office equipment in this territory [feature]. This means I have established relationships with customers and I know the competition [feature]. Based on my knowledge and experience, I can establish a productive sales pipeline within three months and meet or exceed my sales goals within six months [benefit].”

“As I mentioned, I have worked on public relations campaigns for major companies, including Fancy Electronics and Electronics Shack [feature]. For both of these companies, I was responsible for a wide range of public relations activities, including print and industry shows [feature]. Based on this experience, I can help your company sell to larger clients and then make sure the public relations activities are delivered with a high level of quality and impact [benefits].”

“As I have described, I am good at acquiring and evaluating information accurately [feature]. I will be effective in quickly evaluating the marketing department and determining immediate measures to improve their performance [benefit].”

“We have discussed that I express ideas clearly both verbally and in writing [feature]. This will enable me to implement a new healthcare plan that will be of benefit to the employees and will save the company money [benefit].”

When you make these statements, the hiring manager will understand why hiring you is a good idea; she won’t have to guess. In addition, being clear about the benefits you will deliver is a further display of your knowledge of the company and the job.

Active Interviewing helps communicate why you should be hired

How Good are Your Interview Questions?

Asking Good Questions Fixes Your Interview

“There isn’t a pat answer anymore to this world, so the best we can do for students is to have them ask the right questions.” Nancy Cantor, chancellor of Syracuse University

One of the primary reasons why people fail on jobs is that they take a job with an improper understanding of what the job entails. They don’t realize that the job requires as much travel as it does or that it requires very long hours during certain times of the year. They don’t know what skills are actually required or that they will have limited supervision or training. Maybe they are thinking account management, and the job is actually sales or project management. You can fix this missing information and these misconceptions by asking good questions, paying close attention to the answers, and asking follow-up questions. Asking good questions often clarifies the position in the hiring manager’s mind as well, which supports your candidacy for the position.Leaving the interview with unanswered objections will doom your chances for winning the interview and getting the job. Asking the best interview question of all time can save your interview by reducing the hiring manager’s fear uncertainty and doubt and clearing the way for you to be the candidate of choice. Asking good questions has the following benefits:

*     It demonstrates a high level of interview preparation and motivation.
*     It demonstrates a critical job-success skill- asking good questions.
*     It helps expose concerns about hiring you and allows you to correct misconceptions.
*     It creates additional opportunities for quality conversations.
*     It demonstrates your knowledge of the industry, company, and job- increasing your credibility.
*     It addresses one of interviewers’ primary criticisms of candidates- lack of questions.

 

Go to www.activeinterviewing.com to learn how to ask good questions

 

 

 

 

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

Are You A Commodity in the Employment Marketplace?

Competition is Fierce

In a competitive and crowded marketplace, every product and service must differentiate itself. It is not enough to be simply as good as all the rest, because there are too many “all the rests” in the market. In addition, with easy access to cheap (or even free) Internet advertising, there is a great deal of advertising that makes differentiating services and determining buying decisions difficult- just think of all the pop-up ads you see online. In the employment marketplace, this is exemplified by the tens of thousands of job sites and hundreds of resumes submitted over the Internet in response to advertised jobs. To rise above the flood of advertising, successful companies establish powerful branding and distinct value-adds. You can adopt the same strategy to rise above the flood of your competition in the employment marketplace.

A value-add refers to an extra feature of a service that goes beyond the standard expectations and provides a more compelling reason to purchase. A value-add makes the service more desirable and positively influences the buying decision. However, a value-add has no value if it is not in addition to good service. Always having on-time delivery does not make a difference if the pizza tastes terrible.
The worst position for a service is to be a commodity. A service is a commodity when it is equivalent no matter who provides it. A provider of a commodity service is easily exchanged for another provider of the same service who offers a lower price. For example, many dry cleaners provide a commodity service. Customers will change to another dry cleaner if they can find one that costs less. In the employment marketplace, many employees[md]even mid- and senior-level employees[md]are commodities in that they provide a service that can be replaced easily. In bad economies, companies replace more expensive “commodity” employees with cheaper employees. Are you a commodity in the employment marketplace?

If you are a commodity, it will be difficult to differentiate yourself in interviews. However, most of us are not commodities we just have not deteremined out value-adds. To determine your value-adds:

Know Yourself

Take a complete inventory of your skills. Do not limit the inventory to skills applicable to the job for which you are interviewing; do a full inventory. This inventory should include skills connected to your job, interests, hobbies, and leisure activities. When you have a full inventory, you can choose which skills serve as value-adds for the job for which you’re applying.

Know Your Profession

Every profession has a number of areas of concentration and a large skill base. For example, within human resources, you might be applying to be a compensation manager. However, the human resources field has a number of other specialty areas and required skills, such as diversity management, employee retention, job-task analysis, and international employment. You might have experience in international employment, and even though you’re applying to be a compensation manager, having international employment experience could be a differentiating value-add for a multinational company or a company that is expanding internationally.

Once you have determined you value-ads, use an interview presentation to clearly communicate them in your interview. To learn more about value-ads in interviews go to Active Interviewing.

Read Active Interviewing to Learn More About Value-Ads

An Interview Presentation is a Targeted Sales Presentation

Use a presentation to target your information to the hiring manager

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, an interview presentation has a defined format (much like a resume does), 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 actively 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.

An interview presentation is a cornerstone strategy of Active Interviewing

Active Interviewing; A Bold New Interview Approach

The following is the introduction to my new book Active Interviewing-Branding, Selling, and Presenting Yourself to Win Your Next Job. The book will be published August 25th,2011 by Cengage-

Active Interviewing Book Cover

“There  are more than 3,000 interview books listed on Amazon and 105 million hits on Google for the phrase “job interview.” Does the world need another interview book? Do you? I think you do, but why?

There are two important reasons. The first is that good candidates like you are losing jobs they should be landing due to poor interview performance. Many candidates try to prepare for interviews, but their preparation is inadequate. They make job-losing errors, or their interview performance is average or poor[md]not enough to land a competitive job. Even with all the available information, candidates continue to commit more mistakes in the interview than in any other stage of the job-search process.

Over the course of a year, I speak with thousands of job seekers about job searches and, more specifically, about their interviews. Almost every job seeker I speak with is anxious about interviewing[md]they don’t look forward to being interviewed, and once their interview is over, they don’t think they did their best. This demonstrates that the books available today simply do not have the appropriate high-level information and strategies to help candidates prepare for and perform well in interviews and win jobs over stiff competition.

The second reason, related to the first, is that I’m tired of reading the same old interview advice over and over again, with no new information to help candidates compete in today’s competitive job market. Over the past four to five years, I have read everything I can find about job interviews. The majority of the information is about how to answer specific interview questions, which is helpful but totally insufficient to win interviews. The rest of the information is basic[md]bits about how to show up on time, have a good handshake, dress well, make eye contact, turn off your cell phone, be enthusiastic, be likable, not talk too much or too little, and so on. This book is based on an entirely new, tested, and dramatically effective approach to interviews, Active Interviewing -treating the interview as a sales call and developing an interview presentation to help you actively sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. Using a sales approach and developing an interview presentation has helped hundreds of candidate win their interviews and land jobs. Active Interviewing is new, innovative, and targeted toward landing a job in today’s hyper-competitive job marketplace.

Where Does Active Interviewing Come From?

I have worked with 1000s of individuals in job transition individually and in groups helping them with all phases of job search from resumes through compensation negotiation. Specializing in interview training, I have coached clients from entry level to CEO to prepare for interviews using everything from practice mock interviews through video training. After working with many clients it became painfully apparent to me that the interview process is broken, hiring managers are not good interviewers, and candidates make a lot of interview errors even after expert training-a radical new approach was necessary. I read a lot of books and reviewed the most popular training programs looking for a fix to no avail- well trained clients continued to lose jobs they should have landed. All the books and training programs stopped at the interview door and did not penetrate the interview itself. I came to the realization that that clients and hiring managers needed a tool or a strategy that altered the basic dynamics of the interview- something that was not blocked by the interview door.

Active Interviewing is the answer to improving the interview from the inside. A structured sales approach and a well delivered interview presentation fixes job interviews for both the candidate and the hiring manager. An interview presentation, the cornerstone of Active Interviewing, is the only tool a candidate prepares and brings with them into the interview to help them win the job. Candidates are no longer passive and hiring managers welcome the information that helps them make good hiring decisions. Once I began training my clients in Active Interviewing they began feeling more prepared, more confident and landed more jobs- I knew I was on to something!

It’s Not a Job Search, It’s Career Management

This book is not only about using Active Interviewing in job interviews; it is about helping you find a job you love and earning the money you deserve. It is about developing a set of skills that will help you win your next job interview and carry you throughout your career. Job searches and interviews are just one phase of career management. It is an ongoing process in which you are engaged every day of your working life. In this book, you will learn about personal branding, identifying problems that need to be solved, developing presentation skills, storytelling, communicating your personal success factors, listening, and winning interviews. These are all important career-management skills.

This Book Will Challenge You- Are You Up for It?

“When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the Eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud.” Unknown

As I mentioned, this book is not about how to dress and shake hands correctly; it is about active higher-level strategies and tactics that will differentiate you and help you win job interviews. None of what you will read will require an extraordinary level of expertise in skills such as sales and giving presentations. You will learn how to use basic sales skills (which you have) and basic presentation skills (which you have) to vastly improve your interview performance. However, this book will challenge you to approach interviews more assertively, with a proactive rather than a reactive mindset. It will challenge you to take charge of your interviews and make sure you perform well. And, it will challenge you to take a broken interview process and fix it to your advantage.

This Book Proposes a Bold Approach to Job Interviews

“Success comes from standing out, not fitting in.”
-Don Draper, Mad Men

Active Interviewing, is different, out-of-the-box thinking. Thus, it is bold and not for everyone. Many candidates are more comfortable staying with the tried-and-true and are concerned that by straying off the well-worn interview path, they risk losing the job opportunity. In a sense, I agree with these candidates-using a bold and audacious approach will doom an uncomfortablecandidate to failure. However, for candidates who are comfortable with doing something unique and different, being bold and audacious differentiates them, impresses the interviewer, displays their comfort with being innovative, and vastly improves their odds of winning the interview. So, to paraphrase Dirty Harry, “Do you feel bold and audacious, candidate? Well, do you?”

“I am convinced that the presentation won the day for me. I so impressed a skeptical hiring manager with my interview presentation that he told me he was recommending me for the job when we completed the last page. He complimented me three times during the presentation as to its value in an interview. The presentation was a roadmap for me to follow during our discussion. It helped me keep on track and ensured that I covered all the points to demonstrate my value and get the job offer.”
Mark, management professional

Something for Every Level of Job Seeker

I have written this book so it will be of value regardless of your experience level. The basic Active Interview approaches and techniques remain the same for every experience level; only the content changes. For example, the interview-presentation template format remains the same for entry-level candidates and CEO candidates. The only difference will be the level of experience and the type of job requirements communicated by the presentation. Both entry-level candidates and CEO candidates benefit from selling themselves in interviews. Think about it: Whether a car salesperson is selling a Ford or a Mercedes, the basic sales skills remain the same[md]only the product’s features (and cost) change.

Here Is My Guarantee

No career coach, recruiter, training program, or interview book can guarantee you a job. However, using the Active Interview approach you will learn in this book, I will guarantee four important things:

* You will be fully prepared for your interviews.

* You will have an excellent interview presentation to use in your interview.

* You will be far more confident and less anxious going into your interviews.

* When the interview is over, you’ll feel like you did a good job, and you’ll be proud of your performance.

An impressive guarantee for an interview book, wouldn’t you agree?”

Do you Know That Telling Stories Win Interviews?

“Be amusing: never tell unkind stories; above all, never tell long ones.” Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister

Stories persuade and land jobs

Every day, you are faced with a barrage of efforts to persuade you to buy a product or service. The vast majority of these efforts are forgettable and totally unpersuasive. Occasionally, however, one of these communications breaks through the noise, catches your imagination, and speaks to you personally. What is happening? Many times, it’s not the service or the brand that gets through, but how the information is communicated.

In every interview, interviewers listen to candidates answering questions to try to persuade them that they are the best candidate for the job. Most questions in an interview can be, and should be, answered by saying “Let me give you an example. However, the vast majority of these examples are forgettable, mundane, and totally unpersuasive- in short, they’re boring. You can avoid boring if you have a good delivery.

Good delivery consists of three factors:

     *     Sincerity and wholeheartedness. Any success story you tell has to be honest and real. Don’t make up a story to respond to a question. A fabricated story will lack sincerity; your heart won’t be in it, and the interviewer will know!

     *     Enthusiasm. These are stories about you at your best, about achievements you are proud of, so being enthusiastic should be easy. Being enthusiastic doesn’t mean you have to be artificially animated or jump up and down on a couch; just let your pride in your success shine through. However, don’t get too enthusiastic and get carried away[md]remember, no story should take longer than two minutes.

     *     Animation. A great deal of your story is communicated nonverbally, so show some emotion in your gestures, voice, and facial expressions. Smile, move your hands, change the pitch of your voice, and maintain eye contact. A great success story told with a deadpan expression and in a monotone is boring.

Learn to tell good stories and your interviewers will be more engaged and more persuaded that you are the candidate of choice.

Give a presentation to tell a good story

This book has the strategies you need to win interviews