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

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

Ingratiate (its not sucking up)Yourself to Interview Your Best

Ingratiation has gotten a bad reputation. People typically think of ingratiation as sucking up, faking or even conning. Webster defines ingratiation as “gaining favor by deliberate effort.” Ingratiation is simply presenting yourself in a positive light by emphasizing your positives and avoiding your negatives. It is your public face it is spinning.

Here are four strategies for ingratiating yourself in an interview:

Enthusiasm

1- Be enthusiastic about them. Your focus and enthusiasm should be on what you can contribute to the company. “What are your goals?” “You goals are to apply your skills to the success of the company”. “Why do you want to work here?” “I have passion for the work that I can do here and I think my work can make a difference.”

Pride

2- Acknowledge their accomplishments. Companies, regardless of size, are proud of their culture, history, and accomplishments. Demonstrate a respect for their pride. Understand and acknowledge what makes them proud. Do this by asking the question, “What are you most proud of?”

Supervision

3-Let them know you are willing to take supervision and learn their ways. Coupled to their pride is a belief they have developed some pretty good ways of doing things. You may have lots of ideas of how to do things better. Hold those ideas until you know the company better. In the interview if you are asked for suggestions about how to improve things, give the suggestions but begin by acknowledging that they are probably doing pretty well as is. Also make it clear that you will learn and work within their systems.

Dedication

4. Let them know you will put the company first. Make sure they know that you will always put what’s right for the company ahead of your own needs. Companies talk about work/life balance and they may actually support it. However, in the interview part of ingratiating yourself is to communicate your total dedication to work and the company. If you are asked about hobbies in the interview downplay them. Too many or too much dedication to a hobby may get in the way of working.

Having a winning personality is nice, but there’s more to ingratiation than a winning smile. Present yourself as a highly skilled, flexible, totally dedicated, hard working, person that knows they are a good company and see how you gain their favor…and a job.

Use an interview presentation to ingratiate yourself 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

Know it All to Interview Your Best

There are three domains of knowledge:

1. What you know
2. What you know you don’t know
3. What you don’t know you don’t know

The first two domains are easily handled. In terms of a job, there are things you know about the job. There are things you know you don’t know such as exact responsibilities, compensation, who you will report to etc etc. To learn this information you know what questions to ask. The third domain is the tricky one. How do you find out information you don’t even know exists, where do you begin?

It is what you don’t know you don’t know that typically causes you the greatest difficulty; “If I knew that before I took the job…….” To uncover this domain of knowledge, ask questions that do not bias or lead the interviewer. Here are some examples:

You want to find out how many hours people work on the job. Many applicants will ask “How many hours do people typically work”. The interviewer replies,”Typically 35 to 40 hours per week”. Sounds OK, then comes holiday time and you are putting in 50 to 60 hours and are overworked and miserable. An open question would have been more revealing, for example “Tell me about work hours on the job”. This question opens the opportunity for the interviewer to say “We typically work 35 to 40 hours per week except for holiday time when we work 50 to 60 hours and everyone feels overworked.”

Another example- You want to find out what it is like to work at the company. You can ask the question, “What do you like and dislike about working here” The answer will be focused on the interviewer’s predominant likes and dislikes. A better question is “So, tell me about working here”. This question opens up the possibility of hearing about challenges, relationships, concerns, excitement, etc, etc. You may very well hear about something you would not have thought to ask about.

The more exact and detailed your question the less likely you are to hear what you don’t know you don’t know. With open, non-leading, and non-biasing questions, the interviewer has the opening to respond from their own perspective. Once you hear their answer there may be a whole area of information you want to learn more about, and now you know to ask.

Prepare Prepare Prepare to Interview your Best

The key is not the will to win…..everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.
Bobby Knight Texas Tech Men’s Basketball Coach

Research on interviewing behaviors shows that 78% of all people that interview just “wing” the interview. People applying for lower level positions do not think they need to prepare while people applying for upper level positions think they know all they need to know about the industry, trends, the position etc. As a result, most job candidates appear unmotivated, disinterested and are unable to clearly state how their background, skills, and experience match the job requirements.

Comprehensive preparation covers two topic areas 1- The company in context of the industry and 2- the specific position.

1-Researching the company has become far easier with all the information you can find on the Internet. The obvious place to start is the company’s web site which will provide the company’s view of itself (hint- read press releases they typically contain the latest information the company wants you to know). It is equally important to read news articles, industry magazines, and other sources of independent information. You can even go to www.vault.com to read what ex-employees say about the company. The information you learn about the industry and the company are particularly important as you formulate questions to ask the interviewer. The questions you ask should display a keen knowledge of the company and the industry.

2-Finding good, solid, helpful information about the position itself is more difficult. Typically, job requirements are poorly defined and include nebulous statements such as “good communication skills” or “team player” or “able to work independently”. The best job requirements are specific task or experience based statements that enable a candidate to specifically match their background and skills to the requirements. For example, “Ability to use XYZ computer program to develop direct mail marketing materials” or “5 years experience applying federal regulatory requirements in the pharmaceutical industry.” These requirements are specific and a candidate can state definitively how they have acquired the skills or experience required to do the task.

Other entries in this blog detail how an interview is a sales call. As a salesperson, it is incumbent upon you during interview preparation to uncover the position requirements. Like any salesperson, you should be asking good probing questions to learn the requirements. Possible questions include:

* What are three or four “must have” qualifications for a person to be selected for this position?
* What criteria will you use to make your hiring decision?
* What skill sets are required to be successful in this position
* What are the most important personal characteristics for a person in this position?
* What are the major responsibilities of this position?
* What is the highest priority for the person in this position?
* What are the important issues that need to be addressed immediately?
* What does a typical day look like for a person in this position?

These questions should be asked as part of the interview preparation not at the end of the interview. The answers to these questions will enable you to prepare the content they want to present during the interview. By the way, just asking these questions often impresses interviewers or internal HR recruiters. In addition, if you are working with an external recruiter the recruiter should have the answers to these questions.

The answers to these questions are best provided by the hiring manager, however other interviewers, the job posting, the HR recruiter, external recruiter, company employees, and information on the company web site are also valuable sources of information.

Here is a radical idea – prior to the interview call the hiring manager and say this, “I am preparing for our interview next week and I would like to ask you a couple of questions about the position so I can be well prepared for the interview. Do you have a few minutes to discuss the position?” What hiring manager would not be impressed and willing to spend the time to help a motivated and interested candidate?

In a recent discussion with a fellow psychologist, he stated the fear of rejection results in job candidates not fully committing to the interview and a symptom of not committing is not preparing. He stated, if a candidate does not prepare and they don’t get the job they can rationalize it by saying they were really not interested and if they had been they would have put more time into preparing. The fear of rejection lives in all of us, for some more strongly than others. Do not let fear of rejection get in the way of preparing for an interview.