Seven Tips to Winning Interviews

Let's take a minute and examine what many interviews look like from the employer's vantage point. This means not just listening to the answers to questions about behaviors that occur during the interview that affect our judgment and decision-making. Now, before you start a campaign criticizing me for suggesting that it is stupid to take such trivial matters into consideration, you are naive to think that it is not irrelevant to look at behavior during the interview. After all, when advertisers, television producers and movie directors create a product to sell to you, they do so conscious that every detail of their presentation affects whether you would consider buying their product or liking their movie. They target every detail for optimal affect.

So, let's think for a second about how a receptionist at an employer feels if he or she is treated abruptly or rudely when you arrive at an interview. Do you think they might they periodically mention something to an interviewer? And if you refuse to complete an employment application, saying that all the answers are in your resume, how does an employer interpret that behavior?

These are a seemingly few trivial mistakes that people consistently make year in and year out. There are many others that people make. Let me share a few thing to do and not to do.

1. When you are asked to wait for a few minutes until the interviewer arrives to greet you, sit facing the greatest number of entry points to the room so that you can see them approaching you. There are few things worse that you can do, than to lose your focus in that book that you are reading and not be conscious when someone comes out to greet you.

2. The handshake needs to be proper. There are many cultural differences that exist between proper interview behavior in the US and elsewhere in the world. Here, a firm handshake and eye contact while you do it is expected. To shake hands weakly, to "pump the handshake as though you were a well," to break the other person's hand off while you shake it, to avoid eye contact are interpreted poorly in this culture. If it is a winter's day, you need to arrive at the office building where the interview is being conducted early enough to warm your hands; in summer, you need to arrive early enough to cool off. There is nothing worse than shaking hands with someone whose hands are frozen or in summer with someone whose hands are slippery from sweat.

3. What do your shoes and clothes do or not do? Every firm has a corporate culture--formal or informal. Whichever one it is, you need to dress appropriately for it. Your clothes should be well-pressed, your shoes having a shine to them. Your wardrobe should suggest success without screaming "PAY ATTENTION TO ME." This is true for men and women alike.

4. Prepare for what interviews ask. Most interviews start in a fairly predictable way, asking you to summarize your career. They may even ask something like, "Tell me about yourself and what you've been doing professionally?" Prepare your answer to questions like this before arriving to the interview. Also prepare for the natural follow up questions to your answer without giving the impression that you are too well-prepared. Practice. Practice. Practice. make your answers seem spontaneous, even when they are rehearsed. You know what the job description is that the company is attempting to hire for, what would you ask to confirm that you are qualified?

5. Try to make a personal connection with every person who interviews you. Do I need to say more?

6. Be prepared to speak about what you're looking for and why? This is both a tangible question about the nature of the job you're looking for and a question that speaks to your character. Many people arrive with unreasonable demands and expectations. Some people answer as though they lack ambition. Think about it before you arrive for an interview.

7. Have some questions to ask the interviewer? Look at the company's website before the interview to learn about the company. Ask them to speak with you about the project the group is working on and how your role would fit into the team. What their expectations are for you? What is the due date for the project? What would you have to do to be rated as an exceptional employee vs. an average one? NOT asking questions suggests lack of ambition or disinterest. Ask a few and ask the interviewer to clarify a point or two about the job.

Jeff Altman

Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2004 all rights reserved.

Why Do Interviews Die: That Sinking Feeling & How to Avoid It

Recently, there was a good article on the HotJobs website called "Five Ways to Rescue a Dying Interview.

I would like to reverse the article and ask the question, "Why do interviews die?"

Interviews die because a mistake occurred. Sometimes, you've made a mistake; sometimes they die because someone who screened a resume did.

1. Interviews often occur because someone has reviewed a resume and interprets something that you have written in ways that you didn't intend. Someone believes that you have a skill tat you didn't list; sometimes, they misread something in your experience. Within 15 minutes, each of you knows that something is wrong but because interview etiquette doesn't permit it, the conversation languishes on.

2. Sometimes it is your mistake. Sometimes you have overstated an experience or skill in your resume. In job markets like these, it is common for people to include every skill or experience they have been near or around in their resume in the hope that they will get an interview. As I screen resumes, it has become too common for me to find out about people having 4 months of experience with the core skill of the job I am trying to fill. That is rarely adequate for my client in the searches we are attempting to complete, yet, like mission inspectors in Iraq, I have to ask a follow-up question to deduce that the experience is inadequate.

3. The interviewer is off in another thought and you don't bring them around to pay attention to you. Although an interview may be the most important thing in your day, it may be one of 25 priorities in the interviewers. What you may interpret as a dying interview may be the interviewer thinking about a project responsibility, the next question they're going to ask, their commute, an argument with a spouse/significant other or child, an upcoming meeting or a million other possibilities.

4. You are boring the interviewer. Too often, answers to questions send the job-seeker off in lengthy answers that are just downright boring and long. It's not the question; it's that the person hasn't organized their thoughts around a subject so the answer is becomes so lengthy, uninteresting and, often, have no relationship with the original question.

How Can I Avoid This?

There are different strategies depending upon the mistake. I'll answer by offering ways to both avoid the mistake and to steer the interview along a better route.

1. When you are invited to interview with a firm, ask about the position that they want to interview you for. Try not to interview for jobs for which you are not qualified. They may saw a Director's position or a programmer's role. Ask then, if they can tell you more about the role and responsibilities of the position and what they are looking for in the way of a background or experience. If you detect a "red flag" or something that gives you reason to feel like there was mistake made, it is useful to say what your actual experience was in the area that and confirm that it is adequate.

For example, a company looking for a Notes developer invites a Notes administrator with some development experience for a senior developer's role. The administrator states that they are an administrator with two years of development experience during which time 40% of their work was development. Some of you may say that this will "kill the interview" and you'll be right. Yet in this market, the interview would be a waste of time.

2. Don't exaggerate your knowledge or experience on your resume. Be accurate when you present your experience or knowledge. If you worked with something for two months three years ago, indicate it on your resume. Don't worry, you are not going to lose an opportunity to get hired because you were honest. You're going to save yourself the agony of interviewing for a job that you wouldn't get hired for anyway.

3. If you sense an interviewer is off in thought, there is a simple way to bring them back to you--shift your position by crossing your leg or adjusting in the chair or clear your throat and apologize for doing so. These two simple actions will bring their consciousness back to you.

4. Pay attention. Paying attention is not something you would think should be a necessary reminder. Too often, jobseekers are off in their thoughts and not paying attention. Not paying attention to what the company is looking for in the way of a solution to the job; thinking that they know better than the employer what they should be asking and then going off and answering that question instead of the one asked. Then the answer goes on forever!

Try to answer the question in 30-45 seconds if possible. Some questions require more time than that; most don't. By keeping your answers to that length, you will make the interview interactive. It is unlikely that you will bore your audience. You will create a back and forth with the interviewer that will keep them engaged in the discussion with you. You can probably even anticipate what their follow-up question can be and practice your answer in advance of the interview.

You'll probably notice that the first two suggestions occur before an interview, the next two occur during the interview. I don't believe that smiling or asking a lot of questions are anything more than damage control. By following the points here, you will avoid going on interviews that you can't win and do a better job in the ones you get.

Good luck!

Jeff Altman

Concepts in Staffing

jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2004 all rights reserved.

Rejection Dysfunction: Stop Premature Rejection!!

Remember: If it's on your resume, be prepared to discuss it . . . including what's on Page 2 or 3! The interviewer is not your friend. They're evaluating you. Be prepared to ask intelligent questions about the job. Avoid discussing salary at a first interview with a prospective employer. Never lie about dates and salary. Try to answer questions in 30-45 seconds. Don't compare your negotiations with someone else who you know. Most interviews contain core questions that allow an employer an opportunity to get acquainted with you as a human being, not just as a technology professional The Basics 1. Tell me about yourself and what you've been doing professionally? 2. What's your current compensation (differentiate between base salary and bonus or other incentives when answering)? 3. Why are you looking for a job? What prompts you to want to look at other things? Getting more difficult . . . 1. What job duties do you enjoy most/least and why? 2. Have you ever been fired or asked to resign? 3.In your current or last position, what are or were your five most significant accomplishments? 4. Tell me about your two previous reasons for changing jobs More difficult . . . 1. How much are you looking for? 2.What's most important to you in the next job or organization? What will you need to see of hear in order to know this is the right place for you? 3. What do you know about our company? Still more difficult . . . 1. Hypothetically, if I called your last manager and asked you to tell me your strengths, what would they tell me? 2. And if I asked them where you could use improvement? 3. Do you prefer to work by yourself or with others? Finally! 1. You know, everyone makes mistakes. I've made mistakes. I'm sure you have as well. Tell me about a professional mistake you've made and what you learned from it. 2. Where do you see yourself five years from now? 3. Is there anything that I've forgotten to ask you that is material to conveying your qualifications that you'd like me to know? REHEARSE. REHEARSE. REHEARSE. The fact is that most people cannot arrive at an interview and "wing it." Like developing any good habit, repetition and practice help to promote an outstanding performance. Jeff Altman Concepts in Staffing jeffaltman@cisny.com © 2004 all rights reserved.

Manners

As a recruiter, I have been puzzled by a phenomenon that has become more profound as the recession goes on. It is something that my colleagues in corporate have told me frustrates them, too. I didn’t understand why it occurred until recently when at a networking group someone explained to me the rationale.

The phenomena—sending resumes that don’t fit a job description.

Each time I post a job description on the web or email it to a referral source, I am always surprised by the number of responses I receive that in no way fit the job. A Partner job in San Francisco for someone from consulting that clearly explains what the client wants yields scads of resumes of programmers in Ohio who work in manufacturing. A project management ad calling for both RUP AND UML always get responses of people with one or the other. A developer ad listing 6 essential requirements and 4 plusses yields resumes with two of the six required skills and an irate call from the submitter saying that I’m wrong and that he fits the job. Another person sends 5 resumes for different jobs that require very different expertise from management to staff level roles in applications and infrastructure.

Why does this happen? There are two reasons that I’ve heard and they’re both pretty similar.

1. Desperate times result in desperate actions. What the heck! Let me send it. I read the ad. I know what it says but they can’t possibly want all that.

2. The outplacement firm told me to send it if I meet 70% of the job description.

They’re both pretty similar. The second one basically puts the blame on advice from someone else for why the resume is sent.Yet, 99.9 times out of 100, sending that resume doesn’t result in an interview, does it? As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even result in a phone call. What it results in is a deleted resume, momentary annoyance on the part of the recipient who, whether a corporate or agency recruiter who you need to ally yourself with, rather than antagonize, and wasted time.

For an agent, the issue of time being wasted impacts their ability to help you and the other 2000 people in their personal data base find work by keeping them from networking to other job openings. For a corporate recruiter, the list of issues is far longer.

But, you say, the outplacement firm my company sent me to when I was laid off said to do it!
What does it matter to them? Do they have to receive and receive the emails or do they have the luxury of creating the mess and expecting someone else to deal with it? And then they say, “Those useless so and so’s never do their job right!” On behalf of all recruiter-dom, I’m going to make a request. Please stop sending resumes to jobs where you don’t fit the description.It’s OK to send a resume and say that you’re sending it on an exploratory basis. It’s OK to tell the unemployment office that you’ve submitted it to 20 jobs even if you’ve sent 20 exploratory resumes.

It is not OK to pester people with five calls a day asking if they’ve read your resume. It is not OK to be disappointed if you send in a resume where you are a poor fit. You should be rejected.
It is a better investment of your time to change your calling plan to unlimited calls at a fixed price and network by phone with a million people but stop calling or emailing with messages that say that you more than adequately meet the job description when you don’t (That was an email today—a Partner position for someone from a consulting firm in Dallas who was in the manufacturing practice, resulted in such a statement from someone from industry and finance. [Yes, he lived in Dallas]).

Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2004 all rights reserved.

I Hate Applications

One of the most common complaints that job seekers have is, "Why do I have to fill out a (*#!*!!#$) application? Everything they need to know is on the application!"

Several years ago, a banking client hired someone a well-qualified person for a difficult to fill software engineering job. About a week after the person started, they discovered the person had lied about whether they had a college degree. Security met this person at their desk with a shoebox of their personal possessions as they returned to work from lunch on the Friday of their first week of employment.

Employment applications are a legal document; resumes are not. If you look on most applications, the potential employer provides a caution or warning that says something to the affect of "Lying on an application is grounds for dismissal." Since most background and reference checks are completed after you have started your new job, an application notifies a potential employee of a risk.

They also provide a simple snapshot of a person's writing skills (and penmanship for that matter) and attention to detail that a resume cannot.

All applications are somewhat similar so to create the best impression you can, as well as to save time when filling them out, create your own master employment application. List former jobs, making sure you have the correct addresses, telephone numbers, and the dates of your employment. Use this as your "sample form" when filling out a real application.

If you are unsure about a specific month that you started a job several years ago or a salary that you were paid, DON'T JUST GUESS! Add the phrase "approx" for approximately next to the item. This tells the interviewer that you are not sure of the exact month or salary and that you don't want to lie when filling out the form.

Don't leave questions blank. insert a dash or a N/A (for not applicable) if it doesn't pertain to you. Proofread. Proofread.. Proofread. One of the advantages of having a master form is that if you spelling is not perfect, you have a place where you have written the word down previously and have spelled it correctly.

Try to write neatly. It's not that great penmanship will get you the job but exquisite and poor handwriting is noticed.

Lavender may be a nice scent for the bathtub but a poor choice of ink colors when filling out a form. Stick with blue or black ink when completing forms. Some firms scan answers into systems tat won't recognize any other color.

DON'T LIE! In good or bad employment markets, nothing is worth having to explain to your friends and family why, after telling them so much about your job hunting journeys, after telling them you (finally) have a job, after telling people that you were enjoying the new job, after finally feeling comfortable, there is no worse moment than seeing security at your desk.

Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
(212) 293-4328
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2004 all rights reserved.