Interviewing Strategies:

Now you’ve got an interview.  Regardless of whether it is a recession or a booming market, how do you separate yourself from the pack? What is your plan of attack for the interview process?

What is your story or elevator pitch? The first step is to understand where you came from and where you want to go. Recruiters and managers want to see career progression.  They also want to see how concisely you can answer their questions. Prior to the interview, write a page about each of your jobs; what were your responsibilities, are and what were your major accomplishments?  This will help you commit it to memory. The key is to practice giving your presentation to your friends, spouse or any one who will listen. This will help you be more confident during your interview, so that you can focus on listening to the questions instead of trying to figure out what your response is going to be. This will also give you an edge to ask a good business question (we will discuss business questions later) and begin to make yourself stand out from the other people they have interviewed.

Know & Define who you buyer is? This is no different than sales or dealing with you’re internal/external customer. Who are you meeting with, and what business challenges are keeping them up at night?  This is critical information, and this is the basis of your approach to each interview. For example, a CEO is worried about profitability and reducing costs.  An IT director is worried about employee burn-out, and getting projects done on time.  An internal/external customer service and HR professional is worried about finding qualified talent in a quick period of time.  Most importantly, they are worried about whether or not you are going to go postal!  I see a lot of people who blindly go into interviews.  If you do not know who you are meeting with, you will be starting out the interview at a disadvantage. This will cause you to be less confident and not interview at the top of your game.

Mirroring & Appearance: This is a key area that people over look. Remember: when you interview ,you must be well groomed. If you are a smoker, do not smoke before you go into the interview or you will smell like an ash-tray.  Make sure that your cologne or perfume is not to strong, and men- put the cologne on with your left hand so when you shake hands you do not make the interviewer smell like you. Breath mints are also important.  Finally, when you go in for your interview, mirror your interviewer; how fast they walk, talk and shake hands. People like to do business with people who are like them. The Morgan Consulting Group has a great video you can buy for this part. www.morgancg.com. This is a great site that trains recruiters how to recruit and candidates how to interview.

Interview Questions to make an impact!  You feel comfortable with your elevator pitch, you have defined who your buyer is and have researched the company, and now you are ready to make an impact. Interviewers will determine your level of intelligence by the questions you ask. Here are 10 good questions that you can ask that will separate you from the masses.

1.      If a headhunter were to call you to recruit you to a competitor, what would be the reasons why you would stay here at ABC Co?

2.      Describe for me how ABD Co separates itself from its competitors to attract the top 20% of talent?

3.      Is there a variance between where you are and where you would like to be for this (position, business, etc..)?

4.      Describe for me what make a successful POSITION TITLE OR EMPLOYEE for ABC Co?

5.      What are you looking for in a valued team member at ABC Co?

6.      What are ABC’s strategic goals for the next 12 months? How does that affect you? How does that affect the department? Who else does this affect?

7.      What were the successful attributes of the person who had this job before? Where did they fall short?

8.      Describe for me your (CEO’s) management style?

9.      What makes ABC Co stand out amongst its competitors?

10.   What do you see as the peaks and valleys for ABC Co market place and what strategies do you have in place to smooth those valleys out?

The Dreaded Question: What are you looking for as compensation? This is the question that everybody hates to answer. Here is what I recommend, and I call it the two reasons approach.

There are two reasons why I am here. The first is that money is important! But what is more important to me is opportunity, and I see a lot of opportunity here at ABC Co. Because of this opportunity, I do not want to price myself out of this position, and I would entertain your strongest offer. (Be quiet after that).

You may still have to give a range. I would then tell them where you are at and where you would like to be.

How to use agencies and consulting companies? Most people do not know how to use agencies or consulting companies to their advantage. There are some key things here that you need to be aware of.  Be sure that if you send them your resume, they do not send it out until after you have met with them. You want to make sure that you share the same vibe. It is also important to know how they do business. What is there process of submitting your resume and what type of benefits or services can they offer you? NOTE: a recruiter who has a bad reputation as a slammer can hurt your chances of getting a job opportunity.  You want to select a few agencies to work with.  You do not want to work with them all because it makes you look desperate and it is hard to keep track of who is submitting your info where.

Organize Yourself? It is very important to keep track of the places you are sending your resume or info, who you are networking with and what agencies you are working with and where they are sending your resume. You should create a tickler file of when you should contact people: past interviews, people you have networked with (to keep in touch), and agencies and consulting companies (to let them know you are still available).  This file will keep you in front of people and companies who may hire you or network you into a job in the future. It is also a good idea to send thank you notes as well as industry related articles with “thought you might like this…” or “just incase you did not see this”. Another good tactic is to read the newspaper or local business paper and send them any articles about their company to congratulate them on making the paper. Just make sure its not for an Enron scandal or layoffs    :  )

Interested in starting your own business? 1099, Payroll or Entrepreneur

You have several opportunities here. You can become an independent consultant by incorporating yourself into a 1099. If you do not want the hassle of sending out invoices or doing accounting, you can go to your favorite agency or consulting company and ask them to payroll you. They will do all the back office work for a small fee. There are event associations or website out there that will do that work for you. Check out the 1099 links that we have in the job seeker resource area.  Finally, you can start your own business and be your own boss. There is a lot of risk but a lot of rewards. Our business resource center is the best on the Internet to help you find Venture Capital, Government Grants, Angel Investors and business help.