Competency vs. CompetitionCorporations are trimming their ranks. Technology is making new demands on companies and employees. Add up the trends, and you won’t be surprised to learn that professional job descriptions have become more complex than ever before. Hiring decisions reflect these new realities as individual competency becomes increasingly vital to corporations and as the competition for good jobs becomes more and more intense. For the job seeker, interviews are harder to get and harder to master than they were in the past. And, of course, each interview matters more.
Preparation
Your job hunting process begins long before your first interview. It starts when you discover, define and package your skills and strengths. Then you must do the work that will prepare you to sell yourself to a prospective employer.
Your resume should show your experience and demonstrate that you are a problem solver. But, since a resume is, of necessity, too general to relate your experience and qualifications to each specific job, create an executive briefing. This added information enables you to customize your resume efficiently for each specific job. It also helps the person interviewing you focus on the areas you want to emphasize. The executive briefing is a cover letter with a twist; an opening paragraph in which you write that you have attached your resume and that you are also addressing the company’s specific needs. This opener is followed by a two-column presentation featuring a list of the company’s requirements for the job on the left side of the page, and a list of your skills that match those needs on the right.
To find a job in today’s market, you must not limit yourself to just one or a few scouting methods. Don’t just network or look in the newspaper. Also include the following:
Electronic job hunting via the Internet.
Direct research.
Public and private employment agencies.
Newspapers that advertise corporate openings, even if they’re not for your type of position. If a company is hiring in one area, it may have a position for you in another.
Contact your references and use them as resources. College placement offices and alumni associations. Professional associations.
Job fairs.
Trade and business magazines.
Networking beyond what you may consider your usual network. A job hunter’s network of support groups and organizations.
Getting to Square One
While you’re waiting for someone to call and ask to interview you, become proactive and make calls to prospective employers. When you call a company representative, your goal is to get attention, generate interest, create a desire on his or her part to learn more about you and make the company representative take action, preferably by offering you an appointment.
Being strategic can help you get the right person on the phone. The higher up your target person is, the more accessible he or she usually is - if you can get past the gatekeepers who screen calls. When you are on the phone, be alert for certain questions that are buy signals from the company representative, signs that he or she is interested in you. Those include:
How much are you making and how much do you want? Do you have a college degree?
How much experience do you have?
Certain strategies will help you turn door-closing statements that indicate that the firm has no interest in you into open doors and opportunities. Since not every company will have an opening for you, use the contact you just made as a possible lead to jobs elsewhere. Ask some of these questions:
Who else in the company might need someone with my qualifications?
Does your company have any other divisions or subsidiaries that might need someone with my attributes?
Who do you know in the business community who might have a lead for me? Which are the most rapidly growing companies in the area?
Who should I speak to there?
Are you planning any expansion or new projects that might create an opening? Do you know anyone at the such-and-such company?
When do you anticipate change in your manpower needs?
Whether you call employers, or they call you, remember that interviewers use the telephone as a step in the process of weeding out applicants. Not every phone call you receive will include an invitation to an in-person interview. However, using specific strategies will increase your odds of getting a meeting.
If you don’t look the part at every in-person interview, don’t expect a job offer. Your appearance should be in keeping with the image and corporate culture of the company where you are applying. Traditional and conservative clothes are the safest, within this consideration. The best advice is to dress "for the position you want, not the one you have." Body language strategies will help you enhance your non-verbal interview communications. Don’t assume a submissive role. Treat the interviewer respectfully, but as an equal.
Tough Interview Questions
Your first step is to understand the interview process from the employer’s and interviewer’s perspective. Job applicants frequently overlook the need to understand how an interviewer thinks. The employer has five main ideas in mind during an interview:
The hire must be able to do the job and fit industry and corporate sensibilities.
The hire must have a high degree of willingness and must be the kind of person who is prepared to do whatever it takes to help the company, to go the extra mile.
The hire must be manageable and able to work with others.
The hire must behave professionally. The hire must be a problem solver.
These ideas are behind all of the questions an interviewer will ask during your interview. Interviewers are always looking for more than they seem to be when they ask a question. Here’s how to break the code:
What are the reasons for your success in this profession? The interviewer wants to know what makes you tick. Keep your answers short and to the point. Answer with a combination of your work experience and personal strengths.
Why do you want to work here? The interviewer is testing your knowledge of the company and assessing how your contribution can fit.
What aspects of your job do you consider most crucial? A wrong answer to this one can eliminate you from contention. This question is designed to determine your time management and prioritization skills, and to detect any inclination to avoid tasks.
What did you like/dislike about your last job? The interviewer is seeking incompatibilities.
How do you feel about your progress? This question also rates your self-esteem. Be positive, but don’t give the impression that you’ve already done your best work. You want to work for this company so you can make a significant contribution.
What would you like to be doing five years from now? Your safest answer to this one is to indicate that you want to be a professional and a team participant.
Tell me how you moved up through the organization? This answer tells the interviewer a lot about your personality, your goals, your past, your future and whether you still have enough ambition and drive.
Can you work under pressure? Don’t just give a simple ’yes’ or ’no’ answer. Take the opportunity to sell yourself. This is a favorite among interviewers because the answer helps them judge the approach you take to problem solving. Describe a difficult problem you’ve conquered. Give an example of the problem and your solution, making sure you include evidence of ample, positive analytical skills.
Were you ever dismissed from your job for a reason that seemed unjustified? This is just a sneaky way of asking, "Were you ever fired?" The interviewer is taking a sympathetic stance to get you to reveal all the inner details. Don’t.
Toward the end of an interview, the hiring manager will usually ask, "Do you have any questions?" This is an opportunity that gives you one more chance to make an impression and to learn more about the company and the work environment. To use it to best advantage, create your questions out of these points:
Why the job is open, who had it last, and what happened to him or her? Did the last person in this position get promoted or fired? How many people have held this position in the last couple of years? What happened to them?
Why did the interviewer join the company? How long has he or she been there? What is it about the company that keeps him or her there?
To whom would you report? Will you get the opportunity to meet that person? Where is the job located? What are the travel requirements, if any?
The Stress Interview
While every interview is stressful, the stress interview is one in which you will be asked negative or tricky questions designed to make you fearful. The only way to combat that fear is to be prepared, know what the interviewer is trying to do and anticipate where the interview will go next.
Interviewers ask difficult questions to test your poise, to see how you react under pressure and to measure your confidence. You will ruin your chances if you react to these queries as if they are insults. They are challenges and, therefore, opportunities. In the past, stress interviews were used only for high level executives. Now, they are widely used at all levels.
Turn stress questions to your advantage or, if necessary, tap dance around them. One of the most frequently asked stress interview questions is: "What is your greatest weakness?" The best response is to focus on some minor part of the job you want, note that it is unfamiliar to you and explain that you are sure you will learn it quickly. This will change an apparent weakness into an easily resolved issue of personal development. Your best answer will indicate that your weakness turns out to be a positive attribute, thus transforming the stress question into another opportunity to sell yourself.
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