Interviews: know what you want to say

It's all too easy to assume that the employer is in charge of the interview, and you are just there to answer the questions. This is not the case.

You are there to answer questions, yes, of course. But that is not all you are there for.

You are there for two other reasons.

To talk about them in the order in which they are most likely to occur in an interview, they are:

1: to tell the employer what you want him to know about you, that is totally relevant to the job, whether or not he asks you the appropriate question. (More on the farther down)

2: to ask questions that show an interest in the company, that will elicit information that will be helpful to you in deciding if you want the job.

To go back to point 1. You decide ahead of time what skills, experience and personal qualities you have that best fit you for this job, and you work them into your answers at the interview. Please note, you still have to answer the questions as asked, but be alert to opportunities to give some information that the employer hasn't requested (keep it short, to the point, and mixed in with your accurate answer to the question.)

Some employers are not trained interviewers and they can be very uncomfortable with the interview process, and often do not ask the question they need to ask to get the information they want. By preparation, and intent you can make sure you give the information that shows you to be the best candidate for the job.

Now to point 2. At the interview, before you have been offered the job, the "me benefit" questions (how much do you pay, what vacations do I get etc etc) should be avoided. Ask questions that show interest in the company and the job. All the questions you really want to ask, the "me benefit" ones, are for after you have been offered the position.

So go to the interview knowing what you have to offer that you want to tell the interviewer, and have some company/job-centered questions ready for the end, and you are all set to make a great impression.

Here are some excellent products to help you ace that interview:

Guides For Employers And Jobseekers

Job Interview Success System. Transforms The Complicated Job Interview Process Into A Simple, Step-by-step System To Ace The Interview And Get The Job!

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Informational Interviewing - the Benefits

Informational interviewing is just what it sounds like – interviewing others to gain information.

The most important rule of informational interviewing is that since you will be asking for time to speak to someone to gain information, that is all you can ask for. Never, never, never ask for a job! It they offer you one, great, but never ask.

The other thing never to do, is never leave a résumé unless asked to do so. Instead leave your business/ networking card, with your name, contact information and brief information about yourself on it.

So what is it all about, how and why does it work?

You ask someone who is in the position that you would like to have yourself, if they have time to speak with you. Tell them you are looking around for opportunities in this field and would very much appreciate if they could spare just about 10 -15 minutes to speak with you.

I say again, this is the person in the position you would like to be in, or at the most, their direct supervisor. This is not human resources, or the person who could hire you.

Try to get an in person meeting, rather than just talk on the phone. After all, who do you remember better, someone you have sat opposite and chatted to or a disembodied voice on the end of the phone?

Ask them about their work.
Ask about working conditions.
Ask what they like best and what they don’t like.
Ask if they have any suggestions, or know of any possibilities of work in this area.
If you don’t already know how much the job pays, you can ask what is an acceptable range of income.
Ask if there is anything else is would be useful for you to know.

And last, but by no means least, always, always ask if they can give you the names and phone numbers of two other people you can talk to about this.

Then when you phone these two people up you can say you got their name from ______ and doors will swing open much more quickly for you. You are not saying you have a reference from the first person, just that they gave you the name, which is true. You can if you like ask the first person’s permission to say you got their name from them, but it is pretty well understood that if someone passes on a name and phone number to you that they are fine with you saying they gave it to you.

After each informational interview, send a thank you note.

What is the point in all of this?

Firstly you are finding out if anyone knows of any work out there. You are not asking to be hired, because the people to whom you are speaking are most likely not in a position to hire you anyway.

However if you make a good impression, they will most certainly tell you of any job openings they know of, and so will the people they refer you to, and the people these people refer you to, etc. etc.

And secondly, once you have done all your informational interviews, and know where the job opportunities are likeliest to be, you can go back to these companies, to the hiring manager this time, and say you have been speaking to _____________ in their _____________ department, and the chances are the hiring manager will be more open to your job application because you have a connection in the company, however slight.

Of course, be prepared for the hiring manager to go to the person you name and ask about you, so don’t make it sound more than it is. Just tell the hiring manager that you were doing informational interviews in the industry to find out where the jobs were, and you spoke to _______________, liked what you heard about this company, and would be very interested in any upcoming job openings.

This time you can leave your résumé.

Through this process you can find out about jobs in your industry and even if there is nothing right now, you can get known by both staff and hiring managers, so that when a job does appear, they will think of and hopefully contact you.

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Power up your Interview with your own benefit statements

You can make a good impression and power up your Interview with your own benefit statements.

"I have worked as in office administration for the past 3 years" is all very well, but probably everyone else s/he is interviewing has similar experience, if that is a requirement ... and even if it is not. Having 12 years experience does not necessarily make you better, or more valuable to the employer than if you have 2. It depends what you did during that time, and how you did it.

Here's how to sho specifically what benefits the employer would gain from hiring you.

Benefit statements are useful when writing resumes, cover letters and at interviews because they demonstrate how you would be able to help the company.

Here are some examples:

If you just stated this skills it would be "Good with Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint."

Here is a much more powerful way to present this information:

• "I use Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint; therefore, I would be able to create documents, develop spreadsheets and presentations." OR "Having created documents, spreadsheets and presentations in my past work, I am confident and efficient using Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

In this next example, the skill is "Proficient with computer drafting."

Here it is reworded into a benefit statement:

• "I have extensive expereince and am highly skilled with computerized drafting; therefore, I would be able to create accurate drawings quickly." OR "Being very proficient and accurate with computerized drafting, I would quickly be able to produce drawings in this position with very little orientation."


Your Benefit Statements


My Skill:

I have used this skill for:________________________________

Benefit Statement: _____________________________________

_____________________________________________________


Create at least 6 of these, preferably more, and use which ever is most appropriate at any given time in the interview. The goal is not to emphasize your “job” but to emphasize the benefits your specific skills can bring.

More Interview help...

Interviews: the last question you should ask as you leave

So what is the last, the very last question you should ask the interviewer as you leave the interview?

You've answered all his questions.

You've asked 2 or 3 "employer benefit" questions.

You've thanked the interviewer for his or her time.

Now, as you shake hands and prepare to walk out the door, what is the question you should never forget to ask?

Is it "When will I hear of your decision?"

No.

Is it "May I call you in a few days to see if you have decided who to hire?"

No.

Here it is.

"When do you expect to make your decision?"

The wording is important.

You are not asking when they will notify you, because the answer to that could be that we will only contact the successful candidate.

You are not asking if you can call them because the most likely answer to that is "don't call us, we'll call you."

Instead you are only asking a date: a guideline to when the decision will be made.

On the principal of it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission, you are not going to ask if you can call. Instead, armed with the date of their intended decision, you can then call 2 days after that date, if you haven't heard from them, and just ask if they have yet made a decision.

Why does this work?

Well, if they have already decided on time, and you weren't the one they chose, then you are no worse off than if you had tried anything else.

But if they have postponed their decision for any reason, you have now re-introduced yourself as someone with initiative, and someone who is seriously interested in this job. Employers like that.

The answer you get, if it's not that the successful candidate has already been contacted and it wasn't you, will probably just be another date, with perhaps a reason (or excuse) as to why the decision was delayed.

If you don't hear again, and haven't been told not to phone again, wait a bit longer this time. A week after the decision date, might be a good time to call. This time change you line a bit - say something along the lines of you just wanted to let them know that if they have not yet decided, that you are still most interested in the job as .... (here you have to put something in that is complimentary to the company, such as that you have been looking at their website and have noticed ... then mention something appropriate).

After 2 follow up calls you really have just to wait.

But most of the time one is all that's needed, and doing this can put you higher up the list of possible hires.

Try it. It works.

I offer practice sessions, one on one, for interview skills, by phone or my online messenger (audio).

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Interviews: Demonstrate skills with stories

When I facilitate workshops on interview skills, so many participants have trouble identifying what skills are included in their stories.

The chances are, no story only demonstrates one skill. Each story will demonstrate many skills. And it's your job as the job applicant/ interviewee to know what skills each story includes and tell the employer.

Don't assume that the employer will identify them.

Let's say you were telling a story that showed your organizational skills. At the end of the story, you could recap for the interviewer, saying something like "so that was a time I used not only my organizational skills, but also my communication, team playing and problem solving skills." (assuming the story showed you used these!)

This is you taking advantage of every opportunity to market yourself during your interview.

Always take any opportunity to include any skill you know is good for this job. But keep it brief. Long winded replies turn any interviewer off.

If you have trouble seeing what skills are in a story, write down a short version of the story, then go through it and analyze what skills you used where. Once you get in the way of doing this it will come quite easily.

Stories are not only a great way to demonstrate the skill the employer has asked you about, but a great opportunity to tell him (or her) about some other skills you have too.

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Think Transferable Skills

When you are preparing for an interview, and when you are actually in the interview, think transferable skills, not job duties.

It's easy to say, but if it's a new concept for you, it's not always easy to do - to begin with. Once you make the shift, you'll find you start thinking that way and it become much easier.

I had a client recently who was making the transition from a manufacturing job to health care, specifically care of seniors.

In answer to almost every question we practiced, she got into long stories about mechanical equipment, production lines and product.

Even after we'd discussed it, she was still having no end of trouble identifying the skills she used in her manufacturing job that would be relevant to her new job in health care.

Her "hard skills" included being able lift, bend and do physical work with regard to her safety and the safety of others.

Her "soft skills" included her organization, attention to detail, ability to stick to a schedule, enjoyment of routine work ... to mention just a few.

If you are having difficulty seeing how your previous job gives you relevant skills for the work you would like to find, write down the job duties of your old job.

Then for each job duty, write down what skills it took to perform them. Think of someone doing a really bad job, in your old posiiton. What would that person be doing or not doing, that made them bad at the job?

The opposite of that is what you must have been doing to do a good job!

For example, if someone doing the manufacturing job was allowing product to be damaged because of careless packaging, the opposite to that is, obvious, taking great care to wrap product well.

What skills are there in this? Attention to detail, pride in job well done, manual dexterity.

Now, how can you apply these to your new job? Continuing with the health care new job theme:

"In my last job, to make sure the end product went out undamaged, I had to pay great attention to detail, be on the look out for anything that was different than usual and check it out. I took pride in making sure all my work was of the highest quality and my supervisors not only satisfied, but very pleased with my work. And also, because I worked with my hands, I demonstrated good manual dexterity. All of these skills are directly transferable to working with seniors."

That could be a possible interview answer to "what did you do in your last job that prepares or qualifies you for this one."

Think transferable skills. Don't think job duties, if you're changing careers.

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Illegal Questions: and what to do if they are asked

Illegal Questions mean they are questions the employer has no right to ask, so what do you do if they are asked?

Firstly, what is an illegal question?

That depends upon where you live, but it can be questions about your age, marital status, children, sexual orientation, health, religion, race and several other items, provided they are not relevant to the job.

For example if a job requires you to lift 150lbs, it is reasonable for the employer to check that you indeed fit enough to do so.

If you are applying for a job in a school of a specific religion, where everyone who teaches there is of that religion, it is reasonable, if you apply to teach there, that they will ask if you are of that religion.

These things are obvious.

But let's say you are applying for some type of office work, where provided you can use the computer, answer the phones and communicate reasonably well with others, you have all of the necessary qualifications.

You are in the interview and the employer asks your age.

You know this is an illegal question. The employer should know it's an illegal question, although if this is a very small company it's possible s/he does not.

But you want the job, and replying with "that's an illegal question" is not going to get you far.

What do you do?

I would suggest you just turn it off with a general answer.

You could say "I'm not sure what relevance that has to this job", but that is still putting the employer on the defensive.

Rather, try something like one of these responses below...

If you are older: "I am mature enough to be extremely reliable and good worker, and young enough to look forward to many years doing the best work I can in this type of work."

If you are very young: "I am reliable and mature, understand the importance of doing the best job I can, and I know, if you hire me, you will be very happy with my work."

I have been asked, by way of skirting that question directly, what ages my children are, to which I have replied something along the lines of...

"My children are all well taken care of, and do not in any way interfere with my ability to be an extremely reliable, good worker." (The fact that my kids are grown up and living elsewhere is none of the employers business!!!)

"Are you going to have children?" is a question often thrown at young women.

My answer to that would be "I am career oriented, and have no plans at the moment to have children." Of course, you would want that to be true, if you say it.

But you get the idea.

What nationality are you? "I am a US, Canadian, whatever... citizen" (and though I'm not going to say it, it's none of your business where I came from originally!)

So take some time before an interview to think about any illegal questions that are likely to arise, and come up with a pre-thought-out response.

If you're caught off guard, take a moment to think before saying anything. What is the employer trying to find out? If you'll stay with the company? If you'll turn up for work each day? If you will be a trouble maker in some way, or have trouble fitting in? Then address his concern by telling him that it is unfounded, but without necessarily answering his illegal question directly.

Then, of course, depending on the number and type of illegal questions, you will have to decide if this indeed a company for whom you want to work, even if they do offer you the job!

More help with interviews...

What if I can't think of an answer

Telling Stories is Powerful

Ace your Behavioral Interviews with the STAR format

Create rapport: relate back to what the interviewer said

I work one on one with clients, by phone or in person, to practice for an interview...