The candidate gave one weakness. He was prepared for that question.
The interviewer paused and frowned. He couldn’t remember what he had planned for the next question.
The candidate got nervous. Why did the interviewer pause? He blurted out another weakness. This one was a little more serious. He hadn’t prepared to offer more than one weakness.
This caught the interviewer so off guard that he blinked a couple of times and furrowed his brow.
The candidate couldn’t hold back. There was another weakness.
The candidate fell apart. He added even more weaknesses. He talked himself out of a job.
Be prepared to talk about one weakness. For good measure, make it something that could be a strength, but that you take too far. It could be working late or being a perfectionist. Tell how you correct the weakness.
Then shut up.
Never give more than one weakness. Otherwise YOU will ruin your chance.
Something to do today
Prepare for the question, “What is one of your weaknesses.” Make sure you also include in your answer how you compensate for that weakness..
Is a red herring good or bad? Obviously it can be either. A red herring distracts from an important point. Here is how it works.
Do you have something to hide? If it is a minor disqualifier, be prepared to talk around it. Let’s say you were five years in accounting, but only the last year of it in audit. They ask about how much time you actually spent in audits. You answer precisely, “I’ve been with Bolger & Smith CPA’s for five years. In the last year alone, I have done full audits of 12 companies in addition to my other duties.” The phrase, “In the last year alone,” is a red herring. Skillfully placed it diverts attention to the last year.
Were you fired for refusing to work any more overtime? First off, make sure there will be no overtime in the new job. When they ask, “Why did you leave,”
you can reply, “My manager and I disagreed on a matter of service, which I will not go into.” Don’t say, “I was fired.” Don’t give a full explanation. When they press for details you can say, “My last manager was well qualified. We disagreed on a matter of service. I won’t go into it any further.”
The red herring is your nobility in not tearing down your old manager. Make sure they see your loyalty and refusal to gossip. It makes you look good and distracts them from the issue of you being fired.
A red herring is not a lie. It is a distraction. If your distraction doesn’t work, either refuse to answer or tell the unvarnished truth. In the end, distraction is acceptable. A lie will get you fired.
Something to do today
If you have something to hide, write out tough questions. Write out three red herrings for each question. Practice them.
Reading off of a sheet of questions, each interviewer takes a turn asking set questions. There are technical questions, motivation questions and team related questions. Which are the most important ones? Which are the red herrings?
If you interview with 5 people at a company, you will have to deal with 5 agendas. Each will have a different set of core values and competencies they are looking for. So how do you win?
Be yourself, but avoid dwelling on yourself.
Be yourself
Make sure your interviewers know one or two endearing things that make you different. For instance, I have ten kids and I am a Boy Scouts leader. That will set Bryan Dilts apart from other candidates and give me a personality. Do you have a computer network in your basement? Were you the top salesman of Girl Scout cookies as a kid? Mention one or two things that make you unique. Make sure NOT to mention politics.
Avoid dwelling on yourself
A quick mention of your one or two endearing qualities is all that is needed. Then it is time to mention past job performance.
When asked about what you did, mention specific projects. You can say, “I was in charge of the budget,” or you can say, “While I was in charge of the budget we increased productivity 60% while increasing the budget only 20%.” That will catch their attention. As a salesperson you can say, “I sold to companies with over 2000 employees,” or you can get bonus points by saying, “In the last year I opened new accounts at 14 companies, each with over 2000 employees.”
Don’t dwell on yourself. Dwell on the facts. Facts that demonstrate your value to your last company and the company you are interviewing with.
Their red herrings
You really have no hope of knowing which of their questions are red herrings. All you can do is refocus each question they ask on what you have accomplished in the past. Given a choice, most people would rather work with someone who will get things done rather than someone who answers the questions just like they are supposed to.
Ignore their red herrings and show them you are a big fish. They’ll want to reel you in and hire you.
Something to do today
Ask if you can help do interviews at your current company. You may be surprised what you learn about being interviewed by watching others in the hot seat and talking with your boss about them afterwards.
I once had a candidate end an interview with “How soon can I take my vacation days?”. Unsurprisingly, that did not end well. The CEO was already planning on hiring him. That candidate didn’t get the job.
When you end your interview with the wrong words, your interviewer often says, “They didn’t want the job. They never really expressed an interest in it. So we are offering the job to someone else.”
I rarely hear this about my candidates because I tell them exactly what they should say right before they leave. It should always be a variation of, “I want this job.”
Examples
“This is the kind of company and job I thrive in. I think we could work well together. Can we set up the next step in the interview process right now?”
“I have really enjoyed talking with you. Thank you for interviewing me. The job is something I would definitely like to do. Based on everything you have learned about me so far, is there any reason you would NOT hire me for the job?”
“I would like to work here. I enjoyed meeting the team. I can do an outstanding job here and I really want to go to work for you. Can we set up a time for our next meeting right now?”
“This is a great job. I would love to work with you. Can I have the job?”
“This is a great job in a great company. When can I start?”
If it all seems a little too gutsy to you, then go back and read the second paragraph.
I only occasionally hear, “He didn’t want it enough”, from employers. That is when my candidates do not ask for the job.
Something to do today
Do you have a list of all the jobs you have applied for and the people you have talked to? That is another good list to keep in your job journal.
The first paragraph of most resumes states: I am hard working, a team player, a great contributor, an original thinker and will make you money.
In an interview every candidate makes the same assertion.
Why do so few people prove it?
I used to work with a salesperson in a national company. She was in the top 5 salespeople of her company. She never told me. She didn’t put it on her resume. Her friend finally told me. She had absolute proof of how good she was compared to others, but she never used it. To her credit, she did talk about the dollar volume of sales she made. She just never said how much better than average she was.
I work with engineers who know exactly how much money they saved their company, and they don’t write it down. They don’t mention it in interviews.
CEO’s and CFO’s fail to mention how much money they made stockholders.
Why? They have been taught not to brag.
If you don’t prove how good you are, you look like every other candidate.
Who is going to hire you? There are ten candidates. One proves how much money he can make you. The other nine say they are team players who want an exciting job.
Which candidate were you?
Something to do today
Keep a special folder at home or work where you prove how much money you saved, how many customers you helped, the money you made and how much faster things work now. Write a summary in your job journal every week.
Not a winning question when negotiating salary with an engineer.
“Give me all your money!”
Probably not a wise gambit for any job interview.
At some point in your job exploration the question of money has to come up. Asking a recruiter what the job pays is fine. Asking what your pay will be in a phone or first interview is a mistake. They may have been given strict instructions to only mention $50,000, but have been told that they can go to $60,000 for the right candidate. That happens all the time.
Timing is critical. Don’t negotiate salary, vacation or perks until they love you and are sure they want to hire you. You have no leverage for negotiations until you are the final candidate.
When THEY ask you how much you must make to switch jobs, THEY are nervous. So are you. Here is an answer that works. It doesn’t get you eliminated for asking for too much. You won’t get paid too little for being too meek. It leaves room for negotiating. It gives them the information they need to make you a good offer.
The answer has 3 steps:
the compliment
the money
the rules.
First the compliment. This job and your company interest me. I’d like to go to work for you.
Now the money. Last year I earned a total of $70,000 and just had a raise to $73,000.
Finally the rules. I certainly wouldn’t want to earn less. I would like to be able to entertain your best offer.
This works for minimum wage jobs and CEO salaries. If they ask a second time, tell them the same thing. Let them know that you feel it is the company’s job to make an offer, not yours. You just tell them the facts about what you are earning. That’s all. You can negotiate AFTER they have decided to make you an offer. Then you will have some leverage.
How to think about salary – do this.
Write down three numbers.
First, what are you earning now? Obviously you would take your current job for that much money. You did.
Second, what do you really think you would be paid in a good but realistic situation if you switched jobs next month? It should be a raise.
Third, if the ideal job came along, with you doing, learning and being exactly what you really want, with a great company and future, what is the least you would take to go there? Is it a drop in pay?
You now have three different numbers you would work for. So why should you demand to know what a job will pay before you find out which of the three possibilities it is?
Most people have no clue what happened in a job interview. Did you do well? Did they hate you? Is there a big mistake you keep making? You lose sleep, hope, talk to yourself, and relive the interview, praying to find a clue.
It is like when you want to see the back of your head or you want to see the middle of your back. It takes at least two mirrors and a lot of luck, twisting, and patience.
A friend’s eye is a good mirror.
Find a couple of job interview mirrors, like the ones you use to see the middle of your back. You need a friend who won’t just parrot back what you say. Someone who listens and will feel comfortable telling you what they really think is critical. They need to walk you through three questions. Not just ask them, but make you stay on track. They need to pull you back to reality and away from your emotional state. Have them explore these three questions:
Walk me through the interview like a movie. What exactly happened without any emotional coloring?
In the interview, what were their hiring priorities? What did they explore and worry about the most?
In your gut, how do you really feel about it?
You can go through those questions yourself and it will help. But, there is something about having to answer to someone else that often clarifies the situation. That’s one reason that a recruiter earns his keep. He becomes a sounding board after an interview for both the candidate and the client, helping them stay in sync with each other.
Having someone who can point out your mistakes and help you find where you need to work on to get a job is important. A friend or a family member is helpful but only if they know saying the bad things not just the good things is good for you. A recruiter is a great choice too, because it’s their job to help you find a job.
Something to do today
Find that mirror. Who will be honest with you? Who will YOU be honest with?
If you focus on the innovations happening around you, it can change your career. When an idea, technology or procedure is new, it takes a week to become an expert. A year later it takes a year to become an expert.
I became a database expert in a week when Oracle 1.0 (yes, I’m that old) came out. I talked my boss into springing for $100 to get a copy. I parlayed that into becoming a DB2 guru by buying a book. One book. I became a data modeling expert because no one else had a clue what that was. One innovation led to another, and my bosses had no desire to stop me. All the industry magazines and experts were using the buzzwords I could implement. I was on the leading edge. I was riding the wave of innovation. Every career progression was caused by taking two weeks to prepare for an upcoming, essential, mystifying technology.
Do a little internal innovation and focus on using other’s ideas and new technology. It is always easier to become an expert when technology and techniques are new. What is new in your field?
Something to do today
Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?” Figure out what the buzzwords are that people are barely starting to define in your field.
Fingerprint locks are used by tons of people on a daily basis, whether on computers or phones. People use them more often than the number or word locks because of convenience. They even have fingerprint locks for doors, and eventually I can see new locks like these being used more often than the everyday lock and key. The world changes a lot around us, and with that there are new ideas and new ways of life.
Your job search should be like the world, always changing, always improving.
Every year thousands of people get great new jobs with massive pay raises because they have learned something new and exciting. I know average programmers who are earning $120,000 per year. They learned the latest technology and tools and have been riding the gravy train for 3 or 4 years. Accountants that can implement brand new systems are still worth their weight in gold.
Adding a fingerprint lock helps sell thousands of new electronics to geeks like me. New technology, techniques, and skills can sell CEO’s and managers on your value.
What can you learn today?
Something to do today
The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?” Try it today.
Kids can be a practically irresistible force. I have 10 children. Usually I can resist them. Not always. Sometimes they have to admit defeat, but with kids they don’t admit defeat till they have exhausted every avenue towards success. Here’s how they win.
Be totally, irresistibly, and eternally committed to a world changing idea
Jump up and down with enthusiasm
“No” means not now
“Not now” means try again in 5 minutes
Laugh, smile and tickle your dad
Run around and get all the other kids excited out of their minds
Ask dad for help to figure out how to do it
Cry if dad is not listening
See if you can turn it into a school project
Ask mom to talk to dad about it
Bring a partially completed task to dad to be fixed
Change your plans and try again in an hour
A small explosion in the yard will get dad’s attention
Make it a game
Kids win because they are too excited to accept defeat. They are willing to try every possible way around an obstacle. When I am the obstacle and they are really really determined, they know they can win.
Is there a job you really really want? Why not job hunt like a kid?
Something to do today
Take a pen and paper and translate each of those 14 things into something you can use for job hunting or working for a promotion in real life.
