Tag Archives: job interview

How early do I get to the job interview? (and what if I am late?)

Posted on October 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

How early should you get to a job interview?  That depends on how far you have to travel and how slow the traffic is likely to be.

If you are sure you will get there right when you expect to, arrive 10 minutes early in the parking lot.  Grab your notes and go over them.  Practice the interview questions you have written out.  Go into the building 5 minutes before the interview is to start.  You want to be on time, but avoid waiting too long in the lobby, getting nervous.

If you are going a long distance, you may need to plan on arriving 15 to 30 minutes early.  In that case, tell the interviewer of your dilemma when you set up the interview.  Waiting 20 minutes in your car is a waste of your time.  Your interviewer can often set up a soft start time and see you immediately when you show up early.

Perfect timing: walk into the building 5 minutes before your interview.  If you will have to wait more than 5 minutes in your car, go in earlier.  Horrible timing is 5 minutes late unless you have called ahead to let them know you will be late.

If something anticipated arrives too late it finds us numb, wrung out from waiting, and we feel…nothing at all.  The best things arrive on time.  (Gilman)

If you are late: your best job interviewing tool may be a cell phone.  If you are going to be late you can call the person you are going to meet with and let them know you will be late.  Tell them a time 10-20 minutes later than you really expect to arrive.  That way you can still arrive “early.”

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Something To Do Today

Before your next job interview make a list of questions that show your desire, interest and motivation.  Use those 5 minutes in the car for interview preparation.

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Next:     The phone interview

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My last job stunk, what do I say?

Posted on September 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

“My last employer lied to me.  He looked me straight in the eye and lied to me twice in the employment interview.  Then he spent the next year undermining me.  He made it impossible to reach the pay level he promised me.”

When he told me that, I understood.  I’m an agency recruiter. I could see from his previous jobs that he was exceptionally good at what he does. Before he goes out on a job interview I’ll tell him how to handle that situation.  Eventually he’s going to have to get over that job wound.

The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.  (Gandhi)

Remember, your attitude is everything.  Managers know that some bosses reek.  Every manager has also had an employee who was terrible.  Your interviewer has to decide if you or your boss was the problem.  Because they lack facts, they will decide whose fault it was by your attitude.

When they ask you about that lying, thieving, disgusting, wife beating boss you had at your previous job, be careful.  Remember, the slimeball’s dog still loves him.  Say only, “At my last job I accomplished..” and list the good things you got done.

If asked, “Why did you leave?”  Say, “My boss and I did not see eye to eye.”  Then add something else that is positive that you accomplished.

Never say more than one sentence at a time about that vile, filthy, back stabbing, dog kicking boss. Remember the Grinch’s cat still purrs when he pets it.  Make each short comment about him as positive as you can.  Follow that sentence with something positive you were able to get done at that job.

The best thing you can do is GET OVER IT.   Forgive the louse.  No.  Forgive the man.  Stop brooding.  It affects your attitude.  Hate will make it much harder to get a job.  Interviewers can smell your discontent.

Forgive, forget, and get on with your life.  Do you really think you will be telling every interviewer for the next 20 years about that boss?  You won’t.  The time to stop telling people about that boss is now.

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Something To Do Today

Had a boss you hated?  Make a list of 10 things you accomplished there.  Not your job duties, things you made better.  Accomplishments.  Use that list every time you are asked about the job.

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Later: Fired!

Job search progression

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Posted in Attitude, Interviews, Quitting or Fired, References

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How much do we have to pay you? – The correct answer

Posted on September 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

It’s your first interview.  Things are going well.  The wall clock says you’ve been here 45 minutes.  That’s good.  Then the hirer sits back in his chair and asks, “How much do we have to pay you?”

This can be a disaster.  If you come up with too big of a number, they won’t hire you.  If the number is too small you won’t earn as much as you could.  Is there any way to win?

Your answer needs to show a great attitude.  It can’t sound like you are greedy.  It must leave the door open for negotiations.  It has to get you a job offer so you can really start negotiating. Try this:

 “I really like the opportunity you have described to me.  This is a great company.  I would love to come to work for you.  In my last job I earned (amount), I certainly wouldn’t want to work for less.  What I would like… is to be able to entertain your best offer.”

Show them your attitude first.  Let them know you like the company and the job.  Give them the historical fact of what you last earned.  Then defuse the question by saying you want to see their best offer.

This line works.  Most of the time they’ll stop asking you for a number. If they ask you again, repeat the line. Eventually you’ll be negotiating wages, but try to put it off until they really want to make you an offer.

Use the money question to show your attitude.  You’ll get more job offers. You’ll also make more money.

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Something To Do Today

Put this question and answer down in your interview preparation notes.  Practice saying it five times before every phone interview or in-person interview.

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Later:             My last job stunk

Fired!

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Posted in Attitude, Interviews, Negotiating

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Avoid the Rush Limbaugh job interview

Posted on June 11, 2014 | Leave a comment

My apologies in advance.  I like Rush Limbaugh.  He’s a great entertainer.

Can you imagine interviewing someone with Rush Limbaugh’s on-air attitude?  It might go something like this:

Q. What are your most current skills?

A. I not only have skills, I have abilities, insight and a keen intellect that will be focused with laser-like intensity on your problems.  You no longer need to think.  You only need to hire me and stand back.  I have come to save you with Talent on loan from God. (Translation: I will come to work.)

 

Q. What can you do for our company?

A. Do?  With the blazing brainpower you are blessed to see before you, I will revolutionize your company.  The darkest cranny and the most exposed pinnacle will be dazzlingly transformed and transmuted into veritable gold.  I have come to solve every intractable problem that has heretofore escaped resolution. (Translation: I will think while working.)

 

Do you say as little with so many impressive words?

I have half my brain tied behind my back, just to make it fair.  (Rush Limbaugh)

In an interview or on your resume do you embroider your answer with colors that confuse? Do you try to show your enthusiasm with concrete accomplishments, or do you camouflage with flowery verbiage?

I do interviews and read resumes every day.  I prefer facts simply spoken.  I enjoy examples plainly displayed. I delight in crisp clean thought.

Give an interviewer what he craves, and he will give you a job.  Simplify, simplify, simplify. Tell what you actually have done and can do.  You will stand out and be noticed.  Your accomplishments will be remembered.  You will be asked to accept a job..

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Something To Do Today

Focus on what you do best and what makes you different.  Take everything else out of your resume.  Why tell a hiring manager that water is wet?  Tell him what sets you apart.

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Tomorrow:  Newspapers sell

Later:                                      Why lasers work (3 part)

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The biggest lie about phone interviews and what to do about it

Posted on August 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

They don’t really call them phone interviews in HR, they call them phone screens.

Don’t be fooled that you are ever being called on the phone for a job interview.  The only reason you are ever “interviewed” on the phone is because they hope to keep from having to meet you.  The idea is to keep from wasting their time….and yours. The words “phone interview” constitute a lie.

So, how do you act differently in a phone screening?

First, don’t give them any reason to exclude you.

Don’t talk about WIFM (What’s In It For Me). Do not ask them about pay, benefits, time off, or vacation.  You can ask that when they make you an offer.

Don’t tell them about your horrible job, terrible coworkers, or your boss who tortures children for recreation. Forget your job wound.  Anything negative you say will hurt you 10 times worse in a phone screen.

Second, give them something enticing.

Make sure that they have to invite you in to see you in person.  What have you actually done better than the average person?  No, I am not asking what your responsibilities were.  What did you do very well?  You were a programmer….big deal.  There are 50 of them applying for the job.  You are a salesman…whoopee.  20 other salespeople want the job, and half are better looking than you.  So, how did you excel?  What were you an expert at?  What does that company need that you do very well? Can you prove it?

Sit down for half an hour in a quiet place with a list of everything you know about the job you will phone interview for.  Make a list of the things you have done better than other people.  Prove you can do this job well.

There really are only two things you have to do in a phone interview phone screen: keep from being excluded, and entice them to invite you in for a face-to-face meeting.

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Coming up

Back to job hunting

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The Arizona sapphire and your interview

Posted on July 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

A professional gem trader decided to visit the amateur rock show at his convention in Arizona a few years back.  As he wandered around the rock show he stopped at the table of a rock hound who had some suspicious rocks.  One rock was in a bin marked “$10″. When he picked it up and looked at it, that fist sized rock nearly stopped his heart. This being the equivalent of a garage sale he offered $5 and got the rock. He took it home, verified that it was a huge sapphire as he suspected.  Raw it was worth $250,000.  After being cut and polished, the gems it produced sold for millions of dollars.

Everyone wants a bargain. Paying $5 for a million dollar gem is a dream.  Every manager and business owner is convinced that he himself is that gem.  There also lurks somewhere in the back of his mind the belief that he will find another gem even more brilliant than himself.  He can then take that gem and make a fortune while polishing and refining it.  You need to convince the hiring manager that you are that hidden gem.  You are that sapphire in the rough.

You need to sit down and think every time you apply for a job, “What would make me a sapphire in the rough?”  Before every single interview you should ask yourself, “What does a sapphire in the rough look like to this guy?” When you are rewriting your resume ask, “How can I make it impossible to miss that I am a sapphire in the rough?”

If you think about it enough, you may really be that sapphire in the rough.

 

Something to do today

Before your next interview figure out what would make you a “sapphire in the rough”. Now prove you are one in your resume and interviews.

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Coming up

Beating the tests

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How to make your job interview focus on getting you a job

Posted on July 2, 2013 | Leave a comment

In a job interview you have to focus your answers, and you have to focus the questions of your interviewer. In interviews it is easy to focus on the trivial. Here are a couple of quotes that apply:

A chess genius is a human being who focuses vast, little-understood mental gifts and labors on an ultimately trivial human enterprise. (George Steiner)

It’s really hard to design products by focus groups.  A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them. (Steve Jobs)

You the movie – stay focused

What was the last time you went to see a movie made from a book you had read?  They left out a lot of stuff that was in the book, didn’t they?  There just isn’t time to show all the details.  They have to focus their attention on the critical plot.

Employment interviews also need to stay focused. Don’t try to talk about your entire life and career. You need to focus on what the interviewer wants you to be able to do.  Focus on your critical plot. “Tell me about yourself,” should be answered with a short description of your last two jobs and what parts apply to this one.  It will get talk focused on your career plot line.

Often the interviewer has trouble staying focused.  He may be embarrassed to ask you about your experience because he feels like he is prying.  When you start talking about it, he may come alive and ask detailed questions.

Your questions can often pull an interview back on course.  If you are getting a lecture instead of an interview, say something like: “I like what you are saying about my skills being a fit, do you think my experience with (subject) is going to be important?” Sometimes you have to remind an interviewer to ask questions.

If you find yourself talking for more than 2 minutes in reply to a question, stop.  Ask, “Have I told you what you need to know about that question?”  It will allow the interviewer to redirect you down the precise path you need to go.

Don’t take over the interview.  An answer longer than 2 minutes is usually too long. We had one guy in here who wouldn’t let us get a word in edgewise.  He never wound down.  He never stopped pontificating about his wonderful qualities.  Unfortunately he talked about all the wrong stuff.  He came across as arrogant. After an hour he was shown the door and we still did not know what we needed to know.

Sometimes you have to focus your replies and cut your answers short.  Sometimes you have to focus your interviewer and get him to ask questions.  The better you are at getting the focus on your strengths, the more likely you will get the job.

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Coming up

You, as Ed McMahon

The most powerful questions

Beating the tests

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Posted in Focus, Interviews

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Being kind can get you a job – like an Eagle

Posted on April 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

Why do some job candidates look for someone to look down on? How much does kindness cost?  Unkindness can cost you a job.  Here is one very real example:

“Receptionists are all idiots.  I never talk to them.”

And yet, I know companies that specifically ask the receptionist to rate each candidate. They literally give the receptionist veto power.

Kindness is taking a second to do something nice. Many people do it without thinking. Some people are so focused on helping themselves that they refuse to do anything kind.  That attitude comes through loud and clear.  People who refuse to be kind get hired by companies that refuse to be kind.

Be kind.  Help people out because you like to help. Be friendly. Smile.  Be interested.

Nice thing happen when you are kind. When you help someone out, they owe you help back. When you care that the lunch break is coming up, the receptionist tries a little harder to help.  It is the nature of human interaction.   The kinder you are, the more others try to help you.

Something to do today

Can you name 5 kind things that you have seen done today?  Find them.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed. (Napoleon Hill)

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Later: Interview like an Eagle -8

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The unofficial 13th point of the Scout Law is a job interview secret

Posted on April 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

The unofficial, hidden, but occasionally admitted 13th point of the Scout Law is: A Scout is Hungry.

In your interview, you have to be hungry. You have to want to change jobs. You must crave opportunity. You have to believe you can really do something worthwhile in this new job.

A true terrible job interview

One man leaned back and put his feet up on the desk of his interviewer (mentally). He literally then looked over steepled fingers and waited to be told why he should care about working there. He interviewed for 6 months without getting a job. After I beat him to a bloody pulp in an interview debriefing, he got the idea. He had a job offer within a couple of weeks. He was hungry, and he began to let it show.

Assume the best if you have to interview cold. Assume it is the perfect company. Assume that their products sell themselves and that there will be a bright future. Interview like you will get the absolutely perfect job. Be keen, sharp, and ready to start. You have to interview to find out if it is really the team, boss and company you want to join.

Do your research. If you can, do research before your first interview. You can do it after the first interview if necessary. Find out if this is the company for you.

Every call, interview and email should show you are hungry. It should be undeniable that you want a great opportunity.

Hunger is the unofficial 13th point of the Scout Law. Be hungry.

Being in the army is like being in the Boy Scouts, except the Boy Scouts have adult supervision. (Blake Clark)

Something to do today

If you are not hungry, you are probably bored and boring. Find something you can be hungry for.

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I’m preparing  10 Boy Scouts to become Eagle Scouts in the next year. That’s why I will be talking about being an Eagle (Scout) in interviews for a couple of weeks.

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Later: Interview like an Eagle – 13 parts

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When your interview REALLY starts

Posted on December 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

One recruiter had a candidate going for a final interview.  It was a nice executive job.  He was ushered in to talk to the board of directors.  They shied away from him during the introductions and after barely 15 minutes he was dismissed.  He did not get the job.

The recruiter was baffled.  He called the CEO and asked, “What happened?”

The CEO replied, “You’ve seen that our building has mirrored windows all around.  It looks like a silver cube.  We were in the first floor conference room finishing a little business when your candidate drove up.  He got out of his car and walked right up to the windows of our room.  He took a quick look at himself in the glass.  He saw something he didn’t like so he spat onto his fingers and rubbed down an errant lock of hair.   He liked that better, but he was still uncomfortable.  He undid his belt, reached into his pants to adjust himself then buckled back up.  Do I need to tell you more about why we declined to hire him?”

 

The second you drive onto the company property, you are on stage.  Many managers ask the receptionist what you were like in the waiting room.  That is particularly true of sales candidates (they want someone who tried to get information from the receptionist).  The HR (Human Resources) interview may be as important as the interview with the CEO.  Every phone call is important.  You may be competing against 10 or 20 other candidates.

Be yourself.  Be your best self at all times.

Something to do today

Think of your last three interviews or job hunting phone calls.  How did you do?  Did you treat each contact with professionalism?

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Later:              The hostile interview

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