Successful “Employment Interview Coaching” Session – Stewart, #

Dear Readers,

Here is an actual life story of a successful “Employment Interview Coaching” session submitted by Camille Carboneau. Pay particular attention to her conclusion about practicing for your interviews. Just like the adage in real estate is location, location, location, the adage in interviewing is prepare and practice, prepare and practice, and prepare and practice. Remember what the Job Doctor says: Good Enough, Never Is!

I prepared a resume for a Registered Nurse who had been out of the job market for about 10 years while raising her children. Before those 10 years, she was a nurse for 15 years. She was very shy and timid and really didn’t give me much to go on for the resume itself except her work history which was only two employers. She was unsure that a resume could even be prepared for her. She was even unsure she could re-enter her chosen field. (There is a moral to this story.) However, she did have a goal in mind. She wanted to work at the hospital closest to her home… and that was it. I prepared the resume and made an appointment with her to come in and review her draft, choose the paper, and finalize. She arrived, reviewed her resume, and looked up at me and said, “WOW, I can’t believe this. This is wonderful… and it is really me!” Her attitude was positively changed once she saw “herself” on paper. She had a positive outlook and commented how nice everything looked. Then she was silent again. I thought maybe something was wrong. So I said, “Is everything ok?” She said, “Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to interview.” I said, “That’s the reason for the resume–to get you the interview.” She said, “I haven’t interviewed in years and years…. I have no idea what to say.”

So, our coaching session started. It lasted less than 30 minutes. I gave her tips on how to answer questions, specifically, the one about what have you been doing since 1990. She didn’t think raising her children was a very good answer. I assisted her in re-thinking that idea in a number of ways including: preparing the family budget and maintaining within the budget–which she was very proud of. She also was a volunteer paramedic which I didn’t know about until during this session. She really didn’t feel it necessary to tell me or include. After convincing her it was an asset, we added it to the resume. There were a number of other questions we covered then we talked about salary.

Then we did a short role play. I, being the Interviewer asked, “what dollar range are you looking for ?” She stated, “around $10-12 per hour?????” (Very timidly and shy).

I excused myself from being the Interviewer and said calmly… Do you not realize that nurses are in high demand? Do you not realize what the going pay is for someone with your experience? She said I guess not. I told her she could get around $22-25 per hour. She didn’t think she could because it had been too long since she practiced. I told her they’d probably be more than happy to get her updated.

To make this long story short, she went to the interview and the Interviewer said, “What would it take to bring you on board?” She confidently said,”$22-25 per hour.” She started at $24.50…more than doubling the salary she had in mind.

The moral of the story: prepare a professional resume with all relevant information…know your job market….know the pay scale…know what your value is…be confident… practice interviewing…land the job!