by Wendy S. Enelow, CPRW, JCTC, CCM
President – Career Masters Institute
A job interview can often be a quite stressful situation. Companies want to hire competent, successful, articulate, and accomplished executives, yet their very first encounter often places the candidate in an uncomfortable situation. It’s difficult enough to interview one-on-one. What can be worse is if you find yourself in a “panel-style” interview where it’s you on one side and five company managers on the other side, each armed and ready to assault you with questions. It’s a pretty threatening situation, the exact opposite of the type of environment that should be created to allow you to demonstrate your best.
However, the reality is that you must deal with the hiring process the way that it exists. And, to accomplish that, you must learn how to comfortably manage and control your interviews. To help you with that process, here are five key strategies for interview success.
Strategy #1 – You’ve Already Passed The First Test
You’re nervous. You’re sitting in the executive conference room with the President of a company. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that you’ve already passed the first test, generally a phone screening to determine if you have the “right” stuff for the position. And, if it’s a job at the level where you’re first interview is with the top executive of the company, you know that they’re interested or they wouldn’t be committing the time to you and your interview. Therefore, go into the interview knowing that you’ve already got them on the hook or you wouldn’t be sitting there. Be confident.
Strategy #2 – Use The Big-To-Little Sales Approach
Suppose your interviewer asks you if you have any experience with selling new products into the market. To organize your thoughts, make your response flow seamlessly, and make it easy for your interviewer to understand your specific experience in that area, use the big-to-little strategy. Start with an overview of your experience in new product sales; just a few sentences to describe your overall scope of experience. (That’s the “big” part.) Then, follow up with 2-4 specific achievements, projects, or highlights that are directly related. (That’s the “little” part.) In essence, you’re communicating, “This is what I know and this is how well I’ve done it.”
Strategy #3 – Sell It To Me, Don’t Tell It To Me
Interviews are NOT the time to “tell” what you’ve done. Rather, interviews are the time to “sell” what you have accomplished. For example, if you’re asked how many people you managed in your last position, you might just answer with a quick, “I had a team of 15.” However, it’s a much strong presentation to respond with, “My staff at Digital included 15 professionals and support personnel. Not only was I responsible for managing those individuals, I also handled all recruitment and hiring activities, facilitated annual performance reviews, and coordinated staff training. What’s more, my team reduced manufacturing costs 12% within just one year!” When you respond in this fashion, you’ve “sold” what you have achieved, and not just “told” what you were responsible for.
Strategy #4 – Transition Every Negative To A Positive
What do you do if your interviewer asks about your experience working with Excel spreadsheets and you have none? Your first inclination would be to say that you don’t know Excel. Don’t do that! Instead, use related experience. For example, you’d answer with, “I have extensive experience designing Lotus spreadsheets, so I’m sure getting a handle on Excel won’t take any time at all.” Then, even though you’ve been honest (you never said you knew Excel), you’ve positively positioned yourself.
Strategy #5 – Take The Initiative
You’re nearing the close of an interview and the topic of training has never come up, yet it’s an area in which you have a great deal of experience and which is pertinent to the position for which you are interviewing. You mght comment, “Before we end, I’d like to share one more thing with you that I think is quite important to the position and to my fit within your organization.”
There is no doubt that an interview can often be a stressful and difficult situation. However, it’s your professional life on the line. You must walk into each interview with an agenda – the information you want to communicate to demonstrate your qualifications – and you must “quietly” control the interview to position yourself as the “right” candidate.