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Some
interviewers do a good job and make sure they ask
you pertinent questions. However, most interviewers
are not good at interviewing and therefore will not
ask you questions that will let you provide
information showing how you're qualified and can do
the job. A study by psychology professors Hunter &
Schmidt in "Psychology Today" found a typical
employment interview is only 7 percent more accurate
than flipping a coin. This is because the typical
interviewer doesn't know the right questions to ask
and makes a decision based on their "gut feeling"
about a candidate.
Unless
you're dealing with an exceptional interviewer,
which you can usually determine rather quickly, you
should take it upon yourself to ensure you find out
what the employer is looking for and convey how you
can do the job. There are two important things you
need to accomplish in interviews: one is providing
the interviewer with factual information supporting
the idea that you are a good fit for the job; the
other is for the interviewer to connect with that
logic on an emotional level. Trial attorneys face a
similar challenge when presenting their case to a
jury. They need to provide them with both factual
information and with an emotional connection to
their version of the story.
The most
powerful way of creating an emotional connection is
through visualization. Just as a jury needs to
visualize an attorney's version of a story for them
to have an emotional connection with it, an
interviewer needs to be able to visualize you in the
role they're hiring for, doing the tasks of the job.
The interviewer needs to see you doing those things
and needs to be able to visualize the outcomes.
Helping someone visualize your story can be done by
using detailed descriptions of actions and through
appropriate use of hand gestures and body language.
To
illustrate, instead of saying the person burglarized
the house, which is an abstract idea, a trial
attorney would describe the actions: John walked up
the brick walkway at 8:00 pm on a moonlit evening,
shattered the side window and climbed into the
house. The first way of explaining what happened
just gives an abstract idea which creates either no
image in the listener's mind, or just a vague image
that they won't remember. The second way provides a
vivid image they can easily recall and connect to.
The attorney might even use some gestures and body
language when talking about walking up the steps or
shattering the window, which further reinforces the
visual imagery.
"Lead
with Need:" One of the most common mantras in the
sales world is "Lead with Need." This means before
you start blabbing about how great you are, find out
what the customer needs first. Recruiters often
describe jobs in terms of skills and education
required. These are really just symptoms of a person
who could be capable of doing the job but don't
explain what is actually involved. You need to dig
deeper and find out from the recruiter the specific
tasks that need to be accomplished. Here are some
examples of specific tasks: - Migrate the office
from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003 - Install the SAP
enterprise software system in all offices nationwide
- Increase sales of our photocopiers to the
pharmaceutical industry by 25% over the next 9
months. These are examples of deliverables -
specific tasks that need to be accomplished. Ask
follow-up questions to be sure you understand. Take
notes when the interviewer is talking if you like.
One caveat if you take notes: Just make sure you're
coming across as being sincerely interested in the
position and not coming across as a salesman or
manipulator.
Pitching
Your Background & Visualizing Success: Once you
understand what the job entails and what needs to be
done, you should mentally match the tasks with
things you've done in the past. Start off talking
about your strongest competencies, tying one of the
tasks to be accomplished with something you've done
successfully. You could start off talking about the
task they need done, then talk about how you did
something similar before, then paint a picture of
how you would do it for them, including action words
to help them visualize you actually doing it. Talk
about symptoms of the success your efforts will
create. You could talk about a more productive
workforce with people spending more time talking to
clients instead of doing paperwork. This will help
create visual images in the mind of the interviewer
that will help them remember you and make it easier
for them to see you as being successful in the
position.
For
example, if the employer needs to migrate their
systems from Windows 2000 to Windows 2003, you could
first talk about how you migrated a similar-sized
company a couple years ago from Windows NT to
Windows 2000. You could talk about how you planned
the project, how many people were involved, and how
the end-users' productivity changed at the end
(hopefully for the better). Then talk about the
steps you would go through to do it for them, being
as descriptive and visual as possible.
Scott
Brown is the author of the Job Search Handbook (http://www.JobSearchHandbook.com).
As editor of the HireSites.com weekly newsletter on
job searching, Scott has written many articles on
the subject. He wrote the Job Search Handbook to
provide job seekers with a complete yet easy to use
guide to finding a job effectively.
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