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The 15 minute prep

Views 1 Views    Comments 1 Comments    Share Share    Posted by Norm 03-04-2009  
Interview Preparation

Mental Approach

My late father’s nickname was “The General”. He was ex military and I grew up in a yes sir, no sir household. From an early age, he instilled in me the concept that no job is worth undertaking unless you complete the task to your highest capability regardless of your skill. Thus, I suggest to you there is no point starting this process unless you tackle it with the mindset of winning. Do not loose focus; keep your eye on the prize. (An offer) Offers are very easy to say no to and very difficult to say yes to unless presented. My greatest value is being able to put you in a position of having a future choice you do not presently have.

If you hear something at the beginning that turns you off fight through it because you will invariably hear something, later on, which turns you back on. Never stop trying because if you do so will the person interviewing you and unlike your desire to start trying again they will not. They are on the golf course thinking of how to end this interview quickly!

Lastly, create for yourself an internal moral compass to guide your answers. JFK’s famous speech comes to mind “ask not what your country can do for you but what can you do for your country”. Now replace the word country with the company name I’m hooking you up with and your off to a great start. Whenever you have the choice between two potential answers choose the one most inline with your moral compass and you will never go wrong. Companies do not want to hire mercenary soldiers of fortune only interested in what they get. Focus on what you can give.

The Pros & Cons of Phone Interviews & Benchmarking

Candidates are usually more relaxed on a phone interview because it usually happens on your “home-court”. Yon can have beside you support material you would not necessarily bring to a face-to-face. The downside of a phone interview is you cannot see the body language of the interviewer after your answers. Usually an interviewer will squirm or make a weird facial expression after a bad answer. An astute interviewee can see this and then benchmark by asking, “Bob was my last answer incomplete or not what you were expecting”. However, on the phone, you cannot see the interviewer but you may be able to hear them. Any long pause (Affectionately know as a pregnant-pause) after one of your answers should be interpreted as a squirm or contorted facial expression. If this happens, you handle it as you would on a face-to-face by asking if there is an issue just like mentioned above.

Correcting communication breakdown on the interview itself right when/if it happens is essential for success. If there is a communication break down, I usually find out about after I debrief you or the customer. If I get back to them with your re-worked or more detailed answer they invariably say, “Norm we should have heard this from your candidate on the interview; sorry it’s too late”.
As a rule-of-thumb one should benchmark their progress approximately every 20 minutes with a quick question, “are you getting the information you need” or something to that affect.

The Most Common Question

The most common question in an interview is “why are you looking”. No company wants to hire someone else’s problem so never speak ill of your current employer or direct supervisor. (Even if you hate your job and cringe when you walk in the morning) The acknowledged best answer is to say “you’re not really looking”, but you were recruited by me and that after you heard about the opportunity, you decided to explore it. Short, sweet and to the point. Companies love feeling they have “poached” a star performer from a competitor. Position yourself in this light and you become sought after “pray” a valuable commodity.

Unexpected Contact From a TNG Customer

In most cases, my customer will give me a heads-up as to when they would like to talk with you, in fact I am usually asked to set up and coordinate the interviews you will attend. The exception to the rule is when the customer has a free moment (Possibly due to a cancellation) or is just very excited about the information I sent them and wants to speak with you ASAP. In either case, the absolute worst thing you can do is sound surprised when they call and identify themselves. This plants the seed that either we never spoke or you are ill prepared. Your best response is saying something like this “Thank you for the call, Norm mentioned you would be calling”. If the call comes to you and you are in the middle of something and cannot take the call just politely say that you are busy and reschedule a convenient time. There is no point waiting for me to do what you and the customer can do on the spot. All contact with the customer needs to be reported back to me ASAP so I know I have something to follow-up on your behalf. Either email or voice mail is fine. Try to give as much information as possible in your message if you do not reach me. The most important information is the outcome of the interaction or go forward action plan. If none was given, it is not in appropriate for you to solicit this information if your personality allows you to do this comfortably. You do not have to leave your “comfort-zone” unless you choose to.

Job Boards

No customer like to feel they are hiring someone else dead weight. Candidates that have their resumes all over the net on all the major boards are sometimes deemed not worthy given the level of interest they are exhibiting in changing jobs. This of course is not fair but unfortunately a reality sometimes. For this reason, you may want to consider temporarily deactivating your resume while in a TNG interview process. All our customers use the same boards you do so if they find you after I found you it leaves them feeling less than they would like to. You obviously can re-activate yourself after we are done if there is a need to. The last thing you want is your new employer finding you still on the net, this may leave them with the impression your not totally satisfied with their offer and decide to either withdraw it or fire you shortly after you start to mitigate their legal responsibility to you.

Money

Since this was volunteered on the questionnaire, any questioning on this topic is more to confirm than to discover. Never change the rules of engagement mid-stream as it creates huge credibility issues. I have scene candidate’s Ace interviews and because they felt so confident, they add a sum to the number on the questionnaire. Little do they know my customer was so impressed with them they were planning to surprise the candidate with a greater sum than you added in? When this happens you receive no offer, you are toast, burnt toast.

The formula for money is simple, always quotes the numbers you and I agreed to use on the questionnaire and deflect the conversation to me with something like this. “You know Bob today I wanted to impress upon you that I’m the right person for the job, why don’t you talk to Norm about the money as he and I have had deep conversation on the topic already”. Usually at the beginning of a process, most customers will accept the deflection and move on. However, at the end of the process they may say something like “Norm’s a nice guy and all but he’s not here you are”. What are you looking for?” If this happens the cardinal rule is never mention a number because the number you mention may be less than they are prepared to pay. Always come back with “ok is see your point, what were you thinking?” or “ok is see your point, what do you think is fair?” Never use the word “offering” it conjures all the wrong mental imagery and makes you sound mercenary. When I hear “what are you offering” I think of a school gymnasium with 5000 people in rows in front of rectangle tables with banners hanging from them; manned by managers looking for piece labor.

Self-Interview

All positions are always on the TNGGLOBAL website. (Ask me for the Job ID if you do not already know it) Print a copy of the job you are interviewing for and read the description enough times to be able to take ownership of it. Then put it beside your resume and read your resume as though you are the hiring manger and the description author. This exercise will help you anticipate potential interview questions so you can prepare answers for them. Your answers should flow freely without major hesitation. Don’t look down when answering it gives the appearance that your lying, don’t look up it gives the appearance your guessing. Always look them in the eye with conviction as that is what they are looking for.

Mirroring

If possible, try to match the speech cadence of the person interviewing you. If you are talking to a New Yorker and you are from the South you may want to step it up a notch. If you are the New Yorker, talking to the Southerner you may want to down shift a gear and slow it down.

The Interview Process

The interview process involves three interviews, two telephone interviews and a face-to-face personal interview. Everyone you meet in this process wants you to do well. The in-house recruiter wants you to do well because their performance is scored on how many strong people they recruit. The technical people want you to do well because they need help and the Partners want you to do well so they can go out a win more business.

Both phone interviews are approximately 30 minutes in length. The first interview is a soft-skill assessment with the in-house recruiter we are dealing with. The purpose is to review your resume and the questionnaire I completed on your behalf. It is important you review the questionnaire I submitted to ensure your answers remain consistent with what I have told them about you. Remember you cannot get an offer over the phone; you can only loose one. So do your best to make sure the in-house recruiter likes you or the process ends here.

Many recruiters email questionnair
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Norm 03-04-2009
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