Things to Remember:
1. Don’t read too much into the way an interviewer responds to your answers – some people – especially HR professionals have great “poker faces” always act as if things are going excellent.
2. Always project a “positive” image. Don’t talk negatively about past employers or position responsibilities. You can justify your decisions without “bashing” anyone.
3. Smile when responding – even if you have to force yourself or think it’s silly – do it – it affects the tone and quality of your voice over the phone.
4. Fill out the worksheet on the next page this will help to refresh your memory about your past accomplishments before you get asked the questions. You won’t have to appear to be “digging” for answers.
5. The money question – If you get asked about your current compensation – answer honestly and accurately – don’t hedge. Make sure to include all the things that make up your compensation – Base, Bonus, Vacation, 401K, Stock options. When they ask what you’re looking for in an offer – tell them you don’t have a “hard” number in mind but that you certainly would expect to improve on your current compensation and leave it at that…if you lock yourself into a number that is the number they will use for any offer or consideration when weighing candidates.
6. Lastly – and this is VERY IMPORTANT – as soon as you hang up the phone please shoot me a quick email that answers the following questions so I am prepared for when the client calls me back.
Why do you feel you can do this job?
Why do you feel you want this job?
What about the company/position is attractive to you?
What red flags came up as a result of your interview?
What questions do you still want answered?
Do you want to continue the interviewing process for this position?
INTERVIEW PREP WORKSHEET INSTRUCTIONS
In the world of interviewing there is one sad but inevitable truth – the person who is best for the job does not always get the job – the person who interviews the best for the job gets the job!
The interview prep worksheet is designed to specifically help you give the very best interview you can. In order to do that it’s important you understand a little bit about what you will experience during an interview, because the number one reason why a candidate bombs an interview has nothing to do with their skills it has to do with how they prepare. During an interview you will begin to feel a certain amount of stress. When you become stressed one of the first thing that happens is you will start to lose your ability to access your long term memory (details about things that happen more than 18 months ago). Well right now the most popular style of interview being conducted is a “behavior based” interview – give me examples of what you’ve done in the past and it’s a pretty good indicator of what you’re going to do in the future. So you are going to have an interviewer ask you for details about something on your resume from 3 years ago and your brain quiet simply won’t let you access those memories and the result is a long drawn out pause, and a filler statement like – “Boy that’s a good question. Let me think about that a minute.” As your thinking – the interviewer is equating that with a lack of real experience and ultimately a failed interview.
Well this worksheet is designed so that isn’t what you’re going to experience. Start with the left hand side of the document. What you want to do first is go through your last 3 positions and write down every accomplishment you can remember from those 3 positions. Focus specifically on three areas – namely – where did you MAKE the company money? Where did you SAVE the company money? And finally where did you IMPROVE A PROCESS OR PROCEDURE?
Once you’ve done that – focus on the right hand side of the page. Look at each individual accomplishment and make some notes on what happened with that accomplishment. Specifically address these issues –whose buy-in did you have to get for the accomplishment? What hurdles did you have to overcome? Were you on time and on budget? What were your actual results vs. expected results? What would you do differently next time?
Once you’ve written all this down what you have successfully done is now moved all those details that were stored in your long term memory and put them back in your short memory so use can give better examples faster now during your interview. The result will be you’ll give a much better interview. IF you are scheduled for a telephone interview feel free to have this sheet lying in front of you while you’re talking on the phone. Good luck!!
Interview Preparation Work sheet.
REVIEWING YOUR PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVMENTS – Start with your most recent Employer – focus on the issues that will relate to this position.
Company: ____________________________ Position: _____________________________
List your Accomplishments/Achievements List the strategy, implantation, and development
while working at this position here: processes you used to bring about these results:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Company: ____________________________ Position: _____________________________
List your Accomplishments/Achievements List the strategy, implantation, and development
while working at this position here: processes you used to bring about these results:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Company: ____________________________ Position: _____________________________
List your Accomplishments/Achievements List the strategy, implantation, and development
while working at this position here: processes you used to bring about these results:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________