Don’t Get The Job @ The Job Interview!

Most people think of the interview as the end of the job-search process. They think: “Thank goodness. I finally got an interview!” The Five O’Clock Club’s new book, “Mastering the Job Interview and the Money Game,” (in stores this July; Delmar Learning) calls this first interview the beginning of the process. Yes, you’ve worked hard to line up meetings, but your job search is just beginning. Explains Richard Bayer, the Club’s Chief Operating Officer, “Most people think of the interview as a time to sell themselves. They try to be brilliant in the first ten minutes. An interview is a business meeting–a time to exchange information between an organization’s representative and another person–namely, you.

“The purpose of the interview isn’t to get a job. Yes, this is shocking. The purpose is to get information and give information — so you’ll get another meeting. This is a different mindset than whatever you might have thought in the past. If a person hires you on the spot, it’s often ‘easy hire, easy fire.’ He or she doesn’t care whether or not you’ll stay. They’ll just get someone else if you leave,” Bayer adds.

Bayer tells job seekers to think of interviewing as a long-term process. Job hunters pay each other a great disservice when they say to someone who is going on a first interview: “Good luck. I hope you get the job.” Bayer warns, “If this is someone’s first meeting, I don’t hope he gets the job. I hope he gets the next meeting.”

Be in for the long run

Get enough information so that you can follow up intelligently. It is not uncommon in today’s market to have 12 to 15 meetings at one company for one job. You may have fewer, but don’t count on it. Plan to be in this for the long run with this company, and keep your options going, that is, have other jobs in the works.

Bayer adds, “In ‘Mastering the Job Interview and the Money Game’,” we caution job hunters not to close too soon. If so, they would just be listening to hear whether or not they’re getting the job, rather than paying attention to whether or not they have a chance of getting the next meeting. Instead of trying to get an offer, try to get the information that you need to do the proper follow up and give the information to make the company want to meet with you again.” Bayer says that the primary purpose of the first meeting is to start to uncover information about:

q the company,

q the job,

q the environment,

q the opportunity,

q the boss, and

q your prospective peers.

Another purpose is to find out if there’s any reason that they might be reluctant in bringing “someone like you” onboard – to uncover their objections. You can ask a carefully worded direct question: “Are there any objections in hiring someone like me for this position?” This statement helps to take the interviewer off the hook! Remember to say “someone like me” or “somebody with similar qualifications,” never say, “me.”

This way you have a chance of overcoming any objections. You also need to know how you measure up against the company’s ideal candidate. All of this information is crucial to effective follow-up.

Here are some tips from “Mastering the Interview and the Money Game” that Bayer states have been effective with Five O’Clock Clubbers over the past 25 years:

– Use a 3 X 5 card. It should contain your pitch about yourself for this prospective employer. Your pitch will vary depending on whom you’re talking to. The interview is relatively predictable. You know they’re going to say, “Tell me about yourself.” And if they don’t say it, you have to tell them anyway. Your index card also lists two or three or four accomplishments you want to make sure you mention regardless of what you are asked. For example,” “I increased sales by about 17% each year for three years.”

Also write on your card the thing you’re most afraid they’re going to ask you and your answer to it. Plus an answer to what you think might be the employer’s main objection to you, if any.

A statement of why you would want to work for this company.

Keep this card in your pocket or purse and review it just before going in for the interview so that you will know your lines.

Dealing with difficult questions

You can handle a difficult or off-track interview question. Answer it, and get right back to the information on your 3 X 5 card. If the interviewer asks you, “How is your tennis game?” say, “My tennis game reminds me of the last job I had.” Get back to the information on your card.

Make sure you look and act the part. No frayed collars or dirty clothes. Wear conservative outfits when interviewing for a conservative organization. You may be better dressed than your interviewer, due to today’s business casual policy. Don’t have it the other way!

Try to overcome any objections to you, as well as your objections to the company. Try to turn these interviews into offers even if you don’t want to work there. Otherwise, you’ll never wind up with the recommended six-to-ten job possibilities in the works that the Five O’Clock Club recommends. To get this quantity of offers, and be more attractive to the organizations where you would like to work, you need to get some offers from crummy organizations, as well.

Another point: Don’t try to close too soon. Most job hunters try to get that offer during that first meeting. You’re not going to do that. You’re going to take notes so you can do brilliant follow-up.

Be prepared for the meeting

Prepare for the interview just as you’d prepare for any other business meeting. For starters, know who’s going to be there. Here’s an example. Matt, a Five O’Clock Clubber, was going to be interviewed by telephone by five people from an out-of-town search firm. All five were going to be on the phone at the same time to screen him for a job. In your ordinary worklife, you’d never go into a business meeting knowing that you were going to be the object of everyone’s attention and not even try to find out who would be there, their jobs, and the issues that are important to them.

Bayer says, “Get that information ahead of time. Call the search firm or company and ask for this information. It’s also nice to know a person’s age before hand. You know that it’s very different if you’re in a meeting with 28-year-old – versus, say, a 58-year-old. You can’t ask directly for a person’s age, but you can sometimes get a feel for it — if you know in the back of your mind that you’d like that information. How long has the person been in the industry? How long in this organization? Those answers will give you a hint. What issues are important to each person? You can ask this ahead of time. Ask the person who set up the meeting about the people with whom you will be meeting.”

Bayer advises to just try it. If it doesn’t work out perfectly, it’s still better than not having tried. And you’ll get better at it. The Five O’Clock Club approach to interviewing is very different than other approaches you’ve heard, and it will form a basis for what you’ll do in your follow-up meetings and letters.

For more information at http://www.FiveOClockClub.com