Interview Success Zone

I wanted to share with you an excellent interview skills DVD I came across more than two years ago. Originally it only came as a DVD with a CD that you played on your way to your interview. Now the producers of the package have actually created a bumper package with a number of really helpful extras. Interview Experts is PACKED with tips on how to breeze through your interview. I’ve attached here a preview of Interview Experts which will give you a taste of what is on the full DVD.

Click here to view the preview video

I train hundreds of people every year in all these techniques that you will see there, and I’m so pleased to see that my approach is echoed by the many employers, recruiters and business executives who are interviewed in Interview Experts

If you are interested in buying the DVD, for a limited period only, I have arranged for a 20% discount for all of my blog visitors. Just Click Here and on the order page type in the promo box “cv20″.

Go ahead and read the article in the Daily Mail talking about the DVD, entitled “The Perfect Interview” I’m really pleased that the DVD happens to cover and complement so many of the points that I hopefully also talk about on my blog, newsletters, forum and my ebook

Frankly I’m a little shocked at the price of the package. Considering the value to an interviewee, if it made the difference between getting a job and not, the standard price of £39.99 (before the 20% discount) is simply mindblowingly good value!

The DVD covers lots of interview techniques, including:-

* APPLYING FOR THE JOB
* PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW
* MAKING YOUR CV STAND OUT
* ASKING POWERFUL QUESTIONS
* CLOSING WITH STYLE
* BUILDING RAPPORT
* PREPARING PRESENTATIONS
* HANDLING TRICKY SITUATIONS
….and many other really crucial interview tips.

In the package though, you also get £87.93 of bonus materials including:

Bonus 1 - Interview Experts CD (worth £17.99)

This free Audio CD is ideal for learning in the car and on the way to interview, making sure you are really prepared for your meeting and banishing any last minute nerves. You can easily download the CD onto your iPod / MP3 player.

Bonus 2 - DVD Online Version (worth £5.99)

In a hurry? Need this information fast? We have included a full online version that you can watch immediately after payment. You can watch it as many times as you like while you wait for your DVD and CD to arrive.

Bonus 3 - E-Workbook (worth £12.99)

To help focus your own answers and to tailor your interviews accordingly, we have included an e-workbook, for you to write down your answers, and make sure that you are extra prepared for the interview.

Bonus 4 - Winning at Psychological Tests (worth £14.99)

A classic problem for many interviewees is the Psychological Test. It has been known to catch many people out at interview, and some candidates have had offers withdrawn on the strength of a bad test. Find out how to avoid this fate.

Bonus 5 - Winning at Assessment Centres (worth £12.99)

Probably the most nerve wracking type of any interview. Usually you are up against a number of candidates, who have to act out situations with actors employed by the company. So many trip up at this stage without thinking.

Bonus 6 - Surviving Redundancy (worth £9.99)

The Credit Crunch has affected so many of us, and those worst affected have been made redundant. To help deal with these scary times we have put together this guide to help you through the minefield following that fate.

Bonus 7 - Perfect CV (worth £12.99)

CV’s are a sales document - they are designed to sell you quickly and effectively. However many people do not know how to structure one effectively. This means you are ruled out before the game has started.

So with the discount, you get £147.92 of interview tools for under £30!

I hope you find Perfect Interview a really useful toolkit to help you succeed in your next interview. It will help you calm your nerves, and sidestep your competition with ease.

Good luck!

Interview Success Zone

Today I interviewed presentations expert, Beth Harvey, who I often send clients to for a presentation masterclass. Here is what Beth had to say about what to do and what not to do to make a winning presentation in interview

ISZ: Hi Beth, thanks for sparing some of your valuable time to share
some pearls of wisdom with Interview Success Zone’s readers. Why
don’t you start by telling everyone how you became to be the
‘presentations guru’ and why this has become such a passion of yours?

Beth: My first ever presentation as a management trainee, longer ago than is appropriate to share, was probably the most terrifying experience I had ever had. But I persevered, and eventually learned to love it, so much so that I ended up training and presenting for a living. It’s a passion for me because I firmly believe that presentations are just conversations with groups of people and don’t have to be huge ordeals – and I’d rather other people reached that conclusion earlier in their careers than I did! Consequently, I really enjoy working with people of all ages, levels of seniority and backgrounds to help them enjoy their presentations, regardless of subject matter.

ISZ: Fascinating! Okay, to get everyone started, perhaps you can tell
us a couple of stories. One of a particularly great presentation, and
one of a badly prepared presentation. What made them so good or so bad?

Beth: A professor of positive psychology at a conference delivered the best presentation I have seen recently. The worst was a results presentation to City analysts. What was fascinating for me was that although the content in the latter was (arguably) better composed, the presenters approached their audience as “the enemy”. In the first one, the whole session felt like a conversation with a very large group of friends. What both sessions reinforced for me was the importance of treating your audience, and their views, with respect.

ISZ: thanks. Can you give us a top 5 Do’s and Don’ts to help job
hunters ace their presentations. What fonts, sizes, colours usually
work best? Should one put pictures or even sounds and moving pictures
in interview presentations?

Beth: Not sure about a top five either way, but there are definitely some golden rules that apply!

Prepare your presentation before you do your slides. Some of the worst presentations are written straight onto PowerPoint, and it shows – mainly because the author has just “brain dumped” whatever came into their head, and then tried to present it. Get your key messages straight first. What do you want the audience to remember?

Remember that a PowerPoint presentation doesn’t replace what you’re saying, so your presentation materials need to support, rather than replace, your content. It’s almost impossible to build a relationship with your audience if they’re trying to read a complicated slide before you move on to the next one. So a good rule of thumb to use is:

• No more than five bullets per slide
• No more than five words per bullet

It’s also helpful to take a minimalist approach to your materials – less is definitely more. No-one wants to endure Death by PowerPoint! Ten slides for a ten minute presentation is, in my opinion, at least six too many. You’ll struggle to get through them. If the organisation you are interviewing with likes to use detailed or complicated materials, provide further, more detailed slides as handouts after the presentation, and cover the “headlines” in your allotted presentation time.

For interview presentations, try and use a font size and colour which are the same as, or similar to, the ones used by the organisation you want to join. You can usually pick these up from their websites. The subliminal message is “I fit here!”

ISZ: Ah, yes, matching - I can just hear the NLP practitioners out there resonating with that one!

Beth: Pictures are helpful, and often illustrate a point far better than words. Moving graphics and sounds can work but again, need to be appropriate and useful and support your key messages, rather than an exercise in demonstrating your IT skills. If you’re in any way worried about how they will work, best to avoid them.

So the questions to ask yourself are:
“Do my materials reinforce my main messages?”
“Are they appropriate to the culture of the organisation that I want to join?”
“Am I confident that I can get it all to work properly on the day?”

A final tip – always take printed copies of your slides in case the laptop or projector fails you on the day. Having a contingency plan in place makes all the difference.

ISZ: are there any good websites where we can pick up more
presentation tips or templates?

Personally, I’m not sure that templates are the answer – if you want to see them used comically to great effect, visit www.norvig.com/gettysburg and see how Lincoln would have coped with modern technology…

www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/public_speaking has lots of great tips and ideas, particularly for nervous presenters.

ISZ: So far we have mainly talked about the electronic side of
presenting, you know, how to put together the materials. How about
the physical aspect of presenting. How should one deliver the
presentation? Does one stand up, and if so where? I know when I stand up and present I tend to walk around a little bit, and I try to engage my audience as much as possible with questions. I think that if one is in a situation where the recipients are sitting down, it’s better
to remain in the same plane or at the same level - as it helps maintain that all important rapport. What are your thoughts on this?

Beth: I agree with you, Jason, and I think that the culture of the firm is important here too. Don’t forget that national culture also has an impact on presentation approach, so if you’re interviewing abroad, do your research on this. Check out the expectations of the audience in advance if you can. Do they expect a formal approach, where you stand up and they sit down? Can you ask people to interact, or will questions be kept until the end? Or is the organisation the kind of place where everyone sits down and has a chat? Ask the person who is organising the interview as many questions as you feel you can – about the people attending, what style the organisation prefers, and even the room itself. Preparation really does count here. The more information you have in advance, the more confident you’ll feel about your approach – leaving you free to concentrate on the content.

One final thought. Presentations are rarely the first stage in a selection process; the organisation has usually decided that you have something to offer before they ask you to prepare something like this. So remember – this is your opportunity to share your wisdom with a wider audience, and prove conclusively that you are the person for the job. Have fun, and good luck!

ISZ: Thanks Beth for all of your advice, I know that Interview Success Zone readers will have found some fantastic tips here.

A large proportion of my clients ask me whether or not they should include hobbies and interests on their resume/CV or talk about them in interview.

Okay, the short answer to this is: YES! In fact I would go as far as saying that during your job application process, talking about your outside activities at one point or another is compulsory. I’ve talked about building rapport and connection briefly in some of my previous articles e.g. if-they-like-you-youll-get-the-job-its-true/ and how-to-gain-trust-and-rapport-with-your-customer.

People like people like themselves - The inalienable fact is that human beings like other human beings who share a common interest. Finding things in common with one another during an interview situation, can make a huge difference in getting a job offer and having your application completely rejected. In my experience, from the many jobhunters I have shared my interview tips to, the vast majority have admitted that in the past they have received job offers even though there may have been other strong (or even stronger) candidates for the position.

Back to the topic at hand. Why when interviewing, should you talk about your non-work activities? I had a client, who we shall call Alan, who came to see me for a one-off interview tips consultation. He brought his CV with him which had no details on his outside activities. I asked him why they were missing, and he told me that the recruitment agent removed them from the resume, and that he should not mention his hobbies, because they are not relevant. I was totally shocked, and expressed how important it is, when interviewing with a future employer (or indeed anyone), to talk about his hobbies.

I though it best that he tell the story himself, so that you can understand what happened as a result of our meeting. I hope you find the story inspiring:

“I can surely remember, meeting with Jason for the very first time, the emphasis he placed on building rapport during an interview. I may have appreciated the importance of a good, two-way conversation. I would question though, whether it would go any further during that short while of meeting your potential employer for the first time.

The consultant and I also talked a lot about personal interests. Sometimes you will have no direct control over what goes out to employers when your search goes through an executive search firm. In my specific case any mentioning of personal interest and hobbies were removed. Period.

I would not necessarily consider this as a negative but Jason convinced me to at least try it out in my upcoming conversation. Of course I would not know whether this was really a good idea. Aside from my career in risk management I also look after a large group of young members in a Christian church organization throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. It clearly has a close link to my exceptional abilities in organization and communication but I was worried whether the resulting conversation would become controversial. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Sitting in my interview with the European head of my business area, our conversation was friendly and much focused on some business issues and how I would be able to contribute in my role. The obligatory question for any leadership position includes how many people I had previously managed.

At that stage I decided to bring my experience from church activities. The reaction was somewhat unexpected: My soon-to-be manager would elaborate for the next 10-15 minutes on reasons why their company is an ideal place to work for as a Christian and told me many stories of how he himself is engaged in faith related activities. It is needless to say that the quality of our further conversation was even higher than before. We left on a high note and he suggested that I meet the CEO. This turned out to bring me a lot of visibility even before joining the company a few months later.

While I had a healthy skepticism over bringing in personal interests in an interview, I did certainly see later all the positive aspects coming with it.”

Clearly talking about his outside activities was critical to his interview success, and ultimately getting the job. So next time you are advised to take out the ‘hobbies and interests’ section of your resume/CV, just remember Alan and the difference it made to him.

There are some really great ways for you to ensure you don’t get offered the job. And so I thought I’d highlight 7 of them here, and resources I have found on the internet that can help you:

1) Not reading up about your company, and showing an interest in the company’s mission and goals.
Getting good information on your future company, is just as important for you to help you decide whether you want to work for that company, as it is for you to impress the employer by your knowledge of their operation.

2) Not grooming yourself before the interview - Read some tips on how to dress to impress here. Read the interview with Gill Hicks in an earlier article here at Interview Success Zone

3) Not Following up Go to CVTIPS.COM has a great article on following up
Like selling any product, following up with your new customer is critical to making the sale. So Following up after your interview is absolutely vital, to maintaining all of that rapport that you painstakingly built up during your interview.

4) Not making friends with the PA or secretary - Come 6pm on the day of the interview after you have left, everyone in the office, including the secretary are going to be talking about all the people who came in that day. Those that made a particularly good impression, will get the thumbs up. Every interaction with the company is important. Remember the golden rule in sales - The Customer is always right. The employer is your customer - they’re always right, even when they’re wrong.

5) Not writing a well thought out and personalised covering letter
Every job application has to be carefully prepared for personally. You’re better off writing 10 customised applications, than sending off 100 ’standard’ forms. Get Examples here

6) Not putting together a killer resume/CV Get Examples or here
and lastly, my favourite:

7) Not applying for a job that is really YOU in the first place!
See how knowing your profile can help you realign yourself, and help you swim downstream, rather than upstream. Regain that feeling of sheer excitement when you get up in the morning! Oh, oh, you just gotta read this book! The Adventures of Johnny Bunko.
It takes about an hour to read, and really will press the reset button on your career! Go to my Career advice bookshop on amazon.co.uk

Making sure you get all of these points covered, will dramatically improve your chances of success at interview! Have fun with all the resources!

Gill Hicks is a well respected NLP expert and Image consultant, and it was through Gill that I first got involved with NLP.

Gill consults at the same outplacement firm that I do, helping hundreds of people every year, who have been made redundant, to maximise their chances of success at interviews by making massively important changes to the way they look, act and speak. Gill also runs her own image consultancy business, called Positive Potential.

Like you, I was curious, to understand why dressing for success is so important, and how you can improve your chances of success in interview just by wearing the right clothes. Gill agreed to take some valuable time out of her schedule, to share some of her pearls of wisdom with Interview Success Zone.

Here’s what Gill had to say:-

Jason Economides: Gill, Firstly thank you so much for taking the time out to share your views and your experience with Interview Success Zone’s readers. Gill, can you explain to us what an image consultant is and why we all need one?”

Gill Hicks: I’d like to start by saying we don’t all need an Image Consultant Jason! We are born with ‘perfect dress sense’ and it is this dress sense that tells us when we have made the right purchases – they are the items we love wearing, they make us feel good and more confident. Some people are really in touch with this dress sense – they love and wear everything they buy and they always look good.

For most, it is the 80 /20 rule, they wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time – it is these people who would really benefit from a consultation. Not only is this type of wardrobe a huge waste of money, but the biggest waste is people going around much of the time feeling very mediocre – what a waste of life! An Image Consultant will demonstrate a wide range of colours, styles, accessories, and textures to harmonise with their client’s colouring, shape, personality and lifestyle so the client can then confidently purchase items that will appeal to their dress sense, will make them feel and project an air of greater confidence.

The image consultant should give advice on dressing appropriately for their client’s working environment and career aspirations. If an interviewee has any doubts, a consultation would be a very sensible investment, reaping huge financial rewards by raising the chances of obtaining a better paid position more quickly.

Jason: You work with a wide variety of professionals, and I’m sure there are certain expectations depending on which industry someone is working in. Perhaps it might be useful for our readers to see some contrasting stories, for instance someone in financial services, and someone in Information Technology. What are some common themes?

Gill: Yes, I have worked with thousands of individuals from a huge range of industries. Well within Financial Services there are obviously a wide range of cultures – from back office to front office, traders to H.R. etc and from private banking, hedge funds, investment banking, retail banking and so on. An appropriate style of dress is slightly different amongst all of these, so what could I helpfully say is a fairly common theme?

I see a number of people dressing at a level they have come from rather than investing in the level they are aspiring to. Think of the Tesco Value range packaging versus their Finest range – we believe the quality of the packaging reflects the quality of the product inside – we respond to people in much the same way, it is quite simple really.

So up the quality and aim to dress to the ‘highest common denominator’ for the position and culture and prepare to try on dozens of suits until you find one that really makes you feel great – or ideally go for made to measure.

I.T. is another story altogether! I think it is fair to say that appearance will be less influential in interviews for technical, non managerial roles than in almost any other sector I can think of. However, a good ‘technician’ is somebody who has a certain amount of creativity, is results focused and detail conscious – so think of trying to reflect these qualities in your appearance with particular attention to a high level of maintenance (i.e. everything clean, polished and contemporary).

The common theme I have noticed amongst the IT profession is poor attention to detail in their appearance.

Jason: (Adjusting my tie and checking my hair) Great thanks Gill, that’s really interesting stuff. What sort of motivating feedback from clients can you share with us, after they have come to see you for a consultation? How does it help inner confidence and results in meetings?

Gill: I have a stackful of letters from clients – I keep them all! I hear that not only have clients received far more rapid promotion than they could have imagined, but the thing I love is hearing how confidence levels have soared – it always gives me a little shiver, and of course it impacts on every part of their lives.

It is difficult to attribute interview success directly with a client’s consultation, but since first impressions happen within a couple of seconds, and having talked to possibly hundreds of interviewers, I can confirm that in many instances a decision as to ‘this one looks very promising’ or ‘this is going to be a waste of time’ is frequently taken instantly the interviewer sees the candidate — before the interview has ‘officially begun’ and that first impression really impacts on what the interviewer then ‘hears’.

Appearance and body language is all they have to go on at that first impression stage, so appearance is crucial.

Jason: Wow, well we had better make sure we get it right then. As I’m sure many people reading this won’t have the opportunity to meet with you in time for their next interview, can you give us two crucial dos and don’ts, that will have an immediate impact?”
Gill: Do have a good clear out of the wardrobe, discarding or putting to one side anything that you wouldn’t want to wear on a ‘good day’. Check you have enough really ‘feel good’ items to be able to ring the changes for up to 3 interviews with the same firm, and diarise what you have worn where as it is easy to forget if you are applying for several roles.

Don’t wait until you are called for interview to race out to the shops and buy something new – it will almost certainly be a mistake if bought in haste. You will get interviews, so do some research shopping first and don’t get tempted by buying too early with an ‘it will do’ attitude wait to you find something that makes you feel great.

Jason: We’ll all take your advice Gill! Finally, if someone wanted to find out more about your services, do you have a website they can visit, or a way they can contact you to ask a question or three?
Gill: Ah, I’ve been caught out! This is just the prompt I needed to get on and update my website – which I have been meaning to do for some time! I’d be delighted to answer any questions and can be emailed on gill.hicks@positive-potential.co.uk and they can go to www.positive-potential.co.uk

Thank you Jason, and good luck to all your readers!

Jason: Thanks Gill, I’m sure they all appreciate the advice! I’m off to clear out my wardrobe! Now where are those leather trousers…….

Well it’s Friday night (at least it was when I wrote this article!), and it’s time to relax for the weekend. No more interviews until next week, so it’s time to invest a little time in your personal development! And if you ARE reading this article on Friday night, then you’re truly dedicated to your future success. So congratulations, give yourself a pat on the back, and grab a notepad…

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m fascinated by NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). Many people study NLP to use it in a therapeutic environment, but I get really excited when I can apply all the amazing rapport building techniques, and questioning models that can really help both the interviewee and the interviewer in the process.

One absolutely vital element in interviews is body language. We use it all the time, it’s unavoidable. Have you ever noticed a couple in love, in a restaurant, gazing in each others eyes? They lean forward together, they reach for their wine glasses at the same time, they laugh and smile at the same time, they might even eat the same vegetable at the same time! They’re in 100% rapport, and are passionate about each other! Wow, imagine even having even half of that sort of rapport with your potential employer (or customer as I prefer to call them).

The chances of being selected to deliver the service will increase massively.

There are so many NLP techniques in interviews that you can apply, and I’ll share with you some tips here.

Take notice of everything your interviewer does - watch their movements
Every action that someone takes, including you, is an individual piece of vocabulary. Only the language is Body Language. If you could understand the body language of your interviewer, to be able to mind-read them and communicate back to them in the same language, to establish irresistible rapport, would you find that useful? Of course you would!

Every emotion that someone experiences, has body language associated with it. Think about it for a second. Whenever you are under pressure, or conversely, when you are excited, you have a very specific body language pattern associated with it. And it’s very difficult to shake it off. Why? because it all happens subconsciously. This of course is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time, so the primary objective of studying NLP is to increase your awareness. It can be advantageous, when you are looking out for it in someone else, because you will know when that person is happy with what you are pitching, or unhappy, even without them needing to open their mouths. This means you are reading their emotions.

On the flip side, this is happening in reverse all the time, and people are reading your body language too and noticing your emotions too. We can help it, it’s natural.

By asking some questions, and listening to the tone of the answer (i.e. whether it is positive or negative), you can calibrate the person’s body language. This means you are building up a dictionary of the other person’s body language!

Even the non-verbal characteristics of each person will give a lot away about the person’s emotions.

Are you wondering why this really matters, and how to use this priceless knowledge in an interview? Well, if you are able to tell if someone is getting agitated by something you are saying, just by looking at them or noticing a subtle change in their voice tonality, then you can immediately change subject to something that the listener is more interested in.

FURTHER READING
There are even more NLP in interview tips in my free email course (see link below) and my ebook

Have a super weekend!

Have you ever gone up to someone, and asked them “So John, what do you do?”, and you get an answer like “I’m an accountant”.

Don’t you think that’s interesting?

The problem with John’s answer here, is that he has just labelled himself, and we all have our own image, preconceived idea or in NLP terms, internal representation, of what an accountant is. You know, a short thin guy with round glasses, an old grey suit that hasn’t been dry cleaned for 12 years…your image of course may be different. But either way, the words “I’m an accountant” is most likely to conjure up the image of a person, rather than the results or service that the person offers.

So think about how to answer that question next time you are asked it. Let’s move back to John. How else could he have answered? Well he could have said, depending on his individual specialisation, something like:

“I work with people to help them decrease their tax obligations and increase the efficiency of the management of their cash flow”. Immediately we get a clear picture of the benefit of what John has to offer.

So whenever you are in an interview, and your running through your list of previous employers, and describing who you currently work for, make sure you simply describe what your value-add is to each employer, why they initially hired you and how you helped the companies make more money, increase market share, operate more efficiently, decrease costs etc.

Give examples of how you have done this. Telling stories is a great way to sell your point. Simply making statements or stating facts, is all very interesting, but doesn’t get someone to buy. Maybe you already know the expression :

Stories Sell
Facts Tell

Remember, in the context of an interview, the irony is that the employer has a problem, which is why they have made the job opening yet at the same time they will be quite on their guard to reveal the weakness in their business - it’s a human pride thing. Being aware of this is particularly important, or easier to demonstrate in a slightly different interviewing/selling context.

Namely that of a counsellor or psychiatrist selling their services to a potential ‘patient’ (isn’t that a horrible word to use). Let’s say Mary is a therapist, she will be looking for new patients, or as I prefer, customers.

So, Mary is introduced to someone who has some kind of marital issue going on for them. Mary at this point can do one of two things:

“Hi, I’m Mary and I’m a family therapist and work on marriage and relationship problems. How can I help? (Translation: What’s your problem?)” - This will immediately put the potential customer on the back foot, because as you know, they don’t need therapy!

or a much softer approach:

“Hi, I’m Mary. I recently met with some who was facing some issues within their relationship. At first it seemed to them (note: no use of the words “patient, client, customer” etc) that the situation was hopeless, that there was no way of getting out of the downward spiral that the relationship was going. We talked a lot about how the two were communicating, or not communicating, and quickly discovered from both sides that they actually had the same views, goals and ambitions, but were too scared to talk about them. Now they are really happy, and the relationship is blossoming stronger than ever before. If you are feeling low, maybe I could share some of my experience of how to overcome any anxieties you have right now.”

Mary in this case has sold her services, using a story, a real life example, to which her prospective client can relate to.

Human beings love hearing sensational stories, that’s why newspapers sell so well. You’ll never see a newspaper saying “US Economy coasting along very nicely thank you very much” or “Business at IBM is doing okay executives say”. You’ll only see sensationally negative or positive headlines like “10,000 people laid off at Walter Mitty Plc as business is hit by economic downturn” or “10 million people get huge tax break”. The Media sells the story, and they do it exceptionally well. It’s a love hate relationship.

Identifying the firms’ issues, and then outlining examples how you have fixed similar issues in the past, is going to be your priority and will be key to succeeding in interviews. Tell stories, and ask them to tell stories.

What’s your story?

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Coming soon……
Using the Meta Model (covered in my ebook) in interviews, can help you get to the root cause of an employer’s issues. Spotting nominalisations in language can give away a lot about how the firm is struggling. More on that in the book and in a future posting here at Interview Success Zone. Click on the link below to be informed the next time an article is published here.

Any good salesman will invest time and effort into understanding his buyer’s purchasing needs and the specific purchasing process that the buyer goes through. Understanding the interviewer’s buying process, and mapping your sales pitch across will work wonders.

There is a fantastic book that I’m reading about at the moment called “Persuasion Engineering” written by Richard Bandler and John LaValle. Take a look at it. In the book, Bandler talks about how he went from one car showroom to the next, desperately trying to buy a particular model of car, yet none of the salesman succeeded in selling him a car, because they ignored his buying process. Bandler explicitly set out the ‘rules of engagement’, saying things such as “I want this particular model car, in this colour, with these extras….etc” and all the salesman had to do was nod, and get the paperwork ready. But of course the salesmen kept on trying to modify Bandler’s choice, and in the end I think he just gave up.

Find out what the firm’s hiring process is, and follow that process step by step. Ask the interviewer up front how they usually go about their hiring, how they have done it in the past, and then follow their hiring formula. This will make a huge difference to how far you progress down the interview process. There’s no point insisting on them making a hiring decision, if you have been told that you are at interview number one out of fifteen and that they never make their final decision until the end of the process.

Sometimes it’s the simple, more subtle things that are THE most important things to remember. If an interviewer mentions that having staff who are passionate about the industry is a priority, then behaving in any way other than completely ecstatic, just won’t get the employer ecstatic about you either. Oops, I’m veering back on to rapport again….I told you it was important!

Rapport is absolutely crucial, in fact, I believe it’s the most important aspect of the interview. I sometimes come across clients who believe that simply having top universities and leading employers on their CVs are what get them the job. I advise them that establishing rapport from the outset is more important. Calling employers on the phone first, following up with covering letters/emails and to employers are very important elements.

Some believe that covering letters are not as important as CVs and that they don’t add value. My belief is that if anything, if I were to apply for a job these days, I wouldn’t even send a CV unless I had established some initial contact with the client and had been specifically requested to send the CV. My mission is always to get a meeting. If they’re not interested in meeting with me for a 5 minutes coffee, what are the chances that they’ll want to meet me for an hour?

The secret to keeping a client hooked, is to keep giving. Give Give Give. Give your time, your ideas and demonstrate your passion for the field under discussion. I’ve been offered a job twice, when I was just minding my own business! One time, I went into a meeting, trying to sell some shares of a company we were raising money for, and clearly something about the way I approach business and the way I discussed things with them, resulted in me being offered a job on the spot.

More recently, I was actually calling a company asking politely to take me off their mailing list, and before I hung up, I suggested to them one or two companies I was familiar with who I could help connect them with, as I have a passion for helping business make more money! The man said “If you’re looking for a job, we could do with someone like you to handle sales for us”. I didn’t accept either job offer, but I marvelled at the fact I had attracted those responses.

Make yourself irresistible by caring sincerely for your customer’s business. In my ebook “Secrets of Successful Interviewing”, I go into many more examples and rapport building techniques. There is also an 11 minute audio MP3 included with the ebook, that you can load onto your iPOD or MP3 player, packed with last minute interview tips. I go through pre-interview preparation, questioning strategy, and how to enter the interview with a positive state of mind. To find out more, click on the book image to the right of this article, or go to:-
www.interviewsuccesszone.com, where after you sign up for my free email series you can read more about the ebook.

See you here next time!

Right now, job hunting is more competitive than usual. I know, because I spend 15-20 hours a week coaching highly skilled financial services professionals to reposition themselves after being made redundant. Strangely, despite the current climate, many of my clients are getting jobs. This I believe, in part at least, is due to some of the approaches, mindset and NLP skills I share with them. My objective is to set my clients apart from the other candidates - to make it a no brainer for the employer to offer the interviewee the position. The techniques are simple to learn, yet it seems from the feedback I’m constantly getting, radically different to the approaches that they have been adopting up until the point they meet me. I’ve alluded to these differences in other blogs entries, and in the interviewsuccesszone.com forum.

Let me first suggest that we make some subtle changes in terminology, in order to help your subconscious mind deal with the change in interview approach.

Old term                       New Term
Interview                       Business meeting
Interviewer                    Customer/client
Employer                     Customer/client
Interviewee (you)         Contractor/supplier
Job                               Project/Mission
Salary                           Commission/Price

That’ll do for now. Now I’m not expecting you to actually use these terms in the business meeting with your customer, but those are the terms you should use in your head. In fact, if you were not looking for a job, and rather were a small business meeting with a client, those are exactly the terms that you would use.

When you go for your interview or business meeting, you need to invest some time with your interviewer or client, to establish what is going on for them. You need to adopt the strategy of taking an interest in their business. If you don’t, you are cutting your chances of getting to the next stage by 90%!

I mean, look, if you were hiring a plumber or an electrician to fix something in your house, and you called 2-3 plumbers/electricians, you’re most likely to hire the person who has taken an interest into understanding precisely what your problems are, than someone who just sits at the end of the phone giving yes or no answers to your questions.

So what questions should I ask?
Well, the question you should really be asking is, what should my interview strategy be?
Fundamentally, the repertoire of questions you will need to use will differ from one company to the next, and from one interviewer to the next.

Keep in mind this objective “I’m not leaving this room until I fully understand myself how I might be able to help this customer”, then all of the questions will flow naturally. Your objective is to keep persuading them to keep booking meetings with you, until you are BOTH clear on how you can work TOGETHER.

I’m always interested to hear from clients phrases such as “I think I performed well in the interview”. Perform? It’s not audition for an acting role, this is real life. This is a company that needs help solving a major problem, and they’re not interested in receiving a ‘performance’ from their interviewee. They’re interested in you sincerely trying to help them solve their challenges. They’re hoping you are the answer to their prayers!

So, the idea is that you’ll be so curious, that all of these questions will be asked throughout the interview, not at the end. By that time it’s too late to establish that sense of interest. If you go for a 60 minute interview, and only spend the last 5 minutes asking the client about the role, that means you have wasted 55 minutes of opportunity to ask questions, and gain that all important rapport with the customer.

Why is this important? Okay, fast forward to the end of the interview process and you get offered the position because the employer was so impressed with your answers even though you almost never asked detailed question. Are you going to accept the job? How can you accept a job you know very little about? Or even worse, what if you adopt the same approach of asking no questions when you are simultaneously interviewing with several employers, and then find you get multiple job offers? How will you choose? Are you going to ask the employers now to explain what the role really entails, what the benefits are, what they are expecting of you in the first 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years? It will be too late then.