Key points in the article:
- Consider the interview as the ultimate sales opportunity Learn about the company – its products and services, its history.
- Learn about the company’s major competitors.
- Learn about the culture of the company by talking to people who work or have worked for with the company. (Another personal suggestion: Talk to their vendors.)
- Plan ahead for questions, such as: “Tell me About Yourself.” and “Whey do you think you are right for this job?”
I believe the most important tip in the article is found in the fourth paragraph:
Use mercifully short, interesting and relevant examples from your work experiences. Those stories are what your interviewer will remember most.
Two points here:
- “Use mercifully short, interesting examples.” A career story (something I refer to as a “Memory Trigger�) does not have to be long and detailed. In fact, a short, punch story that shows expertise and delivered with enthusiasm is the right prescription. An easy strategy to follow in creating your Memory Triggers is the SAR or PAR strategy. SAR is an acronym for Situation/Action/Results. PAR is an acronym for Problem/Action/Result. The idea is to develop a career story in three layers and deliver the information in a minute or less. Don’t worry about the details. If the story is compelling enough, they will ask for the details. If not, they will move on to the next interview question.
A long (more than a minute) drawn out story hurts you in two ways: 1) You begin to dilute the quality of your information. 2) In an hour interview you want to get through all of their questions, and have time to ask a few of your own questions. Long-winded answers cut your time to ask questions needlessly short.
- As the article suggests, use “relevant examples.” This takes pre-planning. Move beyond the stories you have told at every previous interview. Instead, develop a cache of 10-12 fresh and compelling Memory Triggers. Of course, you won’t use them all, but the point is you need to have plenty of inventory so that you deliver the most relevant. These are the stories that will be remembered. These are the stories that will get you hired.
The job interview is the ultimate sales opportunity. The chaotic business environment dictates that interviewing will be a lifelong activity. One’s success in interviewing can craft careers, impact personal and family lives, and determine one’s social and economic standing, In short, success in interviewing influences our quality of life decade after decade.
