Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (20 page)

Getting a job interview is a classic sales situation. Your goal is to match what you’ve got to offer to the needs of the customer (the hiring firm). Here’s how:

The best job interviews always result from your figuring out, on your own, how you can help a company get new customers, break into new markets, or reduce costs.

To do this, use the Internet to research your target company, its customers, and its competitors. If possible, contact individuals in the target company in order to better understand what they might be seeking.

However, let’s suppose that you’re applying for a preexisting job opening that’s described on a website. The subsequent steps will increase the likelihood that you’ll get an interview.

Your goal is to land an interview with the real decision-maker, the person for whom you’ll eventually be working. You’re more likely to achieve that goal if you can bypass the gatekeepers (usually Human Resources).

Therefore, if you’ve got contacts inside a company, and those contacts know you and trust you, ask them to reach out to the decision-maker and recommend you personally.

In other words, resort to a résumé only when it’s the only way to get an interview. In
all
other cases you’re better off crafting a specific letter, or e-mail, to a specific person and otherwise pursuing him or her directly.

The purpose of a résumé is to present the history of your education and employment so potential employers can assess whether to hire you, right? Wrong! A résumé is a sales document that helps an employer understand whether interviewing you makes sense.

A potential employer doesn’t really care what you did or where you did it. All a prospective employer cares about is
what you can do for his or her company
now and in the future. Therefore, like all sales documents, your résumé is
about the customer, not about you
. I can’t emphasize this point strongly enough.

Some people think that the way to get a hiring company interested is to attach a customized cover letter to a general-purpose résumé. There’s a word for these people:
unemployed
.

How many times have you heard somebody say, “I’ve sent out hundreds of résumés and haven’t gotten a single interview”? This complaint is common because general-purpose résumés are highly unlikely to match what a potential employer is looking for.

Your résumé is far more likely to make it through first-pass screening and cause a hiring manager to read it and call you if it’s customized specifically for the hiring company and the job that it’s seeking to fill.

HR groups (and the résumé-screening programs they use) automatically bypass résumés that don’t match the job description. Therefore,
in order to pass the first screening, your résumé must echo the terminology that’s in the ad.

For example, suppose an ad reads as follows:

In this case, the first line of your résumé (right after your name) should read something like this:

This isn’t pandering. Many companies routinely use résumé search software that filters out those that don’t contain the right “magic words.”

What’s important in a résumé isn’t the jobs you’ve held, but how the value you’ve provided your other employers in the past (or your educational experience) will translate into value to the hiring firm. Example:

Go through the job description and isolate the elements that the hiring firm thinks are important. Then write benefits statements, based on your experience and education, that match as many of these elements as possible.

If you are plainly and obviously unqualified for the job (e.g., it asks for five years of experience and you’re just out of school), don’t waste your time sending a résumé. You won’t get the job unless you already know somebody at the hiring firm or develop contacts that can provide you an introduction to the hiring manager.

Most people get flustered at even the idea of a job interview. On the one hand they’re trying to get hired, and on the other hand they’re often struggling with emotions: preparing for disappointment or wondering whether they’ll really be happy if they get the job.

The following method gets you out of that state and into a state where the job interview can actually be enjoyable:

When you’re up for a job interview, the natural impulse is to focus entirely on that interview, rather than on your ongoing job search. This is a huge mistake, because the last thing you want is the desperate feeling that you must get this job.

The moment you get a job interview, you should step up your job search so you have additional options. Rather than limit yourself to this one interview, use the fact that you’ve gotten it to create the confidence that will win you more interviews.

Unless this interview dropped into your lap by accident (rarely the case), chances are that you’ve already done some research into the
hiring firm to get yourself on the interview list. It’s now time to step up your research efforts.

Search out and memorize the names of the key executives in the area where you’re likely to be interviewing, as well as some facts about their careers. If possible, use your social networking contacts to interview people who can give you an insider’s perspective.

Acquire a working knowledge of the hiring firm’s industry and the firm’s largest customers. If the firm is publicly held, review the firm’s latest 10-Q report on SEC.gov. Search for recent business news stories. LinkedIn is also useful because the more you learn about the “players” in the hiring firm, the better you’ll be able to position your services.

It’s a common mistake to assume that a job interview means you’re just being interviewed for the job. That’s only half of the truth. You’re also interviewing the firm, and the people in it, to decide whether that firm is a good match
for you
.

Based on your research, craft three questions that will help you clarify how you can best contribute to the success of the hiring firm. For example, if you’re a programmer with Unix experience, you might ask about the company’s specific usage of Unix.

Such questions are also intended to start conversations that can help the hiring manager see why you’d be valuable. Needless to say, these should not be questions about what the hiring firm can do for you but lead toward a discussion of how you can help the company.

“What kind of vacation plan do you have?”

“Does the health plan include dental coverage?”

“I understand that you’re thinking of expanding sales into the automotive industry. From your perspective, how could my experience in consumer electronic marketing help you succeed in that industry?”

“Beyond what’s obvious from the job description, what are the most important attributes needed to be successful in this environment?”

Many job interviewers feel obligated to ask entirely predictable job interview questions (such as “What’s your greatest strength?”). There are dozens of websites that can help you prepare for these questions. Read them and rehearse your answers.

A word of warning here: companies with interviewers who ask these pat questions tend to be old-fashioned and bureaucratic. Such questions are therefore a warning that, unless you can tolerate unimaginativeness, you might be better off working elsewhere.

In general, all of these questions are opportunities for you to present whatever experience you have in the context of how you can apply that experience to help the hiring firm satisfy a need, avoid a risk, or take advantage of an opportunity.

Two quick words of warning:

Dress the same as the
managers
where you’re interviewing. For example, if you’re a man interviewing at a high-tech firm in California, wear a clean pair of Dockers, a high-quality golf shirt, and expensive running shoes. Wear a suit and you’ll look like a dork.

Conversely, if you’re interviewing at a financial services firm in New York City, you’re more likely to land the job if you’re wearing a suit that looks as if it cost a thousand dollars, even if you’re applying for an entry-level position.

If you don’t know what’s appropriate, ask somebody who works there. If that’s not practical, try to scout the place out beforehand. Find an inconspicuous place around the entrance or the parking lot and notice how people dress.

The trick to arriving early (but not too early) is to leave for your appointment with at least an hour to spare. Once you’re in the general geographical area, find somewhere comfortable to wait and relax, then show up ten minutes early.

All of the steps above are designed to increase your comfort level with the interview process so you don’t come off as desperate (which is the kiss of death).

As you enter the interview, think of yourself as being in a position to learn something: about the company, about the people in it, and even about yourself. Curiosity is the “power emotion” in all sales situations, but especially when you’re selling yourself.

After the interview, send an e-mail thanking the people who interviewed you. Be positive about the experience, but don’t gush. You
want the hiring firm to think you’re doing it a favor by accepting a job, not that it’s doing you a favor by offering you one.

After you’ve interviewed, you might not feel entirely certain that you actually want that job. Ignore that feeling, because it may be your emotions setting you up to not feel disappointed if you don’t get it.

Instead, play out the hand and worry about whether you want the job after you’ve gotten the offer. Meanwhile, continue your job search, secure in the fact that, at the very least, you’ve honed your interview skills.