TEN JOB INTERVIEW TIPS

Here are ten tips to increase your chances of landing the job!

1. Go after small organizations with twenty or fewer employees, since they create two-thirds of all new jobs.

Small is better for increasing your odds of actually getting the job. Small employers usually don’t have a dedicated recruiter, so you will most likely be interviewed by the person or people you will be working with on the job. You can check them out while they check out you.

If benefits are very important to you, keep in mind that bigger is better. Generally, the bigger the company, the greater variety and better the benefits that are available.

2. Hunt for interviews using the aid of friends and acquaintances, because your job-hunt requires eighty pairs of eyes and ears.

You will get a job faster through networking. Employers really want to hire someone they know. If they don’t know you, you may not get the interview. If they know someone and that person recommends you or does the introduction, it increases your chances by 80%.

3. Do thorough homework on an organization before going there, using Informational Interviews, the library, the internet and industry magazines.

All the resources have some piece of information about the organization. You cannot be over-prepared. Knowledge is power. Sometimes just the fact you took the time to research the company, will get you the job.

4. At any organization, identify who has the power to hire you there, for the position you want, and use your friends and acquaintances' contacts, to get in to see that person.

This goes back to networking and getting to know the right person. People are risk averse. That means that they want to be certain they hire the right person. They want to know the person they hire. Getting known can only help you.

5. Ask for just twenty minutes of their time when asking for the appointment; and keep to your word.

This will get you the informational interview. Get known. Meet them. Demonstrate your passion, knowledge, abilities and previous experience. They will welcome it. Instead of having to find you, you go to them!

6. Go to the interview with your own agenda, your own questions and curiosities about whether or not this job fits you.

Interviewing is a two-way street. You may not want the job after you find out more about it. Or you may not feel you’ll get along with the person in the day-to-day business of the job.

7. Talk about yourself only if what you say offers some benefit to that organization, and their “challenges.”

At this point in the relationship, they only care about you can do for them. WIFM – What’s In it For Me to hire you? That is the whole point of the interview. So only talk about what you can do for them. If you know what their challenges are up front (see #3- research the company), come to the interview with a solution or two. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be workable.

8. When answering a question of theirs, talk only between twenty seconds and two minutes, at any one time.

Think of some questions you’ve been asked during previous interviews and come up with some ready responses. Then sit and time your responses. Twenty seconds can be a long time. Be succinct and only answer what they ask you. Stay focused on what they asked, and only answer that question.

9. Approach the interview as if you are a resource person, able to produce better work for that organization than anyone else.

Position your skills, knowledge, abilities and previous experience as a resource for them to use to solve their challenges. Don’t be a know-it-all, but demonstrate how you can help them. “This challenge is very similar to a problem I had at … and we/I solved it this way…”

10. Always write a thank-you note the same evening of the interview, and mail it at the latest by the next morning.

I’m going to go old school on you and suggest actual pen to paper and putting it in snail mail to each panel member. Bring these materials with you and write them in your car after the interview. Then pop them in the mail on your way home.

The alternative is to send individual email messages that afternoon to the interview panel thanking them for the pleasure of their company and taking the time to interview you. Tailor each message to each panel member. They may compare notes/emails and you don’t want to appear cookie-cutter or lazy.

Bonus tip: Be prepared! Yes, the Boy Scout motto works well in the job hunt. Come to the interview with extra résumés and cover letters. Carry business cards with your name and contact information ready to exchange with the interview panel. Dress your best for the interview. Be ten minutes early. Relax; you know you’re a good fit. Just show them the real you in all your competent and experienced glory.

This Week’s Coaching

Review these tips and see were your vulnerabilities lie. The more prepared you are, the more confident you’ll feel and the better impression you’ll give. All good.

Are you spelunking or mountain climbing yourself? I am referring to last week’s post about uncovering and identifying your values. Keep refining your list so that you know exactly what your “must haves” and your “deal-breakers” are in this lifetime. This works in job interviews too. If a job or the company’s process or the interviewer, crosses one of your deal breakers, you can be clear on why you are turning down a job. Conversely, if they echo your values you will know immediately that this is right for you. Let me know how it is going for you by sending me an email or making a comment below.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Who Are You?

Values are who we are. Not who we would like to be, not who we think we should be, but who we are in our lives, right now. Another way to put it is that values represent our unique and individual essence, our ultimate and most fulfilling form of expressing and relating to others. Our values serve as a compass, pointing out what it means to be true to oneself. When we honor our values on a regular and consistent basis, life is good and fulfilling. Isn’t that what we all want?

Today is all about who you are and what is important to you.

As a coach, I know that when people contact me, they want a better life. It could for career coaching to get a better job. Or, coaching to cope with a project. Or, to help them figure out why they are not succeeding as well as they want. Or, to improve their leadership skills in today’s new work realities.

All those reasons for coaching are really all about improving their lives. These are just different aspects of improving one’s life. When you are clear about what your values are, it is easier to make decisions in your life. Knowing your own values makes it easier to know when your life has gotten out of whack and how to get back on track. Values are the why and how of the way you live your life.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

(Apology 38a) Socrates.

In today’s living, we are often so busy achieving, doing, searching, accomplishing and getting somewhere (literally and figuratively) that we fail to take the time to examine our lives and see what makes us “tick”. Then, something happens or someone asks us to do something. We don’t like it. However, we can’t really say why it is wrong for us. Others seem to have no problems do it. So, we sweep that unease under the rug of our lives and go on. We do that enough times and we will be miserable, without understanding why. Today we will begin to get to why.

Your life will be more fulfilling when your decisions are viewed through a matrix of well-understood personal values. However, the process of clarifying values is often difficult. This is because we go to our heads to intellectualize and fantasize. Today I want you to look into your life and uncover the values that are already there, in your day-to-day actions and interactions with others.

Do not Google “values list” to get a comprehensive list so that you can be definitive in your answers. That is not the point of today’s exercise. That will not work, because the list becomes an opportunity of voting on which ones are the most desirable or currently in vogue. It reinforces the intellectual urge to figure it out and get the words right. There is no right or wrong on your list. Your values are observable as you live your life. So picking from a list won’t help you. You live in the “real” world. Go there for your list of values.

Grab A Pencil AND Eraser

In a minute, I want you to write down some words on a piece of paper. Just throw down the words. You will be reluctant to do that freely if you have a pen in your hand. Thus, you must choose the correct instrument, a pencil. Pencil can be erased. You don’t have to be perfect. The exact right word is NOT important the first time through this exercise. You will have time to refine things later. No one will see this – until you are ready. Still, experience tells me this exercise works better with a pencil and eraser. The commitment of pencil to paper makes this real. We all seem to be a little commitment-phobic when we are about to make our lives real.

Getting the exact right word will be important at the end. What is more important now is that the approximate label for the value is captured. Values have much more emotional meaning than the definition of a single word allows. Plus, meanings are in people, not in dictionaries. Each individual has his or her own unique meaning for each value. We may have different meanings even though we use the same word.

Use several words together to form a string describing the value. Separating the words with a forward slash makes the string easier to read. Here are some examples:

Integrity/Honesty/Walk-the-talk

Integrity/Whole/Congruent

Fun/sense of humor/playful

After creating the values string, circle the most significant word in your string.

It may take you several months to come up with a fairly complete list of your values. Since values show up over time in our lives, it is unlikely that we will be able to capture them accurately and completely in one or two sittings. Values that are fully defined and elaborated on become a powerful tool in pointing you toward fulfilling choices as you approach a major crossroads or get off track.

Perspectives

I want you to go into your life, not into your head for this exercise.

Relax, get comfortable. Identify special, peak moments when life was especially rewarding or poignant for you. It’s important that the time frame be limited to a “moment.” That will limit the experience to allow you to pinpoint specific values. Ask yourself these questions to uncover what is important to you in one particular moment of time.

• What was happening?
• Who was there and what was happening?
• What are the values being honored in this particular moment?
• What was important right then?
• Distill that experience down to one or two words. What are they?

Repeat this process with several moments in the times of your life. Think about values of achievement or accomplishment; nature and connection; family and individuals; and so forth. When a word resonates or rings true to you, keep elaborating on that value until you have fully captured all the nuances of that value. Keep looking and examining your peak moments that you found to be particularly rich and rewarding. Ask yourself, “What made it rich and rewarding for me?” Remember, all answers are the right answers for you. This is all about you.

A Different Perspective Or Pit Experiences

Another way to isolate your values is to go to the other way. Examine those moments in time that you were in the pit of life’s experiences. When you were angry, frustrated, devastated, upset or in “hell.” This often will help you discover a value that you are suppressing. You flip it over and look at the opposites of those feelings for the value represented. I had a client, “Alicia.” Alicia had a pit experience after her and her team at work successfully finished a project. The team leader had left early in the project and Alicia had stepped into the lead position. During a banquet, kudos were handed out to the team in recognition, but Alicia’s extra contribution was overlooked. She felt angry, frustrated, and upset. After we examined this “pit experience,” the value of acknowledgement appeared. Alicia had suppressed this value because she thought modesty and being a “good girl” were the “correct” values to have. After examining her values, Alicia realized she could be a modest, good girl and receive the acknowledgement she deserved for assuming the team lead role.

If you have felt trapped or cornered, you might have a value around creativity or freedom. The first time through, the vocabulary doesn’t have to be exactly right. It is more important that the word or string of words feel right to you. You can refine your list any time. Think of it as a rough draft right now.

Life, As You Know It

We generally create our lives in a way that demonstrates our values without thinking or knowing exactly what they are. We often live on autopilot. We may not even recognize them until something gets in the way or we need to make a big decision. Then suddenly, we want to know our values. Or, we don’t care until we are in distress – a clear signal a value is being violated or suppressed.

Look also for obsessive behavior. Do you insist on honoring a value and inflate it into a demand rather than a form of self-expression? Remember when your roommate’s value of orderliness became an obsessive demand for perfection? Our friends and families often do us a service by pointing out the obsessive expression of our values: “You are so controlling!” “All you think about is your students.” “You want all the attention.” These statements might point toward a value of personal power/leadership, of learning/growth, and of recognition/acknowledgment. Examine those times when you take certain values to the extreme. “What is it that people say about you? What do you say about yourself?” “What is it that people tease you about or that drives them crazy?” There are important values here that have mutated for some reason. Look for the value, and don’t focus on the mutation.

Beyond the physical requirements of food, shelter, and community, what must you have in your life in order to be fulfilled? Must you have a form of creative self-expression? Must you have adventure and excitement in your life? Must you have partnership and collaboration? Must you be moving toward a sense of accomplishment or success or be surrounded with natural beauty? An underlying

question for the process is What are the values you absolutely must honor—or part of you dies?

This Week’s Coaching

Keep repeating the above exercises over the next few months. Yes, “Months.” Keep refining your list. You haven’t grown your values in a day; you won’t create your list in a day. For some of your big, important values you will have to dig down deep to uncover them. Just like Alicia, you may be suppressing one value because of other values. I encourage you to visit your pit and peak experiences. Both have … value(s).

Keep your list handy. I will be revisiting this subject in a couple of months. Until next week …

Happy self-exploration!

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

How To ACE Networking

Networking is easy. Okay, okay, I hear your disbelief. Networking CAN be easy.  It is all in how you look at it. Like most things in life, Attitude is Everything.

How can networking be made easy? First, consider your approach. Networking is all about what you can do for someone else. Yes, you read that right. It is not what others can do for you. It is all about what you can do for someone else.

When you are considering how you can help others, they will naturally want to reciprocate. That is the networking connection. That is the networking payoff. Here is how to do it.

Awareness

Great, you met someone, now you have to put yourself in their field of awareness within a week of connecting. Within seven days, you send an e-mail and say, “It was so nice to meet you at …”

reCall

Recall what they said to you. At some point, they are going to say something personal and you need to recall it. By remembering to listen and focusing on them, it will take the pressure off you and make this encounter easier. You still need to have your “elevator speech” or Brand-You Sound bite, at the ready to communicate who you are and what you’re about. However, if your focus is them, they will remember you. You will stand out from the crowd of people who only want something from them. You will be refreshing.

Extra

You have to give them something extra, nothing to do with your business, just a nice little gesture. The next sentence in your email could be, “I remember you talked about wanting to show your dog. Here is a cool website link to dog show preparation and procedures.” This does two things for you. First, you flatter them by remembering something personal and non-business related. That makes this a personal connection. Second, because you aren’t asking for something, they will want to do something nice for you in return.

Networking is all about personal connections in a business environment. Personal. Not business related. Let’s say they talk about wanting to get ahead at their job or branch into another field. If you provide information to help them achieve that transition, you are still helping them achieve a personal goal. So, if the “cool website link” is to this blog or other leadership site, you are still providing a personal boost.

At the very least, you will get a response to your email. At the very most, you will win yourself a brand-new network connection. Now is when you can ask if they know of any job openings in your field or anyone who might be able to help them. Networking is very like barter. You have to provide the goods or payment up front.

Stay in their Awareness, reCall their personal interest, and provide something Extra for them. You can ACE networking! And, you too will gain valuable connections.

This Week’s Coaching:

This is all about getting out of your comfort zone and meeting new people. For each new person that you make a face-to-face connection with, follow the above steps. Stay in their Awareness by sending them an email or making a phone call within seven days. ReCall that personal thing about them. Provide that something Extra to them (website, article, information, a lead, another person, etc.). Do this for five people. You can mix it up with some old contacts and new contacts. You will notice it gets easier as you go along.

You can ACE networking. It can be easy. Get out and do it today!

What is your best networking tip? Please share it below so everyone can benefit from your knowledge. We are in this together and together we’ll get through these tough times and thrive.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com

Using Crowd-Sourcing For Your Job Hunt

Let’s begin with a definition. That way, I know that you know, and we all know. From Wikipedia:

“Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production model. Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users—also known as the crowd—typically form into online communities, and the crowd submits solutions. The crowd also sorts through the solutions, finding the best ones. These best solutions are then owned by the entity that broadcast the problem in the first place—the crowdsourcer—and the winning individuals in the crowd are sometimes rewarded.” … “Crowdsourcing may produce solutions from amateurs or volunteers working in their spare time, or from experts or small businesses which were unknown to the initiating organization.”

How do you use crowdsourcing to get a job? You use it by letting everyone know that you need a job lead or information about companies that are hiring. Any and all suggestions will be welcomed. Then you personally track down each and every suggestion to see if it does lead to an interview. You use the name of the person who gave you the information when contacting the company.

Your neighbor, Sheldon, said his company was hiring. You asked whom you should talk to at his company. You call that person and say that Sheldon told you to call about the recent job openings. Here are some questions to ask:

• “What openings do you have right now?”
• “Do you have any openings in ______ (your area of expertise)?”
• “When do you expect openings in ______ (your area of expertise)?”
• “Who would you recommend I talk you at your company about ______ (your area of expertise)?”

Résumé Crowdsourcing

Another way to use crowdsourcing is to ask everyone to read your résumé and cover letter. Don’t just people whose opinion you trust. Ask everyone, amateurs, professionals and your teenager. All will have an idea or two. Accept all the information provided. Especially pay attention to the ones that say they don’t understand why you put some information in or left some information out. If they have to ask clarifying questions to understand your résumé, you need to do some résumé work so that it is clear what you want to say.

If someone asks you, “so what?” about something on your résumé, it is not clear what point you are trying to make. That is your opportunity to rewrite your résumé so that it more clearly communicates your accomplishments, skills, experience and knowledge.

The More the Merrier

Crowdsourcing is a technique for anyone to suggest a solution, in the belief that more ideas are more likely to produce a workable idea. The more people you talk to and solicit suggestions from, the more actual workable solutions you will receive.

I had a three-year period of unemployment. The person that helped me the most to create a clear résumé was a person without a fancy college degree. In fact, he was developmentally challenged. He kept asking me “Why?” until I thought I’d go crazy. When I told him that he was making me crazy, Randy said, “Well, if you wrote it more clearly I wouldn’t have to keep asking you what you mean.” Doh!

Let the crowd help you. You may be too smart for your own good. Humble pie tastes so good, NOT!

Caveat Emptor

Be aware that not everyone will produce workable suggestions or be helpful. Some you will know are wrong as soon as you hear them. Crowdsourcing is a quantity game. The more suggestions you get, the more usable ones you will receive. So ask EVERYONE.

A crowdsourcing business called InnoCentive has found solutions to a third of its posted problems. It lists problems online and offers monetary rewards for solutions. Interestingly, a large percentage of solutions come from people, usually scientists, who work in fields outside or on the fringe of the problem field. Like Randy, sometimes people who know a little less, will provide your best help.

In response to receiving many “innovative” ideas from the public, California Department of Fish and Game spokesperson, Alexia Retallack, said, “We get calls whenever there's a spill. We're not going to turn away an idea just because it's new.”

“You never know where that spark of genius is going to come from,” Retallack said. After Randy could understand my résumé, on the next job I had applied for, I got the interview. Clear is always good.

This Week’s Coaching

1. Ask everyone, and I mean everyone, for job leads and companies that are hiring.
2. Follow up on all those leads and submit resumes and cover letters.
3. Ask everyone (EVERYONE) to critique your résumé and cover letter. Incorporate those that make sense for your situation.
4. For bonus points: Incorporate some changes to your résumé that you aren’t a 100% sure about. Ask for another review. Well… ?

Let me know via the comments section below or by sending me an email if this approach helps you. I’d love to know.

A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream.

All things are possible,

Elisabeth

Elisabeth Adler-Lund

Executive and Life Coaching

Telephone: 916 • 803•1494

E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com