Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Society of Broadcast Engineers, inc.
Newsletter Article Submittal
Hello
:
If your local or
national members of, Society of Broadcast Engineers, inc., would benefit from the following
career-related article, please feel free to publish in your association’s news
letter, e-zine or website.
Permission to print
intact including ending attribution box.
Category: career and
job-search tips
Title: Win Your Next Job with Three Essential Interviewing Skills
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Win Your Next Job
With Three Essential Interview Skills
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With competition for
good jobs at an all-time high, candidates who conduct their job search as a
sales campaign consistently win out over those who don’t. When job seekers practice the skills of sales
experts they learn to apply the strategies of a sales presentation to their job
interviews.
To get to the top of
the candidate list, you’ll need these three essential sales skills:
1. Pre-interview
preparation
2. Finding and using
the interviewer’s “Hot Buttons”
3. Closing on the
next step of the interview process
1. Pre-interview preparation
Every great sales
presentation starts with pre-sales preparation which includes client research,
and product analysis. Job seekers
prepare for interviews similarly: research on the prospective employer and a
thorough catalog of their own accomplishments to illustrate their potential
contribution and worth to the employer.
Thanks to the
internet, company research is relatively easy, especially on publicly held
firms. A few good sources are Yahoo,
Hoovers, Wall Street Journal archives as well as company web sites. Information on privately held companies is
often readily available as well. One of
the easiest ways to get such information is simply enter the company name in
your favorite search engine and see what pops up.
Minimally, you’ll
want to find out company size, products or services, major competitors, branch
or head quarters and any recent news items.
Time allowing, it’s also very helpful to know some of the major players
in their organization; a little history on them and future products, markets or
growth objectives.
Once you’ve done the
research, prepare to communicate your value through your accomplishments. Examine your career for examples of how you
have solved problems, saved money, increased revenue, or created revenue opportunities
for your former employers. As much as
possible, dollorize or quantify your contributions. Do not depend on your ability to “wing it”
through your interviews. Ask any
high-producing sales profession, they will tell you that it is impossible to
wing your way to success. It takes preparation
and practice.
Once you’ve prepared
for the interview, don’t forget the next essential sales skill:
2. Finding and using
the interview “Hot Buttons”
An interviewer’s hot
button is his/her unspoken concerns or
wishes.
It’s your job as the
interviewee to uncover the interviewer’s hot button. If you don’t ask, he/she probably won’t tell
you. There are two magic questions that
will reveal the interviewer’s hot buttons.
1. “What do you see
as the greatest challenge for this position?”
2. “What qualities do you see as most important
for this position?”
Once you’ve asked the
all important questions—shut up and listen!
After the interviewer
has revealed his/her hot buttons, use the information to frame your answers to
his/her questions. You’ll connect with
the interviewer much faster once you sell yourself based on his/her motivations.
Now that you have
their attention, don’t forget the most important skill:
3. Closing on the
next step of the interview process
The term “closing” as
a sales term that means influencing one to agree to take certain action (as in
signing a contract or writing a check.)
A complex sale involves a number of small closes before the ultimate
closing purchase. The interview process
is a series of closes leading up to the final job offer.
If you’ve purchased a
car lately you know that the sale starts with the text drive and moves forward
through a series of carefully crafted questions such as “do you prefer silver
or black?” “Which of you will be the
primary driver?” “Shall we park this in the sale-pending area” “Do you wish to
trade in your car, or shall we finance this 100%” The effective sales person knows what closing
steps must take place—attempt to skip the steps and he may loose the sale
altogether.
As a clever sales
person identifies the small closing steps needed to move the sale forward, so
must the job seeker understand the closes necessary to keep the interview
process moving forward toward a job offer.
Those steps look something like this:
1. The cover letter must entice the reader to
read your resume.
2. The resume must motivate the reader to call
you in for an interview.
3. In the first interview ask for a second
interview.
* “When would you
like to schedule our next meeting”
* “Is there any
reason you wouldn’t consider inviting me back for second interview?”
* “Who will I meet in
the second interview?”
4. In the second
interview ask to speak with the decision maker.
* “Who, besides
yourself, will make the final hiring decision?”
* “When is convenient
for Mr. /Ms. Decision Maker to meet with me?”
* “Is there any other
presentation materials I should bring when I visit with Mr. /Ms. Decision
Maker?”
5. When speaking with the decision maker ask for
the job offer:
* “Are there any
objections that prevent you from extending an offer?
* “When would you
like me to start?”
* “What challenges
would you have me tackle first?”
Asking for the next
interview or the job offer may seem bold, but try it. You’ll find yourself invited back more often
and feel much more in control of the interview process.
Once you’ve mastered
and applied the three essential sales skills for effective interviews you’ll
see your job-search efforts accelerate and your confidence soar.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deborah Walker, CCMC
Resume Writer ~
Career Coach
888-828-0814 or Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com
Call for FREE resume
critique
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you
Deborah Walker, CCMC
888-828-0814
Deb@AlphaAdvantage.com