You work hard preparing for interviews, coming up with the best possible answers to common questions, how you are going to deal with difficult issues, and practicing your approaches.
So what happens in the actual interview?
After so much preparation, every question the interviewer asks starts to look like the chance to present one of your 'perfect' answers. As a result, it's easy to miss opportunities to create a lot more influence with the interviewer.
It's important not to get caught up so much in your own psychology that you miss these opportunities. Fair warning though - it's not easy to avoid this trap! You will likely need to practice extensively with a very good interviewer to build up your muscles for this!
Here's one simple example:
You are a talented project manager, interviewing for a leadership role in the project management office of a major corporation. The division vice president asks you about your background, and you deliver your carefully thought out HERO story.
The VP responds well, and you can see him leaning forward and getting truly engaged in your story. Then he remarks, "What you said about delivering projects on time really resonated with me. There's nothing I hate more than a late delivery!"
This clicks with you - you've got the perfect story that demonstrates how you took on a $5 million systems infrastructure project that was 6 months behind schedule and managed to deliver it on schedule, and without increasing the budget. You launch into that.
What could possibly be wrong with that?
Well, there isn't anything exactly WRONG with it, but it could be missing a much better opportunity to sell yourself. How?
Think about this.
What do you really know about why this company has a problem with late deliveries, or why this particular VP hates them so much? Wouldn't your story be much more powerful if you knew the context for that? And is it possible that there might actually be a better story to fit that context?
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For the complete article, drop me a note at John@JHACareers.com, and you can check out the contents of past issues and selected articles at www.JHACareers.com/Newsletter.htm
The other topic I covered in this issue was advice to a job seeker on salary negotiation.
John
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John West Hadley, Career Search Counselor, (908) 725-2437
"Land The Job And Pay You Deserve"
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