interviewer’s language, including jargon and technical terms, goes a long way in causing the person to feel that you are “one of us.” In addition to a courteous and friendly manner, attentive listening is critical to building rapport.
Establishing rapport creates an openness and a freer exchange of ideas—always a positive result in an interview. When rapport is established, each party feels better about the other.
Be Yourself/Be Your Best
The material in this chapter will provide you with many techniques to help you perform successfully during an interview. When you’re using techniques, however, there is a danger of becoming too mechanical in your responses. As you use these techniques, remember to Be Yourself. By acting natural, relaxed, and confident, you will do well. My advice is to also Be Your Best. It is important, for example, to show enthusiasm during an interview. However, you may not be a naturally enthusiastic person. During an interview, then, you must consciously turn up your enthusiasm a notch or two. You are still being you, but you are being the best you are capable of. You should not try to raise your level of enthusiasm four or five notches above what is natural for you. That would be asking too much and would be self-defeating.
Getting More Information About The Job
Interviewers generally spend several minutes at the beginning of an interview describing the job and its requirements. Too frequently, however, the information you have about the job is still sketchy when the interviewer suddenly asks a really tough question. Without knowledge of where the organization is headed or what challenges it’s facing, providing an effective answer will be difficult.
Suppose the interviewer begins by asking about your strengths without providing you with much background information about the job or the organization. Since you have many strengths and want to emphasize the right ones, it is important to have more information. You could respond by stating, “I’ve got a lot to offer, but in order to cover just the right points, it would help a lot to know more about the position and what your needs are.” This will cause the interviewer to realize that further information is needed. Even after the interviewer gives you more information, you can still ask two or three questions to further clarify the job requirements. Practice how you will respond when such difficult questions arise early in the interview. This will give you the confidence to request more information. The success of your interview may depend on it.
Let Others Speak For You
When you’re answering questions in an interview, let what others have said illustrate positive things about you. For example, in response to a question you might say, “My boss felt some of my most valuable attributes were...” Granted, that person is not there to confirm what you’ve just said, but if you have successfully established your credibility, your statement will be accepted. You can also quote customers, vendors, and coworkers.
Learn To Talk About Yourself
During an interview you will spend 40–60% of the time talking—mostly about yourself. Much of that time will be spent describing experiences, but you will also be describing the type of person you are. The interviewer will ask questions such as, “Tell me about yourself,” “How would you describe yourself?” or “What would your friends say about you?” The problem with this is that most people spend very little time throughout their lives talking about themselves. People spend a lot of time talking about what they do—the restaurants, plays, concerts, sports events, and vacation spots they’ve been to—but they rarely discuss the kind of person they are. No wonder interviewing is difficult for most people.
Think about it. When was the last time you discussed whether you are a pragmatist or an idealist, or whether you are compassionate, easy-going, flexible, or resourceful? Since you’re not used to it, you may not be very good at it. It takes practice. For that reason I strongly suggest that you complete the personality skills exercise on page 69. After you write about yourself, find someone you can share your thoughts with. If you can’t find someone, simply record your thoughts on your personality skills using a tape recorder. Just hearing yourself talk about yourself will help you feel more comfortable and will improve your effectiveness in interviews.
Ending The Interview
Develop a close for your interviews by practicing a summary of the benefits you offer. Although the points you will want to make in the summary will vary somewhat from job to job, many of your points will be used repeatedly in interviews. You should be able to predict your primary assets so you can create a list of those points for the close.
Since you will not always be given a specific opportunity to summarize, you should sense when the interview is drawing to a close. That will often occur as the interviewer asks if you have any questions. Go ahead and ask those questions, but as soon as the interviewer finishes answering your last question you could interject, “Perhaps this would be a good time to summarize my strengths for this position,” or “Maybe I should just take a couple of minutes to pull it all together and tell you why I think I’m the person for this job.”
Chapter 3
OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
Performing well in interviews requires an ability to recognize the important difference between rejections and objections. Virtually everyone must overcome several objections during the interviewing process before a job offer is made. People who perceive an objection as a rejection, however, may become defensive or simply give up and assume all is lost. Thus, the failure to understand objections and differentiate them from rejection can cause interviewees to sabotage their own success in an interview.
An Objection Is Not A Rejection
An objection is not a rejection. It is simply a request for more information. An employer may be very impressed with you, yet still have concerns such as your lack of experience in a specific area, or your four jobs in the last six years. Often all the interviewer wants is reassurance that you learn quickly or are now seeking a stable job. If the objection is handled well, a job offer may very well be made to you.
Good interviewees, like good salespeople, must learn to anticipate objections. Since cost is a common objection salespeople face, an effective salesperson might open with, “This is not the least expensive lawnmower on the market. But a recent survey showed that the average lawnmower lasts eight years, while ours are averaging over twelve years of trouble-free service.” This way the objection may be overcome before it is ever expressed. It is important to anticipate an objection because once an objection is stated, it is much more difficult to neutralize or overcome.
Predict The Objections You’ll Face
The first step in overcoming objections is predicting what they will be and developing effective responses to them. Objections are any aspects of you that raise doubts about your ability to do the job well or fit in well in the organization. The biggest objection of all is: “You don’t have enough experience.” The following circumstances are likely to give rise to some types of objections: you were fired from your last job; you appear to be a job hopper; there is a major gap in your work history; you’re changing careers; you don’t have a college degree and you’re applying for a position that normally requires one; you have three or more years of college education but never received a degree; you’re over 50 years of age; or you have too little or too much experience. The list could go on. Objections can also arise if you lack a certain type of knowledge or experience the employer is looking for in an ideal candidate.