The Power of the Story
December 11th, 2009 @ 08:12am
When job hunters strive to make their resumes fit a "proper" format, and thus sound flat and colorless, I cringe. When job interviewees turn quiet and obedient in an interview practice, I wince. Somehow, someone, somewhere must have told everyone there was/is only one way to do a resume, do an interview, and the lesson stuck.
And now a paragraph that seems to have nothing to do with the previous one: Human beings love stories. From the dawn of time, we've sat around the fire, listening to stories. Today, it's sitting around the dining room table on a December holiday, or on the commuter bus with a Kindle, and yes, next to the fireplace curled up with a book -- each taking in a story. Family treasures include stories of how great-great-great grandma came to this country, or how grandpa moved everyone west for more farmland, or how Mom went back to get her GED. It must be in our DNA.
So why do we stop telling stories when it comes to job search? It should be the opposite. Employers have pretty much the same DNA as other humans, and need to hear your stories. I don't mean the one about Grandpa, I mean illustrations of how you have been successful. As I like to say to my clients, "Don't tell me, show me. Show the employer."
So the candidate who says "I am a good manager" is telling me. It's flat, blank. But the candidate who says "Let me give you an illustration of how I manage. When I came to the team, three of our best people were about to quit. I sat down with each of them, then the rest of the team. I listened a lot, talked about what I could change and not change, and negotiated with them to stay at least three more months to see if they could live with my proposed changes. They agreed and we made those changes -- I didn't want to lose my top producers. One thing I did was increase the bonuses for 'biggest increases for the month'. Not only did those three stay, they increased their performance AND the rest of the team moved up, too. It was fun to hand out those bonuses, which cost only 10% of the increase the team gave us! Now it's the most desired team to be on, in the whole company. I believe I can bring that same kind of management style to you here."
Wow!
As that candidate tells that story, the interviewer is picturing him sitting down with his people, talking with his people, and then is eager to here where the story goes. The story's payoff is the success (increase in performance/$). THIS is what makes the candidate the one who gets the second interview and third and the offer.
It's the same with resumes: job hunters have to get away from making their resumes sound "proper" or legalish or tepid. Spice it up with successes and before-and-after info. Put in a juicy quote from your manager or a client. Use numbers as numerals, not spelled out -- a "rule" I love breaking. Then go crazy on your LinkedIn profile by repeating your key words over and over again. Do what gets results -- calls for interviews --- and do interviews that are alive with stories -- not what's "proper".
So what's your story?
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in interviews, Job Search, resumes, | No Comments »
Three Tips on Final Prep for the Interview
April 9th, 2010 @ 10:04am
Few things give this job search coach more pain than when candidates get themselves all tied up in knots over an interview. Too often, good candidates prep for interviews by buying books with titles like 10,001 Interview Questions and How to Answer Them, then try to memorize the answers. Then, because they can't possibly hold all that stuff in their heads, they get nervous and that makes them feel like a fraud when they KNOW they can do the job. So they can't sleep the night before, they find themselves talking like a chipmunk on speed instead of speaking in their real voice, and in this state they become vulnerable so they view the interview as A Complete Judgment of Who They Are As A Human Being.
Whew.
Painful. And unnecessary.
Naturally, interview practice with a coach, especially if it's videotaped, is critical to feeling normal in an interview. That can be a career coach, or it could be another professional in your network who is NOT a good friend or family member, who just will not be as frank with you about what you can change.
But here are the "Three 'R' " tips for you as you are about to go into the interview, so that you get a great shot of confidence. You're in your car now in the company's parking lot, or on the commuter line about to get off and walk into the building, and here's what you do:
1. Re-read the job description. You matched it when you first saw it, you match it now -- otherwise, you would not be having this interview. But look at it one more time. Recall what made you excited to answer the ad or respond to the networking tip about the opening. Be sure to bring that up again in the interview: "I was so excited to see this position because I can bring my expertise here and achieve additional successes...specifically, being a product manager for your iWidget Division would mean that I'd review your current processes to see how we can shorten the cycle...." Showing that "spark of excitement" reveals your love for what you do. Since companies and organizations don't hire resumes -- they hire people, real human beings -- this joy will come through. That's who they want in the job: someone who's excited to be there.
2. Review your resume. Meaning, look at every phrase, every bullet, and remember the success stories behind them. This is why you are there. And this is where the answers to interview questions will come from: YOU. Not a book. Not a coach who tells you what to say, word for word.
Important: Think about three stories you definitely want to tell. You may be asked for more examples than that, but be sure to have three really good ones to tell, even if they DON'T ask for examples or say "Tell me about a time when you...". If you don't bring these up on your own behalf, thinking they're not necessary, don't kid yourself: your competition will find a way to give their stories.
Now you may get a question like "Why are manhole covers round?", questions that Microsoft and Google interviews have made famous. These get more to "How does this person solve problems?" Because you've prepared correctly for the interview, your mind is not cluttered with memorized phrases so you are more likely to handle these kinds of questions more calmly and with more thought.
3. Reframe the interview. Do NOT see it as A Judgment of Who You Are As A Human Being. Why can I asy that? Because hiring managers and HR people I talk with all say the same thing: they HOPE and even pray that you are THE ONE. Do you think hiring managers enjoy interviewing? Enjoy taking themselves away from their work, taking their people away from their work? Of course not. Do you think HR managers enjoy being hassled by hiring managers who are eager to have a new person tackle the growing pile of problems on their desks? Of course not. So here's the Big Secret about the interview: As they are shaking your hand and welcoming you in, they are thinking "God, I hope this is the one. We have so much work for this person to do. We want to choose the right person, of course -- we just hope YOU are IT!"
By doing your rereading, reviewing, and reframing, you'll feel more confident. And believe it or not, you will actually enjoy your interviews. And that's the way it should be.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in interviews, Job Search, | No Comments »
"Seven Career Changes" A Myth
September 12th, 2010 @ 12:09pm
Over the years, my colleagues and I have heard "people change careers seven times over their lifetimes", and looked at each other quizzically. Really - SEVEN times?! I've never known anyone who's done this, save for the very rare career experimenter who can afford to start over and over again at a beginner's salary -- usually at the cost of his or her (I've seen both) relationships.
Sure, I've known people who've changed once or maybe even twice. But even those who come to me to determine if they should change careers almost always decide to do a career shift rather than a careerchange: someone in pharmaceutical sales, for example, shifts to medical device sales. Or a hospital CTO becomes the CIO of a large medical practice.
A career change: A college career counselor (yours truly) becomes a sales rep for a computer division of Xerox -- a real change yet the similarities in needs assessment and then applying solutions were so close that they landed me the job and got me started in 10+ years in sales.
A career change means that not only does the work itself change, but the customer/client changes, the organizational culture changes, and so forth. A career shift is as explained above: you step sideways but you're still in a very similar culture and dealing with very similar customers. And a job is one piece of the flow we call a career. The word "career" as a noun means "direction" or "course" (as in direction).
I can say that in the 20 or so years I've been doing this work, after working with literally thousands of people while in outplacement, at career centers for dislocated workers, and at colleges with older students, that I have seen perhaps 1-2 people change careers more than 2-3 times. I suspect that using one's life to experiment with careers, rather than working with someone who can help you determine a valid direction, represents a deeper problem, such as Peter Pan Syndrome ("I don't want to grow up..."). But I'll leave that to the psychologists to determine. In short, it just doesn't happen with 99.9% of real people.
So where did this "7 career changes" story get started? No one seems to know. Evidently it's just been repeated so much that people assume it's true. The statistic has been attributed to the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Now The Wall Street Journal's Carl Bialik (9-11-10) says the BLS does not track the numbers of career changes, but they keep track of the numbers of jobs in a lifetime, not the same statistic at all. So he, a statistics lover, asks the question "Where does this 7-change number come from?", and ends up saying a few different things, including that people who do what I do keep the myth alive so that we can get more customers! (You can't hear this: the sound of me suppressing a loud laugh). More on that in a moment. But thank you, Mr. Bialik, for finally questioning this statistic.
I do think that the terms "jobs" and "careers" often get confused by researchers or those interpreting researchers' numbers. Bialik also says, "No one knows for sure the true average numbers of careers". That's how I see it, too.
Over the years, when I've done workshops or have sat with an individual client and get asked about it, I've said "That's what 'they' say but I've never seen it".
Just re-reading my first two paragraphs would tell you that I've never believed in the "7 career changes" myth myself, so needless to say, I'm not promulgating the myth, yet it hasn't affected my business.
Do I tell clients that they need to be ever ready for changes and shifts? You bet. Do I tell those laid off that chances are they will get laid off again, so don't stop networking and don't stop planning their next step? You bet. Do I emphasize that whatever career they choose, they think of it not as a job but as a long-term commitment that they need to enjoy AND invest in? Absolutely.
Those aren't myths at all.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in Career coaching, Change, interviews, Job Search, Uncategorized, Your time, | No Comments »
How to Neutralize a Bad Reference
January 23rd, 2011 @ 01:01pm
Your interviews are going well at Your #1 Targeted Company, and the prospective employer has told you that they'll be talking to your references AND will be calling your former company. A routine practice.
You gulp: Former company...that means former boss, who was, well, a jerk. You and he never got along. He's certainly not one of your official references, but you just know they will be able to find him and talk with him. And he won't say good things about you.
How do you head this off? How do you neutralize the situation so that his words don't kill your candidacy there?
Here are some ways:
1. Get other managers at the company who worked with you to say good things. They don't need to step up to be an official reference for you, but if you talk with them, whether they're still at the company with Former Boss or have moved on, you can coach them in what you'd like them to say about how well you did. Better to be prepared with this than have to scramble to prep these folks, so be proactive and do it now.
2. Coach your "official" three or four references - and if they are aware that Former Boss is not a good guy, they can mention that in passing to the potential employer as they're talking about you and your successes at your former company/companies.
3. On linked in, DON'T do "recommendation swapping". This is where you write a good recommendation for a colleague if they write one for you. This immediately reduces the credibility of your recommendation. Hiring managers, HR, and recruiters notice this.
4. Have a reference contact the employer on your behalf before they themselves are contacted by the employer! Now this means this person has to be a very strong fan of yours. But a phone call from the Very Strong Fan/Reference to the Hiring Manager, peer-to-peer, is always an undeniably impressive way to boost you in that Hiring Manager's eyes. At the same time, it dilutes any negative words from others.
5. Work with the Inside Employee at your #1 Targeted Company, with whom you've networked. They may not have worked with you at your former company, but they now know you and can give their positive impressions to the Hiring Manager. (One client of mine is doing this anyway and is constantly landing interviews.)
6. Best of all, have clients/customers be your references. These can be external OR internal. Their comments tell the Hiring Manager and HR how you really are in your job. Their perspective is the one a prospective employer will respect the most. Since they are not usually bound by any corporate reference-giving policy, they can speak freely about how great you are.
Some thinking ahead, and related action on your part, will help you make this worry one that will go away.
___________________
Have tough questions about unusual situations like this in your search? Contact Joanne.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in Career coaching, interviews, Job Search, LinkedIn, Networking, References, Social media, | No Comments »
Job Search Mistake to Avoid: Doing a Serial Job Search
January 28th, 2011 @ 02:01pm
A serial job search is one in which a candidate we'll call Kim goes after one opening or one company at a time. She finds an opening online that she fits, she pursues it, is interviewed for it, and then (so far) is not made an offer and the job goes to someone else. Because she has nothing else going on, she then crashes. And it takes her 1-2 weeks to "get over it", regroup, and start going after another company, another opening. Meanwhile, another month has gone by. She begins to think "It must be me...I must not be good at what I do...".
And that is so not it.
This kind of serial, one-after-the-other approach leads to only one thing: A painfully long search. "Painful" and "long" are two things I help my clients avoid. If they follow their plan, they learn it doesn't have to be this way, even in this stumbling economy.
For contrast, let's look at Trevor. Sure, he's answering ads, but he's in one-to-one networking meetings so much that it takes up about 25 hours a week. (For those of you between jobs, if you're not that busy in your search, you're not doing enough.) He's focused on his target companies, using varying methods all at once. His approach is multiple, and it's constant, week in, week out.
Because he's generating so much activity, leads, and interviews, here's how Trevor reacts to "Sorry, you're not our top candidate": he says to himself, "Oh well, on to the next thing, I have so much going on, I just know that something else will pop up." He does not miss a beat. His search generates results constantly, and it's going to happen that he WILL land -- at a company of his choice.
Note those words: "...I have so much going on, I just know something else will pop up." He's right.
The point here is you can go one way or another: The serial search, painful and long. Or the multiple and constant approach that expands your network AND gets you the job your after, sooner.
Your choice.
_______________________
Joanne Meehl helps professionals in job hunt do an intelligent search by setting an individualized strategy. Contact her for her ideas for you.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in interviews, Job Search, job search strategy, Networking, Your time, | No Comments »
Be Proactive Pete, Not Last-Minute Lucy
November 25th, 2011 @ 11:11am
A handful of times in the last couple of weeks, I've heard from people who have interviews they need to prepare for. Their interviews are in days, and the people asking for help are panicked. They say, "I haven't interviewed for 5 years", or 15 years, or "ever".
First, let me say it's great that candidates are getting more interviews. Maybe the slow-hiring logjam is shifting a bit more.
But back to those calls. Are these candidates thinking, "I'll get prepared only when I have to"? That just does not make sense. Or, "When I get an interview on my schedule, then I'll begin to think about it"? Again, I don't get it.
In one case, the deadline was so short I simply didn't have available time for the candidate.
These calls make me want to say, People! If you need to practice your interview skills, I'm happy to help -- but do it WAY BEFORE you really need it.
Why?
Whatever the reason for their delay, these anxious candidates are now up against a deadline. So they do not have time to get really ready by talking with people who work there, or connecting with those who know a lot about the company, or learning about the culture. They just don't have enough time to do this really important stuff before the interview. Which compounds their panic.
Instead, they are going to be rushing to learn or review the basics that they should have taken care of a long time ago, and then which would be easy to "brush up on" days before an interview.
So don't cheat yourself: do a prep session with someone now, before you "have to", and you'll be so much more competitive. And much more likely to get a second interview.
___________________
*My one-on-one Intensive Interview Prep is 1-1/2 to 2 hours, either in my office or via Skype. You'll be taped as you answer typical tough questions. We then play back the video and discuss it, and repeat parts as necessary. We also talk about interview dynamics, interview psychology and employer expectations, so that you know the finer points of the interview. Almost everyone who does "interview prep" with me tells me later that my practice session is way harder than the actual interview, so they felt more confident and came across as prepared. Contact me for fees and available times. I book at least one week out.
Posted by Joanne Meehl | in career change, career shift, interviews, Job Search, job search strategy, Networking, Your time, | No Comments »