How to Be Good in a Room

One of the things I cover in my free eBook, “Don’t Lie Down When You Get Laid Off: Your Guide to Getting Over It & Getting Back to Work,” is job interviews.

As I say there, a job interview is merely a conversation with a point. The thing that tricks people up is that the point for the person on the other side of the desk is to determine whether to give you the job.

To help calm your nerves and make sure you do your best, you should be well-prepared before you walk into the room. You should know why they should give this job to YOU and not the guy who came in before you or the gal they’ll see the next day.

To get ready for the interview, first make a list of all the reasons you are the ideal candidate for the job. Write down everything you can think of, from your marketing degree to your management of a $4 million ad budget at your last job.

Don’t edit yourself now. You want your brain to be free to come up with every single option, every potential selling point. Maybe you already know and have a good relationship with someone at their key client’s office. Maybe you play Rock Band with all your friends and would have an inside track on how to sell it to others. Whatever comes to mind, write it down.

Now you are going to go through your list and pick the top three or four strongest selling points for yourself for the job. Trying to remember too many items will cause you to forget some of them, especially if you are feeling tense in the interview. You really want to focus your mind on the top items. If you aren’t sure which to use, ask a trusted friend to go through the list.

Once you pick the top points, memorize them and then spend some time thinking about ways to communicate them in a conversational way (but don’t stress too much about this- it’s mainly a way to plant them in your mind).

Before you go to the interview, review your top points one more time and then let them go. Now you won’t have any trouble selling yourself for the job in a natural way and you can focus on getting to know the hiring executive, asking good questions and getting all the information needed for you to know whether the job is for you.

Add comment February 10th, 2009

Full Disclosure: It’s Written All Over Your Face

On one of my on-line “mommy boards,” a woman wrote in for advice from the group because she was interviewing for jobs and she had a gaping hole on her resume during which time she was a stay-at-home mom. She didn’t know whether she should tell the interviewer that she had been home with her little one or whether she should be more vague- “exploring other options,” “dealing with a personal issue,” etc.

Regardless of what a candidate said in an interview, I could smell ambivalence from a mile away. From anyone, not just moms returning to the work force. The seasoned executive assistant who was over the job, for instance. Or the recent grad who thought he was too good for clerical work (though he wasn’t qualified to do anything else- but that’s another story). Or the woman who looked like she might burst into tears at the thought of showing up at the office. Whether she told me she had a baby at home or not, I could see it wasn’t a job she wanted. And I was no more likely to give her a job than the kid with the ‘tude or the been-there-done-that assistant. No HR person wants to set themselves up for that kind of headache.

On my mommy board, I said I felt that this mom should go ahead and mention her baby if not mentioning it was going to make her uncomfortable or appear shifty, but, more importantly, that she should make sure to convey that she was ready to work and would happily show up every day and get the job done.

Ideally, rather than trying to fake it, that meant that she would “process” any ambivalence and find a way to be happy about getting a job- some family-oriented upside, like having less stress about money or more outside stimulation. I know, easier said than done, but there has to be a reason why working outside the home will benefit her little one and, even if her first choice is spending all day with them, if she keeps in mind that motivation, she will feel like a good mom for going out and getting a job. And she may just ace the interview.

Add comment September 4th, 2008