No Need To Hate The Tell Me About Yourself Question

Question: I hate it when I’m asked the question, “Tell me about yourself?” in an interview. I never know how to answer this.

It is, for the most part, a break the ice question. It gets the candidate talking, gives time for everyone to relax, is wide open, and generally a meaningless question. However, just because it is meaningless, that doesn’t mean you can ignore it. In fact, this is an excellent opportunity for you to engage the interviewer. You have a golden opportunity to hit the salient points in your background, open a discussion around what defines success in this role, and get the interviewer excited about you.

In our opinion this should be a short 2 minute answer and so well rehearsed that it doesn’t appear to be rehearsed. This is not the time to give your autobiography, go over every position in your background or bore the interviewer with a long winded answer.

We recommend that you start with your most relevant position and hit the accomplishments that closely relate to the position. It is even acceptable to outline some of your current responsibilities, organization, relevant company information, products or services, and basic duties. The goal is to give the interviewer the information they need to better understand how your company, industry, experiences and organization aligns with theirs.

You should have a number of canned, well rehearsed, thoughtful answers to this question. This is your opportunity to start the interview on the best footing for you.

For a more in-depth discussion on this topic read the article http://www.impacthiringsolutions.com/careerblog/2009/10/02/tell-me-about-yourself-why-is-this-question-asked-in-an-interview/

Join our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. It is one of the biggest and most active groups dealing with job search issues on LinkedIn. CLICK HERE to join.

Download our FREE Job Search Self-Assessment Scorecard. Take the evaluation and discover if your search is all it can be. CLICK HERE to download.

Visit our audio library. No library card required – all audio files can be downloaded for free. There is an extensive amount of files on all of the different topics surrounding a job search. CLICK HERE to review the library.

If this was helpful, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting to your LinkedIn groups or status update.  Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.

I welcome your comments.

Brad Remillard

Don’t Hide Negatives From The Interviewer

Q.  I have some turnover in my background that makes me look like a job hopper. Most of the turnover resulted from the company either closing or moving, not me leaving. Do you have any recommendations on how to handle this when asked about it in an interview?

A. Yes, don’t wait to be asked. Regardless of your negative situation you should always address it head on. Bring the issue up before you are even asked. In your case I would say, “From my resume it appears as if I have a lot of turnover. I would like to clarify this as in most cases the company either closed or moved. I never really left the positions.”

Candidates often think that because the interviewer didn’t bring up the issue that they are comfortable with it. This just isn’t correct. It is always better to make it appear that you have nothing to hide. I refer to this as making a preemptive strike.

This is especially true if you have been let go. It is better to discuss the issue on your terms and get your point of view out, than to let the interviewer jump to an incorrect conclusion.

Is your LinkedIn profile complete and compelling? Test it by downloading our free LinkedIn Self Assessment. CLICK HERE to download. Make sure your profile is the best it can be.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self-assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you to identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

If you liked this article, please send it to others so they will benefit too. Post it to your Facebook page, Tweet it, or submit it to your LinkedIn groups.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Is Interviewing An Art Or Science?

Interviewing is an art more than a science so it does take preparation and practice to ace the interview. Here are some things to help you ace your next interview.

1) Confidence I find this lacking, especially with candidates that have been in a job search for a long time. As candidates become more and more desperate they tend to exude less and less confidence. This comes across in a number of ways that I believe most candidates don’t even realize. For example, body language,  how you sit in the chair, eye contact, tone of voice, confidence when answering questions, staying so general when answering a question for fear that getting too specific or detailed may rule you out, or giving long rambling answers so as to encompass everything in the hope that you have covered what they are looking for.

Nobody wants to hire a person that isn’t confident. This is especially true at the manager level and up. Most candidates are more confident on the job than in an interview so it is very important that the interviewer sees the same confidence you will bring to the job.

2) Preparation This is the solution to having confidence.  Taking the time to properly prepare is the biggest thing that candidates fail to do (or do properly) and I have  seen this happen over and over again. Poor preparation is just as bad as no preparation.

When I coach candidates here are some of the ways we prepare:

1.    I have the candidate write out answers to frequently asked questions. Candidates know that the questions about their ideal job, why they want to work here, compensation, why they left their last company, their strengths/weaknesses, management style and so on are going to be asked. Take some time to have prepared and practiced answers to these questions.

2.    Video record yourself in a mock interview. This is one of the most powerful things you can do to prepare. This helps you see what the interviewer sees. You will see how you answer the questions, your body language,  if you look at them when answering, how often you say, “UH” or “like,” if  you actually answer the question the person asked you and if  you come across confidently. These small things make a big difference in an interview.

3.    Years ago when I first started recruiting, a Vice President of Human Resources at Rockwell told me the four “A’s” are critical to any successful interview, so you should consider these while preparing to interview.

•    Appearance – This is not just how you dress for the interview, it is much more than that. It includes your body language during the interview, your handshake, the appearance of your resume and cover letter, the appearance of any materials used during the interview, presentation skills, and I hate to say it, but it does include physical appearance.
•    Assertive – This is mostly about how you project yourself during the interview. Please take note, the word was not “aggressive.” There is a big difference between aggressive and assertive. Most interviewers respect an assertive person and dislike aggressive people. Do you come across as confident, do you answer the question with a strong voice, do you engage the interviewer during the interview, do you ask probing questions or just sit there and answer questions, do you mirror the interviewer, and does your body language and voice have a strong presence?
•    Affable – Are you friendly, outgoing, easy to communicate with, engaging and even have a sense of humor? Does the interviewer feel comfortable talking with you, are they relaxed and feel at ease,  on the way from the lobby to the interviewing room are you able to engage the interviewer, are you comfortable with casual conversation and are you building rapport with the person the second they lay eyes on you?

•    Articulate – How well do you communicate? Do you listen to the question? Are your answers sharp and succinct? Do you have proper language skills, syntax, avoid using the word “like”, proper sentence structure and use of verbs? Do you ramble in the interview to make sure you hit every point in your background or are you able to quickly get to the point? This is one of the easiest “A’s” to master. It takes practice and rehearsing.  Many will probably need a coach to help with this one.

On the surface, as you read these, they seem so obvious. Most are thinking, “I already know this stuff.” This may be true, however, knowing something and mastering it are substantially different. Good preparation and practice will help you master interviewing.

To help you focus on your job search be sure to download our free radio show recordings. They are in our candidate audio library. CLICK HERE to enter the library.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self-assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

If you like this post please share it with  your Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Some Common Interviewing Mistakes

Q. What are some common interviewing problems you encounter when interviewing candidates?

A. This answer could be a book. Candidates do some really, let’s just say, unique things in interviews. Some of my favorites, they swear like the proverbial drunken sailor, put their feet up on a table, accept cell phone calls in the interview, reply to text messages, ask the interviewer to wait while they finish a call, dress inappropriately, chew gum and blow bubbles, just to name a few off the top of my head.

One of my personal favorites is how a candidate answered the question about why they were late to the interview, “They overslept because they were hung over.” At least they were an honest person.

I find the two biggest mistakes candidates make are not answering the question and failure to ask for clarification when they don’t understand the question. Here are some common problems that happen when one of these occur:

The kitchen sink answer: Candidates answer the question so it includes everything they’ve ever done. They ramble on for what seems like forever hoping that if they talk long enough the person will forget the question they asked.

The politician answer: They don’t answer the interviewer’s question. Instead they answer the question they wanted the interviewer to ask or give a preplanned answer to every question.

The dentist answer: Their answers are so short it is like pulling teeth to get a complete and thorough answer.

Multiple choice answer: The candidate wants to make sure they don’t leave anything out so they rattle off a list of accomplishments and skills, leaving it up to the interviewer to pick from this list the ones they feel best fits the question.

If you don’t understand the question don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.

Q. Should I reply to job ads that don’t identify the employer? Do recruiters post ads for non-existent jobs to solicit resumes?

A. If you are unemployed you should respond to all job ads for which you are qualified. It shouldn’t matter if the employer is identified. If you are working, caution is required. Many employers don’t want to be identified when posting ads for a variety of reasons. The company may not want people just showing up in lobby to apply. Others may not want their competitors to know they are looking to hire someone or the position may be confidential and the company doesn’t want their employees to know. I wouldn’t let this discourage you from responding if you are unemployed.

It is very likely that recruiters do place ads for non-existent jobs. On the surface this sounds like a bad thing, but it actually is a good thing for people actively looking for a position. When a company contacts a recruiter with an opening, the recruiter may have only a few minutes or hours to submit your resume before the company selects the ones they want to interview. If your resume is already in the recruiter’s system they can do this. It may take days to write the ad, post the ad, you read and reply to the ad, and then the recruiter screens your resume. By this time, the company may already have a short list of candidates and you missed out. Recruiters that recruit in a specific functional area know they need to have an inventory of talent at the ready. Being able to present your resume within minutes of a client’s request is a good thing for candidates.

Is your LinkedIn profile complete and compelling? Test it by downloading our free LinkedIn Self Assessment. CLICK HERE to download. Make sure your profile is the best it can be.

To validate whether or not your job search is effective, we have put together a job search self-assessment scorecard. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. This free download will help you to identify weaknesses in your job search. CLICK HERE to download your free copy.

Tired of sending resumes and hearing nothing back? Try this cover letter. It has proven over many years to increase responses from recruiters and companies. Download a sample by CLICKING HERE

If you liked this article, please send it to others so they will benefit too. Post it to your Facebook page, Tweet it, or submit it to your LinkedIn groups.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

Getting Interviews But No Offers? Here’s Why

Q.  I’m getting job interviews but not receiving offers. Is there anything I can do to change that?

A. I assume from your question that the interviews are with companies, as opposed to recruiters, and that they are in-person rather than phone interviews. In addition, the company has seen your résumé prior to interviewing you. This means that your résumé is working. Companies, maybe even recruiters, like your background, experience and skills enough to want to meet you so I wouldn’t change a résumé that is working. The problem then is most likely your interviewing skills.

My guess is that you have not done enough preparation in this area. When I coach executives with this issue, the first place we start is by filming the person while I interview them. I suggest you try this. People are amazed at how different they look on video from how they perceive themselves. For example, some studies indicate as much as 70% of communication is nonverbal, i.e. body language. When you review the video, what is your body language saying? How are you sitting in the chair? I know candidates always think they are looking the interviewer in the eyes when answering, however, often the video reveals something different. You will hear exactly how you communicate in your own words. How often do you use the word “like” or “uh” to connect sentences? Do you actually answer the question asked or the one you want to answer? Seeing yourself in an interview may solve your issues.

Q. Should I use a cover letter with my résumé and is there a preferred format?

A. I recommend having a cover letter. As a recruiter, I’m interested in your résumé way more than a cover letter. I have spoken with many executives and HR professionals that expect a cover letter. The important thing to remember about a cover letter is that it is not an extension of your résumé, an addendum to your résumé or held to the same standards as a résumé. Candidates often think because they included something in the cover letter, they don’t have to include it in the resume. Wrong. A cover letter is just that, a letter. It highlights points of interest relevant to the position you are applying for. If something is mentioned in the cover letter, it is imperative that it is also presented in the résumé.

I prefer a one-page, two-column cover letter. One column is titled, “What you seek” and the second column is, “My experience.” This format makes it easy for the reader to quickly align your experience with their needs so they will want to read your résumé. After all, there is only one purpose for a cover letter, which is getting the reader excited enough to read your résumé.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. 6,000 other people are benefiting from the discussions and articles. CLICK HERE to join, it is free.

Turbo-charge your job search in 2011 by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses with our FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. This will help you and your accountability partner get your search started out right. CLICK HERE to download your scorecard.

Need a great cover letter? We have a free sample cover letter on our Web site that is proven to get you noticed. CLICK HERE to download yours.

If this was helpful to you, then please help others by forwarding it on to your network, posting it on your Facebook page, Tweeting with the link, posting it to your Linkedin groups or status update.  Let’s all do everything we can to help those looking for employment.

I welcome your comments.

Brad Remillard

Why is hiring a job search coach so unusual for most executive job seekers?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I just presented to one of the largest gatherings of job seekers in the Los Angeles area. The program was sponsored by the Catholic Arch Diocese and Interfaith Council.

Thousands of job seekers showed up who were desperate, not sure what to do next, and had been our of work for 6-12 months or more.

I don’t know about you – but I couldn’t handle being out of work for a year – and the bad news is that the job market will likely stagnate or get worse before it starts to turn around. It’s likely to be a year or more before we see a significant improvement in the job market.

Difference for coached/non-coached job seekers

This morning I started to think about what is one of the key differences between the executives I’m coaching in their job search, and those who showed up for the job search conference titled HOPE WORKS!

The key difference is that the job seekers I’m working with are getting coaching and the others are not. Allow me to be more specific:

Almost every executive candidate we have agreed to take on to conduct job search coaching has found a job within 90 days. By the 30 day mark, they are getting numerous leads, referrals, and interviews scheduled. In addition to real job opportunities, they are typically deluged with temporary and consulting opportunities. By the 60 day mark, they have a continuous stream of abundant job leads, referrals and opportunities. Their pipeline is full to the point of overflowing and they are overwhelmed with the response from their expanding network.

These candidates who are being coached have hundreds of job search tasks and activities and the combination of all those best practices is yielding great outcomes.

Conversely, the candidates not using coaching are floundering, frustrated, and not sure what to do next. Many have actually lost hope and have taken themselves off the job market.

Why are you not using job search coaching?

So, why are you not using coaching to help you in your job search?

I don’t mean the soft kind of career coaching that helps you figure out what you want to be when you grow up – I’m talking about the nitty-gritty, hardcore, focused effort around finding a great job in your specific niche.

You’ll invest in coaching for your kids piano lessons, baseball, basketball, and math tutoring – but you’re unwilling to invest in yourself to find a great job quickly.

I don’t get it.

I don’t see the logic.

Many of you might say “I can’t afford job search coaching”

Keep in mind the cost of effective job search coaching is inconsequential compared to the lost income of not being employed for another 6-12 months.

Let’s break it down into simple math. Let’s assume you earn $120k per year. If you go another 6-12 months without landing a job – which is very likely unless you’re generating at least 2-3 interviews a week right now – you’re going to be out-of-pocket $60-$120k in savings. Can you afford to do that?

What would you invest in yourself if you could cut that time in half and save $30-$60k?

It’s nothing more than a cost/benefit equation.

Okay – there is one huge issue bigger than the cost – picking a coach that has the proven ability to help you find a job within 3-6 months at the executive level.

Most job search coaches are useless – they don’t understand the process of networking, leveraging social media, blitzing an opening, having multiple strategies, and circumventing HR and recruiters to get to the hiring manager. As one example, most job search coaches tell you that it’s important to network, but they can’t walk you through step-by-step the 50 different things you have to do to generate an abundance of job leads and referrals.

Has this been your experience or frustration?

Self-Assessment of your job search

If you would like to see firsthand the value of good job search coaching, take our FREE Job Search Plan Assessment which you can download by clicking here. If you’re not hitting in the top 90% on your self-assessment, you desperately need job search coaching to accelerate and improve your job search plan. If your current job search coach is NOT covering everyone one of these issues, it’s time to make a change.

EVERY SINGLE DAY that goes by in which you don’t substantially improve your job search techniques, strategies, and tactics – means that you can basically add another week to the length of your job search. For example, if you HAVE NOT made huge leaps forward in your job search over the last 5 days, you can count on your job search taking another week tacked on to the end of 6, 12, or 18 months.

How many weeks are you going to add onto your job search, before you decide to invest in yourself like your parents did when they hired coaches/tutors for you when you were young, or like what you do now with your children.

STOP

STOP being in denial about how hard it is to conduct a job search!

STOP thinking you have all the knowledge to conduct an effective job search!

STOP thinking you have the internal discipline to stay focused on conducting an effective job search all by yourself!

STOP thinking in terms of fees for a job search coach, and start thinking about minimizing your lost income!

If you’re seeking a $100k or above level job, you owe it to yourself to find a great job search coach and immediately cut in half the time it’s going to take to find an outstanding career opportunity.

Barry Deutsch

PS – Once again, you can download the FREE Job Search Self-Assessment by clicking this link. If you’re not conducting an effective job search, perhaps now is the time to consider investing in a job search coach before you waste another 2-3 months.

Avoid the Trash Can with Compelling Cover Letters

Cover Letters make a big difference determining whether your resume goes into the trash can or lands in the “call for phone interview” pile.

Jim Kukral, in a recent blog article mentioned he was reading an article in the June 2010 issue of Inc. Magazine where Jason Fried, the founder of 37 Signals – a popular software company, talked about their screening criteria. I also saw the article, but thought I would give Jim the credit since he’s the first I’ve seen mention it.

Jason mentioned that the company first looks to the cover letter that tells a story about the person much better than the traditional resume. Take a moment or two and read the whole article. More and more hiring managers are focusing on the importance of the cover letter.

This is a must read article RECONFIRMING what we’ve been saying all along that you’ve got to include a cover letter with your resume to GRAB the attention of a recruiter, HR pro, or hiring manager. Sending resumes without cover letters or using a standard form will net you the trash can.

Don’t be a trash can magnet.

Here a few other articles we’ve published on the importance of using a cover letter:

Cover Letter + Great Resume = Job Interview

Does anybody read or care about cover letters?

You can even download a FREE sample cover letter by clicking here. This has been one of our most popular downloads.

We provide a step-by-step cover letter tutorial in our job search workbook “This is NOT the Position I Accepted.” Discover how to construct a powerful cover letter that increases your selection for job interviews by 30%, 40%, or 50%.

The sequence goes like this for most recruiters, HR professionals, and hiring managers:

1. First and Primary Step: Attention is grabbed by cover letter
2. Second step is to take a quick look at your resume
3. Third step is a quick web search by googling your name
4. Fourth step is an invitation to a phone interview
5. Fifth Step is an invitation to a face-to-face interview.

How to interview is IRRELEVANT if you never captured their attention in the first place with your cover letter.

Once you have captured their attention, another one of our very popular downloads is the free chapter in our workbook, titled “Winning the Phone Interview”. Don’t get to the stage of being phone interviewed – only to hear the deadly phrase “don’t call us – we’ll call you if we’re interested.”

You can download the FREE Chapter on Phone Interviewing by clicking here.

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group which is rapidly becoming one of the most vibrant and dynamic job search forums on the Internet.

Job Search Success: Can Targeting Make a Difference?

Don’t even think about trying this technique unless you’re prepared for an employer to offer you a job.

I was speaking with a client a few days ago and he told me a story about a candidate he had just hired for a sales position. She had lost her job at a company who was not a direct competitor, but was providing services at a different distribution level in a tangential industry. (I amaze myself sometimes with my ambiguity).

She had sent her resume to the CEO requesting an interview. He blew her off – wrong skill set – wrong industry – wrong level in the distribution/supply chain. And to top it off – he didn’t have a current opening.

She was persistent. She began an aggressive campaign of sending him letters detailing why he needed to hire her in his sales department.

She had conducted extensive research on the company, talked with their suppliers, talked with their customers, and found people within the company (using LinkedIn of course).

She described in “precise” detail the problems she perceived, the steps that needed to be taken, and where she could help to resolve those problems.

Over the course of a few interviews, she became more and more specific about how she could make a difference – through fact-finding in the interviewing, she collected great information.

The company was still undecided (hard to believe). Finally, she sealed the deal by preparing a plan of action of what she would do in her first 90 days. She convinced the company to allow her to present her plan at a meeting. Upon hearing exactly how she would translate her prior experience into actionable steps in this new company, they hired her.

That’s how targeted job search works.

What’s the alternative? The alternative is the shotgun scatter method to job search used by many job seekers. Under the shotgun scatter model, you send out hundreds of standard cover letters and resumes to every company that remotely includes a keyword of interest in their ads. 99.99% of these end up in the trash can. You just wasted 20 hours of your week responding to job ads for which you had no chance of ever making it to the stage of an interview.

Wouldn’t your time be spent more productively targeting jobs, opportunities, and companies – rather than wasting time on the shotgun scatter model of job search?

Discover if you’re job search is effective by downloading our FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment. Discover if you’ve got all the elements in place to target the perfect job.

Barry

Why is Flawless Execution Important to Prove?

One of the 3 core success traits we insist our clients focus on in the interview process to measure top talent is:

Flawless Execution

Flawless Execution is not about doing your job perfectly – it’s about the ability to overcome problems, hurdles, roadblocks, setbacks, and other issues which are standing in your way of delivering results on time, on budget, and on target.

In most companies there is a multitude of “crap” that gets in the way of meeting the expectations of your boss. This is where you go to your boss on Thursday at 4 pm and say “Boss, I know you needed this project completed before the end of the day for your meeting tomorrow – unfortunately Dept. A didn’t give me the report I needed in time, and the vendor that had promised to get us the critical sub-component is running late and will not be able to get it us until next week.

What do we call these things?

I can call it “E&E” – excuses and explanations.

Top talent doesn’t give “E&E”. They know little disasters, set backs, are problems are going to happen. They know Murphy’s Law will rear it’s ugly head at the worst possible moment.

Top Talent makes contingency plans, builds in slack time, goes under the speed bumps, around the roadblocks, and climbs over every wall thrown in their path.

Top Talent is the group of people hiring managers can count on.

On many teams, executives and managers have 1 or 2 people they consider to be their “go-to” people. Every time they have a tough, critical project with lots of obstacles, hurdles, problems, and roadblocks – they keep turning to the same few people.

Would you consider yourself a “go-to” person?

Do you possess this critical trait of top talent?

Hiring executives and managers know these individuals will get it done every time in spite of the obstacles, hurdles, problems, and roadblocks.

As many of you know, I coach high school girls basketball. I tell my team, it’s not enough to run 90 some feet down the court and fling the little orange ball in the air hoping for the best outcome. You’ve got to put the little orange ball in the little orange hoop. One of the primary reasons basketball teams lose games is that they cannot make lay-ups within 2 feet of the basket.

The business environment is exactly the same. You’ve got to be task-oriented. You’ve got to finish. You must put the ball in the basket.

Many candidates cannot consistently demonstrate or prove they have a “go-to” person mentality. They give “E&E”, they blame others for their short-comings or failures. They don’t take personal responsibility or accountability for their actions and assignments. They continually try to transfer the “monkey” onto the backs of their peers or bosses.

Can you prove you possess the trait of flawless execution in an interview? Can you demonstrate how you’ve handled numerous projects and assignments which had lots of obstacles, hurdles, problems, and roadblocks?

Here’s a “homework” assignment to improve interviewing: Write a comment to this blog post on your most significant accomplishment in your current/last job where you demonstrated the success attribute of flawless execution – overcoming whatever it took to complete the project. I’d love to hear your examples. I’ll offer some ideas on how you might want to “format” or describe the accomplishment in an interview.

Now, here’s the hard part: I teach my clients – hiring executives and managers – to never except just one example. It could be a lie, exaggeration, or luck. However, when you get 2-3 examples, now you’re starting to substantiate a pattern of behavior that someone is likely to continue once you’ve hired them.

Could you offer a prospective employer at least 3 great detailed examples of flawless execution?

Barry Deutsch

Getting Professional Help Can Shorten Your Job Search – Example 2- Interview Mistakes

The first article addressed how to handle the problem of turnover. This example deals with two simple issues that could have resulted in the person not getting the job because of simple mistakes that were easy to fix. The person just didn’t know how. Any professional career coach, outplacement firm, job search coach, or executive recruiter should know exactly how to help you: 1) not make the mistake in the first place and 2) how to overcome it once it has happened.

The candidate called me and said, “I think I may have just blown an interview with the way I answered one question. Is there anything I can do?” “What was the question?” I asked. He replied, “The CEO asked me what I wanted to do with my career, and I told him that I love marketing, and wanted to be a VP of Marketing in a medical device company.” Since he was interviewing for a VP of Marketing position in a medical device company that would seem to align well with the what the CEO was looking for. Also, given the candidate’s background and experience it was a reasonable answer.

Then the CEO came back with, “Well, that could be a problem here, as we like to hire people that want to move  up in the organization and that strive to be better and not just do a job.”  OOPS, there is a big communication gap here. The CEO meant one thing and the candidate interpreted it another way. This is often the kiss of death.

So what would have been different had this candidate been working with a professional?

1. The mistake should never have happened. The candidate wasn’t prepared. From a professional’s point of view this question should never have been answered. It is clearly vague and too open to interpretation. What does career mean, what time frame is the CEO addressing, what is the motivation for asking this question, how soon does the CEO expect a person to move up, etc? These all  need to be clarified prior to either answering the question or integrated into the answer.
2. The candidate would have been prepared not to fall into this trap. It wasn’t a trick question, and certainly not a deliberate attempt to trap the candidate. It was just one of those questions often asked that are so vague that the candidate doesn’t really know how to answer or there are just too many ways to answer it.
3. Once this happened, a professional would know exactly how to minimize the damage. Since the candidate felt this was the turning point in the interview, and this was a critical mistake that would cost him the job, it can’t go unresolved.

Again, like the first example in this series, it was an easy fix. There was no guarantee the fix would work, but it certainly couldn’t make matters worse . At this point, the candidate was convinced he wasn’t getting the job. There was no place to go but up.

Since the candidate now knew what the CEO was looking for in this question, we simply expanded on the candidate’s answer in his thank you letter. The candidate explained that he thought the CEO was looking for a short term answer to what he wanted in his career, so he answered it with the next three to five years in mind. However, longer term he would expect to move  up in an organization within five to eight years. Obviously, a little more detail was added, but you get the picture.

It worked, and he did get the job. We know it worked because the CEO told him that the thank you letter changed his mind.

I believe, and the candidate believes, that the professional help was directly responsible for getting this job. He believes it saved him additional months of searching for a position. As he told me, “Even if I found a job one month later, it would have cost X in lost salary.”

Getting professional help can save you thousands of dollars. Take your monthly salary and multiply it by how many months you have been looking for a job. That is the cost of unemployment. Finding a job one month earlier because you got professional help is cheap compared to the alternative.

The final article in this series will help you identify the right professional. There are many frauds and unqualified people posing as professionals that take your money and don’t deliver results. These must be exposed and avoided. There are also many outstanding people that are true professionals, highly skilled, and with great experience, that are worth far more than they receive from helping candidates find a job.

We offer many free tools to help you. CLICK HERE to download a free sample cover letter that  recruiters like. CLICK HERE to download a sample thank you letter that will make sure you are remembered. CLICK HERE to download a free LinkedIn profile assessment that will help you build a great LinkedIn profile.

Finally, consider joining our LinkedIn Job Search Networking Group. It has a wealth of great articles and discussions to help you in your search. CLICK HERE to join the other 5,300 members of this group.

I welcome your thoughts and comments. If you liked this article, please tweet or re-tweet it so others can benefit.

Brad Remillard