And how to avoid them.
You know it is true and your frustration is apparent. If you say it out loud, you make it true.
- Job Market is very bad.
- There aren’t a lot of jobs out there at my level.
- I have been looking for quite some time with little results.
- It’s hard to get interviews. I am relieved to have this one.
No one wants to hire a loser. If you make comments like these, that’s exactly how you sound. The folks interviewing you may be friendly, but they are not your friends. Do not confide your frustration. When they ask about how your job search is going, and they may, say instead:
- I am delighted and surprised to see how willing people are to help.
- I am meeting many new people and find networking invigorating.
- There are openings, all those products still need to get created, marketed and sold.
- I like that companies are being very careful in who they hire. It makes good business sense.
People hire positive, high-energy executives. Come across carrying a cup half full. Discuss challenges and solutions, not problems. And most assuredly, ask for the job.
More Deal Killers.
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HOW EXCUTIVES DISCOVER IF THE JOB OFFER IS FROM AN EMPLOYER THAT FITS
How do you know your prospective employer is the right employer for you? When you interview, everyone is in “sales” mode to keep you interested in working for the company. Even if they tell you about challenges, they don’t tell you the real downside to working there and every company has them.
Why is finding out the dirt so important, especially to an Executive or Technology Professional? Your career/resume are sacred. If you show several short term stints you rob your credentials of valuable currency. Employers want to see staying power. They want to know you have lived through the results of your decisions.
Most people change jobs for reasons other than money. Which means vetting your prospective employer is vastly more important than negotiating every last dime.
So how are you to get past the sales pitch and learn what the company is really like? An even bigger challenge if you are not a local. Talk to the techies. Once you are in serious consideration for an opportunity, ask to talk to the Q/A manager and the Customer Services manager. Want to really get the scoop? Talk to the customers, former customers and people who have left the company.
And don’t forget to take a look at glassdoor and other sites where employees comment on their employer confidentially. Don’t use them as the end all, only as an alert and guide for questions. Want to test the sites? See what people say about your current or most recent employers and do a reality check.
Since every company has a down-side, keep a pros and con list to provide balance in your decision. And also consult your Go/No-go list to make sure none of the concerns rule this employer out of consideration.
For detailed support for your search, purchase Job Search Debugged, Insider’s Guide to Job Search. For highly targeted and personalized guidance with your job search, consider Job Search Coaching.
Job Search Advice for Executives multiplies daily. Fact is, there is nothing new under the sun. Executive Job Search is the most conventional, tradition bound and unchanging facet of business. In fact, when candidates veer from the path of the ordinary, they often lose out.
Hiring authorities are very good at pattern recognition; they know what has worked in the past and they hope to replicate if going forward. This means no outside-the-box thinking, no fancy resume formats and no tricks.
One sales candidate sent a stiletto shoe with a audio taped resume to the CEO with a note, “Got my Foot in the Door.” While the action was remembered, even repeated, the CEO didn’t want to hire a clown. He wanted a three-piece suit sales exec like the rest of his quota busting sales team.
The reason hiring authorities stick to the conventional is, it works. The traditions became traditions for precisely that reason. So if you are tempted to wear a polka dot tie or sing your resume, keep in mind, you will be remembered, but not hired.
Executive interveiws are very different from interviews for individual contributors. Aside from different interview questions, the answers to common questions are different. To move from candidate to prospective employee requires you listen to what is really being asked.
Carl, a CFO candidate complained the CEO asked him the same question three different ways. What Carl missed is the CEO was not satisfied with the answer the first time and worse, that the answer to that question was the gate to being taken seriously.
In another situation, Suzanne noticed every person who interviewed her asked the same question. She said it all felt so rehearsed and she gave the same answer each time. What she missed is the answer to the question was very important to the company as a whole and that the answer needed to be different depending on who was asking.
The VP Marketing wants to hear how you will create products he can leverage into existing markets, the CFO wants to know how those products will affect shareholder value and the Sales VP wants to know how customers will respond. But they all asked the same question: What strategy do you feel fits a good product life extension program?
When a question is asked repeatedly, understand it is very important. When several people ask the same question, know to answer in terms of their agenda. Any pat answers will be dismissed. Practice is the best remedy for solving this interview puzzle.
Just because you are right doesn’t mean you get the job.
It’s a temptation, a trap. During an interview you are asked your opinion on challenges facing the employer. It is easy to assume they want you to offer a solution. They don’t.
If you offer a solution, it appears you assume what worked in another company would work for the prospective employer. Every employer believes his or her company is unique, their problems and therefore solutions, more so. Alarms go off when an employer sees stock solutions to what they believe are highly specific problems. In reality, employers are more interested in observing how you solve problems than hearing a solution from your past work life.
How can you get your ideas across? Below are ideas on how to sell prospective employers on your experience without telling them what to do.
1. Ask what has been tried to date and the results.
2. Ask why it did or did not work and what resources are currently available.
3. Alternatively, list what you would need to know before you could have a comprehensive solution.
4. Ask what outcome they would like to see and discuss in detail.
5. Tell them who you would talk to, what data you would use and what problem history you would need to offer a solution.
6. Tell them about another experience where you solved a similar problem and acknowledge the situations are no doubt different.
7. Tell them what resources you used, the solution and the results of the solution. Make certain the employer understands you know you don’t have enough detail to say this will be an appropriate solution for them.
Interview Advice: Don’t make the mistake of thinking you will get the job based on what you know and how smart you are. In reality, people are hired to solve a variety of problems, not just the current one. The real goals for an employer in an interview include assessing how you solve problems and work within a corporate environment. The safest way to convey both? Ask, don’t tell.
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