Before an interview, it’s also important to prepare yourself psychologically. Psyche yourself up and work on your attitude so you’re ready to approach the interview in a positive and open frame of mind. Before your interview, make sure you get plenty of rest, have a nutritious, light meal, and avoid any stressful people or situations.
Through his networking efforts, Peter is able to line up a number of interviews. Despite his great career success and excellent interview manner, his lack of management experience seems to catch up with him every time. He simply isn’t qualified.
When preparing for interviews, Lois doesn't spend much, if any time reviewing her experience and accomplishments. She doesn't refer to her resume at all before an interview. In fact, because she's so disorganized, she would be hard pressed to track down the specific version of her resume that she sent out to any given employer. Lois' interview preparation consists of online company research and a quick review of the job description. She feels she'll do just fine "winging it".
After several less than stellar interviews, Peter can't help but get discouraged. He discusses his concerns with a recruiter, who is able to find a number of lateral-move opportunities for Peter, but he graciously declines. If he is going to make a lateral move, he might as well stay in his current company.
Lois has two interviews today, and handles herself quite well in both. She’s articulate, and able to establish a good rapport early on. The interviewers seem to like her. Her first interview, although rather lengthy, turns out to be somewhat of a general Q&A of her skills and interests, and she performs well. She takes both the length and her perceived performance as positive signs that the interview was a success. She takes this confidence with her to the other interview.
One of Peter’s recruiter contacts finally contacts him about an interesting position. Although it’s initially a lateral move to work on a sales
team at a great organization, there will be the opportunity to make a vertical move. The team lead is moving to another region in three months,
and if things go well in the interim, Peter can be promoted into that position. The recruiter sets up an interview between Peter and the VP of sales. The VP is impressed by Peter’s knowledge of the industry, the company and their products, not to mention his sales expertise and enthusiasm to advance into management.
Lois is thrown off in her other interview which is primarily behaviour-based. The interviewers are looking for specific, past examples of her experience and accomplishments, and Lois finds she doesn’t have much to draw on, despite the claims on her resume. She finds herself reaching for examples, and providing hypothetical answers. Having had one good and one questionable interview experience today, Lois wonders what the forthcoming interviews will be like.
Peter’s responses to the behavioral questions indicate that he does not have the management experience necessary for an immediate placement into a leadership role. However, the VP considers Peter to be a great fit for his company, and becomes more and more interested
in bringing him on board. He feels confident that spending three months under the guidance of the exiting manager will help Peter transition
into the new role while making an impact on the sales team.
In our upcoming newsletters, we'll continue to follow Lois and Peter throughout their job search. Maybe you'll recognize yourself in one of them, and maybe you'll learn something along the way. For more tips to help you with your job search, visit
www.readysethired.com.
