The dreaded face to face job interview

As I have mentioned before, one of the parts of my job I like the best is hiring and promoting people.   I also know that one of the most dreaded and stressed over times in many peoples' career is sitting across from me discussing the potential of them taking on a new job.  I have also learned that the majority of people very seldom are involved in a face to face interview and even fewer are involved in an interview with multiple interviewers.    As a result I have noticed that very few people have properly prepared for their interview and as a result very few people accomplish what they hope during those precious 45-60 minutes they get to spend with the interviewer(s).   I thought this week I would share a few of the very basic items I would hope one could communicate during that interview:

1.  Know your story.   As a candidate you had better know why you want this job.   Too often people hesitate or ramble on when asked why they want the job in question.   Prepare, you will be asked this question as one of the first topics during the discussion.   Also know why you are a good candidate for the role.   The interviewer does not want to work at getting you to tell them why you are a good candidate, they want to explore the strengths you bring out.   Most of us will not be interviewed by a behavioural psychologist, so you need to drive the conversation through knowing your own story.

2.  Avoid crutch words when speaking.   Certain words and phrases will grate on the interviewer when used repeatedly or incorrectly.   If you look back at a recent speech by US Vice President Joe Biden you will lose track on the number of times he uses the word 'literally', most of the time incorrectly.   Not only does he use the word incorrectly, he repeats it so often that becomes what you remember about his speech.   Please also avoid phrases 'if I am to be totally honest'.   Of course you are going to be honest, you are applying for a job with my company, I do not expect you to bend the truth.   This is a business interview, work hard to avoid words and phrases that you would use in casual conversation such as 'like' 'at the end of the day' etc..  Very few of us can speak articulately as Stephen Lewis, however we can all be professional.

3.  Dress properly.  Personal image is a good topic for several blogs and worthy of more than a few lines, however still worth noting.  Dress to the level of the position you are applying for and the expectations of the interviewer (once again, do your homework and know the interviewer).   There are several consultants who can help with your personal image.   The idea is to not underdress and not overdress, typically a business suit is appropriate.

4.  Know your audience.   I have had several candidates hand me a stack of papers that include a copy of their resume, action plan etc., and say as they were handing it to me "I know you prefer electronic copies but I thought I would bring you a paper copy".

5.  Be confident and relaxed.  If your body language is rigid and you appear nervous you will not likely get the job.

6.  Take notes.   Show engagement throughout the process by referring to the notes you made before the meeting (you did prepare didn't you?) and noting responses that will require further thinking and follow-up on your part.

7.  Follow-up.   Everybody likes to receive a thank-you note.  This is not an e-mail or direct tweet, this is a hand written note delivered via traditional snail mail.   The day following your interview is also a good time to send an e-mail or phone call asking a follow-up question that shows you have continued to think about how you would contribute to the role being discussed (hint - this is not the time to ask about the limits on your expense account).

8. Practise.   Why do people continue to feel that they do not need to practise their craft before unleashing themselves on others.   Role playing has a great deal of value in preparing for a job interview.  Take the time to have a trusted friend, one who will provide you granular feedback, interview you.   If you are fortunate enough to have a mentor this is a great opportunity to utilize their skills and experience to help you prepare.  Professional athletes do not go to training camp without a series of off season work outs, why would you consider showing up to an interview without practising?

This is a lot to think about, however these interviews are often a water shed moment in your career.   While you might not get the job you are interviewing for, a good interview can set you up well for the next available job, increased opportunity in your existing role and additional attention from senior management.  Take the time to prepare, role play with somebody experienced in interviewing and understand what is expected of you.

Establishing an on-line identity

It has been quite a few months since I last wrote anything.  I had a few things get in the way including the completion of a paper to wrap-up some academic requirements I have been working on.  Over the past month I have noticed another academic ritual, an increased number of inquiries from students looking for jobs.   Unlike ten years ago, the way I am being contacted is much different.   I remember when we owned retail establishments we would see a constant parade of students with binders full of resume's blanketing the main street and malls with handshakes and smiles.   Lately I have had the majority of individuals contact me via LinkedIn or other social media platforms.   Where it used to be that my first impression of a potential employment would be a quick meeting and a handshake, now it is their online profile.

Ten years ago, I was preaching the importance or wearing good clothes and having a firm handshake, in a world where networking is more common online than in person, it is now imperative for business and career success to have a solid online profile.   This does not mean simply having a Facebook page where you share pictures of the weekends parties you attend, this means establishing one's brand online.   With so many options how do you choose what to do?   The first thing to remember is that whatever goes online becomes permanent in cyberspace.   There is an entire generation that is just now finding out that their reputation is preceding them at cyber speed.

I cannot speak for hiring managers everywhere, however I have a great deal of experience in being approached and hiring individuals for various management and sales roles over my career.   I have found one common theme for hiring people and that is they must make a lasting impression on both myself and generally the panel we are using for hiring.   This extends past the generally communicated first few seconds.  If I am hiring for a management position, I will hopefully have a combination of formal interviews, psychometric testing, informal interviews and now I also do Google, Facebook and LinkedIn searches on people (eventually I feel we will do more motivational testing as well, but we can leave that for another blog).   I now suggest that people know what their online profile looks like, if you have time take a look at a Google search of your own name and remember that many people will look at this before they meet you (my own Google Search reveals a great deal about my personal activities).  We need to start treating our online profile similar to the way we treat our credit profile.   Slowly building credibility and maintaining accuracy where possible.

Many companies and individuals offer programs to assess, monitor and improve your online credibility and if you are in a serious career search I would recommend using these.  One place that is worth checkin out is Do I Matter?, a company run by Jim Hamilton a professor at St. Lawrence College and Queen's University.

As you are working on your resume and soliciting for interviews, please make sure that your online profile matches the real life profile you are projecting.   A final word - face to face interaction still gets the job in most cases, use your online profile as a means to get in front of the hiring officer, not in the hope of winning the job for you.

Attaining Balance

I was recently returning from a vacation where we travelled as a family throughout the New England states in the USA and took the opportunity to reflect on how the combination of social media, mobile devices and 24 hour availability have changed the way that I define work/life/ balance.

Vacationing with a five year old is filled with constant motion, add onto this my constant need for action (cross country skiing a as much as possible each day), one finds it difficult to imagine how work or social media could enter into the picture at all.  

Ten or fifteen years ago, one would wait until returning from vacation to share stories and pictures with friends and family.   On this vacation we spent each evening reviewing our pictures on our laptop, posting some to Fickr for sharing with a close circle of family and on our respective Facebook pages for our wider circle of 'friends'.  Our friends and family were able to keep track of our activities and comment on what they saw in real time.   Some may argue what is the purpose, however we find this necessary given the speed that our world moves now, next week everybody will have moved on to something else, too busy to share on last weeks triumphs.

While this seems, and likely is, a frivolous use of a communication tool, we had an incident that occurred
proving Facebook to be an invaluable communication tool.   While we were away a friend of our son's was airlifted from one hospital to another with a serious condition.   A few years ago we would not have heard about this until we returned home, during this vacation we were able to keep in touch and exchange well wishes several times per day.

This was the most dramatic usage of social media and communication tools on my vacation, however there were several others.   I was able to maintain my business network through the use of LinkedIn and Twitter.   I even made a connection for two of my contacts for a job through Linkedin while we were away.   I was able to keep up with the news through the electronic delivery of my newspapers, as well as the Twitter links and blogs I follow (through a great iPad app called Flipboard)

While I did keep up on e-mail, this was out of a need to maintain balance.  This may seem counter-intuitive to work while on holidays to maintain balance, however I feel we need to change the definition of balance.   Noted human resource consultant and Globe and Mail author Barbara Moses expresses concerns about these types of behaviour in her article on Work / Life Balance.   Dr. Moses states that many of us find reasons to be busy and find reasons to remain in constant contact such as:

Fear of Disapproval
Guilty Conscience
Creating Busyness
Not knowing priorities
Lying about motivation

Dr. Moses has  a well researched and important point, however this measures balance in the framework of the workforce in the 80's and early 90's when a pager was a luxury item.  I feel that we need to define balance depending on each individual.  Many of us have jobs that allow us to shift the time we actually work.  While the work week might be slightly longer than it was a decade ago, flexibility allows us to work differently.

This prompts the topic, what is work/life balance?   Has social media and electronic communication enhanced our ability to balance our work and family life or made it more difficult to attain balance.   I truly believe that the ability to remain connected actually enhances ones ability to achieve balance in one's life.   Information moves quickly in the world of Twitter and Facebook and these mediums can be used to enhance our sense of balance rather than erode a delicate sense of work/family optimization.   The proliferation of mobile communication and social media allows one to define work boundaries for oneself rather than the traditional definition provided by the 3-1/2 walls of your cubicle.  Examples such as Hotelling in the workplace and time shifting  for personal entertainment allow individuals to change their personal habits to match their chosen lifestyle.

In the end it is more important how you feel about your balance rather than how others perceive your lifestyle.   The big struggle is how do we get corporations in more mature industries to understand and equip their employees with the right tools to work inside of this new era of hyper connectivity.

So Friend me on Facebook, add me as a contact on LinkedIn, follow me on Twitter or use old fashioned e-mail you never know when I might be on vacation or working --- or will there be a defined difference in the near future?