Category: Interviewing

The First 90 Days in Your New Job

Do you want to have a successful start in the first 90 days in your new job?  Here are some ideas to help you achieve success during that critical time in working for a new company.

In the book “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter,” Michael Watkins writes about the situations an executive should focus on when beginning a new job.

“Transitions are a critical time for leaders.  In fact, most agree that moving into a new role is the biggest challenge a manager will face.  While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability.  Missteps made during the crucial first three months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.”

The 30-60-90-Day Plan for Jobs and Job Interviews

6 Steps to Success in the First 90 Days

My Personal Experience

When I went from Procter & Gamble to Polaroid, I made similar adaptations.  The products I sold at Procter & Gamble had different sales cycles than the products I sold and at Polaroid.  Procter & Gamble’s products are fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG): toothpaste, laundry detergent, facial tissue, beauty aids, etc.  At Procter & Gamble, one month was similar to the next month.  Consumer buys these products at the same rate year round.

At Polaroid, I was selling seasonal products.  Summer travel season was an important period for sales.  The winter holiday season was the largest sales period for Polaroid.
The sales team sold seasonal film orders in the spring for shipment in the summer.  They sold cameras and film in July for shipment from August through November.  As the holiday season approached, the sales team would make additional rounds through their territory to sell film.

Retailers sold as much Polaroid film in one day in December as they sold the entire month of January.  The transition for me required adapting to different selling cycles and new methods of projecting sales.

Are you interviewing with the wrong company?  Use these follow tips to avoid your time to avoid wasting your time.

As the owner of a recruiting firm, I worked with applicants who dealt with troubling issues during the interview process.  Here are some of the things I learned from my experience in helping these applicants

The company location is unsafe.

In major metropolitan areas, office and factory spaces are expensive.  In an attempt to keep costs in line, some companies locate their offices in inexpensive locations.  In major metropolitan areas, the less expensive locations are often in high crime locations.  I have had three clients whose offices were inside chain link fences that had barbed wire on the top.  Even though these companies had highly recognizable brands, the companies were small and the cost of safe locations was a challenge to their bottom line.

If you do not believe that the location is safe, you need to ask yourself whether you are interviewing with the right company.

The interviewers fail to keep their commitments.

In some cases, interviewers have valid reasons for cancelling an appointment, and they explain those reasons to you.  An easy way to handle the situation is to show understanding and simply reschedule.

However, sometimes failing to keep commitments is a red flag.

• The interviewers cancel appointments without attempting to reschedule.
• The interviewers cancel appointments more than once.
• The interviewers completely fail to call you or to meet with you without calling to cancel or reschedule.

Interviewers take calls during your interview, or they allow people to come into their office to interrupt your interview.

This type of behavior is a sign that the interviewer is not interested in you or, perhaps, simply does not respect your time.

Remember that the way an interviewer handles an interview is a sign of how a company deals with its employees.  This behavior is uncommon, but when it has happened, applicants have often complained to me about it and rightfully so.

The company withholds details on benefits and salary range during the interview process.

The company benefits and compensation are confidential information.  For competitive security issues, companies must protect the details of their operations.  However, to avoid wasting their own time and the applicant’s time, the best interviewers provide general information on benefits and compensation.  Often, companies include information on benefits and compensation on the job description.

Whenever I talked with an applicant about their job interviews, I always asked the applicant what the interviewer had said about next steps.  Based on this information, I could know whether the person had passed or failed an interview.

If the interviewer scheduled another interview before the applicant walked out the door, the applicant had a successful interview.

If interviewers summarized by saying they needed to compare notes before reaching a decision, the applicant very likely had an excellent interview.

If the interviewer told applicants that they were speaking with several applicants and would get back to the applicants in a few weeks, I knew that the applicants had very likely failed the interview.

5 Interview Questions Hiring Managers Must Avoid

I am not a lawyer.  I am a writer and corporate recruiter.

It is illegal for an employer to base a hiring decision on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  An employer can’t ask whether a person is a citizen.  However, employers must verify that all employees are eligible to work in the United States.

If you are interviewing for a job and the employer asks you a question about one of those factors, you may find yourself in an awkward spot.  You can always ask the interviewer what the question has to do with the qualifications of the job.  You may also ask yourself whether you want to work for a company that would ask you any of those questions.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the federal agency that oversees employment discrimination.  (1)

“The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.”

The guidelines from The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission specifically lists the laws pertaining to the factors that are illegal requirements for consideration for employment. (2)

• “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;
• Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;
• Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government;
• Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee; and
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.”

However, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires that all employers verify their employees’ legal status to work in the United States.  The specific method of verification comes from the requirement of all employers to complete the following form for all of its employees. (3)

“Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form. On the form, an employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present his or her employer with acceptable documents evidencing identity and employment authorization. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form. Employers must retain Form I-9 for a designated period and make it available for inspection by authorized government officers. NOTE: State agencies may use Form I-9. Also, some agricultural recruiters and referrers for a fee may be required to use Form I-9.”

Prepare for the things to do in an exit interview.

Despite what some headhunters will tell when they are preparing you to leave your current company, there are benefits to attending and even excelling in the way you handle your exit interview.

Before resigning, weigh the pros and cons of leaving your current company.

Once you are committed to leaving, give the company two weeks’ notice.  Two weeks’ notice is common courtesy.  You owe your company no more.

Also, before you resign, remove your personal property from your workplace and download or delete your personal files from the company computers.  You do not want to run into your company holding your property until someone gets around to doing an inventory of what belongs to you and what belong to your employer.

Prepare to return company property.

When you go into an exit interview, bring the company property to the interview: e.g., keys to a company car, company laptop, mobile phone, etc.  Since you have already recovered all your property, put the burden on your employer to give you an inventory of any other property they believe that you need to return.  You may not have to offer to turn over the property during the exit interview.  However, having it on hand will make things simpler if your company decides to walk you out the door.

Prepare for questions that you have about compensation and benefits.

Prepare for a discussion of compensation due you upon leaving the company: unpaid vacation time, unpaid bonuses, and unpaid salary.  Your company should explain to you what money you have coming and when they will pay you.

Know the questions you need answering in transitioning or continuing your health benefits after you leave the company.

“COBRA generally requires that group health plans sponsored by employers with 20 or more employees in the prior year offer employees and their families the opportunity for a temporary extension of health coverage (called continuation coverage) in certain instances where coverage under the plan would otherwise end.  Department of Labor (http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/cobra.htm)”

As you will discover from the DOL website, your employer owes you information on the way that your benefits extend beyond your employment.

Be positive but firm in your resignation.

Politely explain that it is time for you to move on.  Thank your employers for the support they have given you.  Ask for your employers’ direction about how you can transition your material and responsibilities smoothly and promptly.

How to prepare for tough interview questions is part of becoming a more effective job seeker.

First, prepare thoroughly for the routine questions.  This approach will make large parts of the interview easier for you.  You will increase your confidence and reduce the pressure when an interviewer asks you a difficult question.

Here are some of the most difficult questions.

The questions link to some of the hundreds of career articles on this website:

• Why Should I Hire You?
• What do you do when a supervisor gets angry?
• Do you ever work too hard?
• What Is Your Greatest Weakness?
• What do you do when you make a mistake?
• How do you handle unfair requests at work?
• How do you become confident?
• How have you solved problems at your company?
• How do you deal with difficult people?

Another step in preparing for difficult interview questions is to develop basic interview skills.

• Listen: Just listening closely to the questions will help you subconsciously develop effective answers.
• Clarify:  Make certain that you understand the question.  Ask the interviewer for more information.
• Ask for time:Sometimes you might ask the interviewer to allow you to come back to a question.
• Be honest: If you do not know the answer to a question, be honest.

Don’t sweat it.

Of course, you would like to handle every question with ease.  Some interviewers ask questions to see how well you can think under pressure.  When an interviewer asks you a difficult question, take a deep breath and think about what you are saying.  Realize that everyone has trouble giving good answers all the time.  I see politicians, television reporters, talk show hosts, and talk show quests become tongue-tied.  The ones who are most effective are the ones who smile at their mistakes and work past the mistakes to answer the questions.

What not to say in an interview is as important as what you say in an interview.

When you are in a job interview, don’t ruin your chances of getting a job by saying the wrong things.  You are rarely the only candidate in the interview process.  Saying things that make hiring managers and recruiters uncomfortable can cost you a job offer.

Don’t discuss politics, religion, sports, social issues, or news headlines.

You are in a job interview to discuss a job.  Unless the job that involves one of the above subjects, you will increase your chances of getting a job offer by avoiding those polarizing topics.

Don’t discuss personal problems.

Unfortunately, many people have personal problems and health problems.  Successful people know that the time to discuss those problems is in the privacy of their home or office.

Use your interview as an opportunity to show that you are competent, hardworking, and sincere.  If you are uncertain about some information that you think you should share with a future employer, research thoroughly what you should disclose and not disclose to a future employer.

“Don’t complain about your current company.”

When you are in an interview, do not complain about your boss, your company, your job, or anything else.  In an interview, you are trying to impress the hiring company with what a terrific person you are to have in the workplace.  No one wants to listen to a person complain.

Do not use obscene language.

Of course, you wouldn’t use obscene language in a job interview.

Don’t negotiate salary.  

Before you start flashing around your price tag, you need to sell the company on wanting to hire you.  Once the company makes you an offer, you can start to negotiate salary.  In the early stages of interviewing, don’t discuss salary.

What to bring to an interview is an important as the things you say in an interview.  Getting to an interview to discover that you do not have the things you need is not only embarrassing, it is often an interview killer.  I recommend that you buy a portfolio case or a briefcase that you use just for interviews.  Keep the case stocked with the materials that you will take to every interview.

When organizing your interview case, make sure you bring the following items.

1. Bring several copies of your resume.  You should have a copy for your own use and a copy for each person on the interview schedule.  Take extra copies for people who are not on the schedule but who might come into the interview.  Sometimes having unexpected people join the interview is a sign that the company finds you a strong applicant.
2. Take a copy of the interview agenda.  Reading this agenda during the day will help you stay fresh on the names of the people you are meeting.  You can also make notes on the agenda.  These notes come in handy for the thank note you send after the interview.
3. Bring a list of references.  Do not offer these references to every person you meet.  However, if things proceed rapidly to an offer, you want to have your references handy to accelerate the process.
4. Bring a brag book.  This book contains samples of your work, letters of endorsement, and examples of recognition,
5. Bring your laptop.  If you have impressive presentations that you can show the interviewer, you can benefit from having your laptop to show the quality of your work.
6. Bring business cards.  Some interviewers use your business card as a way to verify your employment and verify your job title.
7. Bring a notepad.  You need to keep track of contact and company information that you learn during your interviews.
8. Bring three or four pens.  The extra pens help you relax that you have a pen that works.  In addition, it is wise to make sure you can help an interviewer who does not have a pen for taking notes.

Phone Interview Tips:  Before the interview, prepare as though you are going to a face-to-face interview. Your goal is to move ahead in the interview process. Even if you are uncertain whether you want the job before you get the call, make sure that you do the best job you can. If you decide later that you want the job and you do not get an invitation to proceed, you have missed an opportunity.

Have these things on your desk:

• Your resume
• The job description
• A list of key points you wish to make about how your experience qualifies you for this specific job
• A list of questions

Select your interview place carefully.

• Pick a quiet room.
• Have a glass of water immediately handy.
• Pick a comfortable chair.

Even though you are on the phone, let your personality shine.

• Smile.  You will project warmth even though the interview cannot see you.
• Listen to the interviewers questions.  Answer the questions. Do not just a reply to the question.
• Remember to take a quiet deep breath from time to time.
• Say positive things about yourself and about your employer.
• The reason you are interviewing with the new company is that they offer things you cannot get from your current company.
• Make sure you understand the question before you answer it.

Remember to focus.

• Make your answers detailed but to the point.
• Allow the interviewer a chance to speak.
• Ask trial close questions: for example, ask the interviewer when the company will make a decision.
• Emphasize that you are definitely interested in going forward for with the opportunity.

Do not allow interruptions.

• If you get another call, ignore it.
• Make sure that people know not to disturb you.
• Certainly do not multi-task.
• Do not talk over the interviewer.
• Do not try to tell a joke.
• Do not fake your answers. If you do not know that answer to a random question, just say so.

Remember to close on an upbeat. 

Thank the interviewer for taking time to speak with you.  Emphasize that you hope to have a chance to speak again.

I am not a lawyer.

It is illegal for an employer to base a hiring decision on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  However, employers must verify that all employees are eligible to work in the United States.

If you are interviewing for a job and the employer asks you a question about one of those factors, you may find yourself in an awkward spot.  You can always ask the interviewer what the question has to do with the qualifications of the job.  You may also ask yourself whether you want to work for a company that would ask you any of those questions.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the federal agency that oversees employment discrimination. (1)

“The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.”

The guidelines from The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission specifically list the laws pertaining to the factors that are illegal requirements for consideration for employment. (2)

• “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin;
• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination;
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older;
• Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended (ADA), which prohibit employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments;
• Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government;
• Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which prohibits employment discrimination based on genetic information about an applicant, employee, or former employee; and
• The Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, among other things, provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination.”

However, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires that all employers verify their employees’ legal status to work in the United States.  The specific method of verification comes from the requirement of all employers to complete the following form for all of its employees. (3)

“Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form. On the form, an employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present his or her employer with acceptable documents evidencing identity and employment authorization. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form. Employers must retain Form I-9 for a designated period and make it available for inspection by authorized government officers. NOTE: State agencies may use Form I-9. Also, some agricultural recruiters and referrers for a fee may be required to use Form I-9.”

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney.

12 Things You Should Not do In a Job Interview is a good start to preparing for your interview. How well you interview will decide whether you get the job.

An interview is a critical step to getting a job. Preparing for your interview and making good choices in handling your interview can turn your interview into a job offer.  Here are twelve things you should not do and suggestions for the correct things to do in a job interview.

1. Do not arrive late. You should plan for traffic delays. Arrive thirty minutes early. Wait nearby to enter the building. Go into the interview five minutes early. Introduce yourself and say that you are there a bit early for your interview.
2. Wear the proper clothes.Clothing will vary from job to job. If you need to be dressed to go to work that day, wear work clothes. If you are interviewing for a job for which you will have to wait for an offer, consider wearing clothes that are one level above the job. for example, if the job requires jeans, consider wearing khakis. If the job requires khakis, consider wearing dress slacks or a skirt. If the job requires slacks or a skirt, wear a suit.
3. Do not use a cell phone. Turn your cell phone off before you enter the building for your interview. Do not mute your cell phone. Turn the power off on your cell phone. For the short time you have in the interview, you do not need distractions from your cell phone.  If you even check your phone during the interview, you have lost the job offer.
4. Do not act rude. Be courteous. Know and say the interviewer’s name. Give the person a firm, but not strong handshake. Introduce yourself. Thank the interviewer for meeting with you.
5. Do not bring up subjects that are not about the interview. Help the interviewer focus on the interview. Offer the interviewer a copy of your resume before you sit down.
6. Do not fidget or act restless and nervous. There are simple ways to relieve your tension. Use the best body language. Take a couple of breaths before entering the interview. Make eye contact. If direct eye contact makes you uncomfortable, look at the person’s face. Focus on what you are saying and not what you are seeing. Smile. Sit up straight. Gently hold in your stomach. Keep your shoulders comfortably level. Practice sitting this way daily. It is good for your back, neck, and core, and will help you interview more successfully. Speak loudly enough that the interviewer can hear you. Keep your arms open. Make occasional gestures as you are speaking. As you behave relaxed, you will become relaxed.
7. Do not act arrogantly or talk about yourself and not about the job. Focus on your qualifications for the job. Talk about what you can do and not about who you are. Be specific when discussing how your experience fits the job requirements.
8. Do not go to the interview without preparing.Show that you are ready for the meeting. Refer to the things you have read about the company and about the job.
9. Do not act as though you are not interested in the job.  Ask questions about the company and the job based on the information you found through your research and through reading the job description. Write a list of questions as part of your preparation before going to the interview.
10. Do not say negative things about anyone. Talk positively about your present employer and your past employers. The way to keep things positive is to focus on your interest in the company that is interviewing you.
11.  Do not dominate the conversation. Allow the interviewer to lead the discussion. Answer the questions not the things that the questions bring to your mind.
12. Do not leave without understanding what you should expect next. If the interviewer has not told you what to expect next, ask the person when you will be getting information on the company’s interest in meeting with you again or making you an offer. Express your interest in the job and say that you look forward to meeting again. If the interviewer has a card on the desk, ask for one.

What Is Your Greatest Weakness?

I made the mistake of answering this question honestly during an interview for a promotion.  I did get the promotion.  However, my new supervisor had an annoying habit of reminding me of my answer to that question during our work together.

Being able to answer this question is part of standard interview preparation.  What should I have answered when he asked me about my greatest weakness?  Here are some options that would have helped me.

1. Know the requirements of the job well enough that you do not say anything that would disqualify your for the job.

2. Respect the need of the interviewer to ask questions that show whether you are qualified for the job.

3.  Avoid repeating the question in your answer.  For example, the interview says, “What is your greatest weakness?”  Do not start your answer with, “My greatest weakness is…”  You want to focus on positive things.

4. Prepare your answer based on something that is true about you.  False statements are costly eventually.

5.  Show how you have made adjustments so that your weakness has made your more effective.

Here are some examples that are actually true of me.

• I dread being late so much that I would rather lose a little time by being early than experience anxiety over being late.  I find that I can easily use the time.  I simply take some things to work on while I wait nearby to enter for my appointment.
• I read guidelines and prefer to use them to avoid conflict.  Other people focus on doing what makes sense at the time.  I have learned that sometimes it is better to go with the flow of the team than to question everything everyone says or does.  Guidelines are note rules or laws.  Creative people often offer solutions outside the guidelines.  When people want to know what the guidelines say, they do turn to me for advice.

Good luck with your interviews. You will do a great job.

Interviewing Safety

The place of the interview is important.  People who are seeking home-based jobs may find that the job interview takes place in a person’s home and may include more than one applicant.

If interviewers ask that you meet with them in their home, you might ask who will be in attendance.  Most interviewers will meet with applicants in public locations such as a hotel lobby, coffee shop, restaurant, or airport arrival area.

If you are meeting in a hotel room, do so before or during regular business hours.  Let interviewers know that you happy to meet with them and to let your family or friends know how the interview went.

Let someone know you are going to the interview.  Schedule a post-interview call with a friend or relative to let them know when the interview is complete.  This practice can protect your safety and help you remember things you learned during your interview.

If you are flying for an interview, learn how to connect with ground transportation before you leave on your trip.  This information can make your transportation safer and save you time and energy during your travel.

Fly early in the day.  Just the eerie nature of a late-night empty airport is reason enough to travel early.

If the interviewer is lewd, profane, threatening, or violent, leave the interview.  Get in touch with friends or family as soon as possible and let them know about your experience.  Beyond those measures, I am not a lawyer.  I can not tell you how to handle legal matters.  If you believe that the interviewer has broken the law or hurt you, you should seek direction from the proper authorities.

You may find that interviewing is interesting, maybe even fun.  Plan ahead. Think about your safety before making commitments.  You will have terrific interviews, and you may even land a great job.

I have written other articles on how to prepare for job interviews and how to prepare for business meetings.  The things that you do to prepare for both meetings are the same.

Once you land a job, you are competing with other people inside and outside your company to keep your job and to progress in your career.

If you want job security and, especially if you want to get promoted, treat each day as a job interview.

Before starting your business day, make a list of five things you want to accomplish that day.  If those five things include business meetings within your own company or outside your company, preparing for those meetings is very simple.  At first, you may find that making these preparations may seem complicated and burdensome.  I know that I did.  However, I found that repetition made these preparations easier and the habit of making these preparations made them feel natural, even necessary.  I also found that when I encountered new situations, these habits made preparation for those situations much easier as well.

Before going to a meeting, write down the following things.

1. The purpose of the meeting
2. Presentations you need to bring to the meeting
3. Names of participants
4. Location, time, and date of the meeting
5. The things you want to accomplish in the meeting

During the meeting take notes.  From your notes you can send follow-up emails and take action on your commitments resulting from the meeting.  You will do a better job for your employer and your peers.

The purpose of conducting an interview is to decide whether an applicant is a fit for the job (1) from the company’s point of view and (2) from the point of view of the applicant.

The best way to get to know an applicant in a short amount of time is to hold the interview in a comfortable setting for a conversation.

Early in my recruiting career, my partner and I recruited for E & J Gallo Winery. At the time, Joe Gallo, son of co-founder Ernest Gallo, was effectively the chief executive officer.

The staffing director at the Winery invited my partner and me to join him, the senior vice president of human resources, and Joe Gallo for dinner in Gallo’s home in Modesto.  There was a member of the Gallo staff who worked in the kitchen.  We ate salmon.  I remember, because Gallo, not the kitchen staff, cooked the fish.

At the dinner that night, I got first-hand experience of how to ask a think-on-your feet question.  The conversation had flowed from one comfortable, general discussion to another as my partner and I got to know Gallo, his staffing director, and his senior vice president of human resources.  Then, in a tone of general curiosity and as I recall somewhat out of the blue, Joe Gallo asked me, “Jay, what is the leading political party in Texas?”

I do not recall my answer, but I do recall how thought-provoking the discussion had become.  The question was about politics, but it was not political.  The question was simply thought-provoking.

I later learned in working with E & J Gallo Winery that this type of question was common for Joe Gallo and was a practice he had learned from his father, Ernest Gallo.  What interviewers learn from this type of question is the conceptual thinking of the people they put on the company’s payroll.   Although it is probably safer to avoid politics in an interview process, asking a typically subjective question from an objective point of view enables an interviewer to learn whether an applicant can analyze and discuss situations objectively and intelligently and stick to the facts.

Many companies make it a practice for the hiring manager to take a management applicant and perhaps the applicant’s wife to dinner as one of the last steps in the recruiting process.  The dinner in Gallo’s home fits in with the common and recommended practice for final stage interviews for making management hires.

How well does that recruiting method work?  The people who work at E & J Gallo Winery come from the best schools in the country.  Many of the managers who work for the company have had earlier experience and advanced quickly through the ranks at competitive, major consumer packaged goods companies.  The Gallo method of sourcing and interviewing top management talent has enabled it to stay the world’s largest family-owned winery and the largest exporter of California wine.

The approach that each company takes to conduct its interviews can vary with a number of factors.

• Culture of the company
• Stage of development of the company
• Resources of the company
• Stage of the interview in the process
• Level of the position being staffed

The purpose, however, remains the same:  to decide whether an applicant is a fit for the position (1) from the company’s point of view and (2) the point of view of the applicant.

Dress in business attire.  Standard business attire includes a dark-gray or navy-blue suit or skirt and jacket, a white shirt or blouse, and black shoes. Wear those things to your interviews.  If you are interviewing with people who wear casual clothes to work, they will not fault you on your attire. However, if you go into an office where everyone wears business attire, and you are wearing jeans, you will probably have eliminated yourself from consideration for the job.

Interact and observe.  Whenever you enter a place where you are interviewing, you are under everyone’s eye, whether by design or incidentally. Be patient, thoughtful, courteous, and personable with the people you meet. Be confident and natural.  Breathe in the ambience of the environment. What do you see on the walls and around the offices? Is this a place where you want to be each day? Putting yourself in this frame of mind will help you be alert and learn and be proactive in your meetings.

Move forward.  As you meet people and as you make your way through offices, face the direction you are doing. Move towards people as you meet them and extend your hand.  There only one handshake. Firmly, briefly grasp the other person’s hand as you look them in the eye, and remembering to say the person’s name, say “Betty/Bill, very nice to meet you.  Thank you for meeting with me.”

Be prepared.  Prepare your agenda and use it. Give each interviewer a copy of the material you would like to cover: an outline of your questions, accomplishments, and what you can do for the company.

“The World’s Most Noble Headhunter”

Say Nice Things About Yourself.

In an earlier post about effective communications, I discussed the importance of positive direction.  Only tell people what you want them to do.

People remember what you tell them.  When speaking about yourself, if you can not say anything nice, it is probably better to say nothing at all.

The most common example of keeping comments about yourself positive is the advice on handling the interview question regarding your greatest weakness.  The conventional advice is to give a positive that you may need to reign in a bit.  For example, when someone says that is your greatest weakness, you might say you can get a little impatient with people who are giving less than 100 percent of their effort.   Then you can go on to say that you have learned to use that trait as a management tool to provide direction to under performers.

Also, begin to see yourself as a person who is interested in continually extending your skills and knowledge.  Keep a self-improvement program in progress and discuss this program with people who share your interests.

When I worked at Procter & Gamble, I joined a local Toastmasters group that met for breakfast once a week.  Each week a couple of the members would speak.

I signed up for the Toastmasters meetings just out of curiosity, but the fact that I was participating in a self-improvement program got a lot of play within Procter & Gamble.

Some of the things that I have more read recently include the following, more challenging books and manuals.

• James Joyce: Ulysses
• Homer: The Odyssey
• Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
• Alan Roth: The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire
• Lisa Sabin-Wilson, et al: WordPress 8 Books in 1
• Thomas Cahill: How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe
• Steven M. Schafer: HTML, XHTML, and CSS
• William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August (1932), Absalom, Absalom!, The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion, and others

During a period when I spent a lot of time on an exercise bike, I found that audio tapes were great for learning new ideas and concepts.  I completed following audio series and others:

• Forty-eight-hour diplomatic series for French studies
• Zig Ziglar:  See You at the Top and Secrets of Closing the Sale
• Tony Robbins series Personal Power

Podcasts are easy to find and many are free.  NPR has a nice library of podcasts including The Ted Hour.  There are countless other podcasts.  I have also found do it yourself training very helpful.

I began studying website development on W3Schools.com and still find that website handy for website development reference help.  I completed the New Boston series on Javascript and have completed around sixty of the New Boston series on PHP.  You can find the series on YouTube.com.

There is new group of writers I follow.  The philosophy of these writers is that less is more through nutrition and better life choices:  Mark Sisson, Leo Babauta, Tim Ferris, and others.

It is better to discuss areas of self-improvement as attempts to become more effective than examples of your overcoming your shortcomings.  Any mention of your shortcomings may work against you in the future.

During an interview for a promotion at Polaroid Corporation, the supervisor conducting the interview asked if I had any weaknesses.  I told him that I conscientiously had to focus in on conversations when people were telling me things that I already knew.

I received the promotion.

About a year later, the One Step Camera™ sales had begun to falter through a worldwide inventory glut, and this manager was under a lot of pressure.  During a conversation on sales in my area, he asked me if my inability to concentrate might be contributing to the sales progress of my team.

The manager had drawn on what I thought was an incidental comment I made about how I dealt with long, boring conversations to bore in on issues with my team’s performance that were in reality consistent with the company’s worldwide performance.

I told my manager that I certainly remembered making that comment, but that I was paying attention to him now.  Then I laid out for him my strategies going forward.

So say nice things about yourself.  You do not need to brag.  Just keep it positive.

The more difficult interview questions are also the more common questions interviewers ask.

Preparing for these questions can help you in a number of ways.

• Make you more comfortable when interviewers ask the questions
• Help you anticipate what you need to know and perhaps need to  research further
• Enable you to review your career highlights and your career challenges from an interviewer’s point of view

During my sales training at Procter & Gamble, I learned to anticipate a buyer’s objections and research and prepare my answers.  Preparing for interview questions works much the same way.

“The World’s Most Noble Headhunter”

The Most Important Interview Question You Will Ever Be Asked

I have read that the most important interview question you will ever be asked is what is your greatest accomplishment.

To me that is akin to someone’s idea of what is Mozart’s greatest work and Babe Ruth’s greatest game. Each person will have his or own idea of greatest anything. The most important part of interview preparation is to check your accomplishments along with a great deal of other material before going into an interview.

Then take a deep breath and be flexible. Interviews are like major league baseball. Who knows what pitch is coming next? Hopefully it is not a wild fast ball going straight to the ear hole in your helmet. Often the pitcher does not know where the next pitch is going until it gets there. So prepare. Take a deep breath. Stay loose. Trust yourself.

Be extraordinary: you will do a great job!

When I worked at Procter & Gamble, I took a sales training course that included a presentation model that works for any situation.  Procter & Gamble titled the model the 5-Steps to persuasive selling. Xerox had actually developed the original course as the 7-steps to professional selling (PSS).

Let’s say that tomorrow you have a meeting. This meeting could be a job interview. The meeting might be with your board of directors to discuss a new direction for your company.

Here how the process works.

PREPARE FOR THE MEETING
The night before your meeting, you review the material you will present. You might have a few notes on your laptop or you might have a slide presentation. The important thing is that you have prepared what you will need for this meeting.

SUMMARIZE THE SITUATION.
When your turn to present material begins, you greet the person or people in the room. Perhaps thank them for meeting with you. During this part of the presentation, you introduce your subject. Your audience has a certain need or problem, for which you have a solution. The subject of your presentation is a summary of the need or needs they have. You might provide them with some additional information on your subject. While you want to gain acceptance of the ideas you are presenting, the most important thing is to demonstrate that you have their interest foremost. You are there to help them.

STATE THE IDEA.
In a brief, easy-to-understand statement, you give a recommendation for a solution to their need. Allow your audience to participate. Ask questions. They may have objections to your idea. Let them get comfortable by raising objections. Treat the objections as questions and provide answers.

EXPLAIN HOW IT WORKS.
You might provide a schedule of events, prices, and who will do what. Help your audience see that your plan is thorough. Give them the details they need to know. Help them be comfortable that they can trust that your plan will accomplish the goals you have established.

REINFORCE KEY BENEFITS
“Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” This part should have no more than three statements as to how your plan gives your audience the benefits of solving their problems. Keep it brief.

SUGGEST EASY NEXT STEPS.
This is the close. This is where you request approval of your plan. I recommend that you layout easy steps that may provide options, and do a trial close on an assumptive choice.   For example, you might say, “Should we start to work this afternoon or first thing tomorrow?”

FOLLOW UP
This part may require a little bit of discipline. When you have left your meeting, you should do a personal review of the meeting. Review any notes you have taken. Write follow up correspondence. Schedule the next steps you need to take. Notify others who might be involved of what you accomplished in the meeting and what they can expect going forward.