One Step to Ace Your Interview

Your interview will get you a job.  There is really no big secret here.  We know your cover letter and resume open the door for the interview.  We know that after the interview, following up will let the employer know that you are still interested and will keep you fresh in his mind.  But really, once you are in front of your employer, it is time to put the nail in the coffin.

So why do people fail to impress their employers during their interview?

Simple!  They forget about their most valuable asset as an employee – their unique value proposition.  Your unique value proposition also known as your UVP is the quality that you possess that differentiates you from the competition.  An employer wants to know that out of the hundreds of candidates applying for a position, you are the best.

How do you let an employer know that you are the best?

Come prepared with your unique value proposition already written out on a notepad.  There are two ways of doing this:

1. List three qualities you feel make you a great candidate such as being visionary, team-oriented, or a trouble-shooter.
2. Come prepared with three scenarios that identify your qualities.  Each of these scenarios should follow the three tiered approach I call problem, solution, impact.  Using this approach, you think of three situations where your previous company had a problem that you or your team solved and the impact it had on the company.

Which method is the best?

I suggest doing both.  When you list your three unique values, under each one should be a Problem, Solution, Impact scenario demonstrating that quality at work.

For example, as a teacher, I felt that one of my strongest traits was motivating children to succeed.

The scenario I would use to demonstrate my unique value proposition of motivation would be:

When I was in the classroom as an elementary teacher, students were not reading the mandated 25 books a year that were expected of them by the school (problem).  After speaking with several teachers, I discovered the problem was that many teachers were only checking the number of books read right before report card time, leaving the children with approximately three months of unaccountability between each report card period. To fix this problem, I decided to hold reading conferences with every child each week and to have them hold on to their books until I had recorded them being finished.  This way, I was able to track their reading and intercept if there was a problem (solution). By the end of the school year, all of my students had read the 25 books and at least one-third had read over 50 books.  Their reading levels also jumped three to four levels and they all left reading above grade level (impact).

Notice that by having your three unique values and those three scenarios written out in this format, you can be prepared to answer several “tricky” interview questions such as:

Tell me more about yourself.

Answer: I often look for situations where I can troubleshoot.  For example…

Can you think of a time you noticed a problem and you solved it?

Answer: Actually, yes.  In fact, just last year there was a situation where…

Why do you think you should be hired above all the other candidates?

Answer: I have the ability to notice a problem and to offer solutions where I can not only utilize my talents, but also unite the entire team to work on a cause.  For example…

What do you think is your best quality as an employee?

Answer: As an employee, I believe that it is my job to support the organization towards increased productivity and effectiveness.  I often look for ways to eliminate problems and to promote efficiency.  In fact…

What is your worst quality?

Answer: I sometimes have the ability to rock the boat if I notice that something is amiss. For example…

With each of these questions, you have an answer because you know your unique value proposition as an employee.  You can ace any interview because you know what differentiates you from the competition.  Your competitors will not be as prepared and will stumble around these questions.  Yet, you will be poised, confident, and prepared, which are all the traits an employer looks for in a prospective employee.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

You’re too old to be hired???

One of the most ironic things about finding employment is that experience is always considered an advantage when someone is seeking employment.  Yet if you have too much experience, those same businesses from five years ago that were banging on your door asking you to work with them are now too busy to even interview you.  If you have over twenty years experience in your field and are not a C-level executive, experience becomes a barrier.  More factually, it’s not the experience, it’s your age.

Something about being older than most of your cohorts will turn employers off from employing you.  Unfortunately, they have biases due to increasing health issues and stubborn attributes that are often associated with older employees.  So how do you fight age discrimination?  How do you get an employer to look at your age and experience as an asset as opposed to a liability?

Our guest blogger, Kevin Donlin answers this question in his article, “How to Get Hired Faster by Overcoming Obstacles Like Age Discrimination”.  Before turning over the realm to Kevin, I want to point out that many of us know these answers.  It will be the same time and time again.  You must always sell the positive and forego the negative.  If you are unsure how to do this, hire a professional.  If you want to attempt to do it yourself, be sure to click on the link for The Guerrilla Job Search DVD at the end of Kevin’s blog post.

As always, good luck on your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

How to Get Hired Faster by Overcoming Obstacles, like Age Discrimination

By Kevin Donlin

I got an email last week from Jim S. in New York. His job-search question may not apply exactly to you, but the mind-set I suggest to solve it should.

So, if you give me two minutes here, I’ll show you two ways to get hired faster, by playing to your strengths, and offering employers the equivalent of “found” money.

Ready?

Jim writes:

“I have been a self-employed residential general contractor with some commercial supervision experience for 35 years. Last fall I had heart surgery and as a consequence, I am no longer able to meet the physical demands of the job. How do I best convey this situation to a potential employer and still get in the door?”

When Jim asks, “How do I best convey this [health] situation to a potential employer and still get in the door?” what he’s really asking is: “How can I bring up my health problems and still get an interview?”

This is common, backwards thinking.

Instead, of worrying about how to confess a negative, Jim should build a case for his strengths until they overcome any resistance in the minds of employers.

Here’s the question that Jim (and you) should ask instead: “How can I appeal so strongly to an employer’s self interest that any issues about my physical condition won’t matter — they’ll want to hire me for my brains and not my body?”

Put another way, there must be some management function Jim can perform in construction that can leverage his 35 years of industry experience and knowledge, without requiring hard physical labor. He should examine his work history until he can picture a suitable job.

Better yet, he should call past supervisors, vendors, and clients, remind them of the good things he did for them, then ask: “Given my knowledge and experience, what leadership role do you see me playing for an employer?”

This is one way to overcome obstacles of physical condition, age, etc.

To learn more about how to use Guerrilla Job Search tactics in your job search, click here.

Why Hiring You Should Be Like Found Money

Okay, we have another post from our guest blogger, Kevin Donlin, co-creator of The Guerrilla Job Search System DVD.  On his posts, he explains how to use guerrilla warfare tactics to expand your job search.  So instead of passively sending out your professional resumes, you should actively seek out work, while still maintaining your professionalism.

Today, he follows up on yesterday’s post “Who DoYou Know,” and explains why hiring you should be like finding money.  In essence, the key to getting hired is to make an employer feel like you are the answer to all of his employment problems.  Be sure to read Kevin’s articles and if you want to catch the Guerrilla Job Search  tactics captured on video, click here .

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long
www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services

*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

Why Hiring You Should Be Like Finding Money

By Guest Blogger Kevin Donlin

If you found a wallet, full of money and credit cards, with a driver’s license that said: “Warren Buffett, Omaha, Nebraska,” do you think you might be able to meet the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway?

All you’d have to do is call Mr. Buffett and say, “I found your wallet. Can I deliver it in person?”

You would enjoy making that call, having that conversation, and meeting Mr. Buffett.

Well, you can do the same thing with employers — meet them by offering to return “lost” money.

Here’s how: Research a company until you can call a hiring manager and say something like this: “Mr. Smith, I found some lost money that belongs to you. You see, I called your office twice posing as a potential client, and your staff didn’t ask me a simple question that my last employer used to increase revenues 35%. Can I meet you for 15 minutes this week and give you that information?”

You would enjoy making that call, having that conversation, and meeting Mr. Smith. Bring your resume, along with more tips that could help him run his business, and a job interview would be the likely result.

Feeling diffident? Mail a letter with the “found money” information, say you’ll call to discuss, and then call at the appointed time.

Heck, if you really want to stand out and be a Guerrilla, fold up your letter and mail it in a wallet to the employer (buy them at any flea market or dollar store). The headline of your letter can read, “Is this money yours?” No resume needed.

The point is this: When you call to offer someone money, they may be suspicious. When you call to offer to return money they’ve lost, they will hang on your every word.

All you need do is research an employer’s business, industry, clients, and competitors until you find one or two ideas that can make or save a significant amount of money.

Best part: You don’t need to create the money-making/saving ideas, just as you don’t need to create gold nuggets; you need only dig them up. Nobody cares where you found the gold (except the I.R.S.).

If you can’t do this — if you can’t think of ways for someone in your field of work to make or save money — it means you have no idea why an employer should put you on the payroll. Instead of thinking of ways to earn a job, you are waiting for someone to give you one.

And you will have a long wait.

You’ll find many more ideas like this on the new Guerrilla Job Search System DVD.

Explaining Your Unemployment Status

One of my first posts on Stepping Up to a Better Career was “Does Unemployment Belong on Your Resume?“.  This post focused on people who chose to leave their jobs and do life-altering things such as taking a year hiatus to travel across the country or volunteering in a third-world country for six months.  But what if your unemployment experience is not as enlightened?

What if one day you showed up for work and was just fired?  Or laid off?

When unemployment is forced on you through an employer’s analysis, whether budgetary or personal, it can still have an effect on your self-esteem and thus have an effect on your job search. One of the biggest problems many people face is blaming themselves.  Unless you have done something deserving of being fired, such as excessive tardiness, lewd behavior, or mismanagement of company resources, it is not your fault!  And even if you were fired due to one of the aforementioned reasons, there is no reason to feel as if you cannot find new employment.  Of course if you were fired due to negative circumstances, you will need to do some self-reflection prior to taking on a new job so that you do not repeat the same mistakes twice.  The point is, that regardless of circumstances, you can still find a new job!

How?

Well, here’s the thing.   Your unemployment and the reasons for your unemployment do NOT belong on your resume or cover letter!  Therefore, if you are honest about your dates of employment, your career accomplishments, and highlight all of your qualifications, you will be seen as a viable candidate just like any other employee.

You do not need to explain the circumstances for leaving any job, unless it is voluntary and you have used that time to build your professional skills.  Then this is interesting information you can choose to put in the cover letter if the skills gained are applicable to the position at hand.  Otherwise, unemployment DOES NOT belong on any of your career documents.

The time to explain your unemployment is when you are standing in front of an employer and having your interview.  Then when the employer asks why you left your previous job, you can answer as honestly and professionally as possible.  The best response is brief, honest, and avoids criticizing the company, coworkers, or anyone else.

If you were laid-off, simply explain the company’s choices, such as budgetary cuts or departmental closings and then explain what you accomplished prior to being laid-off.  If you were fired, make sure you emphasize that the event leading up to your firing was an isolated event, you have evaluated your choices, and you will ensure that it will not happen again.

Being unemployed is not the end of your world.  You can always bounce back from setbacks such as being laid-off or fired, just be sure to be honest and professional as you go out on your career search.

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!

Follow Up Your Interview

Typically when an employee gets interviewed, she thinks it ends with the shaking of hands between herself and her potential employer.  She did all the before interview preparation, such as doing company research, being on time, dressing professional.  She even did a great job during the interview by answering all the questions in a practical professional manner.  Whew! Her job is done!  She can go home, have a nice drink and wait for that employer to call her in to sign her working papers.

Not so fast!  When you walk out of an employers’ office, the first stop you should make is to the post office – not to the local cafe.  In order to keep your interview, your qualifications, and your unique personality on the employer’s mind, you are going to follow up your interview with a Thank You Letter.

In your After Interview Follow Up Letter, you will do two things.

First you will let the employer know that you enjoyed interviewing with her and any of the staff members you met.  By doing this, you are letting the employer know that you understand her time is valuable and you appreciate the time she has spent in getting to know you.  Also by specifically addressing people by name, you are letting her know that you pay attention to detail – a great skill for any industry.  You are also letting her know that you are not the average employee and you will follow up on matters that are important to you – such as her and her company.

Second, you are going to remind her of why you are such a great candidate.  In the same manner that your cover letter and resume are all about the employer’s needs, your follow up letter will likewise do the same.  So if during the interview, the employer continuously emphasizes key traits or there are certain skills you have that you want to reiterate and are relevant for the position at hand, now is your chance to show the employer that not only have you paid attention to her company’s needs, but you are thoughtful and a troubleshooter.  Thereby you are giving the employer a chance to review your qualifications and learn more about you as a viable, qualified candidate.

When you send your follow up letter, it doesn’t matter if it is handwritten or typed, though I prefer typed, because employers might not be able to fully understand your writing.  But if you can write your letter legibly, this is also an option.  Either way, maintain your professionalism and be sure to follow up in some manner!

As always, good luck with your job search.

Ayesha Long

www.AyeshaWrites4u.com

Step Up to a Better Career with Professional Resume Services
*** Also be sure to go to Ayesha Writes 4 You’s website and schedule your Free Resume Consultation. From now until August 15th, you can take advantage of our Summer Discount and get 15% off any resume package. So go to www.AyeshaWrites4u.com to get started now!