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Ten minutes after I meet with a coaching client for the first time, the client is facing my video camera for 60 to 90 seconds. Then we watch the video together. Differently from in real life and because we have modern technology, I can separate the impression—and the client’s image—from the spoken words. I simply turn the speakers off so I don’t get influenced by the video’s verbal content and context. This is a powerful experience, one that provides rich information. In most cases a client can use that information for improving job interview skills and then can apply the newly learned skills during a job interview. Most people are awestruck by their video experience. In less than two minutes, people can see for themselves how they’re perceived by others—something they couldn’t have known before.
Albert Mehrabian, currently UCLA professor emeritus of psychology, published his findings on inconsistent communication of feelings and attitudes and on the relative importance of verbal messages and nonverbal messages. He devised what’s known as the 55%-38%-7% rule. Professor Mehrabian’s basic tenet is that when we communicate with other people, we’re being judged to the extent of 55% by our nonverbal behavior such as body language and facial expression, 38% by our tone of voice, and only the remaining 7% by the actual words we speak and their context. Moreover, if the words we use are incongruent with our body language and tonality, then the other person tends to believe more in what he sees and hears and less in the meaning of the words.
When we interview, our body language says a lot about us and about our emotional state; and poor body language often sends the message that we’re stressed or fearful. But even before the interview interaction begins, the interviewer looks at your face, your hair, your clothes, and the image you’re projecting. Thus, he forms an opinion about you before you’ve even had a chance to formally meet.
The interviewer observes your body language and interprets it quickly, knowing at once whether you’re scared, passive, under- qualified, or something else. If you say the wrong thing, the interviewer can forgive that, but if your body language says something different from what you actually say—for example, you say you’re a person who works well in stressful situations, but your body language betrays the fact that you’re indeed stressed; or, for another example, you say you’re confident, but your body language again betrays the fact that you’re not—well, those are things an interviewer knows you can’t change.
Following are a few body language mistakes to avoid during a job interview.
- Crossing your arms, which suggests you’re either overconfident or uncomfortable
- Lack of eye contact, especially while the interviewer is talking
- Not smiling, which makes you appear nervous or unfriendly
- Hiding your hands, because the interviewer will want to interpret how open and honest you are by looking at your hands
The only way to improve correspondence between the words you say and what your body language says is to prepare for the interview and practice, practice, and practice some more. It’s best to practice interviewing with someone who can point out to you your areas of deficiency and can guide you in making improvements.
So, finally, you receive a call to schedule an interview.
All your efforts have paid off. A person calls you to schedule another interview. This is a huge compliment! You were selected from dozens or, at times, hundreds of people who applied for the very same position. You typically feel elated on one hand and apprehensive on the other. The reason is clear. You know that the real test lies in the interview process.
Even if you think you interview well (because you’ve gotten jobs in the past!), the interview represents a big challenge. Over the past several years, the business climate has changed dramatically, and at the same time, the market has gotten flooded with highly qualified candidates. Interviewing is a skill that can be improved through hard work and preparation. There are so many applicants for only one opening that the process has become extremely competitive. You need to outshine your competition. Unless you kept your job search skills honed in on job market developments, you’ll most likely need to improve in this area.
So, what to do? You can do your own research and preparation via the Internet. Millions do so, but that process can take weeks or even months. Instead, you could hire a career coach! The career coach’s job is to prepare you for the upcoming competition. Such coaching will shorten your search as well as teach you how to do things right and how to avoid making costly or even, at times, fatal mistakes. The coach might also assist you in negotiating a better compensation package, which will more than make up for what you paid for coaching services.
Think of it in terms of sports: All professional athletes have coaches even though professional athletes are highly skilled. Why is this? Since the coach has no bias, he will point out to you not only your strong points but also your areas needing improvement. He will guide you to attainment of your goal.
What’s important to the hiring manager?
A hiring manager considers several factors. For example, he will review your professional background and your career progression. He’s also going to question your accomplishments as described on your resume. Be prepared to elaborate on those accomplishments once prompted in your interview. In addition, of course, your education and credentials will likely weigh heavily.
It is a huge plus for you if you were referred by a trusted source. Why is that? It’s because the roles in the interview process are well defined: This is a transaction between you and the hiring manager. You are tantamount to a salesperson with the intent to sell yourself. The hiring manager is the buyer. His job is to select among several salesperson candidates. He is not inclined to buy everything the salesperson wants to sell. However, if a trusted person recommended you, then the hiring manager’s scrutiny is significantly minimized, thus dramatically increasing your chances of being hired.
What happens at an interview?
In preparing for a big interview, it might be helpful to take on the mind-set of someone who has just finished one. After an interview is over, you will have many questions in your mind: How did you do? Were you able to provide the right answers? Defend your liabilities? And convince the hiring manager that in your past positions you not only did what he needs done but, more important, also did it successfully? Was that job performance successful because you said so? Or because it was recognized by others? Recognition by others is what convinces a hiring manager that you performed with distinction.
Once the interview is over, you must follow up. Your thank-you letter should address any questions the interviewer may have about your candidacy. It’s up to you to find out what they are. When you’re asked, “So, do you have any questions for me?” ask the interviewer about your candidacy for the position. After all of this, the only big issue remaining to be addressed is whether you’d fit harmoniously into the organization. This fit issue has a lot to do with the chemistry between a candidate and a hiring manager.
So, why is the hiring process illogical?
As you can see, today’s hiring process is lengthy. A candidate uses logic throughout the application process, but the involvement of many people over such a long time can sometimes lead to an illogical result. Furthermore, in most of the cases of rejection, the truth is not revealed to the candidate because of the potential trigger of a lawsuit. Therefore, the only logical conclusion from the candidate’s point of view is that the process is illogical. However, an understanding of the entire process can equip you and help you through.
A job interview is the final step before getting the job. It’s the most critical step because if the candidate does not convince the decision maker of being the ideal candidate, the job goes to someone else. Preparing for the interview is not to be taken lightly. To win this tough competition, one needs to invest time and effort, must feel commitment, and must persevere. Following are a few practical steps.
1. The single most important thing to do during interview preparation is to hold live mock interviews with someone experienced and competent in this area.
Practice the 20 most common interview questions again and again until you feel confident.
Focus on learning about the prospective employer’s problems and immediate needs.
Prepare for reciting fact-based success stories from your past that are relevant to what you’ve learned about the hirer’s needs.
Practice, practice, and practice some more. You’ll be happy you did!
2. Learn as much as you can about the company.
Begin with the company’s Web site, and look at every page. Drill down into details to mine specifics you could talk about with the interviewer.
Find out who are the people you’ll interview with, and evaluate their LinkedIn profiles.
Check out who they’re connected with on LinkedIn.
Attempt sleuthing into the company via these connections to find out about the company’s culture and, possibly, specifics about the position.
Find out what your interviewers are tweeting about. This might be challenging because people sometimes use pseudonyms. Use topsy.com for your research.
Do searches on YouTube and Vimeo. Don’t underestimate what you can find out in these hidden places.
Look for and review blogs posted by your contacts at the company.
Use free tools to gain additional knowledge—for example, klout.com and blog.linkedin.com.
Do Google searches on both the interviewers and the firm. Go through several pages of the results.
3. Answer the following questions.
Do you fit into the organization?
Do you have the skills, education, and experience required?
Do you possess experiences and skills to offer in support of the company’s mission statement?
Can you recite via a vignette or two some past experiences that would serve as a natural evolution into company growth?
4. Engage with the interviewer via questions that prove your value.
Ask questions you already know the answers to.
Show the interviewer that you’re very familiar with the industry and the company’s competition.
Preparing for a winning interview is hard work and takes many hours, if not days. By doing such preparation, one gains not only specific knowledge but also a lot of confidence.
I received this question from one of our readers in regards to the relocated spouse. What if your husband or wife got relocated to a new City and State? What happens to you? We all keep hearing over and over to network but if you move to a new area what then? How do you go about finding a new job for yourself, especially if there are other key factors in play like your age? That’s right I said it. If you don’t think that age discrimination isn’t happening then you must live on Mars. In this situation you can’t just rely on posting your resume and sending it out. You need to show off your personality to people, so meeting face to face is going to be key in landing a new job.
The first thing I would try is to meet with some recruiters. In these times they may not take the time but they will discuss options with you. The pool of job candidates currently is a small one. Companies are hiring only job candidates that have A-Z in qualifications.
The first question I would ask someone in this situation is “Is there anything that they can do on your own?” Working for yourself is a wonderful thing. It offers flexibility, more money in certain situations, and the best thing is no more office politics. Working for yourself eliminates the age factor.
I know there are a lot of people out there who are convinced that they can never work for themselves but that is usually due to lack of confidence. Just because you haven’t done something before doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. People that fall into this category always tell me that they can’t sell anything to anyone. We’ve all come across the guy or gal that says I just could never sell. Right! You sold me that you can’t sell! So I guess you can.
Another option is tutoring. Go to local schools and see if they need tutors. Put signs in supermarkets and start networking. You may have the ability to recall that algebra and help out with today’s young students. Here where I live tutors are charging around $45 per hour per student, that’s not a bad little gig.
Now back to networking. What can you do when you move to a new location? I myself have recently moved to a different part of the country and in the beginning found it difficult meeting people. We do have kids in school so that was the first place we started. We do live in Raleigh, NC so that is a plus since most of the people here are extremely friendly. It’s not like we moved to New York:) The next thing we did to escape the boredom was to join a Country Club which had golf, tennis and swimming all in one. Now I know not everyone can join due to the expense but there are plenty of very affordable tennis clubs or perhaps workout clubs. Tennis was absolutely the best way we have found to meet new people. We never played prior to joining but with some focus we are now pretty good for the most part and there are so many levels of players you will have no problem finding people to play with. Instead of meeting just 3 people at a time like in golf, you tend to meet everyone who was out that night. There are other places to meet people like the local business chamber or from the church you attend.
When relocating as a spouse the key point that I would suggest is to think outside of the box. In this economy my personal choice would be to find something that you can do on your own if you can. Since I am assuming the main source of income is coming from the spouse who was relocated. Just don’t put limits on what you think and can and cannot do.
While in transition, you’re after a paid job, not working for free. It’s natural to feel that way, but in fact volunteering could be the thing that gets you your next position. It’s happened often to job seekers. Volunteering has many rewarding facets, and most of them remain hidden till you uncover them by performing volunteer activities. Abby Kohut, president of Staffing Symphony LLC, recommends that 20 percent of a job seeker’s time be spent on volunteering.
Volunteering is a benevolent activity that could be extremely rewarding, especially for those in transition who need to hear a thank-you once in a while. Helping others is inherently enriching and satisfying. Providing assistance for others and lending a hand to people in need certainly qualify as good deeds. And when you give, you also get.
In general, people are open to the idea of volunteering but usually don’t take steps to initiate it because of the unknown and because they don’t know how to go about finding a suitable spot. Two decisions have to be made toward that end: First is to decide what type of volunteering interests you. Second is to decide where to find it. My advice is to search the Internet for the words finding volunteering opportunities. From there you’ll be guided to settling on your decisions.
Since volunteering is unpaid, your commitment can be short- or long-term. Make sure that during involvement in volunteer activities you take advantage of the opportunity to get acquainted with other people. Volunteering makes for an excellent occasion to network with people who appreciate your commitment to volunteer. Such people will listen to you and likely want to reciprocate. Make the most of it.
