9 Ways People Sabotage Themselves on Interviews | JobSearchTV.com

yeah yeah a little bit more of a pad at
the beginning of the video hi this is
Jeff Hopp in the big-game hunter and
you're either watching job search TV or
listening to this has no BS job search
advice that's a call that no BS job
search advice radio every once in a
while I mess up the intro I'd like to
spend some time daily providing great
information about job search because I
frankly believe it doesn't have to be
that hard difficult painful or take as
long as it does it's just the skills
they need to find a job or different
than those needed to do a job and for
those of you been with me for a while
you've noticed that periodically what
I'm doing this year is bringing in
guests to interview them about job
hunting and different elements and today
Thea Kelley tonight he is a job search
and interview coach based in San from
the San Francisco Bay Area working with
job hunters nationwide she has a book
out it's an Amazon bestseller called get
that job the quick and complete guide to
a winning interview that was hailed as
excellent on forbes.com now she's gonna
have a couple of promos for you at the
end of the show if there's a point where
you go I've got to go do something else
forward to the end pick up the
information from her about how to
subscribe how to get some of the gifts
that she has so this way you know moves
out the Welcome yes we had such a nice
time chatting about the show a while
back when we were planning it so I'm
really jazzed to be here talking with
you again
and we're gonna have another good time
today how did she become a coach how did
you wind up going into this field well
back at the beginning of the big
recession in 2008 I was working as a
corporate trainer and I got laid off and
before that I had I had been working
with job seekers before in various other
jobs but at some point I wound up as a
corporate trainer I got laid off because
it was a real estate related business
and I
feel like I'm going too long anyway - to
keep me going while I was looking for a
job I started writing some resumes and
then I thought well I like this a lot
better than I liked my job I'm just
gonna keep doing this and so it's been
gosh 10 years I've been in my own
business now and there were like another
10 years before that that I was working
with various agencies like Lee Hecht
Harrison and Jewish vocational services
and stuff like that cool and today we're
going to be talking about ways that
people shoot themselves in the foot on
their interviews because lord knows I've
seen a million times and I've gotten the
debriefs after someone does an interview
I was still doing search and I'm hearing
all the stories from people for my my
clients that were telling me but what
this imbecile did and we've all been
that imbecile at one time or another
I was never 20 years old what they do
for a job
[Applause]
perfect so let's talk about some of the
ways that people shoot themselves in the
foot what's the first one we're going to
talk about well let's start with money
Jeff Oh money so don't throw it away and
there is there are a couple ways that
people throw money away in an interview
and the first thing they do that really
messes it up is destroying their
negotiating position by not having a
good answer to the question what are
your salary expectations and that's one
of the first questions they hit us very
often that happens in the phone
screening right and that's when this
beginning the negotiation right and job
hunters don't recognize that no they
don't know so when you're asked about
your expectations the first thing you
want to do is put it back on them and
say can you tell me what the range is
that's budgeted for the position and in
certain states they're legally required
to tell you although don't get hung up
on that because if they forget what the
law is you don't want to confront them
about it but usually a lot of times they
will tell you the range then what you
want to do is not commit to that range
but sound generally positive so you say
that sounds like a good ballpark and I'm
sure that once
we decide this is a fit we're gonna be
able to agree on a compensation package
that's fair
excellent and and I know I'm an East
Coast guy I came out of New York area
where the law is you can't ask the
question about current compensation and
a lot of firms in the New York area have
whether they're interviewing someone in
New York or interviewing someone in Iowa
they've all stopped asking the question
about current compensation yes his phone
numbers which used to be one of the
determinants of where someone lives
aren't valid anymore because we all
Nobel funds right and I hope that they
won't ask you that question but if they
do again you want to sort of switch it
back to well I we're just getting
started now you're learning about me I'm
learning about the position can I ask
you what is the range for the position
if you haven't already asked that and
then give the best ballpark answer now
if they happen to come back with well we
don't really have a range or you know
what I'm really looking for is what you
want or they somehow dodged the question
then a good way to answer that is to say
something like well I've been looking
around online I've been talking to
people and I'm seeing salaries anywhere
from blank to blank and give them a well
researched and fairly broad range but
then go on to say and I'm sure that once
we agree this is a fit we'll be able to
agree on something that's fair
so you notice even in giving them a
range you're not saying I expect
something in this range you're just
saying this is what I'm seeing out there
and I'm sure we'll be able to agree on
something that's fair we have to say
something more specific and I'm
wondering if you might just hit in a
phrase along the lines of what I'm
looking at that low end of the range I'm
seeing people more junior than myself so
I don't see myself as being a low end of
a range kind of woman a low end of the
range kind of guy I see myself more at
mid to upper level of this and we can as
you said sort that out as we go further
along yeah that's a very good idea yeah
because that closes off them saying all
one fifty two two and a quarter we can
get him for 150 okay absolutely good
good or you know don't even tell them
that Louis and that you saw that
wouldn't work for you is so either or
both of those approaches and by the way
one of the free gifts that you mentioned
Jeff is a salary how to answer the
salary question and infographic so it
just walks you through what I just said
about what to say if they say this what
to say if they say that excellent
excellent
got that commercial in did you well you
know what's got tools they can get you
know it's really handy to have these
little tools like that you betcha
so we've covered the first one of our
nine ways yes so what's number two okay
number two is don't give standard
answers that you heard on on a podcast
or saw online so anything I tell today
don't go oh that's exactly what I'm
gonna say maybe with the exception of
the the what what are you looking for
salary wise that one you can be a little
formulaic
but the questions that are really about
you never just give an answer because
you found it on in line and it sounds
good you want to really be authentic and
at the same time strategic and authentic
and strategic or what I call the yin and
yang of a good interview you've got to
be real you got to be yourself but you
want to be your best self and you want
to be proactively selling yourself for
the job
and I think one thing that really helps
you be authentic is if you've tried to
figure out how you would answer a
certain question start with what I call
the best friend answer go ahead and
start you know think of it not in the
interview but ahead of time say out loud
what you would say if you were just
telling your best friend the answer and
then look at what you said and kind of
edit it polish it strategize a little
bit but start from that actual core of
what it really is for you and just
saying in a way that conveys sincerity
alright because one of the things that
firms evaluate for particularly the more
more senior you are are the emotional
intelligence qualities and thus the idea
that you want to sound sincere right
what are the best ways to sound sincere
is to be sincere right if you go in and
you're very phony they're not gonna
trust you they're gonna be like I can't
put my finger on it but I just don't
know who that guy is
I just don't feel comfortable and they
know how to smell BS because they've
smelled that way too many times no BS
interviewing hey Teej ik yeah it's funny
and you know on the one hand there's the
idea of being authentic yeah and on the
other side what was the other part of
that and be never why you're there
you're not there to chitchat and smooch
you're there to make it very clear why
you're gonna do a great job in that job
super so we've got the money questions
so far we've got the authentic versus
strategic scenario how to convey
yourself well and answering questions
what's number three okay three is don't
shoot yourself in the foot when you're
asked a question about some kind of
negative or sensitive subject mainly
negative subjects these would like I
hate my boss you're not going to say
that right and sometimes they'll even
ask tell me about your past boss or what
what was your past boss well we're his
or her greatest strengths and weaknesses
and that's when you have to remember
that every question is an opportunity
for you to sell yourself for the
interview and so you I have an a BCI
tool I just made up this morning
preparing for this yeah with regard to
negative questions you want to do ABC a
is analyzed so why are they asking this
what are they trying to learn about you
so let's say they've asked you know what
are the strengths and weaknesses of your
previous boss what they're looking for
here is are you discreet did you have a
good relationship with your boss are you
able to work well with a variety of
different personalities they're looking
for emotional intelligence here and so
your answer
would be say something positive about
your boss even if they're a terrible
boss chances are there is something
positive you can say let's say you had a
boss who micromanage you to pieces and
had a tendency to yell now and then you
could say my boss was very passionate
about his work and about excellence and
I really wouldn't want to go to what is
what his weaknesses were that's not for
me to say but we were able to do some
great work together and I'm looking
forward to talking about some of the
things that we achieved sweet nice way
to dance off the weaknesses right so
that was the a you analyze what are they
trying to find out here and address it B
is brevity anytime you need to say
anything about anything negative now in
this answer you didn't even say anything
negative because it's about somebody
else but let's say the question is what
are your weaknesses
or let's say the question is why have
you been unemployed for the last year
okay you're being on unemployed for the
last year or having a gap in your resume
or not having a certain skill or
experience that they are hoping you have
that is a negative so when you talk
about the negative part of it keep it
super brief so don't be like you know
how big story about why you haven't
worked in a year make it just something
very brief like 50 positions were
eliminated from my company and one of
them was mine and after taking care of
some personal business and also taking
some long awaited time off to go see the
world I started looking for not just any
job but the right job so yes you know
you are admitting the negative which is
that you were laid off but you're
keeping that part super brief and going
into positives so keep it brief and I
was gonna get to see unless you manage
okay cuz I'm trying to keep it grief C
is circle the negatives with positives
and I was doing that in the examples I
gave also yeah I was gonna say surround
them with positives but I wanted to make
it a see right I don't know which of
these is correct for you out there and
play
okay see for certain circle circle those
negatives with positives so for instance
if they ask you what are your weaknesses
you might say while I am very very good
at X it's like the main part of the job
I am currently working on building up my
skills in Y the part that you're a
little weak on and here's what I'm doing
about that in Z and that's again going
back to positives so ABC analyze what
they're looking for be keep it brief and
see Circle it with positives and I'm a
believer in most answers to questions
should be kept to about a minute to a
minute and 15 I agree attention span we
live in an ADHD culture and you know one
listens for very long as such the goal
is if you can keep it to a minute minute
15 in total and especially on a negative
topic witnesses area an invitation to
criticize 40 seconds because that gets
you off the hook faster or less yeah
yeah we've got three covered what's
number four oh yeah so speaking of being
brief don't be a rambling man or a
rambling woman that may be fine for an
Allman Brothers son but it's a good
interview so this is one of the most
common problems that people come to me
with as an interview coach almost
everybody tends to wander a little and
so first thing is have a little bit of a
plan about how you're gonna answer any
common question that you can anticipate
they're gonna ask if you know that
you're gonna need to mention this that
and the other thing having mapped out
what those three things are and kind of
gotten that in your head then when they
ask the question you know just hit those
three things and don't wander off into
other stuff another way is if you do
find that you're wandering in your
answer and that it's getting long just
stop yourself at some point and say but
I'm getting too much in the weeds here
long story short is
or to get to the essence of it feel free
to interrupt yourself like that and then
just get right to the point
and if I could give one more tip on
being brief know how you're gonna end
your answers a lot of times people have
trouble ending an answer because they're
like what do I say at the end do I just
like stop no it's you want to have an
ending like where you either refer back
to the question blahdy blahdy blahdy
blah and so that's I think my greatest
accomplishment at my current role my
version is I signal I teach people to
signal the end of the answer I think of
the way most people speak is having a
musical tone so it's funny I was
listening for your version of this it's
the slight downward note yeah so so the
classic criticism of the valley girl is
that everything ended in and up and
there are people who just talk that way
and you don't want to do that because it
makes us sound like you do you're just
not really very sure of yourself right
and that's how it gets interpreted
whether true or not has you heard me and
true or not I went in a downward note
and that's often the signal to people at
the end the answer is done with there
you go and one more thing on that we can
you can refer back to the question to
kind of wrap it up or another things you
can refer forward to if you were to join
their company so you can say and that is
my greatest accomplishment at my current
role and I wonder if you maybe have a
project involving blah-dee-blah that I
just spoke about sweetie you can yeah
yeah cuz the idea where every Spanish to
tie the bow with what they need yeah and
to just check in with them to make sure
that this was something that they were
that they could use right and so all the
things we just talked about by the way
are things that you need to not just
hear once and then go to the interview
you need to practice doing these things
either with a friend or on your own or
with a coach you know so that you've got
the experience of wrapping up an answer
or using the downward it's funny one of
the things I tell job hunters is great
athletes all practice
right staff practices he's on the court
seven days a week LeBron is on the court
seven days a week and great entertainers
on rehearse and job hunters go on
interviews and the first time the words
ever come out of their mouth or at the
interview and they wonder why they don't
deliver and another thing those people
do that most people don't realize is
they do also mental practice they they
don't just go out and practice on the
court with a real basketball they will
also practice in their mind shooting the
ideal very difficult shot that maybe
they have trouble with and doing it
perfectly and that way their programming
themself to do that thing perfectly
she'll think about that imagine before
your interview imagine the interview and
imagine it all going really well just
the way you want it to imagine being
calm and confident and you'd be
surprised what a different second mental
tennis I remember that yeah yeah Jim
Galloway the inner game of tennis yeah
with me too
was that number four number five that we
just did
that was four that's what I thought
number five number five is a biggie and
even though I'm burying it in the whole
middle there it's a biggie and that is
be proactive about your messaging don't
just go to the interview and hope
they'll ask you the right questions you
have to go there knowing what it is you
especially want to get across and what
you especially want to get across part
of it is what's unique and special about
you so you need to somehow identify what
are your what I call key selling points
or your brand what is it about you
that's gonna make you stand out from the
other people and that can be a hard
thing to figure out
and I actually the first chapter of my
interview book is about that and one of
the free gifts is a free report on how
to figure out what makes you stand out
and emphasize that in the interview and
one way that you emphasize it by the way
in the interview is by making sure that
your answer to that very first question
that tell me about yourself or walk me
through your background or even why are
you interested in this job your answer
needs to bring out the top two or three
or maybe
or things about you that make you stand
out from the competition nice I know the
way I coach people is I work with the
assumption most job descriptions are 80%
accurate because what usually happens is
someone gives notice in the hiring
manager calls to HR and says you got
that job description we use the hire
theá--
yes she just gave notice could you get
that out too you know there are sources
right now and see what we can turn up
and no one ever updates
I've confirm there's so many times with
different people I've coached so the
first thing they tell people to do is to
say hey thanks so much for reaching out
to me you know I recall the position
description or I'm curious why you
reached out to me could you give me a
sense of the world and what I can do to
help so you can fear the thinking about
the job and thus when they say tell me
about yourself and what you've been
doing or walk you through your
background what they're able to do is
start off with what I've considered the
twenty second synopsis of their
experience I've been in the field now
for X number of years for the last five
years of work for some of them this is
that four that work for someone so doing
this but what's probably most relevant
in my background for this role right is
my experience with right people tell me
in person when they use that phrase it's
like they noticed like a dog's ears perk
up they have the Scooby years those of
you are too young to be relevant to
scooby-doo cartoon character Scooby
would wind up I think I think that
that's that's just become part of the
culture you know you don't have to have
actually watched scooby-doo cartoons
just making sure so the ideas as quickly
as possible to tie the bow to show how
you're special
that's very true and to sort of bring
together what I said in what you said
you need to know what's special about
you and you need to know what they're
looking for and find the common elements
between the two and that question of you
know what are you really looking for
what's your top priority for the job
you want to answer ask that before they
and get the chance to say tell me about
yourself so try to slip that in right
about when the small talk is drawing to
a close and say well thank you very much
for inviting me to interview and I
wonder if I could ask you a quick
question before we start and then you
asked that question that you just
mentioned Jeff about you know can you
tell me a little bit more about what's
really most important in this role or
I've read the Job Description but I just
want to give in your own words you could
tell me what what do you really need so
yeah those things very important as I
said we have a lot of common approaches
even though we're on opposite coasts
number six I believe it is Thanks
number six oh yes a related point is
don't wait till the end to ask questions
the best interviews and by which I mean
the ones most likely to get you the job
are the ones that turn into a
conversation rather than simply being a
question answer question answer sort of
interrogation because a conversation is
so much more comfortable for both
parties and so everybody gets to shine a
little more and show a little more of
who they really are
so here's some examples first of all
that question before things even start
then another thing is when you're asked
a question that you could give a better
answer if you knew a little bit more
about the background of the question so
try asking them saying I'd love to
answer that and before I do I wonder if
I could ask you are you more interested
in the x aspect or the Y or can you tell
me a little bit about what that looks
like here in this company and then their
answers gonna probably help you be able
to give a much better answer excellent
yeah and and so that helps them turn it
into more of a conversation or or you
could at the end of your answer you
could say I'll go ahead and answer it
and then say is there anything more
you'd like to know about that or how
does that relate to how you do things
here or I read online that that you do
blah blah blah in this this particular
methodology and I'm wondering how that
relates to what I just said or something
like that
yeah the idea is to get them talking get
a dialogue because if if they are
sitting up high on on the
Christian looking down is the Sultan or
I'm not sure what a female sultan would
be called I don't know either
there weren't any I'm not aware of
female Sultan's I just knew about
Sultan's if they're sitting up high on
the pillow looking down upon and the
supplicant was power differential and
the ideas to level the playing field as
much as you can try going into
conversation because suddenly there's a
point where the more they start talking
you'll notice they're liking you more
yeah yeah and and and asking good
questions is a skill and they will be
and it makes you it shows that you're
interested shows that you really you
want to know all about the company you
want to learn you know they may remember
that you ask good questions more than
they even remember what your answers
were agreed yes number seven we're up to
number seven yeah seven be specific so
one of the most common problems that I
hear in the people that I work with is
being vague giving answers that are
generalities so when they're asked about
their experience doing this or that you
know they talk very high level or when
they're asked what's your approach to
doing something they'll say my approach
is but they don't offer an example so
one of the best ways to be expense if ik
is to add examples quantities are also
valuable if you can when you're talking
about what you did talk about the
results and quantify the results because
if you say that I came up implemented
sales force at our company and that
really improved efficiency or improved
sales well do you mean just a teeny bit
what do you mean a lot you know so try
to give an approximate number
honestly this is another one things
where you want to be authentic don't
make something up if you really don't
have the number then describe it with an
adjective instead dramatically or
significantly or by pretty good amount
or you know just at least give a sense
of how much and stories money saved
money earned percentage improvement if
you're in a role that can't be
quantified in in those ways Paulson was
always my classic example of this and I
handled 14% more calls than comparable
people in my office right yeah numerical
measure because business is the language
of numbers it is it is and and then if
you if you're like an HR for instance
sometimes numbers don't always come into
your work try and give instead feedback
anecdotal make maybe quote somebody like
do you remember something really
powerful that the CEO said to you about
your initiatives did he say this is the
transformation I've been trying to make
happen for the past 10 years thank you
for doing this you know you could
literally quote that and it really makes
your answer more specific and
interesting and memorable excellent yeah
what are we up to now is it 8 ok 8 yeah
be ready to prove your your soft skills
and your emotional intelligence so so
many of the other things you're gonna
talk about in the interviewer are
technical skills of one sort or another
it's how to do the job you know how to
manage the project how to write the code
how to add up the figures but they're
also looking for somebody who has good
emotional intelligence and this means
things like self-awareness social skills
communication skills empathy so there's
no use claiming these things there's no
use to saying I have a little pathetic
person yeah anybody can say that
everybody thinks that about themselves
so when it comes to things like that you
need to kind of prove it one way you can
prove it is by demonstrating it on the
spot by showing empathy toward everybody
you run into in the interview and that
doesn't mean getting all mushy gushy
about it you know if the person says oh
I'm having a hectic day you don't need
to say
oh is that hard for you you're not being
a therapist but you do need to say but
if they say they're having a crazy day
you could say oh I know but you said it
seems like you're keeping on top of it
huh or whoa that sounds challenging just
a simple little thing that shows you're
listening empathy can also be a matter
of being patient when there's an
interruption especially you know when
you're at the front desk and you're
first arriving there and the
receptionist is too busy to immediately
get to you you know bye-bye looking
relaxed about it and realizing hey she's
got a lot on her hands right now or he
has a lot on his hands they're gonna get
a good vibe about you and really it
counts what everybody in the place
thinks about you because you never know
who the interview is gonna ask you know
what you think of that person I've had
clients ask the driver who boo brings
someone from the airport for the
interview bet the receptionist when I
used to do a lot of work on Wall Street
it used to be the shoeshine guy he'd
come around and shine everyone's shoes
in the trading floor you know what you
think of that guy because they were
looking for how they treated people like
there's one video I did call the waiter
test and if you're out for a meal with
someone who's going to hire it's it's
observing how they deal with the waiter
right and yet if you're obsequious about
it and you're obviously you're obviously
doing it it's obviously not usual for
you to be nice to the waiter then it's
gonna come across kind of phony so
instead of going from how is this
looking go from just go from your heart
and go from a place of actually trying
to appreciate and respect everybody
around you for real
and it works out so much better
authentic care works wonders and as
Groucho said if you can fake hearing you
can make anyone convinced yeah school of
interviewing one more way by the way a
couple more ways to show these the--some
intangible soft skills
it's not just also you also to have
social proof for them so things like
teamwork are getting along well with
people or communication skills don't
wait until they check your references
because they're never gonna check your
references if they don't like what they
saw in the interview and before of that
so I always tell people you have
LinkedIn recommendations they'll see
that before the interview they'll
already have that in their mind and
sometimes you could even slip in a
reference to it you know you could say I
have been told I'm very empathetic you
may have noticed that in my LinkedIn
profile go easy on that but and one more
one more way you can demonstrate
intangible things like emotional
intelligence and communication skills is
by having stories about it so a good
coaching story or a conflict resolution
story can show your people skills and
and you don't necessarily have to wait
till they ask for it it could come up oh
but they almost always will ask the
people skills and the conflict
resolution kind of questions especially
on leadership roles yeah often what I
coach people for 3 because they've heard
of the star acronym but I don't believe
in star for more senior people I like
sore so8 are with the tea being
substituted for an O for objective
situation objective action itself and
the idea becomes a contextualizes in a
little bit more for a staff person stars
perfect more senior person soar works
better or if you can't remember it par
which is the simplest one problem action
results yeah that's really the heart of
it the other things are interesting
refinements you might want to sometimes
look up these things yeah I I wrote a
blog post about star versus soar I use
soar in my book my version of it is
situation obstacles actions results just
to bring out the fact that if you're
saying here was the problem and here's
how I solved it here's the result
we may not realize that there was this
huge thing that got in the way that made
it even harder than it sounds maybe
should mention but yeah objectives is
good too
to identify you know here's what I was
trying to accomplish yeah if I got to
write about what that was about
you're absolutely right and everything
works as long as you haven't mapped that
in your mind into a framework you don't
have to memorize these things you just
have to have a sense because it's your
life you should be able to talk about it
but to me again a minute 15 is as much
as you can have an attention span for
and thus from the if you want to go to
more detail for you exactly that was
gonna be one of my suggestions about how
to keep things short is to make it too
short and then say well and that was
just really brief it would you like me
to say more about anything but you would
talk about this sore thing that's
important and I mentioned stories
earlier and I didn't say much about it
and one of the biggest things to
remember about stories the thing a lot
of people get wrong is they'll say well
this was the problem and here's what I
did but you've left out what difference
did that make what was the impact of
that how did that benefit the company
and that's the juicy part that's the
part you really want to say a lot about
like like you said Jeff you want to
quantify what that meant in terms of
four percentage of efficiency or in
terms of dollars you want to maybe quote
what somebody said about it don't
shortchange the are in par or soar or
star or whatever its that are that's
really super important remember the
power are alright maybe they'll help you
remember
[Laughter]
okay number nine number nine prepare in
advance yes and people don't do this and
I'm not sure like and they wait until an
in-person interview is scheduled but by
that point they may have already goofed
up the phone screening realize that as
soon as you put yourself in the job
market and maybe even before but as soon
as you apply to any job you never know
when you're gonna get that phone call
somebody saying do you have a few
minutes to chat please realize that that
chat is an interview any conversation
with somebody of
potential job is an interview and you
need to have to worked out in advance a
lot of these things we're talking about
so yeah don't wait you ready for me the
first session I do with anyone I coach
is my interview framework and the idea
becomes I want them to have time to
practice and you know we do a mock
interview second that's fine they could
do it with a husband wife or partner
afterwards they don't need the mock and
they just go through some basic
questions as long as the words come out
of their mouth and they're not just
thinking the answer you are so right our
approach is so similar because what I
usually do with clients is have a first
meeting where we talk about what you
might call the framework the key stuff
what are your key selling points how you
gonna answer tell me about yourself in
the most strategic way we're getting
your stories ready and then I let them
go away with that and two on then think
about it because it takes like about a
week to prepare all that and then we get
back together look at that again a
little bit and then go on to the mock
interviewing so don't think that getting
ready for an interview is an overnight
saying give yourself at least a week to
prepare for it I meant making mistakes
offline practice with someone yeah and
get feedback get feedback and you know I
like doing my coaching by video because
I can record this session and send it to
them afterwards through zoom so they can
see the same things I'm seeing yeah I
can critique them oh that's why he said
that oh because you had no idea what
your habits are like and what your
gestures were like yours for life that
either can be too flamboyant too
dramatic or you know code yourself with
the mannerism right right or maybe
you're never smiling and you're just
coming off kind of flat you know and the
excitement isn't coming across and the
interpersonal thing isn't coming across
so you need to see that and realize that
exactly right so we've covered nine
major points here yes we
any surprises any any bonus round after
this I'm just curious oh I tried so hard
to work at all into nine we didn't
really say anything about clothes or
whatnot I think a lot of people already
know that but just a quickie about that
is ask the recruiter when they first
call you and set up the interview to ask
what do people generally wear on the job
there I know different offices have a
different culture and different habits
and what would you suggest I wear to the
interview and then another good rule of
thumb is for the interview dress one
level up from how you dress to do the
job so if you are looking at a Silicon
Valley job something like that way you'd
be going in in in jeans and t-shirt and
flip-flops then you don't want to wear a
suit to the interview but you don't want
to wear jeans and flip-flops either you
want to go in in nice slacks and you
know a shirt that is not a band t-shirt
and nice pair of shoes that are
preferably not athletic shoes or sandals
you know so just just a level up from
where you would on the job and for video
and you know for video I always tell
people take a look behind you where
you're going to be for the video notice
what's there someone I was coaching
recently he's got the cross trainer in
the room where he does the interview
were you planning on that staying there
that's an exercise machine right yeah
and the distracting yeah it's like what
is that thing
yeah and anything that takes someone
away from their attention on you is it a
liability it can a what to wear
it could be how you speak it can be you
know anything around you on video and of
course in an in-person interview right
and it's easy to get irritated about all
this
I understand that it's really easy to
feel like my god why are they examining
every last little thing about me and I
understand that and you know you just
put yourself on the other side of it and
realize that when you first meet
somebody don't
you decide within seconds kind of what
your vibe about them is how you feel
about them and that's what's going on
there and then some because interviewers
are always a little scared in a way even
if they're not emotionally scared
they're kind of institutionally scared
because they know that if they hire the
wrong person it could end up costing
them something like I think a third of
the first year's salary to to get that
person out and bring a new person in so
they're a little paranoid and that's why
you need to be very careful with them
it's so true they are you know whether
you're an HR or a hiring manager it's
like the candidate is a reflection of
the parent so with HR you send it to a
line manager it's like bringing your
eight-year-old over to visit someone's
home right yes
so for HR they bring it to the heart why
did you really thought I'd be interested
in this person huh and to the hiring
manager who statistics say within 18
months has buyer's remorse on more than
50% of the people of a hundred in that
brutal statistic I didn't know is that
bad yes it is that bad but they like
going into marriage they all have that
hope that it's going to end up in a
permanent relationship and they want to
feel as though if they brought you to a
meeting with their boss you dress like
well on them so there are lots of little
things that like doctors do to screen
out hiring managers HR people do to
screen out so they can filter down to
the core element see this has been fun
yeah likewise thank you how could people
find out more about you and the work
that you do the free gift the website
all that kind of stuff okay
I have a blog it's for job seekers a
helpful tip article at least once a week
it's called great job sooner calm great
job sooner that's what everybody wants
right and if you go there and you
subscribe it promises you a free report
on
how to stand out in the interviews and
that was what I mentioned about
identifying your key selling points and
whatnot what it doesn't yet say is that
there's two other free gifts as well oh
you can also get like we said the how to
answer the salary question infographic
and a negotiation template that it's
like a worksheet that enables you to
plan out your negotiation meeting what
you're gonna bring up with them you know
what you're gonna say after they've made
their counteroffer it's not something to
bring in the meeting and look at this
list but it's something to help you
prepare so that you know what you're
doing so you can get all those at great
job soon or calm and there's also a
button there you can click to get a free
consultation if you'd like to talk with
me about my interview coaching services
or my services to help you with your
resume your LinkedIn profile your job
search strategy just about any aspect of
your job search I would like to help
super and folks we'll be back soon with
someone else with more information a lot
more to help you I'm Jeff all up in the
big game hunter and as it's the case
with Thea if you're interested in
one-on-one coaching visit my site the
big game hunt on us there's a button on
the homepage that says schedule you can
schedule a free discovery call with me
or dive right into coaching whatever
serves you best and I've got thousands
of posts there that you can watch listen
to a ring that'll help you read those
watch them yep there's a ton it's like
more than 7,000 and now learn is right
now if you have a an Amazon product a
fire TV fire stick attached to your TV
what have you you can download the job
search TV app and watch my videos there
and learn in that milieu as well so I
hope you found this helpful
I'll be back soon with more in the
meantime hope you have a great day be
great see ya welcome and let me just
stop by asking how did you get into this
coaching work well Jeff back in 2008
when the Great Recession started I was a
corporate trainer
and I was laid off as part of a big
reduction in force at my company and
prior to that I had had some physicians
working with various agencies that
helped people get jobs so drawing on
that previous experience and my interest
in that I started writing a few resumes
and very soon I began to realize I
really like this better than I was
liking that corporate training job I'm
just gonna continue doing this and so I
hung out my own shingle and I've been
doing this ever since writing resumes
helping people with interviews job
search strategy