Nail the Interview & Land the Job | Job Search Radio

Nail the Interview & Land the Job | Job Search Radio

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

We all know how important it is to prepare for an interview yet so few people actually do it. Michelle Tillis-Lederman is the author of “Nail the Interview, Land the Job.” She and I discuss exactly what needs to be done to shine during an interview and set yourself apart from the crowd of people you are competing with.

Stupid Interview Mistakes: Overthinking Your Resume

You know interviewing is not one of those

skills that people are namely born

knowing how to do it’s an acquired skill

that requires practice it’s why I

brought on Michelle Tillis Letterman to

speak with you this week and talk about

how to prepare for an interview some of

the things that will come up in an

interview and how to be very effective

now i also want to mention that in the

interview there are a couple of early

little blips that curd in recording so i

apologize for that no we were not

blipping out of sanity it was just

something in the recording process that

caused that to occur so it’s very quick

just go past that you’ll understand the

point that we’re making at the time and

if you like this interview please give

it five stars in itunes it’ll help other

people discover the show so hang in

there enjoy it and let’s sing along

are you looking for a new job or

interested in leveling up job search

radio is your go-to resource for insider

tips on job hunting and grow your career

here’s your host Jeff Altman.

Having a Portfolio Career Whether You Need It or Not

My guest this week is Michelle Tillis Letterman

the CEO of executives essentials and

named one of Forbes top 25 networking

experts she’s also the author of three

books including the 11 laws of

likeability I love that title and her

latest nail the interval top Michelle we

finally connect welcome to job search

radio great to have yellowed thank you

I’m glad we figured out a way to make it

work and that brings us to your story

what did you tell everyone what happened

it is making a start off this way well

tech technically I am NOT savvy so we

tried the blab and the black didn’t work

and then we tried the google hangouts

and the Google Hangouts didn’t work and

so we are getting on the phone and I

love that you say it’s so calm through

all of that because technology can

rattle me for sure and I think that is a

really great lesson as we’re thinking

about I would be candidate on the

interviewee I’m going in for my job

entry so to speak and it’s not going my

way I can’t get this to work I can’t go

that’s what we might get lost on our way

we might break a heel or or you know

forgot our resumes and what do you do

you can’t not go to the interview can’t

start it over and plus rewind so you

take that breath you take that sip of

iced tea that just drink and down south

you put a smile on your face and you say

let’s go from here exactly right folks

not everything goes smoothly I have an

applicant who’s meeting that they have a

foreign bank on a final interview he’s

in New York he’s walking down the street

one of the overhead terrorists that

makes a deposit on his shoulders by that

I mean a pigeon pigeon drops a load on

him and he’s got this interview suffice

it to say he’s got to stay

seat and he still goes through

apologizing for his appearance and just

unflappable and he’s fired so anything

can happen anything it’s your

responsibility to carry your side of

this do the best you can no matter what

I always say that you can use these

moments just as we are right now we can

use moments that aren’t going in our way

to build rapport and break the ice and

put everybody else at ease and if that I

always think about the movie yeah the

first could happen I don’t know if you

saw that movie but it was the same thing

you know he got out of jail was in

sneakers and painting clothes and you

know had to go on a job interview but he

wasn’t going to miss that interview and

I think instead of apologizing for the

on his shoulder on a suit you go in and

say well I’ve heard this is good luck so

I must be you know primed for this job

let’s go you know as opposed to walking

in defensively and feeling miserable and

what have you yes absolutely true so the

new book is nailed the interview nails

that land the job should we start with

the nailing the engine alien the

interview or getting the job if you know

what is all part of the same cycle and

what the book does is really take you

through what to do well before the

interview and understanding when the

interview really starts to well after

the interview and even after when you

may or may not have gotten the job the

fact that the injury is still not really

over you’re absolutely right so we’re

going to start off with you’re saying

it’s not when you walk in the door it

proceeds walking in the door I should

folks start off it absolutely does

precede walking in the door and as soon

as you start your interest in an

organization as soon as you put that

application whether it’s online or

through a friend your interview process

has started because they are your all of

your materials are part of that process

your cover letter the person who

introduced you if you have a warm

referral but it’s also the online

presence and you must must be very aware

that over eighty nine percent of

companies are now using social media in

their recruiting process

and companies have actually ended their

candidacy with an applicant sixty-nine

percent of the time based upon what they

found out online about them

Personal Branding on LinkedIn

so it’s really critical to understand the things

that are proceeding you walking in that

door and making sure enough of those

messages are strong it’s a purely based

upon you know stupid things that are set

online or as I mentioned on an insider

tip I know firms will do it based upon

in congruence between what’s on the

resume and the profile you know if there

are other variables beyond those two

that caused them to cancel candidacies

yes there’s actually a long list of

things that will end a candidacy so you

want to be very aware the language

you’re using online cursing has been one

of the things that has ended it the

pictures that you’re putting online too

many party pictures the wrong

professional image watch your privacy

settings they had things about people

bad-mouthing either organizations that

they work for or even not that they

worked for so it’s that complaining and

that that attitude that is coming

through and on the social media is

another major reason that people to

enter the candidacy gotcha so we started

off talking about their online presence

is being important what else should they

be doing before the interview I love

that because there is so much more and I

think people know the basics they should

go online to the organization maybe they

Google the company I would like you to

take it a step further I want you to

figure out if you can get the names of

the people that you’ll be interviewing

with oftentimes the recruiter or the HR

head will give you here’s five people

you might be meeting with I want you to

link into them in advance I want you to

figure out who you have in common or

what interests that you might have that

are overlapping because that’s going to

help you in that rapport building

section I want you to think about is

there anybody else i know that is either

work in the industry worked for the

company now or work for the company in

the past see if you can do a coffee an

informational a call just get a sense

going to feel if you have those people

in common call up your friend and say

hey tell me about and you know any good

stories i have gone in interviews and

had conversations around

skiing water water and snow animal

rescue and poetry and walked out with an

offer so the thing to help that rapport

building section of the interview one

thing I’ll mention folks in Michelle

saying go online link in with them but

sometimes you have two small a network

to really see who’s are going to be

meeting with that’s a problem to see

that you want that you want to there’s a

site that i put together the addresses

li hyphen USA dot info it does only one

thing and that is search public profiles

of everyone on linkedin in the US so if

you’re struggling because your

connections don’t work I can try li

hyphen USA info you should be able to

find them there sorry for the detour

there by thought I would be helpful no I

love it that’s brilliant I’m going to go

check that out thank you so we’ve got

them researching we got them doing

informational conversations with people

that may know the hiring manager a few

other things is there anything else that

you encourage people to do before the

interview so that is about a specific

organization company but you also really

want to spend time understanding you and

what’s important to you about the job

why are you interested in this role and

really getting clear on the skills that

you’re bringing to the table there’s an

exercise that I described in the book

called your three words and we often get

that opening question of the you tell me

about yourself and we’re thinking well

what do you all know well if you really

spend the time to think about what is it

that you want people to know about you

especially related to this role then

it’s very easy for you to go in and say

I am x y&z and those characteristics

that are critical to the role that you

embody that you believe and you have

those stories and examples prepared in

your mind to share not script but share

so if you were to give an example of how

to do that perhaps using yourself or

someone you know as an example how much

you answer that told me about yourself

question so it would absolute a pen on

the job so I’ll go back to my

finance days i’m a recovering cpa i

spent the first decade of my life in

financial organization console’s

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and if i were to go on an interview perhaps

maybe as an auditor which was my first

ever roll let’s think about what’s

important in the role of an auditor well

you have to be able to be very

detail-oriented organized maybe you have

to get along with lots of different

types of people and maybe you need to

have a really strong analytical side so

you want to think about well do I have

those things which are the things in

that laundry list of that job

description the job description is a

great place to start what are they

saying they want well how does that

match up with what do I think about

myself and so I can go in there and sit

and they say it will tell me about

yourself and I could say well I can tell

you the qualities that people say they

see me the most or that I am probably

anally organized but maybe as far as

even meticulous I am very analytical

when I’m looking at things I’m taking

from the big picture down into the

details but really the thing that I

think most describes me is that I really

enjoy meeting all different types of

people and that’s one of the things that

really lures me into the auditing

profession is that you get to go to so

many different organizations and

interact with so many different types of

companies as well as people and one of

the fun things that folks can do is if

you’re responding to an ad for example

and most of these are awful

institutionally created dull templates

that firms use time and time again

there’s this section that normally

people ignore where they talk about the

personal qualities that they’re looking

for in someone going past the one about

taking player but I digress but look at

those characteristics that they’re

describing that they want someone to

have that’s what Michelle’s talking to

back there all these personal attributes

that can fit you well as you answer that

question you can just state them to the

employer or the interview or I should

say and you’ve made your point in the

first 30 seconds of an issue and I think

you make a really good point about that

personal and the personality and one of

the things as I was getting that example

off the top of my head because I haven’t

been in that field

ages is that I try to not just give you

IM x y&z I add a little personality I

showed who I am I had energy around the

things that I really cared about and

elaborated slightly without speaking for

too long and if you want to find those

little balances and nuances because the

truth is even though we know we’re

supposed to be figuring out different

aspects of our candidates the one that

really has the greatest amount of

influences do I think I could work with

this person on a daily basis do I like

them say truth we would a firm is hiring

they’re sure to figure out skills

competence can they execute what we need

them to do and how are they going to fit

and yeah fit no I can go into a lengthy

conversation about that i’ll simply say

that’s the likeability quotient I hand

folks you have to demonstrate some

aspect of your personality and risk at

all rather than be an interview clone

because if you’re just going to clone

your way through the interview just like

everyone else behaves professionally

there’s nothing that they can really

connect with you about there’s one more

thing i will add to the list of what

they were looking for it’s not just can

they do it it’s do they want to do it

and if you have a strong interest in a

passion you want that to come through

not just in the interview but that cover

letter I tell you I’ve hired people

based on a cover letter because I could

feel the passion through their words in

that and when you get a thousand resumes

that is really the difference between do

I get an interview or not so make sure

that that that desire to do the job and

them understanding why you are

passionate about this thing called

auditing that really is not that

interesting bring it out and for me it

really i remember back in the day i was

like i love the fact that the collegial

environment and that we get to see learn

some of different companies and

organizations and industries and work

with different people and i really was

excited about it until I learned about

what I was really doing which is why you

do what you do say that’s a different

conversation

Unfair Comparisons and Uncontextualized Data

we’ve got every winsome tell me about

yourself and how do people proceed from

there what’s going to help them land

this job so what you want to realize is

that there’s about five different phases

of interview and it’s not linear phases

you have the rapport building that we’ve

talked a little bit about you have that

opening question which we’ve also talked

a little bit about and then the core of

the interview which are trying to

determine those three things that we’ve

been saying do they want to can they and

do they fit and then you have the

section where you get to ask them

questions and this to me is something

that should be infused throughout the

entire interview because it enables it

to be conversational rather than an

interrogation feel you will be more

comfortable if you start posing

questions earlier and not wait to the do

you have any questions for me saves the

questions that you ask are giving

indication to the interviewer of what’s

important to you and how are you making

your decision and the last days the

interview that you do need to think

about is the clothes and how do we end

it understanding what the next steps are

so when you talk about asking questions

about what’s interesting to you you’re

not saying so tell me about the job or

is that how it’s done here you’re asking

more specific things again did you offer

an example absolutely when you think

about how am I going to decide do I want

this job what are the things that are

important to me those are really where

your questions are going to drive from I

remember back early on in my career I

was very concerned with the the culture

and the people and I often ask the

question of do you view that you work

with coworkers or do you view that you

work with friends and it was for me to

get a sense of what was the camaraderie

like and it was important to me and i

will tell you i took a lower paying job

based on how I felt about those answers

in two different companies I often do

ask questions that are going to give me

insight into assuming I’m going to get

the job so i might say can you tell me a

little bit about the team i’ll be

working with or the manager what you

know what do you think would enable

somebody be successful in the role or

what is one mistake that you’ve seen

other people make that you wish every

new coming in and so really things that

are going to help me jump off strongly i

might ask things around where they see

themselves in five to ten years because

that’s going to give me an indication of

career trajectory within an organization

you posed the question i never heard

before they ask you to repeat it that’s

the one what would you want someone to

know coming in to help them avoid

mistakes experimental language the

cheese I don’t know about the exact

language but yes it’s something to say

what is a mistake that you’ve seen past

employees make that you wish everybody

knew coming on the job and fabulous

thank you you’re very welcome you know

I’ve created 1500 + videos about job

hunting and hiring and that’s the first

time I’ve heard that is an excellent

question really yes for me and I I put a

whole list of different types of

categories of questions and types of

questions to get your your mind thinking

because what happens is they hear the

same questions over and over again when

you ask questions that really are going

to give you information that are going

to help you make a decision then it’s

not just oh I need to ask three

questions because it’s that section of

the interview and so I’d really believe

strongly and only asking questions you

actually care about the answer to and

not be oh you know how do you feel about

the culture you know I’ll ask things

like tell me about your favorite part of

working here and tell me about your

least favorite part of working here

because I want to come into a job with

my eyes wide open I normally will tell

someone to ask about what the

expectations are over the first 30 60 90

days and then the second follow-up

question that I just let’s say I’m hired

I’m on board for a year inspired to give

you a review I haven’t just done a good

job I’ve got a spectacular one what

would I have accomplished during that

year that was

or to think that way it was just

absolutely love that and I have one that

was similar I used to say tell me what

success looks like in this role what is

hitting out of the ballpark look like so

very very similar concept cool so here’s

the part that no one ever talks about

and it’s some critical folks and talk

with us about it so let’s talk about

what how someone’s going to end the

interview probably so it’s tough because

you know it’s awkward on both sides of

the desk that person’s like will do have

any more questions and you’re thinking

oh I should ask more questions so there

are some ways that you can give the

interview an indicator and it’s almost

like letting them off the hook if you’ve

asked questions throughout you want to

save one or two or three towards that

end section because it helps wrap the

interview but you don’t have to have a

half a dozen at the end you might say

well I do have one more question or my

last question for you is and so it’s

giving them that indication not to throw

that question back out to you one of my

favorite ways to end an interview and

this is risking and I have a lot of

people who told me I would never want to

do that but I love doing this and i’ll

tell you why i will sometimes say no i

don’t have any more questions but what I

do want to know is is there anything

that you think is important in this role

that I haven’t covered or explained

fully to you is there any something like

that or I might ask do have any concerns

with me being able to do this job to its

fullest and really what I’m asking is do

you see any weaknesses in May and is

there anything that you really need to

know that you don’t know yet and the

reason i ask those types of questions is

because they think it or they feel it

regardless of whether i asked it but if

i asked at an interview i have the

opportunity to recover to fix to clarify

and and so i would rather know than not

know and what this also does is to rectify

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if not all interviewers are particularly

good and the result winds up being they

may make assumptions about your

background without having investigated

so I’ve had situations where people have

asked that question at the end of it

interview they’ve never been asked about

something it’s launched in the subject

oh I’m so glad you mentioned that and

then they start going into my turn the

tables and lo and behold and offer comes

doesn’t happen all the time but

sometimes the bias is so closely held

but at least gives you the chance to

compete and sometimes I’ll end the

interview with when they say give any

more questions I’ll say no I don’t have

any more questions but I just will make

sure that i have been very clear on and

I’ll say something that I want to

re-emphasize on why I want the job or

what I think I bring to the table or

some type of closing statement that

projects the characteristics of the

attributes that I want to make sure that

they know about me it’s like being the

attorney who’s presenting closing

arguments exactly yeah then why are we

making shish I mean or wait talking

about before it almost reminds me of

like the halo and the horns affect some

of that closing opportunity is to ensure

that the horns or halos didn’t blur the

entire interview and for the audience

that might not be familiar with those

phrases is that when we draw a

conclusion about somebody we look to

them prove our conclusion and that

conclusion happens very early and so if

you mess up a little at the beginning

you you might not get that opportunity

to recover so you want to make sure that

you are presenting country information

so that they see the full picture of you

sweet although most people are tempted

to keep with the halos because they like

the halo effect and then looking for you

know happy that the employer has this

projection about them that they’re this

way because it advantages them but

certainly the horns you want to be

dealing with pretty quickly well you

know i will tell you I’ve had halos

effect

you know and I agree with you most of

time ride that halo all the way to the

job offer but I rode that halo seven

rounds into interviews and didn’t get

the job offer and because there was

something always in the surface that

they’re like she’s great she’s great

she’s great they kept riding that halo

but they weren’t digging in one aspect

that you know I’ve wasted seven rounds

of interviews for them to tell me I was

too casual I mean really that was the

only feedback I had every qualification

every skill set but my style whether

it’s the way sad the way I spoke smiling

too much it was those types of aspects

or the reason I didn’t get the job and

had they not written the halo the whole

way we would have uncovered that a lot

sooner I’m not sure with that you know

sometimes people want to give excuses

and they can’t quite put their finger on

it so I come up with a trivial point

I’ll simply say whatever it was whether

it was that or something that they

didn’t want to reveal seven interviews

is a long time to be dangerous find out

at the end of the day they’re not into

you so does not that into you so we’re

starting to come up on the end of time

with one another and this has been

flowing so nicely but I want to make

sure that if there are points that you

want to make to punch people of that

interview we get a chance to address

them here so what happened I asked you

about or what haven’t we covered that we

really should cover to help people land

the job precision nail the interview

there’s one thing that I always like to

talk about is that the interview isn’t

over even though you didn’t get the job

and I know that seems really backwards

but the truth is you have established a

relationship with an organization or

with some individuals along the way and

you want to maintain and extend that

even after not getting the job because

it could be that that job wasn’t the

right fit but they love you and they

might think of you for the next thing

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and I

that happened numerous times or it could

be that you know what they’ve left that

company they went somewhere else they

remembered you and they’re hiring over

there and you’d be a fit perfectly over

there so really do think about the

relationships that you’re building is

not one and done but an extension of the

network continue to build that Network

because ninety percent of executive

level jobs come from networking over

fifty percent of all levels come from

networking so don’t let those

relationships go folks have heard me say

many times seventy percent of filled by

networking and seventy percent of the

seventy percent come from introductions

to people that you didn’t know at the

beginning of the search so always always

does your network maintain the

relationships you’ve invested time with

them they’ve invested time with you why

would you want to drop the relationship

just as they said no that time great

interview Michelle thank you so much how

come folk songs about you your books

everything all the good stuff I I am

easy to find online my full name Michele

mi CH AE L le Tillis TI l LIF Letterman

led er ma n com is my website on there I

give away lots of goodies you can get a

chapter of the 11 laws of likeability

you can take a networking assessment you

can get a free interview preparation

checklist actually if people want to go

to Michelle toast Letterman flash gift

pack you can get all of them and you can

check out my blog and you can check out

my youtube channel you can find me on

linkedin and you can find me on twitter

at mt Letterman but if you go on

Facebook you got to promise me to go in my

professional page and click the like

button because I keep the the 80s hair

to myself on my personal page

every shelf

 

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Branding. Brandjacking. Build Your Reputation

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