Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1400 episodes and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice.” He is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council. “No BS JobSearch Advice Radio” was recently named a Top 10 podcast for job search. JobSearchTV.com was also recently named a Top 10 YouTube channel for job search.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Schedule a free Discovery call.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
The thing you're forgetting about in your interviews. I've talked to john hunters. I've talked to people I coach about this for years. It's not just simply about career coaching or job search coaching. It's in a lot of other venues in life that this really shows up. What is it that you're forgetting about? What you're forgetting about . . . It's not school where you're being graded on having the right answers, at least not all of it. The thing that you're forgetting about is that it's not who has the most answers or the most right answers who wins. It's the one who has the most right answers, who gives them a feeling that they can be believed and trusted. So, it's your ability to inspire confidence that you can help them that becomes so important and, unless you do that, you're competing with everyone else who's trying to get 100% on the test. And how did that work for you in school? Some of you got great grades. That's terrific. And now that you're in the world of work, you understand that there's another dimension that's there. The person who gets chosen for the plum assignment because they're friendly with your boss, the person who gets pushed out the door because everyone thinks they're incompetent even when they aren't. So, I want to remind you, it's not about your grade on the interview. It's about your ability to inspire confidence that are the solution to what they need, . . . which is a feeling. It's a feeling that comes about, not because you got all the right answers, but how you carry yourself as a professional, how you carry yourself in the interviews, how you handle yourself throughout all your interactions with them that makes all the difference in the world. So, don't forget that and let it show up in quote unquote the theater . . . the theater of interviewing. You are a performance artist on the stage, trying to give them that feeling. And if you don't like it, tough. That's the way of the world, folks. And if you don't like it, adapt, try my way. I know it works because, after all, I filled so many positions in my career as a headhunter. I know this extra dimension makes all the difference in the world. So, don't neglect it. Don't forget about it. Don't ignore.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1300 episodes and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice.” He is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
A 6 second video about preparation for interviews.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1300 episodes and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice.” He is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
Today, I want to talk with you about how to answer the single most important question that employers try to find out from you. Do you know what that question is?
Can you do the job? Can you do the job they need to have filled? Most of you have no idea what the job is when you apply for it.
You may have seen an ad. You may have seen some place or you may have been told something about the job… But you really just don't know. If you posted your resume on a job board all you're going to do is talk about yourself, but the most important thing that you can do is contextualize what you've done and how it relates to what they need.
How do you do that? How do you find out what they really need to have done? It's really simple. Let's say, you get a call out of the blue.
Ring ring. Ring ring.
"Hi I am Nancy Recruiter from ABCDEF Corporation (by the way, if there is a firm out there by that name, my use of that name is purely fictitious). Is this Jeff Altman?"
"Yes."
"I saw you resume the job board want to have a chance to speak with you about a position. Is this a good time to talk?"
"Sure, Nancy, I'll be happy to speak with you. Nancy, before we get started, maybe I can just ask you , could you give me an idea of the position you have in mind for me and what I might be able to do to help you?"
Noticed, what I'm trying to do is find out about the job before I start answering questions.
The next alternative... You are in the physical job interview. An in person interview. Maybe you've seen an ad and you are now at the interview and you are now escorted to sit down with Nancy Recruiter. As soon as the 2 of you lower your butts into the seat, I would like to start speaking and say, "Thank you so much for making time to meet with me today. I recall the position I saw advertised but I want to get your take on the role. Could you tell me about the job as you see the what I can do to help you?"
Again, a simple way to find out about the job at the beginning of the interview where you can use that information to help sell your credentials. Obviously, if you are introduced by recruiter… "Hi! I spoke with Jeff Altman about the job and he gave me a brief description. I want to get your take on the role. You tell me about the job as you see and what I can do to help?"
Again, always try to find out about the job before you start answering questions.
It certainly possible that that they might say, "We'll get to that later on. I want to ask a few questions of you." What you've done is learn something about them right then and there. They like to do things close to the vest, they don't like to be particularly transparent. They would rather play gotcha.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1200 episodes and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
This one is about interviewing. Interviewing is one of those areas where we, reveal how we been acculturated, conditioned, put into a box, dammit, throughout our lives.
One of the things I keep pointing to is how the school systems teach us to behave. You know, sit at a desk, shut up, regurgitate facts, be obedient, do what the teacher tells you to do or else you won't get into a good college. Then, from there, we get into a good college, we have to do the same thing all over again except they call it thinking but most of the time is really very little thinking that's involved. So, we wind up being in a situation where we’re told to behave and regurgitate facts or think in order to get “a good job.” Then, we get to that “good job” and, lo and behold, we hate it. It’s a bad game we’re playing there.
So, we get to interviews to change jobs and we’ve been conditioned to be “modest” and to speak modestly about what we've done. The word “we” shows up in our conversation. Our group. We worked on instead of talking about ourselves because we’ve been told that you're not supposed to Bragg. You're not supposed to boast. You’re just supposed to behave yourself and we fall for its because you been conditioned to fall for it. That’s why.
Instead, my friend Rick Gillis has a book coming out call, “Promote.” He has an article on LinkedIn using that word, promote period you might be able to find on Pulse. It’s a nice idea because what you're able to do is succinctly speak about what you've done and how you went about doing it.
So, the word, “brag” has such a connotation. Just reading the dictionary definition – – “ to use boastful language. To boast. Anything to boast of” is the noun version of it, and you can just hear the connotations associated with it that are so problematic.
Rick just puts it very simply because what he wants to encourage you to do is self-promotion because, it's kind of like, if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it. Did it fall? There is a problem unless people know about your successes. So, he offers up a nice little formula.
I was responsible for (fill in the blank) that resulted in (fill in the blank) and then for you to talk about (and he uses an example of being an ex-radio guy) so he talks about “I was responsible for 49% of all sales for one organization that resulted in $3.2 million net to the bottom line.” Just as an aside, he spells and $3,200,000 because he believes that the more zeros someone reads the more powerful the statement is. So, let's follow his advice. $3,200,000 net the bottom line that year.
So, what he does has a beginning (I was responsible for), a middle the (that resulted in) an ending I (that offers up the results and what the accomplishment was). As a result, that one statement helps give an interviewer a lot of positive information about you for them to explore. Then, of course, you want to be able to back it up in your interview so that that you demonstrate credibility with the statements.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1200 episodes, “Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
I have another 1 of those fun tough interview questions for you today. Here's how it goes: "You're invited to a party at the country club. As a matter of fact, you are 1 of over 200 people who has been invited. At the time you walk in the door, more than half the people are there. How do people react when you walk in?"
Isn't that a fun one?
The ideas that they want to get a sense of your self-confidence. So, certainly, the correct answer is NOT, I want to repeat, NOT to say, "No one is going to notice me because of very unimportant."
Instead, you provide an answer that demonstrates that you have self-confidence.
The correct answer is actually the honest one.
"Some people would see me and some wouldn't. After all, they are engaged in conversation. It's not like I am The Great Gatsby and people stop in their tracks and started dancing around me and music starts playing, and the party swings in my direction! It's nothing like that. There a lot of people would walk over to me and try get my attention and begin a conversation with me."
That's the most simple and fun way to respond to that question.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for what more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1100 episodes,“ Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us and click the relevant tab on the top of the page.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
One of the things I've always been very good at is preparing people for interviews. If you look at my content on YouTube you’ll see hundreds of videos I've done, specifically, about interviews and that’s before I even get into how to answer tough interview questions.
One topic I hadn't really address and it came up to me because I was making something in Harvard Business Review about factors the weigh into a negotiation. The first variable beyond qualifications that they referenced was likability. When we think of politicians, most of the time, we vote for a politician that we like personally. Certainly, President Obama fit into that category for many Americans, even though they disagree with his policies. They liked him. They like his wife. They liked his family. It’s very different than the client we have as I record this in 2018 and, no disrespect to the current president, likability is not one of the leading things that people think of when they think of President Trump.
So, likability is a big variable negotiation, but it's also a variable when interviewing. When I saw that, I asked myself how does someone become likable? What do they do to demonstrate likability?
Now, I want to start off by saying you can't do anything that suggests you’re a BS artist. Everything you do has to be congruent with who you really are. One of the things I always think of is a smile, a friendly demeanor about you. I’m just trying to illustrate it here with a twinkle in my eye, a good mood of my face and just being friendly with a friendly handshake that lets people know that you are a friendly kind of guy.
Now, I'm not saying that you lower your guard in anyway but you make eye contact, a firm handshake. That's true for men and women, of course and, in doing that, you demonstrate that you’re open . . . which is a big part of likability. People want believe that is someone who is open is a likable individual.
Another thing to increase likability (and this is a variation on something I've said differently before) they’re good listeners and one of the things that you want to foster in the course of your interview is having them do a lot of the talking. In my interviews, I talk about the headhunter secret to knowing you did well on the interview. In it, I say, the more they talk, the more they like you. Part of the reason they are talking is they are selling to you. Part of it is you’ve made space for them. Maybe you've asked questions that allow you to listen more.
So, the goal becomes, at a certain stage in the conversation, you are doing a lot of listening and, energetically, you're also in sync with the interviewer. So, you being open is only one variable. You also have to appear as though you're engaged while you are listening to them (and this is the joke I’ve always told) bask in in their magnificence. They’re doing so much talking, they feel good because they are hearing the sweetest voice in the world to them . . . their own voice.
So, again, you want to be a good listener. You also want to appear open-minded. People who disagree a lot come across as being disagreeable and for a hiring manager, the last thing they want to do is hire someone else's headache.
So, again, you want to appear as though you're a good listener and I'm not saying to be such an agreeable person that you appear to be as a suck up but you want to carry yourself in a way where you are paying attention to them.
I also want to say there is congruence in your body language. Now there are people who were energetically very excited and they talk with your hands a lot and you. I've always said that's a little too much, but you do would feel free to talk with your hands and, if you’ve watched made in my videos, you know I do that a lot and I do it primarily to release energy but it's also an emphasis point that’s congruent with what I'm saying.
So, for you as a speaker, I want you to start thinking about how you can engage physically with your audience while still appearing likable, friendly and not a suck up, but an affable individual who is likable to them.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1200 episodes, “Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
In this video, I speak about a mistake hiring managers make too often–talking too much and what you should be doing instead.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for what more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1100 episodes, “Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Connect with me on LinkedIn. Then message me to schedule an initial complimentary session.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
The obvious answer isn't the right answer but you want to acknowledge it. The obvious answer is, "I have a profile on LinkedIn and have used it in a way that allowed your firm to find me (or the recruiter who found me to refer me to you)." Part of this becomes building reputation and brand. But the best answer takes this part and goes a completely different route. "But the other thing that I use it for (and this is where the best answer goes to) is use it as an intelligence resource. For example, on a project I did 2 years ago (or on a task I had assigned to be 2 years ago), where I didn't really know much about what I was being asked to do, I was able to use my network, not just simply for my 1st level connections, but to use an introduction from my 1st level connection to 3 people who let me do some research with them and pick their brain and the shortcut the amount of time that was spent on this project. From what could've been 2 weeks to 2 days. So, I use it as an information resource that helps me in my work day in and day out." So, what I've done is acknowledge the obvious answer, but you also go into greater depth and talk about how you actually use it for intelligence. By the way, if you're not using it this way, you really should be.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for what more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1100 episodes, “Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us and click the relevant tab on the top of the page.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
The story I'm going to tell you today applies to non-executives as well as executives. I was reminded of it last night when I was coaching someone who Was up for the presidency of the firm in Asia. The firm itself is a joint venture between 3 different major corporations. He was recruited by the Executive HR person for 1 of the minority partners and put forward by that firm as a contender for the presidency.
He met with the lead Person for the majority investor (I don't want to mention the title because it's a unique one) where she seemed to have a perfunctory one hour interview. They zeroed in on aspects of his background that were minimized by the minority partner, but maximized by the majority stakeholder. There was a point in the conversation where he was asked, "By the way, when did you get your degree?" Which was the way to determine his age (Being outside of the United States, there are different laws that were involved). 2 weeks later, he hasn't heard anything.
I tell this story for a simple reason. No matter where in an organizational chart you are, whether you are at a high level or a staff level individual, Sometimes you going to interview for jobs and be put forward by someone who doesn't have the clout OR (This isn't about recruiters;; I want to be clear about that), You may interview with someone who loves you but doesn't have the clout to get you hired. They put you through to someone who does and you receive a cursory interview or A fairly superficial one with someone who is interviewing you and it feels like you're interviewing with a wall. They are not giving you anything to attach to. I want to be clear, it's not a rock climbing wall that you can grab things. It feels like grabbing at a flat wall. You walk out of the interview, wondering, "What was that?" The answer is they were getting back at the other individual and you wind up being the person who wound up being the victim of this.
Whether you are an executive or staff level individual, Sometimes there are circumstances that are going on behind the scenes that are outside of your knowledge and outside of your control.
For example, in the situation that is the basis for our conversation today, I was concerned about this from day one because it seemed clear to me that because it is being put forward by 1 of the joint venture partners, rather than the primary firm, might come back to bite him in the butt. Did he execute perfectly? I wasn't in the room to observe so I can't comment on. However, he was dealing with someone who was very "flat."
They came in 20 minutes late without any apology or acknowledgment of the lateness. If they were a job applicant, you would expect them to say, "Hey, sorry I'm late."Nothing. Walked in. Dove right in.Finishes last question which was, "By the way, when did you get your degree?"Then walked out without saying goodbye..
Tell me about how this is supposed to work for anyone!
Just as a reminder, if situations like this present themselves to you where you feel like you're being presented with a no-win situation, don't beat yourself up about it. It's on them. It is up to you.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, all as well as executive job search coaching and life coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 1000 episodes,“ Job Search Radio,” “and his newest show, “No BS Coaching Advice” and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Visit www.TheBigGameHunter.us and click the relevant tab on the top of the page.
JobSearchCoachingHQ.com offers great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.
If you want to know how to win more interviews, order “Winning Interviews.” You’ll learn how to win phone interviews, in-person interviews, the best question to ask on any interview and more.
Would you like to talk through a salary negotiation or potential negotiation you’re involved with? Order and schedule time with me.
