Degrees of Success

7 Step Interview

Written by claudia on February 14, 2009 – 3:57 pm -

After many interviews and getting many jobs, I have come up with a formula for interviewing.

Step 1.My suggestions for interviewing are that you have a 60 second commercial ready – that consists of two previous jobs and two outstanding things you did to make a difference in each of those companies. If you made them money, saved them money, created a new system etc.

Step 2. Then tell the propsective emplooyer that you know what your skills and experiences are, maybe you’ve even read the job description or know what it consists of but you want to know what is important to them. While they are talking about things that are most important to them about the job, make mental notes as to what you have done so that you can match what they are requesting.

Step 3. Then when there is a natural ending to his/her conversation, tell them what you have done that matches what they want.

Step 4. As them questions about the previous employee who had the same position. ”What did the the past employee do that you liked? What did the employee do that you didn’t like? Is there something that you would have liked to have done that wasn’t thought of?”

Step 5. Ask questions about where the employee went and why? Did he/she get promoted within the company? What the chances for promotion? Does the company look within first before going outside to fill a position? Are there regular pay increases?

Step 6. The last question is: ”Given what you’ve heard from me during this time, do you have information about me to hire me today?” If they say no, find out why. Find out their objections so that once again you can go back into your past experiences to come up with something that matches what they are looking for. If you do not have an experience, tell your prospective employer that you would like to apply the 80/20 rule, which means you know how to do 80 percent of the job but you would like 20 percent to be a new challenge.

Step 7. Take control of the follow-up. Tell them that you are busy looking for a job so that it would probably be better if you called them to follow-up. Ask them if next Tuesday or Wednesday would be a good time to call to find out the status. You will, at the very least, find out what their timing is.

If you have any experiences to add about your job interviews, it could be very helpful to others in these difficult times.

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