How to Walk Into an Interview Prepared

  • Research the company. Try to talk to sales representatives who are in the industry.
  • Research the industry.
  • Research the product or service.
  • Purchase thank you cards and postage stamps.
  • Invest in an organizational binder to hold notes, company information, directions, and business cards.
  • Prepare a list of questions you have for the client. "Sample Interview Questions"
  • If you are an entry-level candidate, make sure that your resume is no longer than one page, and your objective fits that job description.

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Answering the “Tell Me About Yourself” Question

A Candidate’s Guide to Making a Great First Impression While Interviewing, by Jeff Skrentny, CPC/CTS, ATMS with edits by Henry Glickel, CPC

Let’s face it, interviewing is stressful enough without having to answer stupid interview questions.  But unfortunately, many interviewers, because of habit, lack of preparation time, poor training, or yes, even laziness, often ask stupid questions.  Of those, one of the most challenging is the oft used “Tell me about yourself” interview opener.

What most candidates ask me about this insipid interview question is: “What do they want to know?”  They want to know about you the candidate as a potential employee.  They don’t want to know about your family, your last vacation, your hobbies, your religious beliefs, that you like the Cubs , or that you are a proud member of AA.  Yes, I have had candidates give each of those responses to the infamous “Tell me about yourself” question.  I don’t recall any of them ever getting hired by the employers who interviewed them. 

Interviewers also think it is improper, a sign of your lack of preparedness, or even rude, for you to answer their “Tell me about yourself” question with a question of your own like, “What would you like to know?” If you are prepared, and seriously thinking about making a career change, you will have a prepared and thoughtful answer to this question BEFORE you begin interviewing. 

Why?  I am glad you asked, and I think one example should convince you I am right.      

Let me share just one story about this opening interview question that cost a candidate a job she REALLY wanted.  It is a perfect illustration to make you understand why you must plan a response for this question whether you are asked it or not.  The scenario was this: The candidate was a financial services professional, her recruiter had a financial services client that was looking to fill a VP position for a 125k base + 25k bonus.  The candidate had an ideal background and skill set, and the client thought she was a perfect fit.  The candidate knew the client and was thrilled to interview with her.  The client joked that when the candidate came to the interview the recruiter should send the candidate with an invoice for the fee, because they thought they might make her an offer on the spot.  

You can more or less guess how the story ended.  The candidate didn't get the job, but please pay attention as to why, because that is the part of the story that matters most.  To start the interview the candidate was asked the dreaded “Tell me about yourself” question.  Thinking that it was an inconsequential icebreaker question, she retorted, simply intending to cause an opening chuckle, “Well, as you can obviously see, I am 15-20 pounds overweight.”   

She was only joking!  Yet, due to the impact this answer had on the client, for all practical purposes the interview was over as soon as she said this.  That “amusing” answer to what the candidate viewed as a seemingly innocuous question convinced the employer that this $150k VP had an image or low self-esteem problem.  Despite the recruiter’s insistence that it was just a joke, the employer declined to make the candidate an offer.  The retort was just a joke!  But not really.  It was no joke to the candidate who lost the $150k dream job.  It was no joke to the recruiter who had invested so much time in finding the employer this ideal candidate.  This candidate attempted to humorously break the ice, but the interviewer misinterpreted the response to a stupid question, and became convinced the candidate was not VP material.

This whole fiasco could have been avoided if the candidate had just been taught a very simple formula for answering this question.  Sure, we know this question is a stupid and unnecessary one with which to begin an interview.  But because interviewers open interviews with this question, candidates need to know how to respond to it intelligently.  The formula I’ve learned has worked wonders for hundreds of my candidates, and those of thousands of recruiters I have shared it with over the last half dozen years.

Many, in fact a sad majority, of interviewers open with some form of the “Tell me about yourself” question.  It would be an easy question to answer if candidates answered with a prepared and well thought-out initial marketing statement of themselves and their skills, which are applicable for the open job.  This sounds pretty straightforward, but few of the thousands of candidates I have interviewed in the last 15 years have EVER been able to answer this question in this intelligent manner.  The best candidates typically respond with a narrowing question like: “What would you like to know?”  But let’s get one thing straight: It is extremely poor form to answer the opening interview question with another question.  Yet, that is how the BEST candidates do typically answer this question, due to its ambiguous nature.  Though it seems to be a logical approach, you must prepare to do better.

Three-part, pre-planned marketing statement

Candidates must teach themselves to answer this question with a three-part, pre-planned marketing statement that can more or less be reused from interview to interview: 

  • Summarizing what your experience is as candidate.
  • Ssharing an impressive career accomplishment.
  • Summarizing what would be an ideal next career step for you, one that matches what the employer is looking to hire.

Part one of that three-part marketing statement is always a one-sentence summary of the candidate’s career history.  For example, let me share with you a sales candidate’s opening sentence: 

 “I am a five-year veteran of Business Products and Engineering Services Sales with substantial experience in prospecting, business development and closing activities..”

You get the picture; your whole career needs to be condensed into one pithy sentence that encapsulates the most important aspects of your career, the aspects that you want to leverage in order to make your next career step.  Few candidates seem to be able to condense a career into one sentence, but it must, and can be, done.  Ask any recruiter for help here, this is what we do. 

Part two of the pre-planned marketing statement will be a one-, maybe two-sentence summary of a single accomplishment that you are proud of that will also capture the potential employer’s attention.  It immediately follows your initial career summary sentence from above.  This accomplishment should be one that the employer will be interested in hearing, one that is easily explained or illustrated, and one that clearly highlights a bottom line impact.   When done correctly this will build interviewer intrigue about the accomplishment so that they inquire further, giving you an opportunity to further discuss a significant career success.  The above candidate’s accomplishment statement was:

“I have been a top performer for my two employers.  I have met quota every year and have consistently ranked in the top 30% of the sales reps in the company.  I have been sales rep of the month 8 times in the last two years and have never ranked below the top 5 in the last year.  I was runner-up for rookie of the year.  I have won dinners, tickets to baseball games, and a week-end trip to Nantucket for my performance and incentive contest at the office.” 

If you have performed additional responsibilities where you have not gotten paid, you may want to be able to articulate that accomplishment.  Below is an example: 

“Recently, as a sales representative with a services company, I learned they were about to engage an outside sales trainer to bring underperforming representatives up to speed and train new sales representatives on company products.  I let them know that I had acted as unofficial trainer in my last position in business products.  I outlined how they could get the job done with our current sales staff and with successful in saving the company $55,000 while getting reps up to speed faster.”

Part three, the final piece of the marketing statement, is probably the most fluid piece.  It needs to be a one-sentence summary of specifically what you want to do next in your career.  The reason this third part is difficult is that it needs to specifically address what you want to do next, AND it needs to change from interview to interview to make sure it matches exactly what the INDIVIDUAL employers will be interviewing you for.  Continuing with the above example:

“For the next step in my career, I would like to align myself with a company that promotes from within an, pays for performance.  I seek to join a substantial sales team and be involved in the expansion and growth of new product sales and marketing efforts while having access to the knowledge base that would come from a diverse sales group.”

With some simple revising, the candidate can make sure that each employer they interview with hears what they are looking for specifically.  That revising is what makes the third piece fluid and sometimes challenging, as candidates don’t always see the need for being this specific from job interview to job interview.  Most tend to be generalized, hoping that a shotgun approach will work.  But it is the rifle sharpshooters, those who get specific in what they want from interview to interview, who get the best results.  With some simple planning BEFORE an interview, you, the candidate, will quickly realize the benefit of a targeted third sentence in these pre-planned opening statements, as employers feel you are perfectly suited to do just the job they are interviewing you for. 

If you take the time to prepare this way as a candidate, it will be apparent to an interviewer that you are a prepared and serious candidate right at the beginning of the interview when you answer the “Tell me about yourself” question with this memorized, brief marketing statement, which combines a career summary, an exceptional accomplishment, and employer-specific career goal as in this example.

You can understand how the candidate who opens with this type of prepared response to the “Tell me about yourself” question will make a significantly better first impression than a candidate who responds by answering, “What would you like to know?” or worse yet, “Well, as you can obviously see, I am 15-20 pounds overweight.”  Plus candidates who prepare in this manner are typically more confident at the interview’s start, make a substantial and positive verbal first impression, give a clear indication of their interest in making a career move, and force the interviewer to get past the icebreaker questions to the parts of the interview that will help both parties begin the process of seriously determining if this is a solid match.  As you can see, there is a great deal of bang for your preparation buck.

Clearly these three simple steps—are the keys to beginning your interview with a competitive advantage.  Candidates who take the time to do this significantly improve their initial verbal impression, get their interview off to a confident and focused beginning, and more often than not get called back for second interviews, or better yet, for offers of employment with employers who are impressed.

“I am a five-year veteran of Business Products and Engineering Services Sales with substantial experience in prospecting, business development and closing activities.”  I have been a top performer for my two employers.  I have met quota every year and have consistently ranked in the top 30% of the sales reps in the company.  I have been sales rep of the month 8 times in the last two years and have never ranked below the top 5 in the last year.  I was runner-up for rookie of the year.  I have won dinners, tickets to baseball games, and a week-end trip to Nantucket for my performance and incentive contest at the office.  Recently, as a sales representative with a services company, I learned they were about to engage an outside sales trainer to bring underperforming representatives up to speed and train new sales representatives on company products.  I let them know that I had acted as unofficial trainer in my last position in business products.  I outlined how they could get the job done with our current sales staff and with successful in saving the company $55,000 while getting reps up to speed faster.”  For the next step in my career, I would like to align myself with a company that promotes from within and pays for performance.  I seek to join a substantial sales team and be involved in the expansion and growth of new product sales and marketing efforts while having access to the knowledge base that would come from a diverse sales group.”

Jeff Skrentny, CPC/CTS, ATMS, began his career in the recruiting industry after graduate school in 1987 with one of Chicago's largest recruiting firms.  In 1996 Jeff successfully started his own technical search firm, the Jefferson Group. Since 1987 Jeff has placed more than 1,000 Chicagoland professionals.  Jeff also does motivational training for numerous recruiting companies & associations, and publishes a free electronic newsletter for recruiters, the JEFFERSON RECRUITERS REPORT™.  He attended Marquette University from 1980-86, where he studied English, Economics and Political Science for his BA and English for his MA work.  Jeff is a hopeless Cub fan, a marathon runner, and an award-winning speaker with Toastmasters International.  Any questions, problems, feedback, successes or criticisms you’d like to share can be emailed to him at AskJeff@JeffersonInc.com.  He will gladly respond as time allows.
Copyright © 2000-2003, Jeff Skrentny & Jefferson Group Consulting

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What To Do At An Interview

  • Always try to arrive at least 20 minutes early for the interview.
  • Bring the phone number of the company, and/or the direct number of the person you are interviewing with.
  • Bring a notepad with a binder and pen.
  • When you introduce yourself to the client, you need to have good eye contact, a firm handshake, and a bright smile.
  • Don't just sit down, ask the interviewer where they would like you to sit.
  • Ask for permission to take notes during the interview (have a notepad & pen).
  • Practice a short concise answer to the opening question, "Tell me about yourself?"
  • Only talk about what's being discussed, and don't respond to questions with overly lengthy answers. Stay focused on what is being asked.
  • Have a list of questions prepared about the company and their product.
  • You will need to have a rehearsed and thought out plan to close the interview. Don't leave without receiving a commitment by the client to proceed to the next step; i.e., "What reservations would you have in regards to moving me to the next step in your process?" "What are your concerns?" "Can you tell me how to alleviate these concerns?" "When can I schedule my next interview?"
  • Get the client's business card.
  • Never leave without extending a handshake and a thank you to both the client and the receptionist.
  • Immediately after the interview send a thank you card to the client.
  • Be very precise as to how you follow the directions set forth by the client in regards to moving forward with the company; i.e., make sure that if a client gives you an exact time to call on a certain date, that you call precisely at that time. If you can't get through on that day, follow up by calling them each day until you contact them.
  • Be pleasantly persistent and courteous. Reminder: Remember to show a bright smile
    and lots of enthusiasm during the entire interview.

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Key Attributes

  • Have a professional appearance.
  • Perform good follow up.
  • Show lots of enthusiasm.
  • High organizational skills.
  • Be Persistent.
  • Utilize strong closing skills.
  • Show good presentation skills.
  • Emphasize proper communication skills.

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Interviewing Dress Code

Suggestions for Men

  1. A freshly pressed and dry cleaned suit (navy, dark gray), shirt (white), and a
    conservatively colored tie.
  2. Freshly polished shoes.
  3. Belt color should coordinate with shoe color.
  4. Well groomed hair and nails.
  5. Professional binder to hold resumes and notepad.

Suggestions for Women

  1. A freshly pressed and dry cleaned skirt-suit (no shorter than knee length) in navy blue or dark gray color.
  2. Freshly polished, low heeled shoes, coordinated with purse and belt.
  3. No scented products (including perfume and/or hair care products).
  4. Conservative jewelry.
  5. Well groomed hair and nails.
  6. Professional binder to hold resumes and notepad.

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Reading Materials to Strengthen Your Sales Abilities

Spin Selling, by Neil Rackham

Knock ’em Dead, by Martin Yate, 2003

I Wanna Be a Sales Representative—The Insiders Guide To Landing Great Paying Jobs in Sales, by Lydia M. Afeman

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Dr. Stephen Covey

Periodicals:

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Sample Interview Questions to Pose to the Hiring Manager

Company/Industry

  1. What the company strengths are in your eyes?
  2. According to my research, ___________, ___________, and ___________ are listed as your competitors. Who is the strongest in your view and why?
  3. What drew you to the company?
  4. What drew you to the industry?
  5. What is the company's focus this year?
  6. What are the company's goals?
  7. What do you consider important in fitting in the company culture?
  8. What are the growth trends of the ___________ industry?
  9. Who do you feel will be the company's main competitor in the future?
  10. The company is seen as stable financially based on investor reports. What is your perception?
  11. What do you see as technological breakthroughs in the next few years?

Management

  1. What are the characteristics of the best performers in your district?
  2. What was the previous experience of the best you have hired?
  3. How long have you been with the company?
  4. What has been your progression with the company?
  5. Where do you see yourself in the company in five years?
  6. What are the realistic chances for growth in the company?
  7. What are the realistic chances for advancement in the company?
  8. What benchmarks do you use in evaluating your direct reports?

Position

  1. What specific activities do you like to see each week?
  2. Can you elaborate on the initial training that I will receive and additional training during the first year?
  3. Do you anticipate geographic changes in the territory?
  4. What market share does the company have nationally as well as in the territory?
  5. How does our product differ from our competitors?
  6. Why is the position available? (If a replacement, why is the person being replaced? If replacement for lack of achievement, what did the person do wrong or not do?)
  7. What are realistic first year earnings for your top 20% performers as this is where my history has ranked me in my present position and this is where I will be earning if hired by you for this position?
  8. Are there any special characteristics that make the territory more challenging?

Interviewing process

  1. When would you like to see the position filled?
  2. Is there a scheduled training class that this employee would attend?
  3. When would that scheduled training be?
  4. When is the next stage of interviews scheduled for?
  5. What other individuals will be involved in the interviewing process?
  6. When should I follow up with you or my sales recruiter's search consultant?
  7. Based on our conversation, do you believe I have the experience and skills to proceed to the next stage of the interview process?
  8. How do I compare with your other candidates?
  9. How many candidates are you interviewing for this position?

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Telephone Interview Tips

Today's Toughest Interview Environment

"It was a humiliating experience. One of the biggest mistakes of my life," she said. As I listened to her tale, it sounded much more like a buildup for an episode of "Murder She Wrote" than a real-life encounter with a hiring manager in a telephone interview.

"They gave it to me with both barrels. I was on one end of the phone, fumbling for facts and any degree of comfort that I could find, while two people who I didn't know were firing away from a speakerphone. I was completely unprepared. The timing was terrible, and the call came out of nowhere. I just know that I blew it ... Do you believe that I'll get a second chance at this one?" Logic seemed to say that if she really thought she had done that poorly, the company wouldn't be taking the conversation any further. Sure enough, she got a "thanks but no thanks" letter for her effort.

Why Companies Subject Themselves and You to the Telephone Interview Process?

  • Telephone interviews can be one of the most uncomfortable pieces of the job-seeking puzzle. Still, most employers use them as a regular part of the hiring process. They resort to them because they are a necessary step, primarily for cost reasons. Without them, companies would overburden themselves interviewing candidates face-to-face who could have been disqualified for the process much earlier on.
  • It is this opportunity to become "disqualified" that is the major reason for the discomfort that you most likely experience during the process. It would be great if every hiring manager or human resources person on the other end of the phone were looking for reasons to hire you, instead of reasons to drop you from the process. Sadly, however, that isn't the case. Depending upon the nature of the person conducting the interview, these telephone conferences can become extremely uncomfortable.
  • It is that difference in human nature, which can also make a telephone interview a valuable part of the process for you as well. Should you encounter a person with enough courtesy and respect to allow you to also learn from the process, you can become one of the lucky ones who gain something from the encounter. In order to help turn some of these potentially negative scenarios into opportunities, first understand the reasons behind these calls.

Different Reasons for Telephone Interviews

  • The "screening call" from Human Resources: quite often, the H/R department needs to learn more about you for the purposes of sending your credentials (with their notes) down to the right manager who has the open position. Although they most frequently make these initial contacts quite unassuming, in all likelihood this H/R person is trying to "short list" a big stack of prospects.
  • The "Ad Response" from a hiring manager: when a manager with an open position runs an ad, which might receive as many as a couple of hundred responses, they often have to run brief telephone interviews on the top ten or more resumes. Quite frequently, they'll just pick up the phone and conduct these sessions - most lasting 10-15 minutes - at their convenience.
  • The "In-depth" telephone interview: generally, once a prospect has been proven to be of potential interest to a company, either already screened by the H/R department or by a recruiter, the hiring manager will want to conduct a more intensive session dealing with the past experience and skills of the applicant in comparison to the job requirements.
  • The "recruiter interview": aAfter being recruited for a position, or after presenting your credentials to a recruiting firm, you will have a telephone conversation in detail with this outside consultant. It can be specific to a given project or allow you an opportunity to go into your aspirations and goals for your career in general. Most recruiting companies, due to the sheer number of resumes they review each week, will wait until a project looms before conducting an in-depth interview.
  • The "committee telephone interview": sometimes several hiring managers will decide to get together on the interviewing process, so that they can share their conclusions afterwards. This rarely happens when the company is still early in the process, and most often when there are just too many qualified applicants for the face-to-face round. Once again, the goal is to disqualify.

Eight Tips To Help You Improve Your Odds

Is there anything that can be done to make the process, if not more pleasant, at least more productive? Something that you can do to achieve a higher percentage of success during the process? Remember that this process is the same as a normal interview, except in hyper speed and without the element of "in person" communication. Here are some ideas to review prior to the interview, which will help you sharpen your telephone interview skills:

  • Remember that the person on the other end of the phone may be just as uncomfortable as you are. Concentrate less on your feelings of inadequacy and more on how to make the other person feel at ease. Most people do not like the telephone interview process - remember that it works both ways.
  • Smile over the phone. Believe it or not, smiling while you are talking will actually help you sound more "friendly" and open. Many telephone-marketing offices have a mirror on each desk so that their people can always keep this in mind!
  • During the telephone interview, you are judged by the same criteria used in an in-person interview, i.e.: self-confidence. Self-confidence is judged differently by phone than in-person (where eye contact, for example, can be an excellent barometer). Instead, you'll be judged by a much more subtle set of factors - the sound of your voice, your level of friendliness and enthusiasm, etc.
  • The ability to speak succinctly about your past experiences and accomplishments will be critical. Many technical professionals launch into long, drawn-out answers to telephone interview questions. Because they do not have the sense of sight working for them, they are quite unable to tell if the person on the other line has gone to sleep!
  • Many people find that the most uncomfortable scenario in a telephone interview is the occasional "dead air" of silence during the conversation. Do you have a list of questions prepared about the company and the opportunity that you can refer to when caught in one of those dead spots? Although good communication seems to be up to both of you, typically that dead air will be your responsibility to fill.
  • Although you are always judged on your ability to listen well, nowhere in the recruiting process do listening skills become more important than in the telephone interview. You'll find that your nerves will sometimes make this very difficult. I suggest that you close off all thoughts about whatever is going on around you and concentrate on the words and voice of the interviewer.
  • It should be remembered that since so much of your success in this situation is determined by your comfort in the surroundings you are in during the call, make certain that you get yourself situated properly. Perhaps it is by suggesting a time for the call that is after the kids have gone to bed. Or, if the caller takes you by surprise, ask for five minutes to get organized and get a phone number to call them back.
  • Don't ever talk about issues related to potential compensation, company benefits, problems at your current employer, etc., when in the throes of an initial phone interview. This is solid advice for any first-interview situation. It always amazes me when an experienced veteran launches into a diatribe about bad management at their company, or asks the infamous line "What's the job pay?"

Prepare yourself for a telephone interview

Put these items near the telephone: copies of materials you have sent out (i.e. resume, cover letter, writing samples), information you have received from the company, a "cheat sheet" of research information on companies you have contacted, a list of your specific experiences and skills that you wish to communicate, a list of your questions about the company and the position, and pen and paper for notes.

For a pre-set interview, request the names and titles of the people with whom you will be speaking and wear appropriate interview clothing such as a suit. It will assist you in assuming "interview mode".

Other advices:

  • Have a clock to keep track of the time. Most screening interviews last 30 minutes.
  • Control background noise such as stereo, TV, roommates, family, etc.
  • Disable call waiting temporarily.
  • Smile as you speak. It makes your voice more pleasant and upbeat. Put a mirror in front of you so you can monitor your facial expressions.
  • Record a professional message on your voice mail/answering machine!
  • Make sure your line is open when the call is expected

It Will Matter to You

Conducting a successful telephone interview is something that matters throughout your career. At all levels of the organization, the telephone interview provides a valuable service to the recruitment process. By its very nature, it is a tool used to help define the job and the potential that the field of applicants has to fit within those parameters. Human resources and hiring managers alike all find that despite how much they may dislike the process, it is an invaluable tool.

Don't make the mistake of not taking a telephone interview seriously. It is the first important step in the process and remember, your goal on the telephone interview always should be to get to the next step, even if you are not sure how interested you are in the opportunity. You can always decide to back out after evaluating your telephone conversation, but you cannot resurrect a bad interview.

So give it your all and have a great interview!

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Interview Tips - Summary

  • Research the company, their products, services and the industry.
  • Prepare a list of questions for the client that are broken down by subject.
  • Dress professionally.
  • Arrive at least 20 minutes early for the interview.
  • When you introduce yourself to the client, you need to have good eye contact, a firm handshake and a bright smile.
  • Practice a short concise answer to the opening question "Tell me about yourself?"
  • Stay focused on the questions being asked.
  • Have a rehearsed thought on how to close the interview. Don't leave without receiving a commitment by the client to proceed to the next step.
  • Get the client's business card.
  • Never leave without extending a handshake and a thank you to both the client and the receptionist.
  • Immediately after the interview, send a thank you card to the client.
  • Follow up with the client. Be persistent and courteous.

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