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Interview Skills by Rowan Manahan
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Rowan Manahan
February 13, 2013
Business
1
610
Interview Skills by Rowan Manahan
In selection interviews, most people talk their way out of the job. Here's how to NOT do that.
Rowan Manahan
February 13, 2013
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Transcript
INTERVIEWS Surviving at job @Rowan_Manahan
Nothing has really changed in the world of job interviews
... for a long long time
And that’s because we haven’t really changed very much since
we came down from the trees
Your interviewer
Your interviewer, who will make his mind up on you
in a matter of seconds
A highly-sensitive decision switch is sitting at ‘Neutral’ when you
walk into the room From a blog post, way back when ...
The trembler switch drops to “No” very easily and very
quickly - a lot like dating. It takes much longer for the switch to click over to “Yes.”
EDGE And for that to happen, you need an edge
- not in the job skills per se, but in the skill of job-hunting.
Job-hunting is simple, but then again, so is tennis. It
takes a lot more work than most people realise in order to be great.
Yourself Enemy Terrain To be great in an interview, you
need to be good at the job in question - but you also need to know these three things.
Yourself Enemy Terrain
4 SECONDS Because your interviewer(s) are 98.5% chimpanzee
None
There are people who believe that they can tell a
lot about you from a handshake. It doesn’t matter that they’re wrong, you need a good handshake.
You also need to be turned out appropriately for the
industry / company / role - this is easy for men ...
Not so easy for women!
1. Professional 2. Presentable 3. Fashionable For both sexes -
build your interview wardrobe on these priorities and you won’t go far wrong.
Suit is invisible Accessories! No clutter Colour under your chin
For both sexes - pay attention to the details
Dark hair roots Revealing clothes Visible labels Perfume / After-shave
Piercings? Too much jewellery
3 MINUTES Then, you open your mouth for the first
time ...
“ Tell us a bit about yourself ... Walk us
through your CV ... Take us through your last two jobs ... Only about 10% of the audience had a response for this prepped and ready to go.
2-3 minutes 150 wpm 50% on last job / 2
years News headlines This is how to answer that question without sending your interviewer(s) to sleep.
CHESTNUTS
Nature of the role? Weaknesses / Strengths? Team / Leadership
style? Communication approach? Task / Problem approach (+examples!) Sectoral / Company issues? Best moment? Why you? Any questions? You’ll be asked these at most interviews - they are the chestnut questions.
Five magic WORDS You need a specialised vocabulary to deal
with interview questions
Best friend Impressive colleague Amazing boss Total asshole Describe each
of these people in 5 words/phrases. Then think about how they would describe you.
Five magic NUGGETS Condense the lists down to your NUGGETS
And map them out against the predictable stuff that’s going
to be discussed in the interview room.
More details on this (and coping with the ‘Nightmare Interview
from Hell’) is in Where’s My Oasis?
COMPETENCY Cavemen rarely had to deal with competency interviews
Screening/HR Interview Cascade Line manager Psychometric testing Structured / CBI
Social / Informal
“Give me an example of a time when you had
to …” “If you saw XXX taking place, what would you do?” “Have you ever had to YYY?” “How would you solve ZZZ?” These are the giveaway phrases
Situation Process Outcome WPM? 140-160 2 minutes = 300 words
And this is how you should structure up your (prepared) responses. Keep it tight and focus on your approach/process.
Yourself Enemy Terrain
Able? Willing? Fit in? This is what all interviewers want
to know - they ask lots of variations around these three questions.
‘Fit’ - John Collison from Stripe wants to know if
he will enjoy having coffee with you on Sunday morning, having worked through straight from Friday morning!
“ If you wish to persuade me, you must think
my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words. To be great in an interview, you really need to get into the heads of your interviewers ...
It’s a form of stalking!
Supply chain Customer channel Competitors Macro Widgets Inc. X Suss
out the company from all angles - what’s really going on there?
www.widgets.com If they are a PLC, their website will be
a mine of information
But don’t just stop at their website ...
Who are the players, what are their backgrounds?
You may find stuff about the company, or promotions here
Start following the players in the company, and in the
wider sector, on Twitter - what is occupying their minds?
And keep digging ...
... and digging ...
... and digging ...
Yourself Enemy Terrain Until you really know your enemy
Yourself Enemy Terrain Then you need to know the ground
you’ll be fighting on.
Meh This really distinguishes you from the herd
“ The deepest principle in human nature is the craving
to be appreciated And taps in to the deepest need in the human psyche
“Please sir, may I have some more?” You must move
away from a delivery that essentially says, “I’m a jobseeker, I need a job, please give me a job”
“ I noticed that your company / division / department
is XXX ... How can I help? To something akin to this.
“ I noticed that your company / division / department
is XXX ... I can help because I .... Or this.
Supply chain Customer channel Competitors Macro X Show them you
understand how their company fits into the landscape.
Informational interviewing Conferences Competitors Journalists Politicians Use the approach of
‘informational interviewing’ to flesh out your picture of the sector, and of how you can contribute.
SYMBIOTIC Make these conversations symbiotic - not parasitic.
“ I noticed that your company / division / department
is XXX ... I can help because I .... And be careful about your language - ensure that you don’t sound too much like a stalker.
“ I noticed that you ... Softly ...
“ I understand that you ... ... softly ...
“ One thing that has really struck me as I’ve
researched your company is ... ... catchee ...
... monkey.
Yourself Enemy Terrain When was the last time you went
into a job interview knowing all three of these? Why do so few people do this? It’s obvious! (But it’s not easy - it needs a lot of slog)
EDGE Do all that, and there’s your edge - and
it’s a big one.
TONE One last thing - the tone you strike
In case you hadn’t realised, it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about? Or believe strongly in what you’re ... like ... saying? (Taylor Mali)
TONE Declarative. Emphatic. Fact-based. Unapologetic. Unequivocal. Clear. Concise. Articulate. Logical.
M’ KAY? www.RowanManahan.com
Thagyewverramuch Rowan Manahan @ _