When job seekers sneak into programs on how to hire, here’s 6 techniques they learn to help them get hired

There’s something most of my clients know, but don’t acknowledge publicly. Every time I present my Interview Right to Hire Right workshops, there are almost always one or two people in the audience whose motivation for being there isn’t just a desire to learn now to hire the right person. 

They are looking for a different type of information: how to be that right person the next time they apply for a job. It’s part of their preparation for their next job search.

By listening to what I say to those who will be hiring, those who wish to be hired search for clues on what they might to do to bring their future job searches to a successful conclusion.

As a service to those people, here are six ways to apply to their job searches what is said during Interview Right to Hire Right. If you are involved in a job search or planning one, I hope you will find these suggestions useful.

1. What I say during workshops: When looking at resumes and cover letters, ask: “Have they applied for your job or for a job?”

From reading resumes and cover letters, it should be clear which applicants have submitted generic resumes and cover letters and those who read the job posting and have researched the organization. 

What this means for job seekers: Do your homework. Learn all you can before applying. Begin with the advertising. What is the employer asking for? Check out their website. Talk to people who work there or to customers. Visit their facility. 

Write your cover letter and resume to show how your training and experience has prepared you to fulfil the tasks associated with the position. When appropriate, in both your documents and during the interview, reference what you discovered (For example: “I noticed on your website that you have made significant progress towards reducing your carbon footprint”).

2. What I say during workshops: Experience should not just be measured in terms of years. Frequently, organizations complain they can’t fill vacancies with anyone with experience, which is defined in their job posting as “a minimum of five years of related experience.” Experience is certainly important, but what is more important is that candidate has done the right thing in the right way, which I suggest is how their top performers would have done these tasks. Years of experience doesn’t mean anything if the individuals have not developed and sharpened their skills over that time. A former boss used to refer to teachers who were “in their first year, for the seventh time.” Years of experience meant nothing.

What this means for job seekers: Use your cover letter and resume to highlight what you have done and how you have learned and developed your skills and knowledge from this experience, even though it is less than “a minimum of five years.”

3. What I say during workshops: Write and ask questions about the candidate’s past performance. It’s the interviewers’ job to predict how a candidate will perform, based on the information gathered from cover letters and resumes, during interviews, and from reference checks. This is the essence of behaviour description interviewing (BDI), which is based on a belief that, “Past performance is the best predictor of future performance.” The best questions to ask during interviews are those that require candidates to describe how they performed in previous work situations. If hired, these candidates will likely exhibit similar behaviours in your workplace.

What this means for job seekers: Impress them with your experience. Many managers are not trained to ask BDI questions. While they should ask you to describe what you have done, they may revert to asking you questions that begin, “What would you do if …?” or “How would you …?”

Whenever you hear one of these “what-would-you-do-if” questions, translate it in your mind to “what-did-I-do?” For example, “How would you balance conflicting demands on your time?” could become, “Describe a time when you had to balance conflicting demands on your time.” Then respond by describing what you have done, which will produce a more powerful response than had you talked about what you might do. Interviewers will be more impressed when they learn that not only do you know how to set priorities, you have done it. You’ve “been there, done that and got the T-shirt.”

4. What I say during workshops: Begin the interview by asking a question designed to reduce the candidate’s stress, such as, “Take a couple of minutes to highlight what in your training and experience has prepared you for this job.” I caution that interviewers may not learn a lot from this question. Its purpose is to help the candidate feel a little more comfortable with the interview experience. 

What this means for job seekers: Assume the interview will begin with a soft-ball questions like, “Tell us a bit about yourself.” Seize this opportunity to create a strong, positive first impression of how your background has prepared your for the job.

5. What I say during workshops: Keep your questions short and simple. 

Once, back when tweets were limited to just 140 characters, I challenged interviewers to write questions they could tweet. My rationale was simple. The longer the question, the more likely interviewers are to signal how they want the question to be answered.

What this means for job seekers: Say your piece and then shut up. Answer the interviewer’s questions as briefly as possible. Avoid providing detailed explanations in your response. If they want to know more, they will ask. The danger of the long, detailed answers is that you bore the interviewers, you frustrate them with time-consuming answers that put them off schedule, or you say something you didn’t mean to say. 

6. What I say during workshops: I tell interviewers to pause for a moment after the candidate has responded, before asking the next question.

Think of interviews as a type of conversation. Some people are uncomfortable with any lull in a conversation. Silence creates a vacuum that will suck the words out of them. Candidates may interpret the pause as meaning that the interviewer feels their answer is incomplete. They will feel they must fill this gap in the conversation with information they had not planned to share. This additional information may help interviewers know the candidate better. Depending on what they choose to share, this can be both good and bad for the candidate’s job prospects 

What this means for job seekers: Become comfortable with silence. If the interviewer pauses, just wait for them to break the silence. If they feel your answer is incomplete, they will ask for more information. You can also add the pause to your interview repertoire, for a couple of reasons. First, a short pause provides an opportunity to organize your thoughts. Don’t just blurt out the first thought that comes to mind. Second, your pause may create a vacuum that the interviewer, who is uncomfortable with silence during conversations, will rush to fill by beginning to clarify the questions. Listen to what they say, because their words may provide clues as to how they would prefer you to answer the question

Has this article been useful? Let me know if these suggestions are useful as you prepare for your next job search. I hope it is. In a future article I plan to share some insights on why some people are successful and others fail to get jobs for which they apply, based on the more than 3,000 interviews I have conducted and what I have learned from participants in my workshops and other programs.

Good luck in finding your next job!

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Normally, Nelson Scott writes and speaks about how to hire and use staff recognition to engage and retain the right people. To learn more, or to schedule Nelson to speak at your next conference, convention or staff training event, email nmscott@telus.net or call (780) 232-3828.