gcapone, Author at Palladian Career Resources

Talking About Failure in an Interview

One of the interview topics that many job seekers struggle with is discussing failure. We want to focus on success in an interview and shifting gears to admit a failure can be difficult.

The questions that you can expect in some interviews include:

Tell me about a time when you failed.
What was the last goal you failed to meet?
How would you react to an obstacle you can't overcome?
What is you biggest weakness?

Talking about a failure won't hurt your potential to be hired if you handle it right. Everyone has failed – most of us have at a lot of examples of when things didn't go as planned. Some of the most successful people have failed more than they have succeeded. This isn't a bad thing – it's part of the learning and growth process.

If you are asked about a failure, talk about a real failure. The key is to recognize what you have learned. Often, we learn a lot more from adversity and failure than we learn from success. This is how you can demonstrate you potential in an interview.

You should prepare a story about a failure in advance. This is not something you should answer on the fly. You want to know what to emphasize and what you learned from the experience.

When you prepare your example of a failure, consider what you would have done differently to avoid the failure. Then review examples of similar situations you have encountered since then. Ideally, you were successful due to what you learned.

To prepare your answer, the following structure is very effective:

Situation – provide background on the example
Actions – what did you do in this situation
Results – review the outcome and admit the failure
Growth – discuss what you learned from the experience
Adjustments – explain what you would do differently
Success – give an example of a recent success in a recent similar situation

If you tell a story that hits all six of these areas, you should make a positive impression. The most important thing to remember when you are asked to discuss your failures is demonstrate you are comfortable acknowledging your mistakes and learn from them.

Interview with Confidence

One of the most important factors affecting a person’s interview performance is their confidence level. I have known a number of candidates that lose all of their confidence the second they step into an interview. This can be devastating.

For example, a long time ago, I was working with a person that was worried about interviewing. When I say worried, I’m not sure I’m really capturing the situation – terrified and paralyzed with fear are probably closer to the truth.

To deal with his concerns, he spent a weekend preparing – from Friday night, non-stop until Sunday night. You may have an idea of what came next.

Monday’s phone interview started on time. The candidate had rehearsed this over and over and over again. The interviewer planned to do a quick skills assessment and then schedule an interview with the primary hiring manager. The questions were pretty basic.

With all the preparation and rehearsing, and a set of easy questions, the candidate should have hit a homerun. That, of course, didn’t happen. The candidate had rehearsed so much that he expected specific questions, a certain style of interview. In his preparation, he had scripted what the interviewer should say.

When the interviewer asked a question he didn’t expect – he froze. He could not answer the question. After a long, awkward pause, he said he was very nervous and didn’t expect that question. He then asked if the interviewer would mind if they started the interview over, including hanging up and calling back. The second he said this, he was done.

The problem was a lack of confidence. The job seeker wasn’t comfortable interviewing. He prepared alone but never practiced the one thing that could have helped him – responding to unpredictable questions asked by a live person.

I do a lot of interview coaching. The primary way I teach interviewing is through practice interviews. I strive to develop a list of questions that are unexpected and challenging for the job seeker to answer. By simulating a real interview, the people I coach are much more relaxed in interviews and are able to take their time and think about their answers.

When you are preparing for an interview, make sure you get some live practice. Find someone that can simulate a real interview – ideally someone you don’t know very well. Even better, select someone that intimidates you a little. The more uncomfortable you can make the situation, the easier the real interviews will be. If you can’t find someone to do this, find an interview coach to interview you.

Assessing Sarah Palin’s Job Interview

Sarah Palin answers a question in the first Vice Presidential debate and demonstrates some important interview principles.

I’ve assessed the job interview performance of three of the candidates, and am now on to Sarah Palin. As I have done in the previous articles, I am critiquing each candidate based solely on the content of the first answer they gave in their debate. I chose the first answer because it was very predictable – a question about our current financial crisis – and it is likely the candidates scripted some or all of their answers.

The transcript of Palin’s answer is in the gray area to the right.

Palin’s Answer

In this answer, Palin begins and focuses the majority of her answer on empathizing with the hiring managers. She describes very clearly how she feels and her understanding of how others feel about the financial uncertainty and hardship.

Palin then provides an example of what McCain did in the past. She then states what McCain will do to address the problems, and what he is doing now to make this happen.

Interview Criteria

I am using the same criteria as I used with the other three candidates:

Organized clearly and concisely
Focused on the values and needs of the hiring manager and company
Reinforces the skill and experience of the job seeker
Separates the job seeker from their competition with a strong positioning statement
Backs up the positioning statement with accomplishments that demonstrate an ability to succeed
Demonstrates enthusiasm for the job and company

Palin’s Assessment

Palin’s answer measures up very well against the criteria above:

The answer is concise and easy to follow.
The answer discusses the concerns of the hiring managers in great detail, with more than half the answer devoted to this.
The answer discusses McCains experience very specifically by describing how he pushed for reform two years ago.
The positioning statement is very direct – “John McCain thankfully has been one representing reform.”
The positioning statement is supported by an example of how McCain pushed for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the past.
The answer doesn’t directly state that the candidate wants the job, but it does imply this by describing the current efforts of McCain to work on the financial crisis.

The answer has a very good structure that makes it easy to follow.

Palin focuses on the concerns of the hiring managers – fear about investments, paying for college, or managing a small business. Although implied, she doesn’t directly say that she will aliviate these concerns. The answer would be stronger with an example of what her ticket will do if hired and what specific results they will deliver.

Palin is the only candidate to provide a tangible example of past experience. She discusses McCain’s roll in attempting to reform the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac two years ago. Giving an example of a situation that deals directly with the job being pursued is a great way to stand out from your competition. Palin reinforces this idea by showing what McCain is currently doing to help fix the situation.

Looking at the example provided, it could be interpreted as either a success or failure. McCain saw the potential for financial problems and took action to avoid them, but he was not able to get passed the reforms he promoted.

This is a great lesson for any job seeker. The same example from your work history could be a great selling point or a major distractor. In this case, Palin emphasizes the foresight to identify and work to fix a problem as the accomplishment. She deemphasizes the inability to drive the changes and pursuade others to support the reform.

If I was coaching this candidate, I would recommend reducing the time spent discussing the concerns of the hiring managers. This could be more concise and accomplish the same thing. I would then add a little more detail to the reforms McCain pushed for in the past, ideally describing what the reforms were and how they would help today. The clearer and more specific the example is, the more effective it will be. Finally, I would relate the candidate’s plan to the concerns of the hiring managers, stating clearly how they will benefit.

Overall: This is a strong interview answer. It focuses on the needs of hiring managers and gives a clear example from the candidate’s (McCain’s) experience that demonstrates an ability to satisfy these concerns.

Transcript:

IFILL: The House of Representatives this week passed a bill, a big bailout bill — or didn’t pass it, I should say. The Senate decided to pass it, and the House is wrestling with it still tonight.

As America watches these things happen on Capitol Hill…was this the worst of Washington or the best of Washington that we saw play out?

PALIN: Thank you, Gwen. And I thank the commission, also. I appreciate this privilege of being able to be here and speak with Americans.

You know, I think a good barometer here, as we try to figure out has this been a good time or a bad time in America’s economy, is go to a kid’s soccer game on Saturday, and turn to any parent there on the sideline and ask them, “How are you feeling about the economy?”

And I’ll bet you, you’re going to hear some fear in that parent’s voice, fear regarding the few investments that some of us have in the stock market. Did we just take a major hit with those investments?

Fear about, how are we going to afford to send our kids to college? A fear, as small-business owners, perhaps, how we’re going to borrow any money to increase inventory or hire more people.

The barometer there, I think, is going to be resounding that our economy is hurting and the federal government has not provided the sound oversight that we need and that we deserve, and we need reform to that end.

Now, John McCain thankfully has been one representing reform. Two years ago, remember, it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures. He sounded that warning bell.

People in the Senate with him, his colleagues, didn’t want to listen to him and wouldn’t go towards that reform that was needed then. I think that the alarm has been heard, though, and there will be that greater oversight, again thanks to John McCain’s bipartisan efforts that he was so instrumental in bringing folks together over this past week, even suspending his own campaign to make sure he was putting excessive politics aside and putting the country first.

Full Transcript of the Debate

Assessing Joe Biden’s Job Interview

Joe Biden gave a very concise answer in the Vice Presidential debate. His answer illustrates several important facets of interviewing.

I looked at the Presidential debate and assessed the interview performance of Obama on Monday and McCain on Tuesday. Today, I am assessing Joe Biden in the Vice Presidential debate.

Although this debate has many similarities to a job interview, there is one big difference. The candidates in a Vice Presidential debate are focused on getting their running mate hired. Despite this difference, the debate does illustrate some excellent interview principles.

I am assessing each candidate based solely on the content of the first answer they gave in their debate. I chose the first answer because it was very predictable – a question about our current financial crisis – and it is likely the candidates scripted some or all of their answers.

The transcript of Biden’s answer is in the gray area to the right.

Biden’s Answer

In this answer, Biden begins with a clear positioning statement – that the economic problems are a direct result of the policies of his opponents. He then outlines the criteria for assessing a bailout bill. Biden concludes by stating the benefit of helping the middle class, in an attempt to imply that he will deliver this benefit.

Interview Criteria

I am using the same criteria as I used with Obama and McCain:

Organized clearly and concisely
Focused on the values and needs of the hiring manager and company
Reinforces the skill and experience of the job seeker
Separates the job seeker from their competition with a strong positioning statement
Backs up the positioning statement with accomplishments that demonstrate an ability to succeed
Demonstrates enthusiasm for the job and company

Biden’s Assessment

Biden’s answer is very similar to the Obama answer, in both structure and content, and the assessment is also similar:

The answer is very concise and clearly organized.
The answer explains how helping the middle class will benefit the hiring managers. It does not state how Biden will help the middle class. He only implies this with his answer.
The answer is very light on experience, and only references prior actions in the proposed criteria Obama has put forth.
The positioning statement is very clear. Biden goes one step further by reinforcing that his side’s policies are in fundamental disagreement with his opponents.
The answer has no statement of accomplishment backing up his positioning statement. Biden relies on criticism of the his opponents’ policies to imply that his policies will be successful.
The answer is mainly a statement of position and does not provide the candidate’s motivation for seeking the position.

The clarity of the answer is very good. The wording mirrors the answer Obama provided in his debate. I expect that the positioning statement has been scripted and worked on by the two candidates.

This is excellent tactic to help keep an answer on topic. Write your positioning statement in advance so that you can use it and adapt it during an interview.

The answer is very weak on demonstrating the ability of the candidate to succeed. Biden omits any statement showing his experience. He also does not provide a single example of an accomplishment.

In a typical job interview, you cannot boost yourself by attacking your opposition. You must stand on your own merits. In Biden’s answer, he fails to do this.

The answer concludes by saying that improving the middle class will help everyone. This is an attempt to show a benefit to the hiring managers.

If I was coaching this candidate, I would work with the candidate to change three things. First, I would condense the section that outlines Obama’s criteria for a bailout bill to save time for other topics. Second, I would add an accomplishment that demonstrates success and experience. Third, I would make it very clear how the candidate will directly benefit the hiring managers when hired.

Overall: This answer is a very poor interview answer for one important reason. The only justification given for hiring the candidate is to replace their opponent. In a job interview, it is essential to give a strong positive reason to be hired.

Tomorrow, I’m going to assess the answer from Sarah Palin.

Transcript:

As America watches these things happen on Capitol Hill, Sen. Biden, was this the worst of Washington or the best of Washington that we saw play out?

BIDEN: Let me begin by thanking you, Gwen, for hosting this.

And, Governor, it’s a pleasure to meet you, and it’s a pleasure to be with you.

I think it’s neither the best or worst of Washington, but it’s evidence of the fact that the economic policies of the last eight years have been the worst economic policies we’ve ever had. As a consequence, you’ve seen what’s happened on Wall Street.

If you need any more proof positive of how bad the economic theories have been, this excessive deregulation, the failure to oversee what was going on, letting Wall Street run wild, I don’t think you needed any more evidence than what you see now.

So the Congress has been put — Democrats and Republicans have been put in a very difficult spot. But Barack Obama laid out four basic criteria for any kind of rescue plan here.

He, first of all, said there has to be oversight. We’re not going to write any check to anybody unless there’s oversight for the — of the secretary of Treasury.

He secondly said you have to focus on homeowners and folks on Main Street.

Thirdly, he said that you have to treat the taxpayers like investors in this case.

And, lastly, what you have to do is make sure that CEOs don’t benefit from this, because this could end up, in the long run, people making money off of this rescue plan.

And so, as a consequence of that, it brings us back to maybe the fundamental disagreement between Gov. Palin and me and Sen. McCain and Barack Obama, and that is that the — we’re going to fundamentally change the focus of the economic policy.

We’re going to focus on the middle class, because it’s — when the middle class is growing, the economy grows and everybody does well, not just focus on the wealthy and corporate America.

Full Transcript of the Debate

Assessing John McCain’s Job Interview

John McCain’s performance in the first Presidential debate demonstrates several important lessons to remember in a job interview. McCain’s answer is assessed based on six criteria used to prepare and assess the interview skills of job seekers.

Yesterday I assessed Barack Obama in the first Presidential debate. Today, I am critiquing John McCain. The political debates are essentially job interviews, with the American people the hiring managers.

The transcript of McCain's answer is in the gray area to the right.

McCain's Answer

In this answer, McCain begins by expressing concern for the medical condition of a political adversary. This ties in with the overall theme of his answer, unity and bipartisanship.

McCain begins his discussion of the financial crisis in a similar manner to Obama, by stating his understanding and empathy for the situation.

He then discusses how the current political situation is unusual with both sides working together. McCain then reviews the significance of the economic situation and reiterates that both parties are coming together to address this. McCain then reviews the reasons why the bailout proposal is advantageous. He concludes by stating that the challenges are significant and will not be solved quickly.

Interview Criteria

The first question of a job interview is typically Tell Me About Yourself. A successful answer includes the following characteristics:

Organized clearly and concisely
Focused on the values and needs of the hiring manager and company
Reinforces the skill and experience of the job seeker
Separates the job seeker from their competition with a strong positioning statement
Backs up the positioning statement with accomplishments that demonstrate an ability to succeed
Demonstrates enthusiasm for the job and company

It isn't entirely fair to judge the candidates on this standard, since the question wasn't Tell Me About Yourself. Despite this, the criteria do very well with the answers the candidates gave.

McCain's Assessment

McCain's answer is typical of the answers I hear from many job seekers. It discusses values and the challenges of the position, but doesn't sell the candidate with accomplishments. Below is the assessment of the six criteria:

The answer is clear, it repeats one theme three times
The answer describes specifically the benefits to the hiring managers – avoiding the negative outcomes of losing a job, poor credit and home foreclosure.
The answer very briefly reviews the candidate's experience with the statement "…certainly in our time, and I've been around for a little while."
The positioning statement is clear but not stated strongly. The candidate positions himself as a catalyst for cooperation between the parties, but doesn't state this specifically.
The candidate does not give an example of an accomplishment that demonstrates his ability to succeed.
The answer implies that the candidate wants the job by stating the desire to meet the current challenges.

If I was coaching this candidate, I would start by changing the positioning statement. The candidate positions himself as catalyst for cooperation. The mistake is implying this instead of saying it. Let's look at a stronger way to reword this:

This answer gives a specific action that was taken with results. The results are not a solution to the problem, just an effort to develop a solution. Despite this, it is a much stronger positioning statement than the candidate gave.

When you are interviewing, your goal is to create a clear message of why you are the best candidate for the position. You do not want to create puzzles that the hiring manager needs to put together. Don't assume the hiring manager will make the connection to the message you are implying. Make it simple and deliver a clear message.

To make an even stronger impact, the candidate should relate the positioning statement directly to the benefits of the hiring managers. Here is how I would reword the answer to do this:

I went back to Washington, and met with Republicans in the House, and found they weren't a part the negotiations. I worked with Democrats to bring the two sides together, to meet and discuss this issue. My efforts helped both sides to focus on the solution to the problem, not the differences between them. We are in the process of developing a package that will address our problems. The package has transparency, accountability and oversight. When we finalize negotiations and implement the plan, it will help avoid the crisis on Main Street – lost jobs, ruined credit and home foreclosures will be reduced with this plan.

Everything I wrote in this version is in the answer that McCain gave, either directly stated or implied. All I changed was the order and wording. This change results in a strong positioning statement for the candidate.

I do a lot of interview coaching, and in a coaching session, I would take this positioning statement one step further. I would dig into the candidate's work history to find an accomplishment that reinforces the positioning statement. Unfortunately, the candidate didn't use an accomplishment in their answer and I'm limiting this critique to the answer's content.

Candidate Comparison

Obama and McCain made some of the same mistakes. Neither candidate promoted their experience much and only implied their capability. Additionally, neither candidate gave an example of an accomplishment that demonstrates their potential to succeed. This is common with many job seekers. A clear, specific accomplishment can be extremely effective in an interview. Both candidates worked to empathize with the hiring managers. Finally, both provided a clear theme to position themselves.

Tomorrow, I'm going to move on to the Vice Presidential debate with a review of Joe Biden.

Transcript:

Lehrer: Gentlemen, at this very moment tonight, where do you stand on the financial recovery plan?

McCain: Well, thank you, Jim. And thanks to everybody.

And I do have a sad note tonight. Senator Kennedy is in the hospital. He's a dear and beloved friend to all of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the lion of the Senate.

I also want to thank the University of Mississippi for hosting us tonight.

And, Jim, I — I've been not feeling too great about a lot of things lately. So have a lot of Americans who are facing challenges. But I'm feeling a little better tonight, and I'll tell you why.

Because as we're here tonight in this debate, we are seeing, for the first time in a long time, Republicans and Democrats together, sitting down, trying to work out a solution to this fiscal crisis that we're in.

And have no doubt about the magnitude of this crisis. And we're not talking about failure of institutions on Wall Street. We're talking about failures on Main Street, and people who will lose their jobs, and their credits, and their homes, if we don't fix the greatest fiscal crisis, probably in — certainly in our time, and I've been around a little while.

But the point is — the point is, we have finally seen Republicans and Democrats sitting down and negotiating together and coming up with a package.

This package has transparency in it. It has to have accountability and oversight. It has to have options for loans to failing businesses, rather than the government taking over those loans. We have to — it has to have a package with a number of other essential elements to it.

And, yes, I went back to Washington, and I met with my Republicans in the House of Representatives. And they weren't part of the negotiations, and I understand that. And it was the House Republicans that decided that they would be part of the solution to this problem.

But I want to emphasize one point to all Americans tonight. This isn't the beginning of the end of this crisis. This is the end of the beginning, if we come out with a package that will keep these institutions stable.

And we've got a lot of work to do. And we've got to create jobs. And one of the areas, of course, is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

Full Transcript of the Debate

Assessing Barack Obama’s Job Interview

The Presidential and Vice Presidential debates are a form of job interview and demonstrate interview techniques that can help job seekers. I’m going to review the interview techniques of all four candidates starting with Barack Obama.

The Presidential and Vice Presidential
debates are a form of job interview and demonstrate
interview techniques that can help job seekers. I’m going
to review the all four candidates. For this
purpose, I am assessing each candidate based solely on the
content of the first answer they gave in their debate. I chose the
first answer because it was very predictable – a question about our
current financial crisis – and it is likely the candidates
scripted some or all of their answers.

I am following the order of the
debates. Barack Obama was the first to answer. The transcript of his answer
is in the gray area to the right.

Obama’s Answer

In this answer, Obama begins by framing
his understanding and empathy for the situation. He then outlines
his values, impling the actions he will take if hired. The last two
paragraphs are the core positioning statement that Obama is promoting
in his answer. He differentiates himself from his competition
and clearly states why he should be President. Let’s look at these
paragraphs closely.

The first of these two paragraphs attack the economic policies of
his adversary. He defines these policies as a lack of regulation and
consumer protection, valuing the rich over poor and promoting trickle down
economics.

In the second paragraph he outlines what makes him different. He
defines economic success as fairness for the middle class and
reinforces his values by saying this is his motivation for seeking the
Presidency.

Interview Criteria

The first question of a job interview is typically Tell Me About
Yourself. A successful answer includes the following
characteristics:

Organized clearly and concisely
Focused on the values and needs of the hiring manager and
company
Reinforces the skill and experience of the job seeker
Separates the job seeker from their competition with a strong
positioning statement
Backs up the positioning statement with accomplishments that
demonstrate an ability to succeed
Demonstrates enthusiasm for the job and company

It isn’t entirely fair to judge the candidates on this standard,
since the question wasn’t Tell Me About Yourself. Despite this, the criteria do very well with the answers the candidates gave.

Obama’s Assessment

Obama’s answer does well on most of the criteria:

The answer is well organized and concise.
The answer focuses on the needs of the middle class – the targeted "hiring managers."
The answer addresses the skill and experience of the
candidate by reviewing the four criteria that Obama has proposed for assessing the bailout bill.
The positioning statement is clear in the last two paragraphs
– Obama will implement greater regulation of the financial markets
to benefit the middle class.
The candidate does not give an example of an accomplishment
that demonstrates his ability to succeed.
The answer clearly states that the candidate wants the job.

If I was coaching this candidate, my advice would be to condense
the content in the second, third and fourth paragraphs, and add an
example of an accomplishment. The ideal answer would have a very
easy to understand success that directly relates to helping the hiring manager (the middle class) with this type of problem.

Most job seekers make the same mistake. They recap their
responsibilities and assume that this demonstrates their
ability to succeed. A specific example of a time when the job seeker
overcame a similar challenge can be very powerful in an interview and
will usually set the candidate apart for their competition.

Tomorrow, I’m going to review John McCain’s answer to the same
question.

Transcript:

Lehrer: Gentlemen, at this very moment
tonight, where do you stand on the financial recovery plan?

Obama: Well, thank you very much, Jim, and thanks to the
commission and the University of Mississippi, "Ole Miss,"
for hosting us tonight. I can’t think of a more important time for us
to talk about the future of the country.

You know, we are at a defining moment in our history. Our nation
is involved in two wars, and we are going through the worst financial
crisis since the Great Depression.

And although we’ve heard a lot about Wall Street, those of you on
Main Street, I think have been struggling for a while, and you
recognize that this could have an impact on all sectors of the
economy.

And you’re wondering, how’s it going to affect me? How’s it going
to affect my job? How’s it going to affect my house? How’s it going
to affect my retirement savings or my ability to send my children to
college?

So we have to move swiftly, and we have to move wisely. And I’ve
put forward a series of proposals that make sure that we protect
taxpayers as we engage in this important rescue effort.

No. 1, we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got oversight over this
whole process; $700 billion, potentially, is a lot of money.

No. 2, we’ve got to make sure that taxpayers, when they are
putting their money at risk, have the possibility of getting that
money back and gains, if the market — and when the market returns.

No. 3, we’ve got to make sure that none of that money is going to
pad CEO bank accounts or to promote golden parachutes.

And, No. 4, we’ve got to make sure that we’re helping homeowners,
because the root problem here has to do with the foreclosures that
are taking place all across the country.

Now, we also have to recognize that this is a final verdict on
eight years of failed economic policies promoted by George Bush,
supported by Senator McCain, a theory that basically says that we can
shred regulations and consumer protections and give more and more to
the most, and somehow prosperity will trickle down.

It hasn’t worked. And I think that the fundamentals of the economy
have to be measured by whether or not the middle class is getting a
fair shake. That’s why I’m running for president, and that’s what I
hope we’re going to be talking about tonight.

Full Transcript of the Debate

Resumes with Too Much Information

I reviewed a couple resumes this week that were vastly different but made the same mistake. Both resumes had a lot of unimportant information that detracted from their effectiveness.

The first resume was from a sales professional with extensive B2B sales experience. For each job, the description of the position included a list of all the products the person sold. This is the structure of one of the listings with identifying details masked:

<INDUSTRY> ACCOUNT MANAGER
Mo/Year to Present
<Information Technology Company>

Responsible for sales contracting activities in the <City> Metro area for <Company Name> communications products including <Brand Name> <Product Type> for <list of industries and customers>. <Brand Name> communications and data products such as <First Product>, <Second Product>, <Third Product>, <Fourth Product>, <Fifth Product>, <Sixth Product> and numerous other <Brand Name> products.

Accomplishments: Met or exceeded assigned quota every year in territory. $#.# M total for year end 200#. Major accomplishments in the territory include selling new <Product Type> to both <Customer Name> and <Customer Name>. Total number of <products> involved in these two purchases resulted in contracts for over #,#00 units for a combined total of over $# Million dollars.

The individual products listed had names much longer than the text I used to replace them. They were things list "ACME Widget 3000 Ultimate Widgetizer." In fact, by replacing the product names, I shorten the paragraph by more half. A laundry list of technical products doesn’t demonstrate sales skill.

The second resume was from a senior executive – a Vice President of Operations for a mid-sized company. The bulk of the resume was good, but this person included lists of very general skills that added little to no value and hurt the over impression. The first problem was near the top of the resume. The job seeker included a list of core competencies – essentially a keyword list. The list had 16 buzzwords, most very general. Here’s the list:

Profit/Loss, Relationship Building, Team Building, Cost Control, Budgeting, Quality Assurance, Presentations, Recruitment, Startups, Call Center Mgmt., Turnarounds, Negotiation, Rightsizing, Customer Satisfaction, Restructuring, Productivity

Some of these are good – Startups, Call Center Mgmt, Turnarounds – these fine. They relate to specific skills that are unusual and valued. Some of the others are less valuable. Relationship Building, Team Building and Presentations are few on the list that don’t help. These should be a given for a senior executive. Now this individual may be an outstanding public speaker, able to deliver killer sales presentations. Putting the word “Presentations” on the resume doesn’t sell this as an exceptional skill level.

If this keyword list was the only area with extraneous info, I really wouldn’t have a problem with it. What I thought was really bad was the Computer Skills section at the end of the resume. Here’s the list:

Microsoft Access, Supply Chain Software, CRM Applications, Microsoft Word, Net/Web Savvy, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Outlook, Search Engines, Internet Explorer, Microsoft PowerPoint, Sales Management, Microsoft Excel

This list has several problems. It’s not organized, it doesn’t provide any assessment of the candidate’s skill level, and it includes skills that are impossible for the reader assess. I don’t know what Net/Web Savvy means to this candidate. I’m also unsure what it means to be skilled with Search Engines – is this candidate capable of googling a search term, or are they a Search Engine Optimization expert, capable of getting a website to the top of the google rankings?

The real question is how this would affect a hiring manager’s assessment. Do you think this list, and the list of core competencies above is going to differentiate this candidate and help them stand out from their competition?

Bottom Line: Don’t add a lot of extraneous information and buzzwords to your resume. Make sure you include the the information that does the best job of selling your potential.

Where is the Job Market Going?

With the current financial crisis, there is tremendous uncertainty in our economy. This is most obvious in the financial markets after Monday’s decline. The markets are worried and investors react to increasing risk by selling.

Now the decline in stocks doesn’t directly affect the job market. In some respects, it’s more of a symptom than a driving force. Unfortunately, because it is a symptom of the risk in our economy, we have to recognize the risk to the job market.

The Credit Crisis

For most people, the credit crisis has had no direct impact on them. The people are feeling this are the people that need to borrow money, and in reality, these people are not individuals, but corporations. The auto industry just received $25 billion in loan guarantees from the government. In a normal economic climate, it’s unlikely this would have been necessary. They could have borrowed from private entities, but today, that money isn’t available. Banks are very reluctant to loan money.

The biggest problem with the credit crisis is how it is stopping the expansion that should be occurring. With the decline in the dollar, manufacturing firms are finding it much easier to export, and much easier to replace imports. We continue to see the job market in manufacturing hold steady (outside of areas with heavy auto industry concentrations). What we’re not seeing is a boom in expansion. Manufacturing has been at capacity for a while, but new plants are not being built on a wide scale.

The cause of this is two-fold. First, companies can’t borrow because of the credit crisis. Second, there’s a fear that the economy will get worse and an expansion won’t be needed. The effect of these factors is to limit the growth in the parts of our economy that are doing well.

The Job Market

The New York Times had an article Monday about how the job market could be affected in a significantly different way as compared to past downturns. The article, “Does the Financial Crisis Threaten Your Job,” discusses how in past recessions, companies cut back unskilled positions most. Skilled positions tended to be retained as highly skilled workers were too valuable in the long term and too difficult to replace.

The article predicts that this downturn will be exactly the opposite. Individuals with Bachelor’s degrees and more advanced degrees will be hurt much more than the lower levels of our economy. This poses a significant challenge for college seniors, as the job market in December and May could be bleak.

How to Adapt

Dealing with a tight job market requires a lot more work. Start by networking very aggressively. Try to find a contact in the companies you are targeting that will refer you for a position. This can greatly improve your chances.

One of the most important aspects of your search is to have a strong positioning statement. This is the core statement of value that you bring to the table. Many job seekers state that they are good at a particular job or skill. In a tight job market, being qualified and capable aren’t enough. Companies focus on hiring the best talent. This requires standing out from your competition.

With our interview coaching, we focus on uncovering the accomplishments and experiences that demonstrate how an individual has been successful and has added unique value to their employers. If you’re having trouble doing this, get help.

In interviews, you need to expand upon your positioning statement. You can do this in the answer to the Tell Me About Yourself Question. You should also reinforce the value you offer throughout the interview. Job seekers that can’t do this well often interview once and have the process stall. They don’t get another interview and they don’t get an outright rejection. The process just grinds to a halt.

The reason for this is that the hiring manager doesn’t have a great reason to hire or reject the candidate. They can see the individual could do the job, but they can’t get excited about hiring them. Instead, they say they will think about the person more but nothing changes. Eventually, the company finds someone that gives a compelling reason to be hired – and they get the job.

Bottom Line: Work on developing your positioning statement with a compelling reason why you should be hired, focused on the value you will provide the company.

When to Follow Up After an Interview

One question I’ve been asked a lot is when should a job seeker follow up with an employer. The answer depends on how far into the process you are.

If you sent a resume to a hiring manager that doesn’t know you, it’s likely you will hear back within a week or two if they have an interest. If you haven’t heard anything after a couple weeks, you can try a follow up email or a phone call. (Emailing a resume is ok, but if you can get referred into the company by someone, or if you cold call the hiring manager, your more likely to get a close look.)

If you have interviewed with the company, either a phone screen or face-to-face, the hiring manager may have provided you with an estimate of when you will hear back from them. This isn’t always the case. If you don’t know their process, it can be very tough to guess. Some companies move fast and will get in touch after a day or two. Others will let weeks pass after an interview before they move to the next step.

If they have given you a time frame, wait until a couple days after they said they would be in touch. At that point, a phone call won’t be out of line. If they haven’t given a time frame, I would generally recommend waiting a couple weeks.

What you don’t want to do is call before they consider it reasonable. For example, I worked on a search where the division president was out the country for an extended time. The company specifically instructed the candidate that they would not be in touch for more than 3 weeks, and they were very interested in moving forward to a final interview after that. At the two week mark, the candidate was very worried about why he hadn’t heard anything. Calling at that point would just demonstrate impatience, an inability to follow instructions and a level of desperation that would hurt the candidate’s chances.

So, what do you do if the company said they are going to make an offer? Depending on the company, putting together an offer could take some time. With a slow economy, many businesses have put procedures in place to slow the amount of hiring they are doing. They are still hiring, but are trying to make sure they only fill the most critical positions. This often means that a position needs to be approved by a much higher level executive than usual, and this can take time.

If an offer is forthcoming, I wouldn’t follow up for at least a week. Ten days is good rule of thumb. Of course, if they say it will take two weeks to put an offer together, wait at least 2 ½ weeks to call.

One final thing to remember… if the hiring process is going well and the company is staying in touch every week or so, don’t push the issue. When they tell you they are going to make an offer, there is very little you can do to improve the situation. What can happen is the additional contacts can give the company a reason to not make the offer.

Resume of a Failed Business Owner

I read a resume today from an individual that had been running a company they started more than five years ago. The company was in the movie industry.

The job seeker had successfully started their company and kept it alive for over five years. They also have produced several multi-million dollar films in that time, raising the required capital along the way.

This is good experience and shows the scope of this individual’s responsibility. The problem was that the performance of the company was never discussed.

Having a large budget doesn’t make someone a success. Controlling costs and producing a profit are critical to a business’s success. This information was left out of the resume.

It’s likely that the job seeker is looking for a job because their business has failed or is in the process of failing. This isn’t a career stopper, in fact, keeping a business running for as long as this individual did and going through the decline and failure was probably one of the best learning experiences in this person’s career.

So what should they do? The first thing is to not hide what happened. By not saying what happened to the company, a hiring manager is going to assume it failed – so confirming that isn’t going to make a worse impression. It’s likely that the reality of the situation isn’t as bad as the image a hiring manager will imagine.

The next thing to do is discuss some of the successes along the way. When a person has a business fail, it’s easy to dwell on the failure. Getting hired requires recognizing and promoting the successes. A business doesn’t survive as long as this one did if it never turned a profit. Talking about the specific projects that were successful will help demonstrate the capabilities of the job seeker.

On this resume, there were lots of numbers stating how big the projects where and how much was spent. There was nothing about revenues or profits – just expenses. Anyone can have expenses – generating sales and profits are the key.

The job seeker should emphasize their strengths. It is likely the individual was very good at one or more aspects of the business – promotions, production, administration, etc. – unfortunately, their resume isn’t clear on this. Identifying these strengths and highlighting them in the resume will help make the case that this individual could be a valued employee.

The job seeker didn’t highlight any successes and they didn’t explain the failure. All we know is that they worked on building this business and it didn’t last. That’s not a selling point.

If you are in this situation, highlighting your strengths and accomplishments will help you get interviews. In an interview, it will be important to show what roles are good for you and what roles are similar to the failed venture. You and the employer will want to match your skills to the right role. If you can clearly explain this, the failure will not be career killer.