Interview Tip #10

Interview Tip: Don’t try to make a fashion statement in an interview.

Interview Tip:  Don’t try to make a fashion statement in an interview.

How you dress for an interview will not help you get an offer, but it can hurt your chances.  In most situations, conservative professional attire is expected.  There are a few exceptions, but they are rare.  Research the company.  If nothing in your research indicates unusual expectations for how a candidate dresses, stick with a professional appearance.  You want to be remembered for your skills, experience and potential, not your fashion choices.

 

My Interview Prep Book Is Now Available

My new book, Power Up Your Job Search: A Modern Approach to Interview Preparation, provides a step-by-step system to prepare you for an interview, and will help you outpace the competition.

My new book, Power Up Your Job Search: A Modern Approach to Interview Preparation, provides a step-by-step system to prepare you for an interview, and will help you outpace the competition.  I co-wrote the book with my business partner at Palladian, Mark Henderson.

We started writing this book more than three years ago in an effort to develop a simple guide to help candidates in our executive recruiting business.  We were shocked by the poor interview performance of many exceptional job seekers.  Some of the most successful candidates in a field could not present their capabilities and potential effectively.  Over the years, we developed a powerful system to prepare individuals to interview quickly.  This book teaches our system in a clear straight-forward manner.

We wrote the book with three audiences in mind – experienced professionals and executives, transitioning military personal, and individuals entering the workforce.  Each audience possesses a different background, but similar needs.  To address all three groups, the book starts with several chapters that provide a foundation. It then moves on to advanced interviewing techniques. By following this approach and considering the needs of all three groups, the book will benefit the most experienced job seekers in a straight-forward style that even the least experienced job seekers will find easy to follow.

Almost everyone will benefit from this book, but some people need it more than others.  If a person has gone on an interview, felt they did great but never heard from the company again, they need this book.  Too many job seekers make fundamental mistakes in interviews but have no idea they are sabotaging their search.  These individuals need to learn the techniques in the book.

For regular readers of my blog, some of the techniques in the book will be familar, but a lot of the content is new and never published before.

To learn more about the book, go to Power Up Your Job Search.

Behavioral Questions About Values

Behavioral questions can target any potential situation at work. Included are a selection of questions that target a job candidate’s values, attitude and personal courage.

Behavioral questions ask the job candidate to provide details of a specific situation they have encountered. The interviewer assesses the candidate based on how they performed, since past performance can be an excellent indicator of future performance.

Behavioral questions can target any potential situation at work. Below are a selection of questions that target a job candidate’s values, attitude and personal courage.

  • Tell me about time when made an unpopular decision.

  • Tell me about a time when you stood up for your values.

  • Tell me about a time when you confronted a superior about something they were doing.

  • Tell me about a time when you took a risk that worked out.

  • Tell me about a time when you took a risk that didn’t work out.

  • Tell me about a time when you did something outside your comfort zone.

  • Tell me about the most embarrassing thing you have done at work.

  • Tell me about a time when you didn’t stand up for your values and you wish you had.

  • Tell me about a time when you had a confrontation with a coworker.

  • Tell me about a time when you took responsibility for a failure.

  • Tell me about a time when you discovered a coworker was doing something dishonest.

  • Tell me about a time when you made a decision you knew would make someone mad.

To be successful answering behavioral questions, you need to be specific. General answers will not be effective. The best answer will provide a clear, specific example from your experience.


Get our book on behavioral interviewing.

Other Great Books to help you prepare for Behavioral Interviews:

Interview Tip #1

Interviewing tip from Palladian. Get expert coaching to improve your interview skills.

Interview Tip:  During your interview prep, focus on how you communicate the contributions you have made in the past and the the value you will provide to an employer.

At the end of an interview, you want the interviewer having a clear idea how you will perform in their organization.  To do this, you need to focus on their needs – the goals, objectives and challenges that they must meet, and show how you have performed in similar situations in the past.

Interview Questions: Company Mission Statements

Many interviewers ask what a job seeker has learned about the company. This question is designed to uncover two primary pieces of information. First, determine if the job seeker took the time to do some research. Many job seekers skip this step and hurt their chances. Second, learn what is important to the job seeker based on the topics they research.

When you do your research, you should learn about the company’s history, their financial performance, their operations and products/services. Another element to research is the company’s mission statement.  A mission statement provides the fundamental basis of the company’s strategy, goals and values. It can give you an idea of the culture of the company and the qualities that will be important in a hiring decision.

Let’s look the mission statements from three vastly different restaurant firms:

  • Morton’s The Steakhouse – Attract, Value, Retain and Develop the best talent in the industry, serve the best food (anytime, anywhere at any cost) and execute unparalleled hospitality – the best dining experience – 365 days a year.
  • Starbucks – To inspire and nurture the human spirit— one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.
  • YUM Brands – At Yum! we’re building a vibrant global business by focusing on four key business strategies:
    • Build leading brands across China in every significant category
    • Drive aggressive international expansion and build strong brands everywhere
    • Dramatically improve U.S. brand positions, consistency and returns
    • Drive industry-leading, long-term shareholder and franchisee value

What do these three mission statements say? Morton’s prioritizes exception quality in its employees, food and service.. Starbucks values the impression made on their customers… Yum Brands focuses on growth, brand position and shareholder value. In reality, all of these qualities are important to all three organizations, and to all restaurants. No one wants to have a restaurant with low quality, poor environment, bad service, terrible value, non-growing business or declining shareholder value. The difference is how each organization prioritizes these values.

The three mission statements are excellent goals, but vastly different. A job seeker interviewing at each company will need to emphasize different skills and abilities. Understanding the expectations and goals of the company will help you tailor your presentation. Be prepared to discuss situations from your experience that demonstrate success in meeting the objective of the company.

The mission statement of a company is a starting point. It is not an all inclusive statement of company’s priorities. Different jobs within a company may also have different priorities. The important thing to understand is the individual priorities of each position within the company need to support and promote the overall priorities of the company.

One final aspect of a mission statement to consider is the purpose of the statement and its intended audience. A mission statement should represent the entire company, but each firm will use and market their mission differently. Morton’s placed their mission statement on the Careers page on their website. If they wrote the mission statement with the intention of using it in the hiring process, this may have influenced the content emphasizing employees. The Starbucks mission statement appears in their About Us section of the website. It is much more general, giving a theme for the company and is used in an overall description of the company. Yum! Brands placed their mission statement in their investor section. It appears to be intended as a guide for the direction management is driving the company. Each mission statement has a different goal and the content reflects this.

Bottom line: Learn what you can about the values, goals and expectations of a company and be prepared to discuss these in an interview.

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.

How to Prepare for an Interview at the Last Minute

This post is my first video post!

I recorded a short video on how to prepare for an interview when you only have little bit of time to get ready.  The video follows the post I had Monday pretty closely (7 Things You Need To Do Before Your Next Interview).  I thought that the post had a lot of potential and have been looking for a topic for my first video.  The video goes into more detail than the text post, so even if you read the post Monday, you will hopefully find the video helpful too.

I would really appreciate some feedback – do you like the video more than the regular text posts?  Would you like to see more videos?  Would you like me to stick with what I have been doing and drop the video thing?  Feel free to post a comment or email me directly at [email protected].