Sex and Your Job Search 2013: A Guide to Scoring Your Dream Job (26 page)

End
: I started my position managing twelve million dollars in sales. As my speaking skills improved, my responsibility improved. Again, I saw the relationship between speaking ability and responsibility verified. Now, my largest account purchases over fifty million dollars in product a year. Last year, I shattered my goal by over $131 million in sales by selling over $200 million in product (Excellence, Teamwork). I have a great relationship with my shoe designers and the retailer sales staff. I would say that I wouldn’t do anything differently if I could. Well, except maybe to have taken more communication classes in business school.

This applicant saw a need for improving communications skills and took the steps necessary to accomplish that. As a result, he was promoted to product manager of major accounts and received a $16,000 raise. His bonus also went from 5% of his annual salary to over 15%.

LAST BIT OF ADVICE FOR
COMING UP WITH STORIES

I hope that by using the B ME outline to organize your ideas you’ve come up with some incredible stories of your past successes and accomplishments.

However, if you still feel like you are still having trouble remembering stories, ask your friends and family about times you’ve bragged or complained to them about work.

What did you do that you bragged about? How did the situation turn out that you complained about? People forget a lot of what happens to them. Sometimes friends and family remember the good, bad, and ugly better than you can.

Quick Tip:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,
please, please, please keep track of your work accomplishments as they happen or as you remember them
. For your sake. Write them down on your smart phone, your computer, or a piece of paper. We tend to forget 80% of what we hear and do. It would be a shame to forget stories that help you get your dream job.

A NOTE TO HIGH SCHOOL
AND COLLEGE STUDENTS

It is very important to start developing connections ASAP. I say that because some (definitely not all) students don’t think about this until their junior year of college or later.

As I’ve mentioned, networking and communication skills are some of the top ways to get your first big opportunity or your first job. Do this with professionals who you know or your family is acquainted with. Ask for advice and direction. Do this at school career fairs and talk with all of the professional attendees. Like I’ve said, people love talking about themselves.

Also think about working while in school and trying for internships. This is a brilliant way to get letters of recommendation, stories to tell during future interviews, examples of how you’ve demonstrated the TIE Values, and sample projects to put in your portfolio.

WHAT THE INTERVIEWER
IS THINKING AT THIS POINT

Now that your Seven Interview Go-to Stories are perfected, let’s head back to the interview and Third Base.

Once you have told your Interview Go-to Stories in response to behavioral based questions, you might as well have whispered in the interviewer’s ear, “I’m prepared to go all the way with you. Trust me, it will be worth your while!”

And the interviewer knows that this is probably true. Because you’ve demonstrated the Skills necessary for the job and Values that cannot be taught! Hiring managers and HR reps are fully aware that they can teach Skills and abilities, but not Values. Values are something you either have or you don’t have. And you’ve TIE’d the Values of Teamwork, Integrity, and Excellence into each of your stories.

Despite your good answers and the interviewer’s self-confident hot-model attitude, hiring managers and HR reps are scared of being hurt. They don’t want to make a bad decision. This is highlighted near the end of the interview because they may truly “like” you, professionally speaking. But they don’t want you to quit on the relationship after a few months. They don’t want to get into arguments with you. They don’t want to see you call off work often or be flaky. They want you to learn quickly and put forth effort. They want you to be accountable with shared financial responsibility.

To get them to trust you completely, it’s imperative that you wrap up the interview with composure. That way when they think back to how you performed consistently as they review their notes, you will be the hottest candidate around.

We went over quite a few interview questions in Chapters 8, 9, and 10, both background related (Second Base) and behavioral based (Third Base).

As I previously mentioned, behavioral based questions are the interviewing norm these days. However, you may encounter an inexperienced interviewer. Or an old school interviewer who’s still hanging onto questions from the 80s and 90s. So, it’s probably a good idea for us to cover them in case you encounter them.

Here are seven random questions that you may come across.

1.
“What do you hate about your current job?”
Seriously, this is a terrible question. You’re clearly being set up, so say something positive and tell a story about
improving
technical ability. That way you appear cool as a cucumber by having an example ready. And you smartly switch the word “hate” for “fear of not performing up to par.”

Bonus points if you talk about mastering and improving this tedious task with a cost and time savings to your employer.

Double bonus points to you if you are employed and find something to improve at work this week so you can pad your resume and add to your interview story quiver.

2.
“Where do you picture yourself as a member of the team?”
Unmistakably, they are looking for a story about teamwork, so give it to them.

Don’t get frustrated if you hear this question and you’ve already talked about teamwork a bunch in the interview. Sometimes an interviewer just has to ask the same questions to all of the applicants so that it’s a fair interviewing process.

Choose an example of teamwork and
don’t hesitate to circle back to a story you’ve already told and go into greater detail about how teamwork was a factor
.

In addition, some interviewers will get twitterpated if you use words like “synergy” and terms like “the whole being greater than the sum of all the parts” as they relate to teamwork. Like I mentioned in Chapter 8, you can also talk about how “one plus one equals three when you have a combination of resources, talents, and effort.” Again, emphasize the results of teamwork in your example.

3.
“Why are you qualified for this job?”
Or,
“What achievements are you most proud
of?”
You probably addressed these questions already in Second Base, but repeat how you meet the qualifications and expand on this if you want to by including a story about the number-one attribute for this position. It doesn’t matter if you are applying at Taco Bell or a doctor’s office, an example about Accuracy and Attention to Detail or Technical Skills would be fitting. Your choice, depending on your stories.

4.
“What are the most important tasks at your
current job?”
You probably talked about this in First Base while reviewing your resume, but talk about them again and tie this into your best story. For some reason, interviewers sometimes ask numerous questions that are very similar. Just give a lot more background information than you did in First Base, describe the intricate relationships and politics you had to navigate, and describe
how
you are a quick learner. Info like that is good.

5.
“What would you achieve first if you were hired?”
You should have an idea of the most important job responsibilities. However, clarify what the most important tasks are before responding. Then base your answer on them.

6.
“If you were an animal in the jungle, which animal would you be?”
Years ago this was a popular question and was intended to throw you off your game and assess your ability to think on your feet. It also tested your creativity. This “stress” question really has nothing to do with your job-related skills.

Feel free to take a second to think about your answer. A common answer is “gorilla, because they rule the jungle and can climb trees to get an overview of what’s happening around them.”

7. Other off-the-wall questions include:
“If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?”
Here’s where your industry research comes in handy. If I were applying for a healthcare job, I would say, “The President, so he could explain what medical-based universities can expect with the new healthcare laws, as they relate to training future practitioners for increased healthcare coverage.”

Or, if you draw a complete blank, just politely ask to come back to the question. That might not be the ideal way to handle it, but in the big picture it’s not that big of a deal.

Most of the questions above are ones you should have touched on by this point. Please don’t get frustrated. Just respond to the question and provide an example or story where you can.

ILLEGAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
“ARE THOSE REAL?”
AND OTHER FORBIDDEN QUESTIONS

In an episode of
Three’s Company
, Mr. Roper gets confused by something Mrs. Roper says about a potential roommate of Chrissy and Janet’s. He thinks that a girl who’s interviewing to be the girls’ roommate is really Jack Tripper dressed up as a woman. Determined to get to the bottom of the situation, Mr. Roper goes upstairs and says to the potential roommate, “Anybody can see that those aren’t real,” and pokes at the girl’s chest. He soon realizes his mistake and starts apologizing profusely. Then he runs out the door. The girl whose chest Mr. Roper was aiming at says she is irritated because he didn’t even say please before checking if they were real.

Sometimes illegal interview questions are asked inadvertently because the interviewer is ignorant of the federal laws that prohibit asking certain types of questions. Or the feeble-minded interviewer is caught up in their quest for the truth, like Mr. Roper in the example above.

On the other hand, and this is the more likely scenario, the interviewer is interested in you and just wants to get to know you as a person. My recommendation is that if you encounter a seemingly illegal question, don’t get angry or defensive. Respond politely and try to direct the conversation back to the Seven Skills and Three Values you bring to the table. Your goal is to get a job offer, which you can decline later if you like.

I’ve personally seen one of the most professional HR directors I’ve ever met start speaking Spanish with an applicant at the end of an interview. They both had taken Spanish in college. Speaking Spanish was
not
a requirement for the position, which makes this a big no-no. She knew better, but was so thrilled with this applicant’s interview that she just wanted to further connect with him. The applicant wasn’t the least bit offended when I walked him out.

How do you know what an illegal question is? Title XII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability. That means that an employer can only ask you questions related to the job requirements and job description, including the physical demands of the position.

Listed below are illegal and legal interview questions.

Your response to these illegal questions can be made as a statement. For example, if you were asked, “Are you a U.S. Citizen?” you could respond by saying, “I am authorized to work in the U.S. As my resume demonstrates, I’ve made significant contributions for the past three years at Acme Corporation.”