and knowing in what types of environments you flourish, will help you sell yourself more effectively.
7. Will you be fun to work with?
The employer is not looking for the life of the party, or the person with a thousand jokes. Instead, employers want people who work well with others, are cooperative, considerate, and friendly, and who are enjoyable to be around. The grouch, the negativist, and the cynic are not sought after.
8. Are you responsible?
People who constantly seek more responsibility and can be trusted with it are highly desired. They take responsibility for their actions and do not attempt to blame their mistakes on others. They often volunteer for assignments and are willing to take on some of the “dirt work” because it will help them grow professionally.
9. Can you manage your own development?
While there is a place for training and mentoring, managers seek staff who will take responsibility for their own professional development. Show that you seek out opportunities and make things happen.
10. Will you stay?
If you have a stable work history, emphasize that you seek out high-quality organizations (such as the one you are then interviewing with) so you can grow and develop with them for many years. If your work history is checkered, look for opportunities to emphasize that what you want is stability and that you feel this organization will offer it.
Employers will also be looking for two other qualities:
Communication skills: While interviewing you the employer will be visualizing you dealing with customers and key people from other departments. Without strong communication skills, the employer will not have confidence you can do the job.
Chemistry: The employer will be sensing whether the two of you can work well together. The employer will not be looking for a clone, but must have someone who is compatible. Demonstrate that you can get along with almost anyone. Sell your flexibility and adaptability. Throughout the interview, determine what qualities are most valued by the hiring manager, and demonstrate that you possess those qualities.
EXCITE AN EMPLOYER
Knowing the qualities employers look for (the above ten points plus communication skills and chemistry) is very helpful as you prepare your interviewing strategy. Determine which skills to sell, and decide which experiences you’ll share. But we can take this concept one step further. You can actually get an employer excited about you by demonstrating that you can do any or all of the following: 1) make money for the organization; 2) save money for the organization; 3) solve problems the employer is facing; and 4) reduce the level of stress and pressure the employer is under.
If you succeed, you will actually cause the employer to visualize you already on the job. Your potential will become more important than any particular technical skill that you possess or lack. You will be judged by a different standard from your competitors. For example, before you convinced the employer that you could make money for her company or department, she was judging you to a large extent by how many of the required technical skills you possessed and how many years of experience you had in the field. Now a new element has been introduced. In fact, the roles are reversed as your competitors begin to be judged by whether they can make money for the organization. Their problem is that they have not been consciously selling the fact they can make money, save money, solve problems, or reduce the stress and pressure on the boss.
If you have been a good employee in the past and have a good work ethic, you have in fact made money for your organization, saved money, solved problems, and reduced the stress and pressure of your boss. I want to help you see how and when that has happened. Your competitors have also done so, but if they don’t get the idea across, it won’t show up as weight on their side of the scale.
Let’s look at the specifics of how you can excite an employer.
Make Money For The Organization
When we think of making money for an organization, the emphasis is on increasing revenue. Ask yourself in what ways you have increased revenue for your past employers. An engineer who has personally designed successful products, or has consistently been part of teams that have developed successful products, has made money for an organization. People in marketing, advertising, and public relations will find obvious ways that they have made money for the organization.
There are several ways you can generate revenue for an organization.
Sales: If you were in sales and added new accounts, increased sales with existing accounts, or increased your market share, that is an obvious form of making money. If you are in inside sales and through solid product knowledge cause customers to purchase additional products that they might typically purchase elsewhere, you’ve made money for your organization.
Improve quality: If you can identify and implement ways to improve the products your organization sells, improve the service your organization delivers, or improve any internal processes, you will have generated more revenue. A shipping person who found a way to cut the average delivery time from three days to two days will have helped gain new customers and will have preserved existing customers.
Provide outstanding customer service: The 1990s were the decade of the customer. Good companies have always cared about their customers, but beginning in the late 1980s, it became a passion as organizations looked for every way to gain a competitive advantage. Organizations realized that providing great service to customers did not cost more money; it merely required hiring the type of people who were willing to deliver it. Companies that deliver great service hold on to existing customers even when they are not so competitive on price, and they gain new customers through referrals. Show that you truly care about your customers and you’ll have an employer who is willing to pay a premium to get you to join their firm. Look for opportunities to share how you provide great service to customers. It should be an example where you went above and beyond the call of duty. The result might be that a customer has remained loyal for many years despite strong efforts of competitors to gain a foothold, or it might be a person who has continued to use your organization’s services after moving to another company. If you know that your company has received referrals at least in part due to your efforts, mention that as well. If you have received verbal thanks from customers, quote them during an interview. If you have letters of thanks, either quote them or show them to the employer.
Save Money For The Organization
Saving money is just another form of making money. Employers love people who can save them money. Every dollar saved goes directly to improving the bottom line. If you came up with an idea that saved $10,000, that is equivalent to increasing sales $100,000 (assuming a 10% profit margin). Except for very large organizations, increasing sales $100,000 is not an easy thing to do. When it comes to saving money, nothing is insignificant. If you found a way to cut two hours a month on the production of a particular report, that’s 24 hours saved per year. If everyone sought ways to save money, American corporations would be more productive, would be more competitive internationally, and would be able to provide you and your coworkers with raises.
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