During an interview you will spend 40–60% of the time talking—mostly about yourself. Much of that time will be spent describing experiences, but you will also be describing the type of person you are. The interviewer will ask questions such as, “Tell me about yourself,” “How would you describe yourself?” or “What would your friends say about you?” The problem with this is that most people spend very little time throughout their lives talking about themselves. People spend a lot of time talking about what they do—the restaurants, plays, concerts, sports events, and vacation spots they’ve been to—but they rarely discuss the kind of person they are. No wonder interviewing is difficult for most people.
Think about it. When was the last time you discussed whether you are a pragmatist or an idealist, or whether you are compassionate, easy-going, flexible, or resourceful? Since you’re not used to it, you may not be very good at it. It takes practice. For that reason I strongly suggest that you complete the personality skills exercise on page 69. After you write about yourself, find someone you can share your thoughts with. If you can’t find someone, simply record your thoughts on your personality skills using a tape recorder. Just hearing yourself talk about yourself will help you feel more comfortable and will improve your effectiveness in interviews.
Ending The Interview
Develop a close for your interviews by practicing a summary of the benefits you offer. Although the points you will want to make in the summary will vary somewhat from job to job, many of your points will be used repeatedly in interviews. You should be able to predict your primary assets so you can create a list of those points for the close.
Since you will not always be given a specific opportunity to summarize, you should sense when the interview is drawing to a close. That will often occur as the interviewer asks if you have any questions. Go ahead and ask those questions, but as soon as the interviewer finishes answering your last question you could interject, “Perhaps this would be a good time to summarize my strengths for this position,” or “Maybe I should just take a couple of minutes to pull it all together and tell you why I think I’m the person for this job.”
Chapter 3
OVERCOMING OBJECTIONS
Performing well in interviews requires an ability to recognize the important difference between rejections and objections. Virtually everyone must overcome several objections during the interviewing process before a job offer is made. People who perceive an objection as a rejection, however, may become defensive or simply give up and assume all is lost. Thus, the failure to understand objections and differentiate them from rejection can cause interviewees to sabotage their own success in an interview.
An Objection Is Not A Rejection
An objection is not a rejection. It is simply a request for more information. An employer may be very impressed with you, yet still have concerns such as your lack of experience in a specific area, or your four jobs in the last six years. Often all the interviewer wants is reassurance that you learn quickly or are now seeking a stable job. If the objection is handled well, a job offer may very well be made to you.
Good interviewees, like good salespeople, must learn to anticipate objections. Since cost is a common objection salespeople face, an effective salesperson might open with, “This is not the least expensive lawnmower on the market. But a recent survey showed that the average lawnmower lasts eight years, while ours are averaging over twelve years of trouble-free service.” This way the objection may be overcome before it is ever expressed. It is important to anticipate an objection because once an objection is stated, it is much more difficult to neutralize or overcome.
Predict The Objections You’ll Face
The first step in overcoming objections is predicting what they will be and developing effective responses to them. Objections are any aspects of you that raise doubts about your ability to do the job well or fit in well in the organization. The biggest objection of all is: “You don’t have enough experience.” The following circumstances are likely to give rise to some types of objections: you were fired from your last job; you appear to be a job hopper; there is a major gap in your work history; you’re changing careers; you don’t have a college degree and you’re applying for a position that normally requires one; you have three or more years of college education but never received a degree; you’re over 50 years of age; or you have too little or too much experience. The list could go on. Objections can also arise if you lack a certain type of knowledge or experience the employer is looking for in an ideal candidate.
Sensing a potential objection is exactly what Pat did. Pat was interviewing for a job in which she would train clients to use an accounting software package which cost several thousand dollars. The concern, which was never spoken directly but which was implied, was whether Pat could learn the package quickly enough to meet the employer’s needs. Pat looked for the earliest opportunity to address this objection. Before the objection was directly mentioned, Pat shared that she had learned a complex accounting software package very quickly at her current job. As a result, the invoice error rate had decreased by 80%. Pat never stated that because she had learned the one package so quickly she could learn theirs as well. She didn’t need to. Since the employer had not stated the objection, Pat was subtle in the way she dealt with it. She did, however, let them know how she had managed to learn the package so quickly—she had taken the manual home with her and studied it on her own time. Pat recalled that as she told her story, she could sense that her future supervisor was gaining confidence in her. By recognizing an objection and then neutralizing it, Pat was offered the job.
Since you will probably lack some desired skill or knowledge, look for ways to sell the fact that you learn quickly.
The value of anticipating objections is further demonstrated by John. His story was told to me by the person who hired him. Very early in the interview, John used an opportunity to reveal something about himself while at the same time selling himself. He knew it would come out during the interview that he had spent a year in prison for assault. When he was invited to talk about himself, he described how he had taught an English course while he was in prison. John emphasized that what made him feel really good was making valuable use of his prison time. Because of his candidness and the realization that he had a strong work ethic, this potentially disastrous piece of information was turned into something positive. He was offered a material handler position with a Fortune 500 company and became a valued employee.
Don’t Argue With Employers
When overcoming an objection, don’t argue with the employer. If the employer states, “You really don’t have enough experience in this field,” a good response might be:
I realize there may be others with more years of experience, but I really feel the quality of my experience is the key. Because of the variety of things I’ve done, and the level of responsibility I was given, I think my five years are equivalent to most people with eight. There’s no question in my mind that I can do an outstanding job for you.
Describe Related Experience
Another way to deal with the issue of not having enough experience is to describe all of your related experience. Related experience is
