
A productive mindset, during any career transition, is your ability to relate your well positioned “story” to others, answer questions effectively, conduct productive negotiations, and, in general, fine tune your personal salesmanship skills. So what are those basic tactics that will allow you to effectively “close the deal?”
- Practice your two minute drill every chance you get…. it’s the fundamental building material of your communication strategy–your verbal collaterals!
- Practice your exit and qualification statements… most all potential employers and networking contacts will want to know your current situation and why you are available.
- Practice answering both common and tough questions… including pre-offer negotiation tactics.
Thursday, August 11th… Closing the Deal II, Interviewing tactics plus POST-Offer negotiation!
The most asked question during career transition is, “Tell me about yourself.” Appropriate use of your two-minute drill and related verbal strategies, your “verbal collaterals,” is a key ingredient to personal salesmanship…
- A verbal resume… A tightly focused, upbeat telling of “your story” told in a high impact two minute format. With practice, can be easily personalized to your listener.
- An “elevator pitch”… A succinct summary of your qualifications for a specifically positioned function or opportunity. With practice, can become quite spontaneous.
- Brag bytes… Wordcraft various collections of words, phrases and sentences to capture memorable moments or accomplishments–the best you have to offer. “…saved 80% cost-per-hire…” Used in MSWord Auto Text Format can be quite efficient when building high impact correspondence as well.
- Personal Portfolio… Your collection of certificates, examples of work, reference letters, etc that can bring life and interest (not to mention PROOF) to your story.
KNOW “IT”
Go in to any interview with at least a good notion of why that JOB is a good CareerFIT for you. You will be at a distinct disadvantage if you plan on using the interview to figure out why you are a FIT! ‘Knowing’ the nature of a good CareerFIT for you comes from the first few steps of our 12-step process, networking and research will surface attractive opportunities for you to pursue.
So as a first thing to accomplish in any interview, you will want to…
Confirm IT
“As I have prepared for this conversation with you, it seems that you are looking for a person who is good at X, Y, and Z… is that true?” As a first question to ask, as you are getting seated, get the first question in! Engage your Interviewer in this most obvious bit of information… you’ll be surprised how this serves to direct the front end of the interview process.
USE It
Remember the three basic guidelines for answering ANY question asked…
- Answer the question! (and then stop taslking!)
- When in a topical area of strength or FIT, look for opportunities to integrate a personalized W.A.R. story
- At least address the issue of the question before blocking the subject, changing the topic, or clarifying the topic at hand.
Eleven out of twelve steps in our job search process are aimed at obtaining interviews and performing well in them. It is at that point ‘selection interview,’ a potential hiring manager decides if you are right for the job, and, just as important, it is your time to evaluate whether the job is right for you.
Most interviews follow a predictable format, with steps that both the interviewer and applicant follow to decide if both will benefit from working together. The best interviews are ones in which both participants are equal and can have a mutually beneficial, interactive conversation regarding the opportunity at hand.
Just as the competent sailor must select their destination in order to have a successful voyage, so must the productive and efficient job seeker know what is a right work opportunity to identify, proceed toward…and secure! While this seems like an incredible over-simplification, mere ‘common sense,’ it is knowledge that eludes most unemployed people. You see, when you’re employed you tend to assume that your employer will help you to navigate those ‘next steps’ in your career.
First and foremost, enjoy the long Holiday weekend! 
I encourage you to work with all your ingredients at the same time…if your desired result is a nice prime rib dinner, don’t start with the meat—start with the seasonings and vegetables, even get your dessert started…
How can one accomplish this critical element of your Personal Marketing Plan, your ‘digital footprint?’ Use the time you spend on LinkedIn to address your two critical tasks:
While involved in ‘the challenging waters’ of career transition, the same chaotic, jobless, trying times are very productive times. Don’t waste them by floundering with lack of focus and direction, falling into the dark, depressive attitude of distractions and, worst of all, inaction…
So, why not recreate all that with OUR OWN PLAN, a Personal Marketing Plan, to move toward job satisfaction, commitment, and appropriate compensation, for the rest of our careers… including any current, short term job search? But, before looking at what such a Personal Marketing Plan would look like, you should review the PREPARATION Portion of the 12-step Process Model.
Many job seekers feel “swamped,” like being pitched overboard from their boats in the challenging waters of career transition. When they lose their job, they realize that they have not provided themselves with the appropriate life preserver. In today’s digital world of recruitment, the traditional approaches to job search seem to provide more opportunities to drown, than to survive and thrive…
In “Embracing the OTHER Job Market,” we learn to be aware of our surroundings in the challenging waters of career transition. We learn to provide ourselves with supportive career strategies to avoid the “black hole” of Internet job and resume banks… So, to come back on point, job seekers need to find out how to get your resume ranked highly within applicant tracking systems, so that it can then go on to the real human beings who will call you for interviews.
Your work in Achieving CareerFIT led you to the determination of your career objective, exactly what is the best next step for you in your career transition? It also suggested strongly that you set your straw-man offer criteria to guide you in moving forward…Knowing what your 