Job Search Solution Blog by Tony Beshara

over the next few posts, I’m going to speak to you about stories … can’t tell you how impactful stories are during the interviewing process … and it’s very important that you get this so that you can weave your stories into your interviewing presentation about yourself…

From philosophers we learn that stories that are more than entertainment, they teach us the art of being human… When you tell stories about yourself or your career, you’re communicating your human side as well as explaining what you’ve done in the past and how you will be successful for the company that you are interviewing with…

From psychologists we learned that stories are successful because they remove the prejudice of the listener toward the storyteller and encourage the listener to identify with the person in the story … people remember stories because they identify with the people in the stories … by doing that, the listener becomes more engaged with the storyteller and asks themselves questions like “what would I have done in that situation? “… That is why Jesus Christ taught in parables … the Buddha, Aesop another great teachers taught with stories…

And from the King and Alice in Wonderland we learned how to tell a story when he instructed to the white rabbit to “begin at the beginning …and go all the way to the end”…

these three pillars of story telling are the basic reason why and how stories about you in the nterviewing porcess will help you do well

This is the easiest of all the questions you’ll be asked in the interviewing process and, interesting enough, it only amounts for 10% of the hiring decision … and it is the easiest of all the questions to deal with …

The reason that it is easiest to deal with is that if you do a good job in all of the other questions … the really hard questions.. the money usually takes care of itself …. money and the discussion of money rarley end up making a difference in a candidate excepting a job or not…

Many people looking for a job talk about money in the initial stages of interviewing process simply because it is a common denominator and while they may not be able to define a job that they might consider or might want without being too abstract, they can discuss money in very concrete terms…

Don’t be nervous about money and don’t overreact to it one way or the other… but when it comes time to speak about money approach it like you would any other issue… is fair to ask what kind of money is associated with the position, if you don’t know that already

do not have any preconceived “bottom line figure”  that you will or won’t accept … it’s more important to consider many other aspects of the job before you consider money…

remember that money and title are the two most flexible things that an employer has to deal with and they are the two issues  most influenced by performance…

Now, if you are presently employed and you have for offers that you are considering, you may have a little leverage when it comes to discussing money with a perspective employer … if you have been out of work for six months and this is the only job offer you’ve even come close to, you’re likely to be a lot more flexible…

try to always discuss money face to face … try to never do it over the phone and don’t get too nervous about it … simply state what you think is fair after you hear what the employer thinks is there and try to take an “we’re all and this together” approach … never be confrontational or adversarial…

And contrary to most people’s beliefs, companies are not trying to pay as little as they can and candidates are not necessarily trying to get as much as they can… This has to be a really good deal for everybody and nobody should feel taken advantage of… If you take it a “we’re all in this together … let’s try to work it out together ” approach it will be easy and fruitful for both of you…

Practice your discussion of money with your spouse or a trusted friend

This amounts to 40% of hiring decision … that’s right 40% … people really don’t like hearing this… It makes everyone uncomfortable because they think that hiring ought to be more “fair”  then having your personality and being liked play that much of a role in the hiring process…

But that’s the way it is … reality, whether you like it or not… people hire who they like and they don’t hire who they don’t like, no matter how qualified to candidate might be…

In fact, I have seen more less than qualified candidates… event downright unqualified candidates hired because they were liked then you can ever imagine… and, as a corollary, I have never seen even the momst well qualified candidate hired that wasn’t liked by a the interviewing and hiring authorities…

What does this mean? Well, it means that you need to be a “likable” person in the interviewing process … it means being warm, friendly, engaging, vulnerable and affable without being contrived … it means being able to communicate yourself and your successes in stories that people can identify with … it means identifying with the interviewing and hiring authorities…( it sure helps to do research on these people when you are going to interview with them … any common knowledge or experiences are always appreciated)…

Simply realizing that this issue is so much a part of the hiring decision gives you an advantage… practice your interviewing style… practice being “likable”…

This is the most basic question that a hiring authority needs to know… now it may seem obvious, but you might be surprised that the number of people who know, because they make the assumption that they know they can do the job, assume that the employer or hire an authority and knows that to…

Don’t make this assumption! … Be sure that you make it clear to the interviewing or hiring authority your basic skills, exactly what you have done in the past that would lead them to belief that you can do what they want done…

this issue is only 20% of a hiring decision, but it is the first 20% that a hiring or interviewing authority is going to try to establish…

No matter how good you are, if you don’t make it clear to hiring authority how  your skills and experience relate to the job they want done, that you clearly can and do their job… You won’t get hired…

I can’t tell you the number of follow-up calls that I’ve made with perspective employers, after interviewing one of my candidates, they reflected that they really seem to like the candidate a lot, but they got so wrapped up in the interview that they never really established confidence that the candidate could do what they want done… Why? … They never asked, and the candidate assumed they knew that he or she could do the job…

So, be sure to establish your ability based on your experience to do the job… It is certainly fine, at the end of the interview to simply ask the hiring or interviewing authoirity if they’re clear about your experience and background and your ability to do the job they want done…

DON’T OVERLOOK THIS SIMPLE BUT IMPORTANT QUESTION!

…brian goes to the final interview with the VP…he is one of four and the process has taken six weeks..
even the hiring manager is sick of this…he was suppose to have this hire done a month ago..but the “new” hiring process has two more steps in process  than it use to be and, of course it has e-l-o-n-g-a-t-e-d beyond reason..(they lost three candidates due to the process)
but brian is really good..as the interview winds down, brian says, “do you have any questions concerning my ability to do the job?”…the answer was, “Not at all…”
so, brian says, “WILL YOU SUPPORT MY CANDIDACY…WILL YOU TELL MARK (the hiring manager) TO HIRE ME?”
brialliant!…turns out that brian was the only one of the four candidates that asked this…

…i have been finishng my third book…gonna give you excerpts over the next few months…