Impressive Follow-up

What do you think is the purpose of follow-up? How do you follow-up?
Most people know to follow-up after each interview. Many, however, follow-up ineffectively. Too many people sit at home waiting for the phone to ring or the email to come. Others irritate the interviewer by asking “Have you made a decision yet?”. They fail to realize the power of impressive follow-up.
Continuing to convince the interviewer remains the purpose of follow-up. AS I mentioned in previous blogs, you must convince them you can:

1. Do the job they want done
2. Fit into their team or organization
3. Provide a good return on their investment

Immediately After the Interview
Evaluate the interview before anything can distract you (car radio, phone calls, texting). Write down the following information:

• Correct spelling of the names and email of everyone involved in the interview
• Topics covered by the interview or meeting
• The answers to four questions
• What went well in the interview?
• What did you say that you wish you had not said?
• What did you not say that you wish you had said?
• What requirement did they have that you did not meet?

Four Steps to Impressive Follow-up
My suggestion for impressive follow-up involves four steps:

1. Send a thank you card or email to each person in the interview the same day as the interview. In fact, I suggest you take 4-5 thank you cards to the interview. Complete them before you leave and leave them with the receptionist. Your thank you card should restate what went well in the interview.
2. Make a phone call 3-4 business days after the interview. The phone call should last less than 3 minutes. It should fix what you said that you wish you had not said. End the phone call with a simple “I really want to work with you. Is now a good time to set up a second interview?” Do not press it more than that. Just ask and let it go—unless they accept your offer for the interview.
3. Make a second call 3-4 days after the first phone call. Once again, do not take more than 3 minutes. This time, you say what you wish you had said. In other words, give the great answer that came to you after the interview ended. End your conversation with the same “I really want to work for you. Is now a good time to set up a second interview?”
4. Make a third call another 3-4 days after the second call. This call should highlight how you compensate for the requirement you did not meet. For example, if you lacked experience with a certain software program, spend 4-6 hours with someone teaching you how to run the software. In the phone call explain the training you received, and detail how it prepared you to do the job. You obviously did not learn everything you needed to know, but your initiative will demonstrate your willingness and ability to solve problems.

Remember, your follow-up continues to impress the interviewer that you will do the job, fit into their team, and provide a great return on investment. You avoid irritating the interviewer by asking if they have made a decision. Nor do you sit by the phone waiting for them to call you. You follow these four steps to impressive follow-up.
Read the blog on Wednesday when I share how to prepare a 10-minute reusable resume
Please share what follow-up techniques work for you

Reframe Your Weaknesses

This continues our series on answering interview questions
Everyone possesses Weaknesses
Everyone possesses one or more weaknesses. Weaknesses include those things that you hope the interviewers don’t enquire about. Interviewers perceive some weaknesses easily: obesity, age, inexperience, and others. Many weaknesses remain hidden until exposed: prison records, termination for cause, lack of skills, some health problems and others.
Frequently, you hope they won’t notice or discover your weaknesses. In fact, some people leave an interview grateful that the interviewer did not mention the weakness, thinking the interviewer did not notice it. This fallacy prevents you from influencing how they perceive the weakness. You need to reframe how they perceive your weaknesses. Attempt to help them see them differently.
Identify How People Perceive Your Weakness & Reframe it
Step one: list why people may perceive your weakness as negative. For example, people worry that an obese employee may

• Generate health problems and costs
• Fail to produce effectively
• Lack discipline and self-motivation
• Lack the energy to put in a full-day's work.

Step two: prepare home run statements that will counter each negative perception. Plan when you will introduce them into the interview if your weakness is obvious. I use home run statement about

• Good health as part of the answer to “Tell me about yourself?”
• Increased productivity and profits to describe my work experiences
• My discipline and motivation to answer “What is your biggest weakness?”
• Exude a lot of energy during the interview so they do not doubt I have it

Step Three: some questions obviously require you to reframe their thinking:

• “What’s your biggest weakness?”
• '”Why did you leave your last (or any other) job?”
• “Tell me about a time you made a mistake on the job, and how you corrected it?”
• “I’ve interviewed people with more experience than you. Why should I hire you?”

You need to reframe the interviewers thinking about your weaknesses, rather than let them form their own opinions. Identifying the negative perceptions and preparing home statements to counter them reframes their perceptions. Avoid the trap of ignoring your weaknesses.
Join me next Monday when we outline steps to effective follow-up on interviews
What interview experiences have you had to deal with?

Answer with a Question

This continues our series on answering interview questions
In previous posts we established that you answer almost all interview questions in one of four ways:

1. Hit home runs to highlight what you can for for the company
2. Use your dessert tray to answer “Tell me about yourself” and other questions
3. Answer with a question to gather information before providing an inadequate answer
4. Reframe their thinking about your weaknesses

Today, we address the interview questions that require more information before answering. Sometimes interviewers ask questions to see how well you think on your feet (or usually in the chair). Other questions require you more information before you answer. Finally, some interviewers ask what I call bizarre questions just to see you react.
I will illustrate all of this type of question using just three examples.
“What do you expect as a starting salary?”
You lack information to answer this question. You don’t know how much they typically pay for their positions. You also don’t know enough about the position to recognize what would be the expected return on investment.
You may answer with one or two questions.

• “What do you usually pay someone with my experience?”
• “What do you usually pay for this position?”
• “Before we discuss salary, We need to discuss the financial responsibilities associated with the position. What budget would I control and what savings or profits would you expect me to generate?”

“Do you have any questions for me?”
Obviously, you have to answer this questions because it invites questions. You must resist the urge to ask questions about insurance, benefits, or issues related to your personal gratification. Instead, focus your questions on discovering more about their expectations of the  job.
You may answer with one or two questions.

• “I understand you want someone who can (list 2-3 skills or traits). Can you tell me anything else you seek in the person you fire for this position?
• Follow-up with home run statements that relate to what they want.
• “What else can I do to prove how well I will meet your requirements?”

“How many quarters would you have to stack to equal the Empire State Building?”
This question represents what I call “Bizarre  Questions”.   Microsoft originated the question to see how people think on their feet. The answer to the question must show your innovation and ingenuity.
You may answer with one or two questions.

• “American or Canadian quarters?”
• “After I count how many quarters would stack to six inches and double the number, I would divide it into the height of the Empire State Building. Can you tell me how tall the building is?”
• “Do you want them stacked horizontally or vertically?”

Once you recognize that you need additional information to answer a question, you can select the right question to ask. Resist the temptation to assume you know all the information you need.
Tune in on Friday when I explore how to reframe their thinking about your weaknesses

Present Your Dessert Tray

Please share experiences you had in interviews?
We discussed in a previous post how you answer all interview questions with one of four types of answers. Our last post describe how to hit home runs to answer one type of question.
Today, we will discuss how your dessert tray can answer the dreaded question “Tell me about yourself” or “Tell me why you chose to enter this occupation?”
How You Build Your Dessert Tray
Fine restaurants use dessert trays to entice well-fed diners to indulge in rich desserts. The server brings the tray to the table. The tray exhibits the desserts in their finest.  You entice potential employers to hire you by presenting your attributes in the best possible light.
Using the visual image of a dessert tray helps you remember what to say. Picture the tray holding the following information:

1. Your family or hobbies
   
2. Associations, clubs, teams or boards that occupy your time and attention
   
3. Your training or education
   
4. The 5+ best jobs you ever held
   
5. 5 words or phrases that best describe you
   
6. 5 accomplishments that mean the most to you

How to Use Your Dessert Tray to Answer Questions
Just as restaurants do not expect diners to eat everything on the dessert tray, you should not expect interviewers to digest everything on your dessert tray. You give them samples. In other words, you select the elements on your tray that will appeal most to that interviewer. Selecting portions allows you use your tray to answer multiple questions.
Allow me to demonstrate:

• Q: Tell me about yourself?
  • A: (the numbers refer to the parts of the dessert tray listed above
    
  • “I’ve been blessed with great health because I run 4 miles 5 times a week (1). I’ve always loved reading (1) history and business books. Reading helped me earn my MBA from the Holton School (3). People describe me as service and results oriented (5). For example, when I volunteered on both the United Way advisory board (2) we increased donations by $310,000 (6). The best job I ever had was solving a production problem at Boundaries Inc. (4). We redesigned the production flow and increased productivity by 45% generating an additional $630,000 per year.”

Notice that I only use 2 of the 5 words and 2 of the 5 accomplishments. I only referred to one of my best jobs and one training experience. Finally, I mentioned 2 hobbies and one association. Using the whole tray would lose their attention. You can use different parts of your dessert tray to answer similar questions. Always select the offerings from your dessert tray that will most entice your interviewer.
Now you know how to answer 2 of the 4 types of questions asked in interviews.
Join me on Wednesday to learn how answer questions with questions

Answer Interview Questions

Note: Some suggested I write shorter blogs and post them more frequently. I will try that beginning today.
Decision makers, or hiring authorities, use interview questions to determine three things. Will you…

1. Do the job they want done
2. Fit into their work/project team or organization
3. Provide a good return on investment

Your answers should resolve those concerns without raising any additional doubts.
You answer any interview questions with one of four types of answers:

• Home run statements to illustrate results delivered to others
• Dessert trays to describe who you are and what you offer the company
• Reframe their thinking about weaknesses
• Ask questions to gather more information before giving an inadequate answer

Once you know how to classify questions quickly, you can identify the best answer.
We will discuss each of these four types of answers over the next four blogs.
Please let me know your thoughts about shorter blogs covering the same amount of information through more posts.
I will now post LarryonCareers on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Meet with 10 People a Week

Comments (both positive & negative) help others. Please share yours.

You need to meet face-to-face with 10 people a week to land the job you love. You select 10 of the 50 people you called (10 a day times 5 days a week) and schedule a meeting. Use Skype or another video conferencing app if your search takes you to another state or country.

Alyssa’s Story

Alyssa wanted a job with a clothing store. She loved clothes. She loved selling. She loved helping women combine an outfit with accessories to create the perfect look. She identified all the women’s clothiers in her community and began her campaign to prove she could help them achieve their sales goals.

She made 10 phone calls a day talking to friends and acquaintances about where they bought clothes. She discovered the names of their favorite sales clerks. She even scheduled shopping trips with her friends so they could introduce her to the staff. She counted each sales trip as 2-4 meetings depending on how many clerks or managers she met. She also visited stores on her own to talk to the staff.

She used her professional introduction that established her as a woman who loved helping other women create the perfect look and made stores money. She asked the staff questions about what they liked about working at the store. She discussed the typical client, how the store captured client information for future sales, and what sales quotas management set. She would casually ask what they liked about the store’s manager, their management style, goals for the store, etc. She shared appropriate home runs as the discussion presented opportunity. All of her questions and statements established a rapport with the staff. They established her as a true professional in their eyes. She kept her visits very short, once again proving she was a professional. She visited some staff several times to gather more information. She always finished with “Thank you so much. This has been very helpful. Who else would you suggest I talk to?”

She met with the manager only when she knew enough to impress the manager. Her referred to both the names of the staff and some of the information she gathered in her introduction. She focused not on getting a job, but what the manager wanted to achieve with the store. She verified that the information she received was accurate and presented her home runs establishing she could do what the manager wanted and make sales for the store. The managers usually asked her questions to clarify or explain what she said. She ended the conversation by saying “Thank you for spending time with me. I really want to work for you. May I remain in touch?”

She made mistakes the first few stores she visited. Sometimes she pushed too hard. Other times she failed to impress them. The more people she met, however, they better she did.

Unfortunately, she made some mistakes with the manager of one of the stores she really wanted to work for She did not give up. She visited that store each week for five weeks. She revisited the staff and spent 2 minutes with the manager trying to overcome her previous mistakes and demonstrate her gentle persistence. Those visits counted as 1 of her 10 meetings a week.

Her hard work paid off. That store manager offered her a job during her fifth follow-up visit.

Purpose of the meetings

1. You meet with 4-6 people a week to do your due diligence in preparation…
2. …to meet with 2-3 decision makers a week to prove you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their challenges
3. Follow-up on previous meetings to continue to make the hiring authority feel wonderful (we’ll discuss this next week)

Some Final Tips to Enhance your 10 Meetings a Week

• Set appointments to meet with people in office or industrial setting.
• Set meetings when convenient with the person you meet. Avoid peak work times.
• Limit your meeting to 10-15 minutes unless eating, golfing, or similar venue
• Prepare 10-12 questions to ask people during meetings. Do not ask all of them at any one meeting
• Treat everyone you talk to—especially the secretary—with respect and kindness
• Meet with others before you meet with the hiring authority or decision maker until you know what their goals, challenges, and projects
• Use your professional introduction to impress them. Do not begin the conversation with anything close to “I’m looking for a job. Are you hiring right now?”
• Change your approach if they refer to you human resources. You came across as a job seeker, not a professional
• Notice how people dress, so that you can dress one step higher when you meet with the manager
• Meet people at professional or business association meetings, the Chamber of Commerce, service organizations, and other meetings. Identify friends who cant take you as their guest. Offer to pay for your costs and maybe theirs.

In Conclusion

Sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day sending emails and resumes depresses you.

Meeting 10 people a week to network, follow-up, and impress the manager accelerates your job search. Your enthusiasm grows. Your ability grows (because you will make mistakes with the first 7-10). Your confidence grows. You get the information you need. You get jobs faster. You get higher salary offers.

So, meet 10 people, face-to-face, a week

Join us next week when we discuss creating a professional introduction to impress people

Comments (both positive & negative) helps others. Please leave yours.

You Really Can Call 10 a Day

Please share your experiences about finding a job or your reaction to this post

One of the vital behaviors to land the job you love: call 10 people a day.

Most people roll their eyes, shudder, and dismiss the idea immediately when they hear or read this. They don’t even hear the rest because they already reject the idea. They continue to believe the outdated idea that good jobs get advertised, and that they cannot call the company because the website said not to. I agree do not call human resources unless you want a job in human resources.

Chad’s Story

Chad spent 15 months looking for a financial analyst job. He had sent 1,798 resumes in the 15 months. Less than 100 responded. Auto responders accounted for most of the 100. No one offered to interview him. No one offered him a job. He became despondent, but did not give up. He still sat in front of his computer 8-10 hours a day sending out resumes.

A neighbor recommended he come to us for service. We introduced him to “the 10’s”. He blanched when we explained making 10 phone calls a day and scheduling 10 face-to-face meetings a week. He thought we meant 10 job openings a day and 10 job interviews a week. We did not.

He relaxed once he realized the 10 phone calls included thank you calls, friends, people working in companies that were not advertising. He especially appreciated when we taught him how to find 10 people a day. He calmed even more when he realized the 10 meetings included due diligence meetings.

He started making his phone calls the next week, and had 3 job offers within 5 weeks.

Call 10 People a Day and Get a Job Faster

You will get a job faster by calling 10 people a day. Our group tested this hypothesis with people, like Chad, who sought jobs paying $40-250,000 annually. In every situation, once they understood and began making the calls (and setting the meetings) they found work within 5-8 weeks. We next tested it with people in lower income brackets (minimum wage –$13.00 per hour). 80% found work within 6 weeks (40% found jobs in 2 weeks). People in the last group faced serious obstacles to finding work: felony arrests, disabilities, and behavioral challenges.

You must make a couple of changes in your paradigm to see the value of 10 phone calls a day. We discussed these paradigms in previous posts: How People Really Get Hired, Where to Find the Best Jobs, and Do Your Due Diligence. Review those posts to remember the reasons for the 10 calls.

Purpose of Your 10 Calls a Day

Your 10 phone calls serve three main purposes:

1. Do your due diligence by discovering and verifying with friends, potential co-workers and support staff whether your past experience (use home run statements) would benefit the organization or team
• What tasks, responsibilities, or projects the decision makers want done; or what problems or challenges the organization needs resolved
• Nature of the organizational culture, environment, and work teams—and how well you would fit into that organization or team
• Management’s expectations for their return on investment and how your past ROI meets their expectations
2. Set appointments to prove to decision makers how you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their problems.
• Refer to the people you talked to in the calls outlined in point 1.
• Verify that the essence of the information they gave you was accurate
• Present your home run statements that apply to the hiring authority’s goals or challenges
• Ask if your experience is what they want on their team (not you, yet)
• Set a time and place to meet to discuss how you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their problems
3. Follow-up on previous meetings with decision makers, sources of information for your due diligence, or sources of additional people you talked to or with whom you met (I’ll discuss follow-up in a later post.

Some Final Tips to Enhance Your 10 Calls a Day

• You can identify all 50 of the people to call in 2 hours on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon (which are lousy times to call or meet people anyway) from the sources we discussed in Where to Find the Best Jobs
• Keep phone calls to 3-8 minutes maximum. Any longer and they may worry that you might monopolize their time if they hire you. Instead prove you can conduct business briefly and appropriately
• 4-5 brief phone calls over a couple of weeks, with perhaps a face-to-face meeting with a key source, builds better relationships than one long phone call
• Do not ask if they are hiring at that moment or if they can help you get a job
• Do not tell them you are unemployed
• Focus on how you can help them achieve what they want
• Practice your phone calls with your job coach, friends, and close network contacts before calling the company you really, really want to work for (make your mistakes where they don’t count)
• Always say “You have been very helpful. May call you back if I have more questions?” and “Is there anyone else you suggest I talk to?”

Calling 10 people a day really can shorten your job search. While it seems intimidating, talking to people reduces the despair or isolation that follows spending 8 hours at a computer.

Join us next week when we discuss scheduling 10 face-to-face meetings/interviews a week

What do you think? Please share your experiences or reaction to this post

Do Your Due Diligence

Please share your experiences & comments to our conversation

Many people start new jobs only to discover they dislike the new company, new co-workers, and new environment. Typically, these new job frustrations result from inadequate research—or due diligence—prior to accepting a job offer. In other words, job seekers get so excited that they received any job offer, that they fail to ensure they will enjoy the job. Instead, a little due diligence could ensure they land the job they love.

Mildred’s Story

Mildred enjoyed working for the same company for 18 years. She loved the owner and the people that worked with her. Her responsibilities and tasks delighted her. She never thought of leaving. Unfortunately, the owner decided to retire and sold the company. The new owners moved the operation to a different state.

She landed a job after looking for 14 months. In her excitement at finally ending her job search, she assumed she would enjoy the new job as much as the old one. Her excitement quickly gave way to frustration and despair. Instead of the kindly owner building a family environment, she found a global organization with aloof management intent of looking good for directors far away. She worked in individual cubicles (devoid, by policy, of personal pictures, plants, and nick-knacks) replaced the open office where she enjoyed chatting with co-workers as she worked. The frequent praise and appreciation expressed by her previous boss disappeared. Instead, every improvement or good work merely established a higher expectation. Her experience shattered her enthusiasm and pride in her work. The consequent drop in both the quality and quantity of her work resulted in the company letting her go after only two and a half months.

Mildred came to our office a despondent and scarred soul. The first four to five sessions with our employment advisers focused on rebuilding her self-esteem and belief that she could ever find a job equal to her first one. Her adviser taught her how to do her due diligence to avoid a repeat of her disastrous job. She

1. Wrote a description of the things she loved about her first job and the things she disliked about her second
2. Outlined 8-10 questions that would uncover information about the new company’s reputation, management style and workplace environment.
3. Read company websites and articles about the company where available focusing on mission, value, and other statements
4. Connected with people she knew, or found on LinkedIn, who worked (current or past) at the company to ask them her questions
5. Verified her due diligence during interviews and negotiations after job offers

It took a lot of work, especially trying to navigate automated voice mail. Mildred ceased following promising leads that, based on information discovered through her research, failed to provide what she wanted. At times she wanted to give up and just accept a job. Then, she thought of the enjoyable and the disagreeable job--and renewed her due diligence.

She received her reward six weeks later when a company that seemed to meet her requirements offered her a job. She rejoiced when the reality of her new company met the picture painted by her due diligence. She loved the environment, her co-workers, her supervisor, and her work.

Describe What You Want

First, you need to identify what you want. You can discover tools to help you evaluate what you want on my blog Happy With Your Career? I recommend you write your dream job outlining the:

• Skills you want to use and the responsibilities you wish to oversee
• Tasks and responsibilities you wish to perform
• Work team relations: private, aloof, collaborative, friendly, chummy, or drinking buddies
• Industry: manufacturing, office, retail, transportation, government, nonprofit or other
• Working environment: highly structured, flexible, routine, varied, friendly, or private
• Management style: intense, hands-on, hands-off, stressed, strong or weak
• Facilities atmosphere: cubicles, open-office, campus, private offices, or assembly line

Second, you should write questions that will gather information you want about companies. Some questions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• What do people enjoy most about working for this company?
• What are the company’s mission, values, purposes, creeds, and strategies?
• Tell me about your work team? How many members? What does each do?
• What kinds of projects does your team work on? How long are typical projects?
• How would you describe the company’s management style? Loyalty to employees?
• What thrills you most about working there? What frustrates you most about it?

Read and Ask People Questions

Third, begin finding the answers to your questions. Read what you can on the company’s website, articles in the journals, press releases, and other sources. Websites like Jigsaw, Hoovers, Netshare, or professional associations frequently include this information about companies.

Next, talk to people who would know about the company. People might include:

• Your friends and family who know the company, or may know others in the company
• Connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media with current or past affiliation with the company
• Competitors and clients of the company
• Employees, starting with receptionists and secretaries, public relations or sales representatives, people working in the desired department, position, or team

Let me share a few tips to guide your due diligence:

• Never rely on one source of information. Try to find at least three sources to read and visit.
• Respect clerical workers. Ask questions they can answer, then ask a question that will trigger them transferring you to someone who can answer.
• Avoid taking too much time. Four 5-minute conversations build relationships better than one 20-minute conversation.
• Always ask “Who else would you recommend I talk to?” Try to get two new names.
• Send people a thank-you email. Share any information you gather with your sources.
• Ask their opinion of information you received from others. Validate what you hear.

A few hours researching potential jobs and companies prevents weeks, months, or years of frustration and irritation. Do your due diligence to ensure you will enjoy the job you accept.

Join us next week when we discuss calling 10 people a day to land the job you love.

Please share your experiences researching companies or bad jobs

Launching "Larry on Careers"

Tonight launches my blog focusing exclusively on improving careers. We will share concepts about how to choose a career, prepare and gain skills to succeed in your chosen career, find a job faster, keep the job longer, receive bigger raises and better promotions.

My 33+ years helping more than half a million people enhance their satisfaction with their careers gives me some knowledge, experience, and insights that I will share. However, this blog will also rely on your comments. I encourage you to share your stories, frustrations, failures, and successes. The more people who share, the richer the content of the blog will be.

We will not restrict our discussions to one kind of career, nor to one salary level. We will explore blue, white, pink, and no collar careers. We will discover the joys and frustrations of many occupations--and how to increase the former while decreasing the latter. Our discussions will include ideas for low, middle, and upper income brackets. We will learn how to move from one income bracket to another. We will share ideas, for those millions who found themselves moving into poverty during this recession, about how to get back to where you were.

We will add a new post each week, usually in the middle of the week. Some posts will be long. Others will be short. Some posts will begin a discussion that may last 3-4 posts. Other posts will stand alone and cover the subject in one week.

In addition to "Larry on Careers", I will also start a post entitled "Larry on Business". That post will usually appear at the end of the week. It will explore how to grow a small-business. I invite business owners to follow that post beginning on Friday June 10.

I look forward to sharing ideas together on how to improve your career, or the career of someone you love.