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 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