R2 Staffing, Inc.

Few individuals prepare for their initial interview like they should. Even more important, very few individuals recognize that there often is an underlying format to a successful interview. This document is not intended to be the definitive answer to all issues regarding interviews. In fact, no document can anticipate all issues that will arise during an interview. However, it will provide a foundation to help you prepare and control the tempo and direction of your interview. There are 2 major concepts regarding interviewing:

1) The philosophy of a successful interview - the viewpoint or mindset you take with you on the interview.

2) The actual content of a Structured Interview - the process you go through when you interview with any company.

The most qualified applicant is not always the individual who gets the job offer! The individual who is reasonably qualified and prepares for the interview is better positioned to not only obtain the offer, but a better offer than the competition. Recognize that when you go on a job interview you become a salesperson. The product you are selling is your technical skills and background. A good salesperson talks 20% of the time and listens 80% of the time. On an interview this is not always possible. Therefore, it is important to understand how to control the timing of the interview and how to interject questions to help gather information to best represent your background. In order to keep yourself in control of the final decision process, you need to "sell yourself" as if this is the only job left on earth. Until you receive the actual written job offer, you have no option to accept, change, or reject. Until the company extends the offer, you are in competition with all additional candidates and have no true position of power. You must represent your technical skills in terms of "Benefits to the Company". In other words, why is it in the company's best interest to hire you?

·         Collect Data

If you go into an interview without first gathering as much information as possible, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. You must do this in order to understand how to sell yourself in terms of benefits to the company. Hiring managers do their homework prior to an interview. Typically, the manager will have your resume, the recruiting company may have shared their impression of you and if reference checks have been performed, the manager may be in possession of them.

Begin your data collection process prior to the interview. Simply visit the company’s web site. It is helpful to gain an understanding of the company’s vision, structure, key players (employees), services and/or products.

A hiring manager controls the interview, but may not have training on interview techniques. Also, business dynamics change on a daily basis. Skill sets that were important on Monday may not be important on Thursday. This could especially be true if that manager has recently added someone to his or her staff who changes the mixture of existing skills within the group. An initial question from the interviewer may be: "Tell me a little about your software development experience."

The challenge with this question from your vantage point is that you do not know the important skills or critical requirements needed to represent your skills in terms of "Benefits to the Company." It is a fundamentally unfair question to you and the person conducting the interview. Always have a 1 to 3 minute executive summary of your experience that allows you to begin to address the question. The summary will also provide you an avenue to ask a question at the end of your response to obtain more specific information. Keep your initial response at a "high level", while still being responsive to the manager's needs. As an example:

"Hiring Manager, I have a total of 9 years of design and development experience. My work has ranged from full software lifecycle development responsibilities, to specific assignments of product enhancements, to assisting in short term development efforts. Commonly, these development efforts were accomplished using both C and C++ in a UNIX environment. The application code itself has ranged from real-time control and data collection software to off-line data capture and analysis requirements."

Having said this to the person conducting the interview, you now have an opportunity to take some control of the interview, altering the initial tempo and information collection part of the interview. You may now be in a position to ask follow-up questions to get information about how to best represent your background skills. Try this method or question:

"While I am familiar with your company, I don't know much detail about the specific skill sets you require for this particular position. Could you please share with me what skills you feel are important to be successful in this position?" Take good mental notes of the response. This single question could potentially provide you with all the information required to separate yourself from the competition. It will also allow you to do a good job of presenting specific skills that you have that relate directly to the manager's needs.

·         Sell Yourself

By far, the greatest amount of interview time is spent discussing your experience. As a result, you have more opportunity to either excel in the interview or do a mediocre job. It is important to excel and understand how to get feedback during this stage of the interview. Once the manager has answered your question regarding the important skill set needs, you need to be able to respond appropriately. In 5 minutes or less, describe your skills that directly relate to the aforementioned required skills. Be brief but precise. Do not ramble. Discuss only the skills you possess. If you are not experienced or proficient in a particular area mentioned, leave that topic alone. Obtain feedback from the individuals that you are interviewing. Just because you are giving good information, does not necessarily mean that the interviewer understands the information correctly. When you have touched upon a particularly important or critical point, give the individuals conducting the interview a few moments to "digest" the information. Then, get verbal feedback to reinforce the importance of that topic. Feedback can be obtained by simply asking a question such as: "Does that satisfactorily answer your question? Is that sufficient information to answer your question?" You must get positive information back regarding important topics, otherwise the interviewers may leave with a misunderstanding or negative impression of your skills. Remember, there is no such thing as the perfect job, and equally important, there is no such thing as the perfect applicant. If during the interview you are asked questions regarding skills or experience that you do not have, there is no need to apologize. In most cases, lack of experience is only a reflection of lack of opportunity, not lack of talent.

·         Overcome a Perceived Weakness

If the interviewer questions your experience or lack of experience in a particular area, do not go into an immediate rebuttal. First, qualify the importance of that particular skill set. This can be achieved with a straightforward question such as: "How important is that skill to this position?" If the manager replies that the skill is not extremely critical and you can probably come up to speed quickly, you need do nothing more than agree with this assessment. If the manager indicates that the skill being discussed is important to the success of the job, recognize that you must overcome this concern. Recognize that all individuals who interview tell the hiring authority how smart or what a quick learner they are. The problem with this statement is that everyone makes it, and more importantly, there is no substance to the argument. Therefore, you must be prepared to separate yourself by example. One method to accomplish this is to have 1 or 2 examples of past successes in your career that you achieved without having a previous background in that area. Your description of this should be brief (2 to 5 minutes), and should cover the following areas:

1) Brief description of the problem or challenge.

2) Brief description of what you did to successfully complete the project.

3) Brief description of what the result of the efforts accomplished.

Now, it is important that the manager agree with your position. Obtain this agreement by asking the question: "Does this satisfy your concern with my ability to come up to speed on the project quickly?" Through this question you have the opportunity to understand if the manager agrees with your assessment of your skills or talent.

·         The "Money" Question

There are two forms of the "money" question:

1) "How much money do you currently make?"

2) "What are your minimum salary requirements?"

This is always a difficult question to handle. Unless you know exactly what has been budgeted for the position, it is not easy to answer this question. Ideally, you want the company to make the best offer they can. Generally, the better you did in the interview, the better the offer will be. However, you will not always "get off the hook" by not answering the question. If you give an answer too high, you may potentially lose the offer because the company believes you will not take an offer less than you say. If you give an answer too low, you may leave "money on the table". You would like to avoid both situations if possible. A suggested method of answering the money question: Tell the manager right up front, you do not know how much salary is budgeted for this position; however, based on today's interview, you hope that the value that you would bring to their organization would be fairly evaluated. Based on that evaluation, the best possible offer should be made. Notice that we said best offer, not a good offer. You want to leave the impression with the manager that the best offer must be put on the table. You will then be able to accept that offer, and the company will gain a talented and enthusiastic employee. If all else fails and the company demands a specific answer, provide one that you are comfortable in accepting. Leave the interview confident with your figure based on your perception of your value to their organization.

·         Concluding the Interview

At the conclusion of an interview, it is very important that you understand how you did and what the next step in the process will be. You need to know when you will hear from the company, and if you need to take additional steps to help generate the offer. If the hiring manager does not specifically state that they are interested in you, you need to "help them" come to the decision to make the offer. One way to do this is to tell the manager that based on today's interview you feel you are both qualified and interested in this opportunity. Once again, obtain feedback regarding their interest level. Try the following question: "Are there any questions or issues that need to be discussed that may prevent you from making me the offer?" You may feel that this question is bold; in fact, it is not. Remember, that while you are on an interview, you are really a salesperson or business person representing your skills. You would not think of making a purchase decision of any sort without knowing the price and warranty of the product, would you? Do not leave an interview without knowing the next step and how you have done.

·         After the Interview

Immediately after the interview send a thank you note via E-mail to the hiring manager. Thank the hiring manager for his/her time and reaffirm your interest in and qualifications for the position.