Sex and Your Job Search 2013: A Guide to Scoring Your Dream Job (20 page)

Situational questions ask a candidate to determine how they would react to a particular set of circumstances in the future. In many instances, these questions also test an applicant’s technical skills. Situational questions challenge a candidate’s ability to think on their feet and test their creative problem-solving skills. They can be challenging for those not prepared.

But don’t stress. You will be prepared. The brilliant thing is that your interview preparation includes researching the industry, your dream employer, and going through the process to come up with your Seven Go-to Stories. The piece where you think through what you’ve learned in each story and what you would do differently comes into play here. With this you should be prepared for most situational questions that come your way.

Additional ways to prepare include rereading the job description and checking glassdoor.com where people post questions asked at companies all over the U.S.

Here are a few Situational questions:

Question
: “Create a website that sells posters.” (Question for a software engineer)

Answer
: “Sure, here is where I would start… Later if we have time I want to tell you about a website redesign I did that increased traffic by 200% at a previous client.”

Question
: “Why is a paper manufacturing company in the Pacific Northwest losing money? Figure out what’s going wrong.” (Question for a consultant)

Answer
: “Thank you, great question. I would begin the analysis with a method I learned…” Then the applicant for this business consulting firm would describe the latest method for determining profitability. If appropriate, they would demonstrate how they did so in the past.

Question
: “Sell me this stapler.” (Questions for a sales position)

Answer
: “I’ll be happy to do that. But I also want to tell you about the time I made a huge sale at my previous company. I won employee of the month because of it. I’ll get to that later. Here’s how I would sell the stapler.”

Answering in this manner shows that you are respectful of the interview process and questions being asked. It also shows that you are results oriented and have been successful in the past.

As a bonus, you also give yourself time to think by talking a little bit before answering the question. And you build anticipation of your success story.

Question
: “If you had a senior vice president ask you to do a special project unrelated to your job duties and you had your director ask you to do a job-related project, which would you do first? How would you handle it?”

The above question assesses an applicant’s ability to prioritize, navigate politics, and represent Teamwork within the organization. The ideal answer would be a story from your Seven Go-to Stories about having done so in the past and then adding what you learned and what you would do differently. But if you don’t have a story that fits that description, answer it to the best of your abilities. Hopefully that jogs your memory and you think of an example that happened in the past, which you can add to the end of your answer.

Answer
: Explain that you would talk to your director and mention that a senior VP has asked for your help. Then your director, who also needs to tiptoe around politics, would give you direction. (Note: If this actually happened to you in a non-interview setting, you may even want to ask a mentor or colleague at a different company for advice. Do this especially if you get the sense that your director feels their job is threatened by the senior VP asking for your help.) Then add to your answer that you would stay late and work as long as you had to in order to satisfy both requests. State that it might only take a couple extra hours, depending on the project, and that you are committed to the organization’s success. Mention that a few extra hours is a small price to pay in order to strengthen relationships, build credibility, and impress those around you.

Always speak positively about your bosses and your good relationship with them in the past. If you’ve had stellar job evaluations, verbalize this. It shows that you’ve been able to navigate politics brilliantly considering the circumstance of this question.

If you get stuck on a situational question, ask for clarification or for some time to think. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever say, “I don’t know.” You might as well update your Facebook status to “Just screwed up an interview.”

TAKING TIME TO THINK
BEFORE ANSWERING A QUESTION

When you are asked an interview question, it is perfectly acceptable to say, “Thank you, can you give me a quick moment to think about it?” Or, “Sure (pause), that’s a great question.” Or, “OK, good question, can you give me a quick moment to think about it? Actually, can you repeat it one more time?”

Interviewers can tell that many people feel self-conscious about taking time to fully understand a question and asking for a couple seconds to make a decision on how to respond. Don’t be. It is OK to pause before getting back to the rhythm of the interview and your answer.

Just don’t pause for too long. Five to twenty-five seconds is acceptable. But you probably won’t have to, especially since you have the Seven Go-to Story Keywords to remind you of examples.

INTERVIEW WINGMAN CHEAT SHEET METHOD: KEYWORDS IN YOUR PADFOLIO

You’re probably already aware of what a wingman is. If not, here’s a quick description. A wingman or wingwoman helps a friend approach potential partners. Their job is to build up their friend to make them look more attractive and desirable to another person. In pop culture, the term was used in the movies
Top Gun
and
Swingers
.

Here’s how a padfolio with a notepad and/or resume paper can be your interview wingman. Once you have your Seven Go-to Stories, come up with one or more keywords that will help you remember each story. For example, Kelly the oncology nurse could write “Color wheel clock.”

Smooth Wingman
: Take your professional-looking padfolio and write your keywords in small letters at the bottom-right corner of the notepad inside. That way, if you get stuck or your mind goes blank, you just have to open the corner of the padfolio and see your list of Seven Go-to Stories.

Smoother Wingman
: Another option is to write your Seven Go-to Stories at the bottom-right corner of a copy of your resume or a piece of blank resume paper. That way, once you sit down opposite of the interviewer, you can let that piece of paper drop down one to two inches below the bottom edge of the padfolio where you can read the keywords from your stories if you get stuck. And the color of the paper looks like a resume so it won’t look abnormal if the interviewer catches a glance of it.

Smoothest Wingman
: The best option, in my opinion, is to go to
urdreamjob.com
and open the PDF Questions to Ask (we talk more about this in Chapter 12). At the bottom of that PDF, you can type your Seven Go-to Story Keywords at the bottom right of the page. It’s already formatted “Align Text Right” in size-10 font, and you can change the font to be even smaller and less noticeable if you want. Then print out the document onto resume paper.

That way you have the Questions to Ask in front of you as well as your Seven Keywords. Whatever method you choose is totally up to you and what you feel most comfortable with.

Having your keywords in your padfolio is similar to that
Seinfeld
episode where George puts crib notes on his hand to remember a complicated third base move in bed. George performs well until his lady friend Nancy finds the writing on his hand. Obviously, try to be discreet about looking at your keywords. And don’t write them on your hand!

Chances are that just by having the keywords, you will relax enough to recite your Seven Go-to Stories freely and with lots of personality. I know managers and directors who make six-figure salaries that swear by this cheat-sheet method and have used it to get
their
jobs.

Nerves can get to anyone. I hope this secret will settle any nerves you may have and will give you the confidence to crush any interview you go on.

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS:
PRACTICING FOR YOUR INTERVIEW

It’s a fantastic idea to have a friend help you practice for an interview. They can begin by reading the Introduction found in Chapter 9.

Then, they can ask you the questions listed in Chapters 9,10, and 11. I recommend that you practice telling complete stories using the B ME Outline method as you would in a real interview. You should also have your padfolio in your lap, with the Seven Keywords written on a pad of paper or at the bottom of your resume paper, whatever method you are most comfortable with. That way you can begin to memorize which story you’ll tell for each attribute, and the keywords will only be used as a last resort if you blank out.

As Vince Lombardi, an American football coach who never had a losing season, famously said: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Want to be a winner? Get used to answering behavioral based interview questions with your stories. This will set you up perfectly for the actual interview.

Choose your interview friend with benefits wisely and maybe even use the term when asking. It may just lead to more than practicing for an interview. Wink wink, nudge nudge. I help where I can.

The perfect date, in my mind, tends to follow the story line in the movie
Before Sunrise
, where a young American, Ethan Hawke, and a young French woman, Julie Delpy, spend a romantic night walking and talking in Vienna, Austria, and fall in love. On the other hand, a terrible date equates to the painful “zipper” scene in
There’s Something About Mary
, where Ben Stiller’s date with Cameron Diaz is over before it begins.

The goal of this chapter is to outline the perfect interview, so that there is a greater chance that an interviewer falls in love with you (professionally). I will cover what to do before, during, and after the interview. And how to avoid any embarrassing zipper-like disasters.

WHEN TO ARRIVE

If you’re going on a hot date, you need to show up on time. For those who usually get picked up, please pay attention to the following. Part of arriving on time may mean that you have to wait nearby before rolling up. Since you may be a little nervous already, you want to avoid the additional stress of weaving in and out of traffic
Transporter
style.

For an in-person interview, it is recommended that you arrive ten to fifteen minutes early at the reception area or lobby. (By the way, being early is also important for phone, Skype, or coffee shop interviews). Plan ahead and give yourself enough time for parking, especially when interviewing in a city. If you are unsure about parking, use the Interwebs to find alternatives. Google Maps or another GPS device can help with this. Also, give yourself enough time to visit the restroom when you arrive.

You may not know this, but interviewers hate, hate, hate it when applicants are an hour early. Yes, it’s true. The last thing an interviewer wants when they are trying to power through an afternoon is to be bothered by a call at 1:15pm by the cheery receptionist, “You’re 2 o’clock is here.” “Dang it!” The interviewer thinks. They’re trying to work on projects and dealing with crises. Should they call you in now and get it over with? Or should they wait until the scheduled time? Ok, you get my point.

Instead, wait in your car or somewhere close by. Make your move closer to the twenty-minute mark. It’s at this point that you shut off your phone, just like you would before a date. You can periodically look at your phone before the interview to see if they called to let you know of a delay. Don’t be
that
person that forgets to turn their phone off. It’s uncomfortable for an interviewer to watch you get embarrassed.

Now, if you stopped by to score the interview and the same receptionist is there, be that superstar applicant and use their name. They will be so unbelievably thrilled that you remembered their name. And when you connect with them, pleasure neurotransmitters will bathe your brain and body with feel-good chemicals, relaxing you for the interview.

Which brings us to the Bases (Steps) of the interview process.

THE BASES OF THE INTERVIEW:
KNOCKING IT OUT OF THE PARK

The baseball-sex comparison works well for all types of interviews, as most interviewers have a step-by-step outline that they follow to get necessary information. You can use this outline to prepare and gauge how well you are doing. Just like the best dates, at the end of this one, you can score a home run. Here’s how the Bases break down.

First base
: You connect through great eye contact, a good introduction, and exchange resumes for business cards.