Finding a New Job

Typically when I even think about the process of job hunting, I think of the dreaded interviewing process that entails a second and third round of interviews. After hours of careful preparation, possibly a flight and driving, and nerves going wild, you find they have gone into a hiring freeze and they will consider you again down the road (or whatever the reason they give for not hiring).

Amazingly enough, I have never actually had a true interview for a job. CRAZY to even think about, I know. This was one-half a matter of absolute dumb luck and the other half creating a position for myself.

What I can say is, I have given interviews, worked with a company that gave hundreds of interviews a month (Three Value Logic Sales Institute), and have been in enough sales meetings and sold enough to realize selling a product is no different than selling yourself.

So where do you start and what is the right fit? Referring back to a recent Blog entry on Networking I wrote, this is going to be your most powerful means to getting a job without having to do a whole lot of work. Seriously, getting in front of a company for an interview is hard enough, you might as well stack the chips in your favor as much as you can. Use the resources you trust the most who wont spread the word to quickly to your current employer. I was recently told by a friend (Evelyn Logan) in the recruiting world that if your boss doesn’t already know that you are unhappy and looking for a job, the probability they will find out in 2 months is extremely high.

Another way to get the job hunt rolling along is by attending local networking events. These are great because there are tons of recruiters there trying to make connections with other business to sell to. Also, meeting them face-to-face will get you off on the right foot. I know there are thousands of Robert’s out there, so looking sharp and being on my toes will surely helps people remember my face more than the name. At these events, you can also get a great idea of the different types of businesses are out there. Not that they will give you an interview right there on the spot or tell you who to call, but saying hi, getting their card and contacting their company the following day is a great way to increase your odds.

Now all this is great, but what happens when you get the offer? Have you even thought about what it is you really want to do? I believe this is one of the toughest questions out there. It is personal, real, honest, maybe lifelong, and takes a lot of personal knowledge about yourself to answer it? Think about what gets you up the earliest in the morning. Think about what keeps you up late at night. Let go of your ego for a split second and let yourself go. Whatever your answer, the best of luck to you. Now go out and get it. Sell yourself, do not interview.

It has taken me a lot of personal growth, exploration, pounding my head against the wall, and embarrassment to figure out what I want to do. I’ll share this later, but the point remains, it is a tough question to answer. I thought I knew it from the start…MONEY! What else is a better answer for a sales person. Though it remains one of the criteria for my happiness and success, I have found there are many other important factors that go into making my ideal job environment.

What are they looking for? The hiring company showed you their detailed requirements and job description. You now know what they want, right? Wrong. This is like responding to a RFP (Request for Proposal). They give you their requirements and questions to be filled out, you reply, and hope you win the contract. Talk about a waste of time and having no insight to the decision making process, budget, red flags, etc.

What if the interviewing process was different? I mean, change your mindset to You being the one doing the interviewing versus being the interviewee. Sure all the requirements mean something and you should read them thoroughly to determine a high level of ‘fit’ for you at the company. But you can also starting identifying some things they are having trouble finding and talk to them about those. Some initial thoughts you may have could be: Why are they offering so much money for this position, why is it necessary to have industry experience, why do they want me to have knowledge of their SFA / CRM (Sales Force Automation / Customer Relationship Management) tools, etc. This type of thought process should really impress the interviewer with you Questioning ability. By paying attention to what they are saying and inquiring further, this only represents your ability as a sales professional to dig deeper and qualify your prospects quickly.

Keep in mind your Audience. This is very crucial in moving along the interviewing process. If you are having your first phone interview with the sales manager, who may end up being someone you work with on a daily basis, you may want to bring a different ‘tone’ to the conversation than if you are having your final interview with the VP sales. Though you are still selling the same thing, you are trying to the meet the needs of different people along the way. The things that are daily issues with the Sales Manager are significantly different that those of the VP Sales.

Here are some things to remind you of when preparing for an interview (Keep in mind your audience):
• When this interview is over (Phone or In-Person) what do you want to walk away with?
• What do you want to know when you hang up the phone or close the door behind you?
• What do you want to have accomplished in your interview?
• What is the purpose for meeting with them? (Hint: if your goal for a meeting is to have another meeting, you are headed in the wrong direction)

Each of these questions are obviously similar, but addressed in a different manner to help me prepare for my interview. By having a detailed outline of my purpose, goal, and objective for the interview I will be in a position to get the most out of my interview.

Here are some additional thinking/talking points:
• How are they going to make a hiring decision?
• Who will ultimately be making the decision/Who else is involved?
• What are the specific steps involved in getting this job?
• Is there any urgency to fill this position?
o On a scale of 1 – 10, how urgent is this?
o Why?
o What has caused that to happen?
• Is it growth related or turnover related hiring?
• What are some of the issues with hiring they have had in the past / present / future?
• Ask some questions about how they see me working there. Get them to start envisioning me as a part of the team.
• Try and find a small piece of information on the company, and ask a question about it. This will show you have done your research and are truly invested in getting this job. (ex: if a private company, is there outside investment? Are the investors involved in business decisions the company makes? Does that ever create internal turmoil or conflict with upper management?)

You have got to imagine this person doing interviews all the time, hearing the same things, getting the same responses. Be comfortable and try not to be too salesy, but ask the questions they may not get all the time. Intrigue them.

When working at 3VLSI, I saw tons of ambitious, young and old, sales people graduate the 4 weeks of sales hell, otherwise known as - Career Sales Development Program. After their graduation we put those students, who were willing (funny to think some weren’t interviewing with a company even though they just spent the last 4 weeks of their lives studying and getting very little pay), in front of 3 to (sometimes) 10 interviewing companies. After each interviewee came out and I asked them how it went, they all pretty much said the same thing, “It went well”, “I’m not sure”, “I think I made a good impression”, etc. When I drove a little deeper I found the interviewer was typically asking them all a fixed set of questions and getting relatively similar answers across the board.

What was the Interviewer there for? Why had they even agreed in the first place to come in and interview the graduates?

The point is, the graduates weren’t thinking about these questions. They were worried about how they compared to the last interviewee who walked out of the room with a smile on their face. It didn’t even occur to the graduate the company that was interviewing had been sold. They had admitted somewhere down the line they could not find quality sales people and the pain was bad enough to spend $7,000 - $8000 on the problem. This is what the students, you, and myself should be thinking when interviewing. There is a reason for them to be interviewing for this position. Do not make any assumptions of why, that is the first mistake, but acknowledge that you need to stop letting them interview and begin to uncover the painful situation.

A great book I highly recommend is by Mahan Khalsa, “Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play”. Though a sales book and not an interviewing manual, it explains the point I am trying to make.

Quick recap and tips:
1. Use your network
2. Play to your Audience
3. Its your interview
4. Send a thank you note

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS:

KEEP YOU FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR ENEMIES (READ HERE: PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE WHO GIVE YOU A HARD TIME) CLOSER. THERE IS A CAVEAT TO THE STATEMENT ABOVE. WHEN YOU CAN CUT YOURSELF TOTALLY FREE OF YOUR ENEMIES, DO IT. BUT SELDOM IN LIFE CAN YOU FREE YOURSELF OF ALL OF THE NEGATIVE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE. SO, CONVERT THEM. NOT TO FRIENDS, BUT TO "HELPERS". INTERACT WITH THEM SUCH THAT THEY WANT TO HELP YOU ACCOMPLISH
YOUR OBJECTIVES.

'CAPS LOCK'

Project Angel Heart

Jennifer Walsh kicked off a spectacular Charity Event for Project Angel Heart last night and it was a huge success!

Congratulations and Happy Birthday Jennifer!

There was a great turnout to the event and the 3 bands that performed solo – Vonnegut, SoFo, Epilogues – were amazing.


Thank you so much for coming everyone and it was great to see you.


Regards,

Robert Johnson

Quote

Barry Worth, a consultant specializing in small business management, puts it this way:
Today's entrepreneur must be a business architect. Anything built in today's business
environment must have a step-by-step blueprint or plan on how to achieve success (Worth December 1989).