Riffing on Resumes, Part 17: Pre-Interview

You have carefully planned your resume; articulately stated an employer-centric objective, employment history, education record, accomplishments, skills, interests, and references; radiantly crafted an application message; and included excellent recommendations. Your diligence landed you a seat at the table—an interview. How can you prepare for this important meeting? By going to your sources: your resume and application message as well as any documentation you have about the position. Here are pre-interview tips at key moments in the job application process.

Days Before the Interview

1. Enjoy the process. See the interview prep period as an opportunity to polish your presentation skills and to discover everything you can about that coveted job and industry.

2. Work from the mindset that you are interviewing the employer. Get over thinking that the employer may say, "You are not the right fit for us." What about them for you? Prepare make-or-break questions to help yourself decide whether you would want to work in such a place doing such work for such an employer.

3. Practice with a trusted coach. Once you think you've got your pitch down, find a friend who will tell you whether you really do. Others will see gestures, facial expressions, utterances, and body language that have not surfaced in your consciousness.  

4. Define the employer's purpose for the interview. Answer this simple question: "What and who are looking for?" Knowing the answer to the question will enable you to be that person. 

5. Identify the qualifications and requirements for the position. The answers to the next questions are more specific than the answer to the previous question: "What do you want me to do for you? What does my work achieve for the business?" Answering these questions focuses you on your role in the grand scheme of things.

6. Review the employer's materials. You have no excuse not to know everything that's publicly available about the business and the job. Get to work by studying the website, job posting, and everything else out there about the company.

7. Consider responses to employer's questions. They can concern your personality ("What was your best/worst boss like?"), job ("How does your current job relate to this one?"), industry ("Do you think this field has a future?"), education ("Do you plan to get a degree/license?"), career ("Where do you want to be in five years?"), or company of application ("Why do you want to work for us?"), among other topics. Collect possible questions and know your answers to them.

8. Prepare questions of your own for the employer. Ditto those areas of questions from you: cultural ("What does this organization value most in an employee?"), job ("May I see the work area?"), industry ("Is this field moving toward remote work?"), education ("Do you support further education through time or reimbursement?"), career ("Is relocation a possibility?"), career ("Can I cultivate my leadership/communication/technical skills here?"), or company of application ("What is this organization's greatest challenge?").

9. Choose the right outfit. I'm not sure what that means for you. For me, it means a collared shirt, necktie, dark suit, and polished shoes; for my wife, it means a skirt, blouse, and pumps. Just make sure what you wear will make you and the interviewer comfortable.  

Day of the Interview

10. Eat, dress, and groom carefully. Get that body of yours comfortable. Look good. It makes you feel good.

11. Get there early. No excuses. Be on time. Take an early train, bus, car ride, or walk to the interview site. And anticipate delays. 

12. Think of your professional achievements. On your way to the interview, use autosuggestion to psyche yourself up. Remind yourself of why you are worthy of the job. At the same time, tell yourself that the interviewer deserves your utmost respect for having earned the right to interview you and appreciation for taking the time to do so.

13. Wait patiently. Just don't sit there in the waiting room. Review your notes, resume, application message, and whatever else you have to focus on the interview.

14. Consider the interview a learning experience. Regardless of what happens today, remember Friedrich Nietzsche's aphorism: "Out of life's school of war, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger." You will get something positive from the interview experience.

More to come. In the next post, I'll look at what you can do during the interview.

Riffing on Resumes, Part 16: Recommendations

Recommendations as an addendum to a resume are valuable, especially when they you thrget them to the employer you want to work for and the job you want to do.

Strategy 

• Ask for a recommendation from someone whose credentials, achievements, intelligence, and integrity you respect. The employer is wise enough to know whose opinion matters.
• Request the recommendation from a person who holds a high an opinion of you. You'll want the superlatives to fly freely from the endorser's pen.
• Develop an outline for the recommendation—at the least. Provide endorsers with the information you would like to appear in the recommendation. Better yet, give them the points to include. In fact, write the recommendation yourself upon the endorser's request. 
• Give the writer a deadline—but allow sufficient time. And allow fudge time for your own review of the recommendation or for transmitting it to the employer.
• Ask to review the recommendation—this is for a job. Do not waive the right to review what the endorser writes if you can help it. You need a positive, not lukewarm, review.
• Express gratitude to the endorser. They deserve your appreciation because their time is limited, and they do not have to do this for you.
• Maintain files of all recommendations. You'll never know when you might need them. Plus, they're nice to look at from time to time.

Content

Here's a content checklist for the recommendation:

• applicant's full name and relationship to endorser
• duration of the association 
• reason for the endorsement
• applicant's personal qualities
• applicant's work ethic
• applicant's interpersonal skills
• applicant's technical skills
• applicant's accomplishments
• applicant's goals
• applicant's potential contributions to the employer

Riffing on Resumes, Part 15: Application Messages

Here is the big difference between the resume and the application message: The resume is all about the applicant, but the application message is all about the employer. In the resume, you highlight the education, experience, and skills you bring to the workplace. But in the application message, you show how you understand—and can meet—the goals and needs of the prospective employer.

A note about application messages before explaining this approach. What I call the application message some old timers insist on calling the cover letter. Several textbooks call it the transmission message. Whatever you call it, I am referring to the paper or electronic message that accompanies the resume when seeking an interview for a position. Below are my answers to five commonly asked questions about the application message.

Why is the application message worth so much attention? You can pay a hack resume writer or ask your Aunt Beatrice to write your resume. There may be zero effort on your part in crafting a resume. Don't you think the employer knows that? But the application message tells the employer so much more about you:

• your communication skills – These days most people in a service position do their job through writing. Because of the time-sensitive nature of the application message, you most likely have to doi it yourself and show you can write clearly, confidently, and quickly. 
• your industry savvy – Every field has its own language. The application message is your opportunity to prove you have the experience and skills to understand the fundamentals, developments, and prospects of your field.
• your knowledge of the job – Writing about the exact job you are seeking shows an extraordinary level of confidence and depth of wisdom. How else would you explain the nuances of the job unless you ahave the right stuff to do it?

Isn't the application message just a brag sheet? No. This message, whether it's a traditional letter, email, or secure website posting, should not simply repeat what the employer already knows about you from your resume. It's a testament of your knowledge about the employer's needs and the job requirements. It proves you are the right person for that job. 

Then should you mention your work experience or education in the application message? Only to the extent that you can weave them into the employer's needs. It's all about the employer.

Must you customize every application message to the company you apply to and the job you seek? Absolutely. That is not as much effort as you think. The job seeker should treat getting a job as if it were a part-time job or volunteer assignment. Once operating from this mindset, customizing such messages to the employer becomes second nature. 

How do you learn what the employer needs? The job posting. The website. Connections. Industry research. Whatever it takes. Of course, you are creating the application message and resume to get an interview. But you are also creating the resume to take stock in yourself (read previous posts in this series) and the application message to discover all you can about the employer. So much is available out there. Get all you can to walk into the interview knowing whatever you need and ready for anything that pops up. 

Riffing on Resumes, Part 14: References

It doesn't hurt to mention specific references in your resume if you have an extra line or two, something like this:

References

• Yu Zhang, Chief Operations Officer, North South University, Bangladesh
• Marisol Martinez, Ph.D., Professor of Linguistics, Universitat de Barcelona

Doing so shows you come to the position highly recommended. Better yet, you can include your references' letters of recommendation with your resume. As I have said in previous posts, be sure to target those references to the prospective employer's needs and interests. 

On the other hand, you are wasting two lines of precious real estate on your resume page with a heading "References" and a line below it saying, "Available upon request." Of course they are. Better to say nothing.

Even if you are not inclined to note your references, exceptional though they may be, keep records of those endorsements in case the interviewer requests them.

Riffing on Resumes, Part 13: Interests

Do not shy from listing interests in a resume. Interests deserve a special heading of their own to show prospective employers what makes you tick. Of course, listing interests is not necessarily a requirement. Why should they be when they have nothing to do with the job. But putting them out there to the world displays confidence, commitment, and curiosity.

In this contemporary culture, which allows religious freedom yet separates church and state, some people understandably decline to list politics and religion as interests. Therefore, they hesitate to note their service as delegates of a political party, or directors of a youth group within their religious community. Nevertheless, writing about abiding general interests in government service and youth development should not hurt. 

The interests section also allows you to place talents that set you apart from others, such as proficiency in a fine or performing art or in another language. Anecdotal evidence tells me that possessing such skills distinguishes people often in unexpected ways.

If you feel comfortable talking about your participation in the Crochet Guild of America, Dramatists Guild, or US Chess Federation, you should ask yourself what's bothering you. We are all unique. What makes you so?