Table Of ContentACTIVE
INTERVIEWING
BRANDING, SELLING, AND PRESENTING YOURSELF TO WIN YOUR NEXT JOB
Eric P. Kramer
Course Technology PTR
A part of Cengage Learning
Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
Active Interviewing: Branding, Selling, and © 2012 Course Technology, a part of Cengage Learning.
Presenting Yourself to Win Your Next Job
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced,
Eric P. Kramer
transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical,
including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribu-
Publisher and General Manager, Course tion, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted
Technology PTR: under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written per-
Stacy L. Hiquet mission of the publisher.
Associate Director of Marketing:
Sarah Panella For product information and technology assistance, contact us at
Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706.
Manager of Editorial Services:
Heather Talbot For permission to use material from this text or product,
submit all requests online at cengage.com/permissions.
Marketing Manager:
Further permissions questions can be e-mailed to
Mark Hughes
[email protected].
Senior Acquisitions Editor:
Mitzi Koontz
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Project Editor/Copy Editor:
All images © Cengage Learning unless otherwise noted.
Cathleen D. Small
Interior Layout Tech:
Bill Hartman Library of Congress Control Number: 2011933241
Cover Designer: ISBN-13: 978-1-4354-5974-8
Luke Fletcher
ISBN-10: 1-4354-5974-1
Indexer: eISBN-10: 1-4354-5974-x
Larry Sweazy
Course Technology, a part of Cengage Learning
Proofreader:
20 Channel Center Street
Kate Shoup
Boston, MA 02210
USA
Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations
around the globe, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan.
Locate your local office at: international.cengage.com/region.
Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd.
For your lifelong learning solutions, visit courseptr.com.
Visit our corporate Web site at cengage.com.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 12 11
This book is dedicated to Zachary and Jake, the future and hope of the
American workforce and terrific sons. Also to Susanne, an emerging
entrepreneur who is courageously blazing a new career direction that will
hopefully result in the interviewing and hiring of many employees.
I also dedicate this book to the thousands of job seekers whose wisdom,
experience, and insights coalesced to guide the content of this book. Job
searching and interviewing is one of life’s most challenging, frustrating, and
disheartening undertakings. All job seekers, as they persevere day to day,
searching for jobs to provide for their families and themselves, are
unrecognized heroes. I hope this book contributes to these heroes finding jobs
they love and earning the money they deserve.
Acknowledgments
Iwould like to acknowledge Cathleen Small,for her firm but gentle and friendly editing of the book,and
Mitzi Koontz, for her recognition that interviewing needs a fresh, new approach and her quick action
to bring Active Interviewing to the public. I would also like to acknowledge Ford Myers, who introduced me
to the profession of career management and was instrumental in me landing my first career management
position.
About the Author
Eric Kramer is a “serial careerist,” having held ten jobs in six distinctly different careers. Eric knows
interviewing!
He started his professional career as a clinical psychologist, has managerial experience in both large and
small companies, has owned a software-development company, has worked as an IT project manager, and
has sold large-scale mental-health management software.Eric also worked as a career consultant and career
center manager with two of the country’s largest job-transition firms. In these positions, Eric worked with
hundreds of job seekers individually and in groups,helping them develop career visions,teaching them job-
search skills,and coaching them through interviews.
Through his company,Innovative Career Services,Eric develops and provides innovative career services by
integrating career strategies,emerging business practices,and online technology.Innovative Career Services’
cornerstone product is the iBest Interview Presentation,www.interviewbest.com/ibest.aspx,a core compo-
nent of Active Interviewing.
In addition to writing this book,Eric:
• Has authored other titles:101 Successful Networking Strategies and101 Successful Interviewing Strategies
• Writes the Interview Your Best blog:http://employmentinterview.wordpress.com
• Tweets as @InterviewBest
• Moderates the Career Professional Network group on LinkedIn
• Co-leads the Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group (www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Area-Great-
Careers-Group)
• Presents frequently at local and national conferences on the subjects of interview presentations, online
identity optimization,and career management
Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Hartford and a master’s degree in
counseling psychology from American University. He is certified in positive psychology coaching and is
licensed as a psychologist in the state of Pennsylvania.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Chapter 1
The Job Interview Is Broken. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Job Interviews Are Broken.............................................................................................................................3
Interviews Are Like a Coin Toss..............................................................................................................3
Subjectivity Is Rampant...........................................................................................................................4
Job Descriptions Are Poor........................................................................................................................4
Interviewers Are Poorly Trained..............................................................................................................4
Interviews Are Not Designed to Help Candidates Present Their Best....................................................5
Job Interviews Are Not the “Real World”................................................................................................6
Job Interviews Are Only Verbal...............................................................................................................6
Interviews Are Broken—Please Don’t Make Them Worse...........................................................................6
Candidates Don’t Think Like a Service Provider Competing in the Employment Marketplace............6
Candidates Fail to Communicate a Brand...............................................................................................7
Candidates Sell Drills,Not Holes.............................................................................................................7
Candidates Focus Too Much on Interview Questions.............................................................................8
Candidates Ask Wimpy Questions...........................................................................................................8
Candidates Assume That Interviewers Know a Good Prospect When They Interview One.................9
Candidates Sell Features Rather Than Benefits.......................................................................................9
Candidates Follow the Herd...................................................................................................................10
Who Is in Control Here?.............................................................................................................................10
Interview Questions Are Not the Answer....................................................................................................11
Job Interviews Are Broken,but You Can Repair Yours!.............................................................................11
Important Takeaways That Will Fix Your Interviews.................................................................................12
vii
Active Interviewing: Branding, Selling, and Presenting Yourself to Win Your Next Job
Chapter 2
The Job Search as a Sales Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
The Top Six Customer Questions...............................................................................................................15
Selling Your Services...................................................................................................................................15
The Three-Step Job-Search Sales Process.............................................................................................15
Prospects versus Sales Targets................................................................................................................18
Sales Is a Numbers Game......................................................................................................................18
A Job Search Is Not the Same as Door-to-Door Sales................................................................................19
Fear of Selling Is the Fear of Rejection.......................................................................................................20
Overcoming the Fear of Selling..................................................................................................................21
You’re a Salesperson Already,So What’s the Fear?................................................................................21
Believe in Your Service...........................................................................................................................21
Know Your Service’s Value in the Marketplace.....................................................................................22
Develop a Sales Attitude........................................................................................................................23
Where Has Your Service Succeeded?....................................................................................................23
Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses..................................................................................................23
It Only Takes One.......................................................................................................................................24
Approaching the Job Search as a Sales Process Will Fix Your Interviews...................................................24
Chapter 3
The Interview as a Sales Call. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Basic Interview Tension.......................................................................................................................26
The Interviewer Is an Informed Buyer.......................................................................................................27
There Is Only One Hiring Issue:Your Value to the Company..................................................................27
There Are Only Three Questions...............................................................................................................27
Can You Do the Job?..............................................................................................................................28
Are You Motivated to Do the Job?.........................................................................................................28
Do You Fit Their Culture?.....................................................................................................................28
A Sales Call Provides a Good Structure for Interviewing...........................................................................29
Warming-Up Period...............................................................................................................................29
Fact Finding or Needs Analysis..............................................................................................................29
Sales Presentation...................................................................................................................................30
The Close...............................................................................................................................................31
Sales Techniques Enhance Your Interviews................................................................................................32
Applying a Sales Process to an Interview Helps You Understand What Is Going On...............................32
Successful Salespeople Choose Their Customers........................................................................................33
Selling in an Interview Will Fix Your Interviews.........................................................................................33
viii
Contents
Chapter 4
Using Basic Sales Skills in Your Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
You Don’t Have to Be a Great Salesperson to Sell Yourself in Interviews.................................................36
Selling Is Mostly Listening...........................................................................................................................36
There Are Two Parts to Listening..........................................................................................................36
Most Candidates Are Hearing When They Should Be Listening..........................................................38
Listening to the Flip Side.......................................................................................................................38
Listening Begins at the First Contact.....................................................................................................39
Listening Pitfalls.....................................................................................................................................39
Asking Good Questions Supports Good Listening......................................................................................40
What You Know.....................................................................................................................................40
What You Don’t Know..........................................................................................................................40
What You Don’t Know That You Don’t Know.....................................................................................40
Selling Is a Fancy Word for Persuading.......................................................................................................41
Persuasion Stands on Three Legs...........................................................................................................41
Discovering the “Pain”................................................................................................................................42
Most Candidates Avoid Objections When They Should Embrace Them..................................................43
Handle Your Emotions................................................................................................................................44
Label Your Feelings Accurately..............................................................................................................45
Preparation Means Confidence.............................................................................................................45
Focus on the Process,Not the Outcome................................................................................................45
Have a Full Pipeline...............................................................................................................................45
Eliminate FUD (Fear,Uncertainty,and Doubt)..........................................................................................46
Focus on the Buyer......................................................................................................................................47
Keep It Simple.............................................................................................................................................47
Have a Successful Close..............................................................................................................................48
Thank You,No Thanks—Follow Through,Yes Please!..............................................................................48
No Doesn’t Mean No Forever.....................................................................................................................50
Using Sales Skills Will Fix Your Interviews.................................................................................................50
Chapter 5
The Interview Presentation: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
A Presentation in an Interview—Now That’s Unusual!..............................................................................52
Would You Go to a Gunfight Armed Only with a Knife?..........................................................................52
Isn’t “Interview Presentation”Just another Way of Saying PowerPoint?....................................................53
An Interview Presentation Is a Specialized Version of a Sales Presentation...............................................53
An Interview Presentation Goes Way beyond a Resume............................................................................55
Preparation Is 90 Percent of the Value.......................................................................................................55
Presenting Is a Basic Professional Skill........................................................................................................56
ix
