Transcript

Facebook Live "How To Get Your Career MOJO Back!" with Michael Neece, CEO of InterviewMastery.com

Hi, my name is Michael Neece, the CEO of interview mastery, and the folks over at iRelaunch have graciously invited me to talk to you today about how to get your career mojo back. First of all, what the heck does mojo mean? It means that personal qualities that attract people to you, or in essence, in one word, it's your confidence.

Nobody wants to hire a wimp. First of all, who the heck am I, and why do I have anything to say that you might want to listen to? First I've been fascinated with the, this artificial career event called an interview for most of my career, whether I've been a hiring manager, a job seeker, a recruiter.

I had learned both the hard way and some easy ways. What makes the difference between doing well in an interview and not doing well and the quality of your life and the quality of life of the hiring manager depend on this crazy event called an interview. So I became fascinated. So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to give you three things to think about that, how to get your career mojo back.

So while I'm doing this, what I'd like you to do is just feel free to make a comment, post a question. And then if you're watching from the rebroadcast. Feel free to share this and add other comments. And if I can, if, and when I have the bandwidth with all the questions we're going to get, I'll do my best to respond.

Let's get started. Remember don't, be bashful about writing a comment or posting a question. First thing I want you to do is I want you to take, do something boring, but it's thing called a talent. Inventory. This is where you're going to take an inventory of all the marvelous qualities that make up all of the skills and talents that you have.

Now, let's just say, let me give you an example of what counts as a talent. You may have developed this talent in paid for work, but you also, if you're a relauncher like everybody is at one point in their career, You're going to have talents that you have developed when you weren't launching, you were volunteering.

And the reason volunteering experience counts is because just paid for work. It provides evidence of talents that you have. Now I'm on interview mastery.com. You can go there and there is a, you can sign up for a series of the videos and interviews, but the third one will give you a downloadable template.

And if I'm able to post it on iRelaunch right in this group page. I think we're going to be able to post tech talent inventory there, but what the talent inventory is you're basically making an Excel spreadsheet. And the first column is. The action words, the things that you've done. So it might be your project managed, you procured, you estimated, analyzed all kinds, of things like that.

The second column as you move to the left is what you were focused on. For example, you might have procured supplies. You may have project managed a, new team for Gosh, a basketball team or are you soccer league? You may have been on a volunteer on a board of directors for a local nonprofit. And let me give you an example.

I'm on a non-profit I've been on the board for 20 years and I started 20 years ago, schlepping around 20 boxes of t-shirts. They just, I just kept hanging around and they put me on the board. And as part of that, what we did is a couple of years ago, I co-led this transformation of this. Nonprofit board from a little community, non-profit into a global nonprofit that has relationships all over the world.

Now I didn't get paid to do that. Now, would it be a little silly to say that experience didn't count just because I didn't get paid? The same thing is true for you. So first column is these action words. Those are usually the first words that appear on your, the first sentence of a resume. The second column was what it was focused on.

So always. I project managed this team or this particular project. This next column is what were the skills that you had to use or the tools you had to use, and that might've been Microsoft office. It might've been Adobe illustrator. And don't assume that people are going to assume that you have those qualities, because if it's not on your resume, they're going to assume you don't have it.

Nobody connects the dots. So you're going to have to connect it for them. The other column, another column is what were the industries that you worked in? And just so what these are, these each columns, these represent hooks you're going fishing and these are hooks that somebody might embrace.

So if you're on an interview and you happen to have experience in financial services, all of a sudden the hiring authority is going to feel a lot more comfortable with you. All right, I'm going through this quickly. Remember, we're going to make sure there's a downloadable template. The last column is results, and these are the results that you achieve.

This is not just what you did. This is your again, you're connecting the dots. And let me give you a specific example. One of the companies that I started was it was a resume builder. It was an online resume builder, and one of the we had a team of certified resume writers and one of them. She wanted to look for a new job cause she had helped us build this company and she was ready to move on.

So she asked me to take a look at a resume. Now, once she did, she made the same mistake. Even as a certified resume writer, she made the same mistake that all of us make. When we write resumes, we write our own resume and describe what we did and what we were responsible for. But you need to connect the dots as to what the impact was to the company.

For example, I may have in this case with a resume writer, I wrote resumes for customers. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Let me give you a different example. So one of the things this resume writer did, she also wrote daily blog posts for the company to help our social search engine optimization. So what Jill did is she wrote.

Compelling content to help job seekers. And this was a daily job posts. Here's the connecting the dots that fuel the growth of a startup company from four people to 37 people. And that company appeared on the Inc 5,000 fastest growing companies he's in the United States. So that last part is really what is compelling to the reader.

Of your resume and the listener, the hiring manager, when you're drawing an interview.

Thanks so excited. Okay. So this is the boring part. Now, if you forget all that, the second thing I want you to do is I want you to realize that an interview is not an interrogation. For example, if you ask somebody to define an into an interview, they would say things like it's where someone goes to visit a company.

That candidate goes to visit a company and they sit on the other side of the desk and the interviewer asks all the questions and the candidate gives all the answers wrong. That's an interrogation. Can you say, can you imagine saying to your significant other, your friends, like so excited to go on as interrogation?

I hope I do really well and I get eventually get an offer. That sounds crazy, but that's the implicit assumption we have in our heads. So what is an interview? An interview is a conversation between two people. Where one person starts out by asking a question and the other person responds, gives an answer.

And then that person then asks a question and you have a two way conversation. You have both people asking questions and both people giving responses. Now whether you get interviewed or interrogated is completely under your control. If you get interrogated, it's your fault. And if you get interviewed, you'll feel like man, that was the best meeting I've had in a long time, because an interview really is the meeting of two peers to try and figure out can they be helpful to each other?

You interdict the company is actually rooting for you. Your interviewers are rooting for you. When you go into an interview, he really wants you to be the right person. Because they just want to get onto the back to their regular job and stop interviewing people. So just know that they're not, even though they might be looking at you with a frown and being suspicious, or they're not the, actually the asking you questions and they are rooting for you to do really well.

So how does this work again? First person at one person, the interviewer asks a question. You then give an answer, then you tag on a little question after you give an answer. Now, what this does is it prompts the interviewer to respond to your question, and then they ask their own question. Classic example, interviewers as tell me about yourself.

Let's use a behavioral event example. Interviewer says, can you give me a specific example where you project managed a small team under a tight deadline and a fairly limited budget and you're thinking to yourself? Yeah. I had a small team of three people when I was working for this nonprofit community based nonprofit and yeah, under tight budget, we had almost no money.

And so this is what you're thinking about. So what you do. Is you respond to that question and you give a detailed response about what the challenge was, what the situation was, what you did and what the results were, then the full right. As you finish, you say something like, did I give you enough detail?

Was I clear on that? Was that kind of thing that you were looking for? So that little tag on question facilitates a two-way conversation. So the interviewer asks you give me an example of a specific project that you worked on. Limited time, limited budget, and one of the team you give a response and then you ask was I clear on that?

And did I give you enough detail? Now the you're going to get feedback immediately. The individuals will, respond your question, say No, actually, I was looking for a little bit more detail on this or that had you not asked you a little tag on question, do you have, the viewer would have, you don't know what they would have thought?

So another point about interviewing is a meeting, a 45 minute meeting of two strangers who have never met each other. And the chances of miscommunication are about a hundred percent.

Third thing I want you to do. And actually I'm going to leave a bunch of time for you to ask some questions. So you don't ask questions. I may ask myself some, all of my, some of my own questions. All right. So the third thing I want you to do is a little bit on the spiritual side. What I want you to do is I want you to make a list of the qualities of the position.

You desire rather than saying, I want to be a project manager or I want to be a reentering intern at a financial services company or manufacturing company, rather than making the, defining the position. And the industry wants you to make a list of the qualities that you want in the position and the job.

It, you're going to do all the things that you have to do. To get an interview and to get a job, but you will be inspired if you'd taken a moment to think about what is it I really want in a job. Now, my daughter, and I'm old enough to have a daughter who was working. I actually am old enough to be around bothered.

So my daughter recently re entered the workforce after five years of not working as you used to work for a big time law firm. Report it to the CEO. She didn't want to do that anymore. Extremely stressful job. So what she did is she made a list of the qualities that you wanted in a new job. And that included flexible work hours.

A boss who was supportive of where she was at her life and supported her career growth. And she wanted to work in a medium sized company that was within 15 minutes of the home. And so she was making a list of the things that represented a high quality of life for her while she was relaunching. I want you to do the same thing.

Okay. So remember I said, so I gave you three things to do first make an inventory of your talents. The reason you do that is because you're going to remind yourself of all the cool things that you've done and how valuable you are. It's also by making a list, you are reminding yourself of all the experiences that you've had and the things you've worked on because when you're juror during an interview, interviewers are going to ask you to give examples where you've done things.

Remember whether you got paid for it or not. By going through this talent inventory, you're going to refresh your memory of the things that you did so you can be more spontaneous. When they ask you to give specific examples where you've done certain things. Ah, now whenever I recommend that people ask questions, one question that always comes up is Michael, it sounds like you're trying, you're recommending that we take control of the interview.

No, I'm asking you to participate in the interview and not just give answers, because if you're only giving the answers. You're partially participating a member. You're trying to facilitate a conversation. And by doing that, you are increasing the accuracy of the top of the probability that they're going to have an accurate assumption.

Sorry, you're increasing the probability that they're going to have an accurate understanding of your experience and what you can do for them. All right. So I gave you three things. I'm going to give you a little bonus. So at the very beginning of the interview, I told you, I gave you at the beginning of the interview.

You're going to, you're going to start, sorry. I want to give you so much. You're going to be awesome. Okay. So here's the boss and give you two bonuses. First bonus is when you first sit down with. Each and every interviewer wants you to ask them this question. What do you feel are the key experiences that somebody needs to bring to this job to be successful?

That's like a fancy way of asking, Hey, what are you looking for you, but you're not going to ask it that way. You're going to ask a little bit in a more elegant way. You want to ask. At the end, you're going to ask every single interviewer, you have four interviews, and instead you're going to ask each one of them cause they're each going to have their own opinion about what it's going to take to be successful.

All right. Let's fast forward to the end of the interview, spend 45 minutes with a perfect stranger. Your intention is to make sure that they have an accurate understanding of your ability. So you're going to ask them a couple of questions. First question. What do you feel my strengths are for this position?

Got it. Okay. And then you just listen, and if they say something that, they feel is a strength and you don't think you have that strength, please don't argue with them. Second question. You're going to ask what concerns do you have? And if you could only ask one question, that's the one you ask, what concerns do you have about my, background?

The reason you asked that is this you're trying to reveal any concerns that they have about your experience or your ability to contribute there. And it's these concerns that are gonna ruin your chances of. Coming back for a second interview or getting hired now concerns, they may not actually be accurate.

Remember, they're forming an opinion, a perception of you based on a 45 minute meeting and they may have been doing most of the talking. Yeah. Sometimes interviewers do that. In fact, a lot of times they do that. So I've given you two questions to ask at the end. What do you feel? My strengths are? What concerns do you have?

Okay. Let's see. Do you have any questions of me because this is all what I do to get your, mojo back. Now another question that comes up all the time is what happens if I have a real weakness? Okay. Five little steps and you can use as many or as few of them as you want. First one first thing you do you say.

That's a good concern. Essentially. You're validating that they have a concern. You didn't say that, that's an accurate concern. You just say, Oh, that's a good concern. Second thing I want you to do is I wanted it say, let me give you some more information. Third thing I want you to do is I want you to cite a specific example where you had to get a certain thing done, and you had never done it before and tell the story of how you went about learning, what you had to do and getting the results that you needed.

And you're doing something new and Some people say whenever I get one on life, seminar which by the way, on May 1st I'd given him a workshop. Tell me to be one of the speakers at the Irie launch conference in Stanford, university on may, first of this year. And I, everybody at iRelaunch and me, I would be so excited if you attend, because if there's any single place you're going to get your career Bo Jo back, that's it.

Okay. I digress. So once you're done, the third step was you were just telling a story about how you had done something you'd never done before, and you got the results that were required. And now in closing, the fourth thing you do is you express your confidence to get the results that are needed at this in this new position.

And I don't think you do is you ask them a little question and say, did it give you enough detail? Was I clear on that. So in summary, what I've just given you is handling a weakness. You actually have. First thing you do is that's a good concern. Second thing you say is, let me give you some more information.

Third thing you do is you tell a story of where you gotten results before, and you've never done something. You've never done that before and your whole career, your whole life, every single one of us is always learning how to do things and some new things. For thing to do express your confidence. And the last thing you do is you ask a little question.

Okay. Now I think we have another question coming in from Charlotte. So getting to the interview told great background, are the candidates more closely fit? Oh, Charlene you, bring up an excellent point. I used to be an internal recruiter at some very big places and some small places. Fidelity investments, Hewlett Packard, a big places and startups now as an internal recruiter, I really wanted to fill those positions.

That was my job. And this three letter word fit is something that the interviewer hides behind. They say somebody fits better or I'm not sure they fit the culture or. Find me something, some person who was a better fit now, it means absolutely nothing. So the key point here is you want to make sure at the end of the interview, that you've done everything you can to, communicate clearly and the abilities that the things that you're going to be able to deliver to a company.

So that's why at the end of the interview, you ask those three questions. What strengths do you feel? I bring to this position? What concerns do you have? And the third thing that you could ask, if you have time, how do you think my style fit with the team? Nobody asks that question. In fact, it's rare when interviewees ask these three, any one of these three questions, but to make sure you don't fall victim to this three letter.

Crappy word. It means nothing. This word you can tell. I don't like it ask at the end of the interview, how do you think my style will fit with the team? And again, they're making an opinion. If you're different, you talk different, you look different. You think that the company would embrace hiring diversity, but sometimes they're just trying to hire people that are just like them.

All right, Sarah. Thank you so much. What happens if the interviewer cuts the interview short? Oh, this is probably, this is, you probably asked him because this has happened to you now. The reason they cut it short, sometimes it has may not have anything to do with you. All you can have to cut it short.

You can just ask. So I understand that we need to cut the interview short. Can I ask you Did I give you enough information or should we reschedule, or we can spend some more time together. Don't just let them from boot you out of the interview. And especially if you think it's gone really well.

Remember you are not alone. A second class citizen in these meetings, you are a peer, your two professional peers meeting to see if you can help each other. Kathleen, okay. Abby, what are best ways to get proper information about the employer ahead of time to prepare? Oh, you ask a great question. Okay.

You can tell, I love this subject. All right. If you, when the person comes first, when you're going to do the regular things, you're going to read the company website. You're going to read the job description. If they have one you're going to, when the person calls or emails you to schedule it, ask them.

The names and the titles of the people that you're going to meet. And then you're going to do some research on LinkedIn about that. And then after you do LinkedIn, just take their name and just put it in to the search bar and see what comes up. Maybe they made it posted a video or two, but the professor I'm going to give you a little secret sauce.

And I got less than five minutes. Secret sauce is what I call the 10 K technique. This is a beautiful way. It extremely powerful way for you to differentiate yourself from across every other candidate and learn some inside information. First for publicly traded companies. What you're going to do is you're going to look at their annual filing to call it a 10 K 10 dash K.

And you find that in the investor relations section of a publicly traded company, and what you do is you go to the 10 K and you go to section one, a risk factors. And that lists the risk factors that are on the minds of the top of the executives in that company. I'm just checking the time. And what you do is during the interview, When they ask you, do you have any questions?

Oh, by the way, you might've made sure you got at least five questions that are focused on them, not focused on you. But what you do is when you look it through the 10 K you pick out one of those risk factors and when they ask you, do you have any questions? They simply say yes, always reviewing your 10 K.

And I noticed that risk factors section that one of the things affecting the success of your company is. Disruptive innovations or competition from stealth companies or international monetary exchanges or the retention of key employees. So you just pick one of those and ask is what kinds of things is your company doing to mitigate that risk of currency exchanges or success of specific projects or.

Pending legal action. And these are all real world examples that appear at most 10 case. Now, if you're doing a private company and they don't have a 10 K, what you can do is you can look at for competitors who are publicly traded. And if there aren't any, what I wanted to do is I want you to go through the news section of the, on their website.

And I want you to read the press releases of what they say about themselves. Then you go and identify some of the competitors and you can go to a site like hoovers.com, not the vacuum cleaner company, but hoovers.com. And you can get a quick list of the competitors. And then you look at the competitor sites, see if a competitor has a 10 K if they were publicly traded, see what the competitors are saying about themselves and that.

So you can get a lot of information before you even get there.

Carolyn. I'm glad to be here too. Thanks for that comment. So we've got about a minute and a half. Oh, thanks for the thumbs up. Oh, by the way, I like hearts and I really liked this, the happy laughing faces. If you are watching this broadcast, I want to make sure that you No, feel free to share it and make your own comments.

Now, there's member May 1st, 2018 at Stanford. I will be there. I hope you will be there if you want to get your career mojo back, that is the single best place you can go. And if you want to have some more videos, you can go to interview mastery.com, click on the candidate button, and there's a series of free videos.

That will also help you. But my whole purpose in being here today is to encourage you, to give you some information about what we're going to do together at the iRelaunch conference. And I really hope I'm traveling from New York city to be with you. So I hope you were there too.

I hope you found this really awesome cause I had a great time.