F. U. Interviews

Bev Rautenberg

I have a client that always reminds me that I was the first to tell her to F. U. I’m always a tad nonplussed when she says this until I remember that F. U. is not an expletive.

Following Up (F. U.) after interviews is one of the more neglected aspects of a job search. Some research have cited 60% of job seekers fail to follow up after the interview. Client’s have told me...  “They said they would be making a decision is two weeks I’ll check in then.” Other’s say, “I don’t want to look too desperate.” And still others say, “The ball’s in their court, if they want me they’ll call me.” Sitting by the phone waiting for the phone to ring is a sad and lonely task. “But the interview went very well; I thought I hit a home run. Why haven’t they called? Maybe I should call them, but it’s been too long for me to follow up now!”

Following up is sometimes scary for the job seeker. “What if they tell me that I didn’t get the job?” or “I don’t know what to say.” So what if they tell you that they decided to go a different direction! Is that really bad? Sure, it doesn’t feel good to be told you didn’t get the job, however, two things are available for the job seeker if they give you this message.

First, express your disappointment, and wish them success with their choice. Then ask if they know of anything else that could utilize someone with your skills and abilities. “Gee, I’m sorry to hear that I didn’t get the job; I wish you success with the person you selected. You and I spent enough time together that I’m wondering if you would know of any other opportunities that could utilize someone with my experience and talents?”

Second, the job seeker can continue to create networking opportunities and follow up with other job leads. Just because you have an interview doesn’t mean that you will land the job. Having several so called irons in the fire allows you to relax a little. If you get a no, you have something else to follow up on. It’s just one more no which brings you closer to the yes. The sales adage goes, you have to get through the nos to get to the yeses. “So I’ve got another no, yea!!! I’m that much closer to the job offer.” Maybe that sounds a little Pollyannaish, but that really is the right attitude to have in times like today.

Success comes out of persistence and constancy. Doing what you need to do and staying the course when you meet defeat or disappointment is the path to success. Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So even though you’ve not heard back from the interviewer or the HR rep; don’t quit and give up. Call them back with a positive expectation that you’re the right candidate... it may be that they are too busy because they don’t have you on their team.

The coach says, keep  following up (F. U.) until you get a definite yes or no.

Do Elevator Speeches Work?

Elevator Speeches... The old sales adage says that you should be able to communicate the core message of your product in the time it takes to go up a couple floors in an elevator... You have between 30 and 90 seconds to tell the person locked in the elevator with you why he should buy what you have to offer. Yes, I know what you’re thinking... People don’t talk in elevators. You walk in, turn to face the front of the box and try not to touch anyone who is also in the elevator with you. Saying hello will get you a strange look. When would you ever use an elevator speech? Even if you’re in the middle of a discussion with someone, when you enter an occupied elevator the automatic reflex is to stop talking.

So if you’re in sales or in a job search, when are you going to use an elevator speech if not in the elevator? Some unemployment professionals may disagree with me; I believe that elevator speeches are a tool to help folks prepare what to say when asked questions while networking or interviewing. However, if a person took 60 to 90 seconds to recite a whole elevator speech, it would come off as pretty artificial and contrived.

Picture this: you’re in line at a wedding reception either for the bar or the buffet. A person walks up behind  you--the line isn’t moving all that fast--so you say “hi.” They say ‘hi” in return. “Great wedding,” one of you say. The other says “yes, (as the line moves up a step) they’re a beautiful couple. By the way, (holding out a hand) my name is Jim Jameson.” (Shaking hands) “Hi Jim, I’m Jacqueline Daniels, how do you know the lovely couple?” Sooner or latter as the line get closer to the desired end, someone asks the other, “What do you do?”  So what do you do?... you dive right in with your well practiced elevator speech. And what do you hear next? The guy behind your new friend saying, “Hey buddy, you going to order a drink or what?” Your new friend darts over to the other open bartender and says, “Make it a double!” and you never see them the rest of the night. Why? Because they are there to dance, eat and drink, see friends and remember how wonderful it was when they were married.

If social occasions aren’t the best place to use your elevator speech, where do you use this all important tool that people have been telling you needed or you’d never find a job? Job Clubs, Networking Groups and Professional Networking Events are the best. I go to an early, breakfast networking event where after forty minutes or so of informal networking we circle up and go around the circle giving our elevator speeches. It’s a smashing time, really great fun! Then people mingle some more to exchange cards with those they hadn’t met before the circle. We exchange leads and asks questions and the group slowly dwindles as people go to work.

At the wedding, it’s better to tell them what you do and then ask what they do. Develop a rapport where you can learn something about the person. If you realize that they are someone you can network with, find a means to follow up with them after the wedding. “Well Jim, we need to get back to the party, it was great meeting you. Maybe we can get together sometime for coffee? I’d like to learn more about your company... are you on LinkedIn? Would it be okay if I sent you an invitation to connect? Great! Enjoy the rest of the evening.”  

BTW, next week I’ll not be posting, I’m off to St. Paul, Minnesota to visit with some friends and celebrate our 30 year reunion.

"Buzz Words" or Headlines?

There are loads of blog postings, articles and news stories regarding the use of buzz words in your résumé and other job search documents. These postings tell the job seeker that, some “Buzz Words are Bad!” Using phrases like, “team player,” “detail oriented,” “results oriented,” and “problem solver” are examples of word that are overused and need to removed from a résumé. But what if I am an excellent problem solver? What if as a QA/QC professional I have excellent attention to detail? Do I not say these things.

About a year ago, an article was published on CBS regarding Résumé Buzz Words that needed to be in your résumé. And around that same time an LinkedIn Blog posting identified ten buzz words that could hurt your job search.  Now here is where it gets confusing for job seekers: some of these words are in both lists.

If you think about what these folks are trying to say, the idea is that the job seeker needs to move beyond the cliché. However, I am a team builder and problem solver. Is that a cliché? Or is it a headline? Read this morning’s newspaper if you still get one. Or read an “on line” paper like The Patch and I defy you to find a single story without a headline.

Headlines are meant to grab the reader’s attention... so that you’ll move deeper and read the article, get the whole story. This is also what the résumé buzz words are intended to do. They get the reader to dig deeper into the résumé and read about your skills, abilities and accomplishments.

In the job interview, just like the résumé you need to catch the interviewer’s attention and then share the success stories that prove the statements you made in your résumé. I think that a Buzz Word is a cliché only when it isn’t followed up with a good, solid success story with a strong result at the end.

Yes, some buzz words are over used in résumés and in other marketing material. And some buzz words are more descriptive than others. So, if all you use are overused and cliché buzz words, and you have no concise story proving your assertion, then you need to do some work. But buzz words are important, especially when employers are using Key Word Search tools to screen your résumé and cover letter.

Use Wordle or other Word Cloud applications to see what words are most prevalent in your resume and cover letter. In fact, write out your elevator speech and run that through Wordle and see if the most common words appear on the overused list. If not then don’t worry about the words your are using, because the only bad words not to be used in a résumé are the ones George Carlin made famous years ago.