Accountability Partners 3-2-1

Last time I brought up for consideration the subject of adding an accountability partner in addition to an accountability group to aid in achieving goals. This time let’s look at a way to keep the phone calls with your accountability partner short and on target. I like 15 minute phone calls... anything more and my ear starts to hurt, and I have other calls to make. Remember the goal of these phone calls with your accountability partner is to keep you on task toward fulfilling your goals. If you take five minutes and your accountability partner takes five minutes, then with a little chit-chat you’ll be done in 15 minutes.  

Keeping to 3-2-1 as a model will help you stay on schedule.

   3 - Accomplishments

   2 - Goals

   1 - More thing

 

Just like accountability groups the focus is on accomplishments from the last phone call and goals for next time. I like starting with what I accomplished; this helps keep things on a positive note. Tell your accountability partner what top three things you’ve accomplished. Even if you accomplished ten things of note, mention three. This is a quick report and you don’t want to use up your whole five minutes.

After accomplishments move on to your top two goals for today. Saying your goal, or the activity to bring about that goal, out loud to someone has real power to energize your day. Normally, you’ll have more than two things you want or need to accomplish that day, but stating the top two creates clarity in your day. This is also motivating for those things you are less than excited get started on. One of my least favorite, but most important tasks every day is 10 to 15 phone calls to contacts and prospects.

Then move on to one more thing.  This can really be anything you want your accountability partner to be aware of. I might mention something I’m excited about or grateful for. “I have a phone call today with Wendy and I’m looking forward to the progress she is making on her project.” After this one more thing, it’s time for your accountability partner to talk and for you to listen.

After your accountability partner is finished, it’s good to confirm your next phone call or face to face meeting. If you’re doing this in coordination with an accountability group, then you’ll be prepared to report your weekly successes and accomplishments to the group. This will reinforce your activity and efforts with your accountability partner. REMEMBER: This is a tool not a time consuming activity so a little chit-chat to start and to end the session is fine but keep it short and simple

Accountability Groups & Accountability Partners

Back in 2003, when we first started to employ the concept of "Accountability Groups for Job Seekers" at the College of DuPage’s DEN program, we saw a dramatic shift in folks landing jobs. Having someone or a group to support the job seeker, helping them to hold themselves accountable really affected the participants’ activity and intensity in their job search. While we never quantifiably measured the effectiveness of these groups, it was apparent that folks, who had been in a job search limbo, began getting interviews and job offers.

In 2005 Orville Pearson published, The Unwritten Rules of the Highly Effective Job Search... where he describes a similar concept he calls "Job Search Work Teams." While not the exact same thing as "Accountability Groups," both possess an underlying principle that people are more effective when they have support and help motivating themselves to do things that are new, uncomfortable, or scary that need to be done. Left alone without support it is too easy for most of us to let ourselves off the hook, and rationalize reasons not to do something.

Not long ago, I met with a job seeker who mentioned to me that he was really working hard on his job search. I asked how he was able to do this and he told me that he was in three different accountability groups. I thought to myself that this went against a lot of what I teach regarding effective activity in a job search. As I drilled down he explained that before he joined the second and third groups, he only worked hard the day before the group met and often let himself off the hook until it became urgent to meet the objectives he’d set for the week. Sadly, he was giving up probably three hours a week in meetings when one meeting would have sufficed.

What he was really looking for was more accountability, more outside accountability. A few months before this meeting, I’d been pondering the idea of Accountability Partners to build on to the Accountability Group concept. Having a workout buddy that shows up every day to workout with you increases one’s compliance to do daily exercise. This same condition could work for job seekers, utilizing a daily 10 minute phone call with your "Job Search Partner."

In fact, this would work with anyone who needs to overcome some resistance in meeting a goal. Sales people, college students, small business owners and people doing their taxes could all benefit from having an "Accountability Partner."

I have used this concept a number of times in my life and my career to help me over the resistance, fear or inertia of doing unfamiliar or unpleasant activities. I suggest creating a bond or contract with another person with similar goals; partners who push each other forward, raise the bar and hold each other accountable will have a dramatic, positive effect in achieving your goals and desires.

LinkedIn's New Whac-A-Mole Feature

Ever play Whac-a-mole at an arcade or fair? What a fun time, as the little mole pops its head up from any of six or seven different holes on the game, you attempt to smack or whack it down back into it’s hole. In the 90’s it was not uncommon for software companies to have one game available for employees amusement and/or release frustration.

LinkedIn introduced a feature in the last week or so and you may have been seeing it’s effects in your email. LinkedIn Endorsements were announced in late September this year with the tagline, “Give Kudos with Just One Click.” (See LinkedIn Blog)

Scott Kleinberg, of Tribune Newspapers say about LinkedIn Endorsements, “Click. Click. Boom. Show someone you respect them professionally. Endorse them on LinkedIn.” Yet, there has been two side effects I’ve noticed. One, what do you do when you get a notification email? Two, when you endorse someone, a window pops up with other connections’ skill, asking if you would endorse them.

The first is easy, thank the person either on LinkedIn in a message or send them a thank you email. This is a great opportunity to further network with them and see what’s going on in their lives. But the second side effect, well that is something else...

This is the Whac-A-Mole game. As soon as you acknowledge  someone’s endorsement,  a window pops up with four people you are connected to and asks “Now it’s your turn. Endorse your connections:” and you can endorse a skill of theirs from their profile. (I have one client that never added Skills & Expertise to their profile and LinkedIn identifed potential skills within their summary and sent me an inquiry to endorse them - very smart technology.) Here is how it is a Whac-A-Mole game.

When you endorse one person’s skill, another person and skill pops up. If you endorse all four, then four new endorsements pop up. If you are an addictive person you cannot stop, and you click, click & boom, your connections will soon know how much you appreciate their skills and expertise.

LinkedIn has provided a wonderful tool for people to connect and build relationships as well as providing an outlet for random acts of kindness. However, don’t use the endorsements willy-nilly or it will cheapen the endorsements as a whole. We need the to make sure that people, job holders, recruiters and hiring managers understand that when a prospective candidate has a number of endorsements attached to a specific skill, they can expect the candidate to demonstrate expertise in that skill in the interview.

So be considerate when you endorse someone’s skill. It’s quick and it’s easy, but it’s not trivial. It doesn’t take as long to produce as a recommendation, but it can be just as important to that person’s career future.

The Right Mental Attitude

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goals; nothing on earth can help a man with a wrong mental attitude.”

~ Thomas Jefferson

I was at a job seekers event not long ago and I met two people. There were many people there–over 150–and I bumped into one fellow after a breakout session and before the formal networking tables began. He was preparing to leave and I asked him which networking session he was going to, “Steve, are you going to the Professional table, the Executive table or the open networking table?” He told me he was going to leave, that these networking things don’t work, “No one ever has a contact for me. I’ve been out of work for five years, with a couple of contract jobs in between. And no one ever has a good contact for me.”

He went on to tell me that the economy sucks, life is terrible and he was just getting started telling me everything that was wrong with the world. I interrupted him and asked him if he realized that there are many ways to work a formal networking session. He could practice his elevator speech, offer connections and contacts to others or just meet someone new and follow up for coffee and more practice. Steve just didn’t want to hear that and I stepped back and offered him success in his job search. I’ll pass from documenting his response.

Earlier that day, I met Denise. I’ve known her for a number of years and she was at this event representing a Temp Services business in the area. She stopped me and asked a couple of questions about negotiating for a new opportunity she was considering. She loved the job and the people, but the salary was $5K less than she was currently making. We bounced a couple of options around and role played a little and she left to go networking to see who else she might meet.

Later that same day I was given a book on famous quotations and there was Thomas Jefferson pointing out the moral for me to learn that day. No matter how much you want to help, some people won’t change. It you find yourself in that situation, walk away–no, run away–and focus your time and energy on your goals. Surround yourself with people who possess the right mental attitude. As W. Clement Stone once said, “Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you become like them.”

Stress During Job Search

Some people think that it is merely semantics using the words “Job Transition” as opposed to “Unemployed.”  It is true, however, that there is psychological negative effect that comes with the word “unemployed,” that makes it more than semantics. When a person loses a job, they lose all the aspects of the job and the circumstances associated with the job also changes. Schedules, deadlines, priorities, motivations and purpose all go away or shift. This causes stress in the person and the family--in fact everyone associated with the person who lost their job. Therefore, let’s call the number one stressor from losing a job, “Loss of Structure or Schedule.”

The second and no less of a stressor in the life of a person without a job is, “Loss of Income.” This creates all kinds of fallout from, “How are we going to pay the bills?” to “If I don’t have enough cash to put gas in the car, how will I ever find a job?” Credit Card debt goes up causing more stress and anxiety. Decisions of which bills to pay, “Should I pay the mortgage or buy groceries?” forces some folks to ignore important things because they cannot deal with the stress of not having enough money. This leads to problems growing and not going away until it becomes a legal problem... bankruptcy and home foreclosures are on the rise or at all time highs.

Third in the list of stressors that job seekers must deal with is the “Disruption of the Family.” An amazing statistic we are seeing today is the number of divorces after retirement. I don’t even want to contemplate the number of damaged marriages that have resulted from job loss due to the economy.  Children in school experiencing stress in their family due to job loss find their grades falling or start acting out with negative behavior.  

Today, more than any other time in history we are under attack by stressful things. Not since native peoples struggled against the elements and wild predators have human beings felt the kind of stress we feel today. So the first thing we need to do is see and understand that we are stressed. Then to seek ways to overcome or at least reduce the stress we are under. Communication is a great stress release. Counseling, through your church or a mental health professional, will offer greater relief. Finally, don’t hide your problems, let people know that you are looking for work and you’ll find they don’t think badly of you and in fact may know of something that will lead to a new opportunity.

How to build an Olympic Attitude

What can we learn from watching the Olympics? Especially if you’re a regular person without athletic talent, what do you share with Olympic athletes? You don't have to be an Olympian to have the same kind of attitude, but you do have to work hard, and believe:

Set goals regarding your performance

• Focus on what is doable first. Make phone calls to friends and other job seekers to build your confidence. Then make phone calls to new contacts using what you learned from your practice. Then schedule networking meeting to grow your network into your job.

Plan for the event (The Interview)

• Find triggers or common questions which will help you stay focused on your performance during the interview. Then rehearse and practice. Do what Olympic athletes do and visualize yourself going through the the interview.

Your performance does not define your self-worth  

• Separate your self-worth from your performance. Putting the two together puts enormous pressure on the event and and makes it difficult to do well. You are not your performance; you are always you regardless of the score at the end of the day.

Relive your Successes

• Use your success stories; visualize the events and achievements. Remember how you felt and thought. You have done fantastic things in your career. Refer back to your success stories often so that you relive the experience.

Dump your ego, you’re only human

• If not, you won't allow yourself to do things that make you look bad, and in the end, that avoidance will keep you from getting better. Human beings learn from mistakes by making changes--often little changes which lead to achievements.

Temporary disappointments are normal (Except for Cubs fans; then it’s not temporary)

• Nobody's perfect, stuff happens. Know that you will make mistakes and mess up the interview or meeting, but let them slide, and focus on the next one.

Laugh often and laugh out loud!

• When it gets hard... laugh. Dump the negative and find something to laugh about. As I always tell my clients and audiences: "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!"

"How to build an Olympic Attitude" is inspired by Peter Haberl, United States Olympic Committee sports psychologist

Let's Go to MAUI to Land a Job

A common question in an interview is: “Are you willing to relocate?” What’s the right answer? Say, “I’d consider it.” Then once you have a job offer, you have a choice to relocate or turn the job down. I told this to one client, Mark who was really struggling to get more than a series of temp jobs of three to six months. All along he told me he wouldn’t relocate and I kept telling him to say, “I’d consider it,” which he did. That was when the offer came in for a temp to perm position in Maui, Hawaii. For the right offer, we might all relocate, even to a hell hole like Maui.

So how did Mark get to Maui? Actually, Mark made Maui part of his job search. Yes, that’s right, Mark employed, Momentum, Activity, Urgency and Intensity in his job search. Job seekers like Mark have all kinds of obstacles in front of them. Some are so daunting that they start to feel that there is no job out there for them. In Mark’s case his industry had taken a real hit and there just wasn’t enough jobs to go around regardless of how good he was in his profession.

Momentum: The job seeker has to start to do the things job seekers do, every day with consistency. Always improving in the job search skills and continually moving forward with the expectation that something is going to pop just around the corner. Like a snowball going down hill there is a point when nothing will stop it.

Activity: The job seeker needs to do the right things and that activity will dictate their outcome. I’m not talking about activity for activity's sake. For example, going to a job seekers’ networking group once a week is a good activity, going every day isn’t the best use of the job seeker’s time. However, going to 10 different professional and industry networking events in a month will most likely produce the most effective connections. Mark became highly effective in his job search activity.

Urgency: The momentum and effective activity becomes even stronger when a sense of urgency is added to the mix. When goals are made, with dates attached, and then told to those who can help, the goals take on an expectation for completion; a sense of urgency. Often things linger in the background ⚊ nothing moving forward and then someone says it has to be done now... and all of a sudden, it gets done. If you doubt this, ask any tax accountant if there is a difference in getting necessary paperwork and receipts from clients in February as opposed to April.

Intensity: Many job search professionals agree that intensity is the critical element in a productive job search. With momentum, activity and urgency as part of the job search it takes on an intensity of its own. It cannot be denied. This intensity with a positive attitude is a force to be reckoned with. Even if the job seeker stumbles, she is still moving forward, creating her own luck, often turning a negative into a positive.

So let’s go to Maui and employ momentum, effective activity, a sense of urgency with intensity and see what happens.

Networking around the Grille

This is probably my 16th posting on networking since I started blogging. Why? Because it’s very important. So, it’s summertime; people are barbequing in the back yard, picnicking and Networking!!! Let’s look at networking again this time... networking at parties, cookouts and picnics.

   Remember the old Nat King Cole song, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer... but summer is no time to be lazy when you’re looking for a promotion or a new job. It’s really a great time to connect with new people in a pleasant atmosphere. People are feeling good, having a beverage to drink and some good comfort food.

   It’s a great time to connect, but!!! Yes, what do you say to folks? (Well I’m going out on a limb here, against stuff a lot of people before me have told you.) What do you say, not your elevator speech. Yes, you’ve read that correctly. My friend and management guru Joe Takash is quoted as saying:

   Most 'elevator speeches' make the listener want to take the stairs. If you struggle, (which most of us do), in swiftly describing what you do and the value you provide, practice and get feedback.

    Take the pressure off yourself and go the the party, picnic or cookout to have fun. Instead of looking for opportunities to give your elevator speech, look for opportunities to say hi. I like to hang out near the drink cooler or keg. “Hi, can I buy you a beer? By the way, I’m Thomas, here you go.” (I only offer beer or wine to persons over 21 years of age with appropriate identification.) It’s a great way to meet everyone at a party. And by introducing myself, people tend to introduce themselves.

   At many cookouts the “guys” hang around the grill. It’s a guy thing. My wife says that the only reason why men will cook food on a grill is because there is an element of danger. That may be true, or it may be because our ancient ancestors cooked their fresh kills over an open fire and it is in our DNA and it just feels right. Regardless, it’s a safe place to hangout and listen and talk to the fellas.

   At those parties, the ladies congregate with one another over a number of different activities. Sadly, I really don’t have any idea what the women are doing, because I’m a guy and I’m hanging out near the dangerous Weber Grill. But, this is also a great place to say hi, meet new people and connect. It’s been reported to me that women are far more likely to talk and share than men do and I pretty much believe that to be true.

   It doesn’t matter which group you are in, just meet new people and then connect with them. Ask if they are on LinkedIn or Facebook or Pinterest or Google+ or any social media. Then follow up, invite them to join your network, friends, follow your pins or join your circles. Then follow up again and invite them for coffee and there you can share your elevator speech.

Act Professional Even When No One is Looking

I hear this all the time and I repeat it often. You never know who you’ll run into during the day. This really makes sense for folks looking for promotions and new jobs. Yet, I am amazed by the way people act out in public.

People will tell me, “I’d never do that at an interview!” and they believe it. But, some folks won’t ever get the interview because of the poor impression they created at a conference, a talk, a get-together, or a job club meeting. Manners are so often absent in these and many common daily activities, and I’m not even talking about when we get behind the wheel for the commute to and from work. (That would be a blog post all by its self.)

The words “Thanks You” are getting lost in so many situations these days. Try holding the door open at the store or mall for people and listen for the “Thank You.” (If there is a Psychology student out there looking for an experiment ideal, run with this and let me know your findings.) I’m guessing that less than half the time people will fail to say thank you. But that’s not the worst part, I’d guess that 10% of folks won’t even acknowledge that you are holding the door for them. I wonder what the frequency is of “God Bless You,” “Salud” or “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes.

I’ve been at conferences where someone in the audience asks the speaker an embarrassing question or even calls out a typo or miswording in the presentation. Why would anyone want to put down or embarrass a speaker at a conference? I cannot imagine some manager leaning over to his boss and saying, “Bill, we really need a guy like that on our team. How about I talk to him regarding a job offer with us?”

I teach classes on social media in a job search and the question of Facebook always comes up. People posting pictures of people (themselves) being unprofessional. We get asked if a company asking for your Facebook login ID and password is legal? I’m not a lawyer and I cannot say. What I can say is don’t post pictures of yourself or anyone doing something you would not want your mother to see. Then legal or not you've nothing to fear from having a Facebook account.

Hold doors open for people and say bless you when someone sneezes, see the smile on their face. Offer someone the opportunity to go in front of you at the grocery checkout line. Make space for the BMW driver on the highway when the traffic is heavy. Smile at people and say hi as you walk past them. Doing these things will not only bring people’s smiles out; they’ll make you feel good. And you never know, your future employer might be in the crowd and you’ll make a positive impression.

Hunters & Gatherers

    The world is broken into two groups, hunters and gatherers. It is the hunters that go out and seek prey and kill it and bring it home. The gatherers go out, look for what is ripe and collect their bounty and bring it home. Both kinds of people can be successful in a job search. It is not an absolute that men are hunters and women are gatherers. Men can be gatherers and some of the best hunters I know have been women. It’s just a what works best for you.


    Both hunters and gatherers have a plan before they start. Some plans are very detailed and others are more open to spontaneity and going with the flow. The detailed planners plan start with a defined goal and strategies then build in contingencies. The spontaneous folks start with a picture or an ideal of what they are after and then go to work. Again both approaches are equally valid, although regardless of how you plan you’ll probably never understand how it works for the other type of planner.
     So the world we live in is often viewed in binary terms; polar opposites. Left - Right; Up - Down; Woman - Man; Cubs - Sox (or Mets - Yankees if you live around New York). The job search has two parts or phases that are not polar opposites however. These phases are sequential. First get the job offer. When you have an offer you can then evaluate the offer.

    Many job seekers do not see these two phases as separate and distinct... and then they wonder what happened. Folks that recognize the two different steps know that until you have an offer in hand, you really don’t have anything to evaluate. Also any energy you spend evaluating or judging a potential job is not only premature, but could negatively impact your interview, the follow up or other opportunities beyond.

    Before you have an offer, you waste time fretting about salary, working conditions, personalities. All of these things are important and you’ll be collecting data regarding these and more; however, until you have the offer you’re in sales mode and still need to make the sale not expend energy and effort on questions that may never matter.

    When you get the offer, it’s time to take all your impressions and concerns and evaluate the pros and the cons and the salary and the benefits and the boss and the commute and make an informed, calculated decision about the next step in your career. Here is where the research, that we mentioned last week, comes to fruition. Once you have the offer you’re no longer is sales mode, the hiring company is now in sales mode... it’s time to ask all those questions you wanted to ask during the first interview. So go ahead and ask.

    Whether you’re a detailed planning gatherer or a go with the flow hunter, you want to remember the two phases: Getting the job offer first and evaluating the offer second. And have fun along the way.

Do Research; Don't Become Mr. Know-it-all

Remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons? They were a wonderful part of my growing up. There was a part of the show where Bullwinkle took on the persona of “Mr. Know-it-all,” and Rocky watched in dismay as Mr. Know-it-all tried to demonstrate something and always made a mess of it. Every time Mr. Know-it-all demonstrated how to do something he ended up learning a much harder lesson.

This is true for job seekers and people interviewing for a new job. There is a point where you need to research a company and learn what you can about the products, the market, competitors and get a feel for the company. The goal here is to become familiar with the company and its external persona or presence. This will help the job seeker or interviewee to be more confident and comfortable during the interview.

Some folks take it a little too far, however. The feel anxious about the interview and the lack of control one has in the whole process and they attempt to exert some “wisdom” into the interview. The take the opportunity to show the interviewer all they know about the company, to show off a little. And like Mr. Know-it-all they end up on their backside, stars twirling around their head, wondering what happened.

I remember one candidate who chose the end of the interview to ask me questions about the company, demonstrating to me his knowledge and insight into our company. He started off by quoting the current stock price and pointing out the fact that the price had dropped 14%. Then he asked what I personally was doing to change that trend. I was the company’s head of Quality at the time, therefore, everything I personally did was focused on the betterment of the company, and I said that and ended the interview with, “Well we’re out of time. Someone will be in touch with you regarding next steps.” 
I’m still not sure how pointing out that my personal wealth was down 14% was going to make me see him as a good fit. We didn’t hire him. But, I believed that he had done his homework about the company.

I’m not a big fan of candidates asking questions in the first interview anyway, but being familiar with our product and understanding what I was referring to when I went over the company and our products would have been a better approach. Nobody likes a show-off or a Mr. Know-it-all and this is very much the case in an interview. Do research and be prepared to respond to the interviewer’s questions. That will show them just what they need to know about you and how you may fit into their company. Next time we’ll go over the two phases of a job search: getting the offer first and then analyzing the offer second.

Dealing with Odd-Ball Interview Questions

I can remember a back in the late 1980’s and early 90’s a famous software company in the Northwestern United States was known for asking odd interview questions. One that sticks on my mind was, “If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?”

At the time it seemed kinda stupid but I had an oddball question of my own that I asked, “How do you change a tire?” One of my clients mentioned in a group session that he was practicing interviewing with his family and his daughter asked him a question: “How do you make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich?” Someone else commented that they were asked once in an interview a title of a book they had read.

Someone asked, “Is this a legal question?” and someone else commented that they didn’t think it was fair asking this kind of question. The answer is yes, these are all fair and legal questions. But, why in the world would anyone ask these questions if I’m interviewing for an Administrative Assistant or an Electrical Engineer position? What do these questions have to do with the job?

The reason for the question may or may not make sense to the interviewee, but I am sure the interviewer has a reason. Maybe they just want to see how you would react to the odd question. Maybe the question leads to a discussion that helps them better know you as a person. Or maybe they are looking for something specific.

When I use to ask the changing the tire question, I had actually standardized the question within my organization. I had asked everyone working for me to seriously answer the question in writing. I was running the company’s Quality organization and it was made up of Testers, Analysts and Engineers. The tire changing question helped me understand the candidate’s attention to detail, ability to describe a process and their written or oral communication. Plus, it was a common enough life experience that most people knew or had personal experience with.

BTW, my favorite response to this was, “I’d pick up the phone, call triple A and wait by my car for the service truck.” Other answers involved bicycle tires, old fashioned inner tube patching and a manual pump. The point was that there was no one right answer and many different answers. This is the case for most odd questions that come from left field in an interview. It comes down to how you respond and not the specific detail of the response.

So I’d be an Oak tree. Why? Because an oak tree is big, beautiful and provides lots of shade. This response is what I would have answered if I had been asked the question. Why? because it is who I am. I always say that in an interview you need to be yourself, be genuine. And so I remind you, if you are asked an oddball question... think for a second and give a real answer, then smile and wait for the next question.

Happy Passover, Happy Easter

Job search can be compared with the Exodus of the Israelites. You’re in a desert walking without any sign of the promised land. It may even seem like 40 years you’ve been in transition. It may seem like that yet, more and more people are finding jobs and winning the interview and getting job offers.

In the last seven days I’ve worked with five clients regarding salary negotiations and heard back about three others landing and starting new jobs. Passover reminds us that there is a reward at the end of our suffering. Sometimes we never could imagine what lies at the end of our journey.

That reminds me of the old joke about the Priest stopping in Sister Mary Margaret’s religion class. Fr. O’Brien asks, “Sister may I ask the children some questions about Easter. “Why sure Father, we would be proud to show you how well we’ve learned our lessons, wouldn’t we children?” The children all nodded. So Fr. O’Brien asks, “Could someone tell me what happened on the first Easter?”

One girl up front, Maureen Collins quickly raised her hand and said, “Oh yes, Father, that was when Jesus came into the world.” Both the priest and the nun were dismayed. “No, my dear,” said the priest, “that was Christmas day.” Then another child, a girl named Katy raised her hand and said, “Was that when God invented the Easter Egg Father?” Shaking his head he said, “No, Katy, not at all...” “Surely Sister, you’ve covered the Feast of Easter in class!”

Sister, rather embarrassed said, “Class we discussed this just last week, remember!” The children were all sitting in their seats, looking puzzled. And then finally, with a bit of hesitation Tommy Malloy raised his hand. Quietly he said, “Father, that was a Sunday Morning, eh?” Fr. O’Brien said, “Yes, Tommy, go on...” And Tommy said, “And there was this cave with a great stone in front of the opening...” “Go on Tommy,” the priest said.  “And the stone was rolled away and the Lord Jesus came out of the cave...” “Yes Tommy,” the priest and the nun prodded the lad on in unison.

“Oh, yes, Father, the Lord Jesus came out of the cave, looked around and saw his shadow and we get six more weeks of bad weather! Is that right Father?” said a very proud Tommy Malloy.

Hopefully you’re smiling now.

In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl comments that we can endure as long as we know that we have someone in our corner. What the holy days of Passover and Easter reminds us that we can have hope. That if we are people of faith, our God is with us. If we have family or friends we have people who love us. And regardless of how long you’ve been looking for work, you can and will find a job.

Shalom and good Passover and/or Happy Easter, Pax Vobiscum

Job 2: Get Them to See You Working for Them

Okay, you’ve done a great job so far and they like you. Job 1 is done but creating a favorable impression is the foundation. You’ll need to build upon this and get them to see you working for them. There is an old adage that goes, “The best predictor of future behavior is past performance.” This is where your success stories come to play.

In last blog post of December 2009 I first wrote about using success stories (link one) as a means of telling the potential employer about your value. Then in January 2010 (link two) I offered additional insights to building your success stories for an interview. In this posting, I’d like to focus on how to employ your success stories.

Whether you’ve learned from an inside contact what the company really needs or you’ve gleaned it from the interviewer during the early part of the interview, you want to tell your success story in relation to their needs, problems, or opportunities. In other words, what stories best describe you solving their problems? What stories best describe you answering an opportunity and capitalizing on your action? What stories highlight what you could do to fill a gap in their team or organization?

Tell your story in such a way that the listener is excited by the potential of having you on the team. You must tell that story such, that they picture you doing what needs to be done for them. This is very subtle and it is a common technique used by the great storytellers throughout the ages. Allow your listener, the interviewer, to fill in the details in their own mind just like old time radio allowed the listener to create the scenes of Little Orphan Annie, Jack Armstrong or The Shadow in our parents and grandparents minds.

You do this by offering only as much detail as is needed to set the stage; this allows them to identify your story with their challenge, problem or situation. When the interviewee goes into too much detail about the problem, it draws attention to the differences with the problems that the interviewer is faced with. When the candidate drops the name of the past company or the vendors and customers, it prevents the listener from envisioning current company’s vendors and customers.

Then you end your story by describing the results of the actions you took. Relate how you saved the customer’s business that equated to $100,000.00. Or how you helped a new employee be successful and changed the whole team’s attitude and esprit-de-corps. Or whatever the outcome was in your story.

Telling your stories to interviewers in this way drive home that you are the right candidate for the job. It gives them that material they need to justify hiring you over the others interviewed. They like you best because you were a wonderful guest and provided them with all they need to feel good about hiring you.