Speak Slowly and Carry a Good Story

Sister played by Whoppi Goldberg 

In 5th grade, Sr. Mary Armond taught us about President Teddy Roosevelt and I remember learning about his foreign policy that was encapsulated in the quotation: "Speak softly and carry a big stick...” However, there was more to this quotation. He added, “...you will go far." 

This worked for Teddy and it can also work for someone who’s looking for a new job. For interviews, Teddy might have made a little tweak to his trademark phrase: “speak slowly and carry a good story, you will go far.” This is really an important consideration in communicating your value to an interviewer. If you have any kind of speech issue this is even more important. I have clients who were not born in this country and have an accent. When they talk to someone who isn’t used to their accent, they are hard to understand. Additionally, when we are nervous we have the tendency to speak faster than normal. Added to an accent, you could lose an opportunity that is a perfect fit because the interviewer doesn’t know what you’re saying. 

Slowing down is a technique I use when I deliver a presentation. I’ll slow down the pace of my speech when I come to a key point I want to impress on my audience. You can also do this in an interview. Having a well practiced and rehearsed set of stories will help you slow down your speech. I recommend using a S-A-R format. Delivering the key point of a story without a lot of extra talking is the best reason to tell stories this way. Situation (what was the problem you fixed), Action you took and Results that you obtained. This format also promotes conversation with the interviewer rather than you carrying on a monologue.  

A good story really needs a good ending more than it need a lot of detail. Think about how an interview works. Most people want to tell all the facts of what the problem or situation was and then move into lots of complicated actions they took. Often people will completely forget to state the end of the story and fail to relate the results.
 

Being too specific in telling a success story forces the listener to picture the exact situation you’re describing. But isn’t that want you want to do? Not really. You really want to tell a story in a way that gets the interviewer to see you doing the same thing for their company. If you leave out the detail, the interviewer will interject his or her own environment into your story. So leave out the name of the companies in your stories. Leave out names of proprietary tools, specific cities, total numbers of lines of code, color of people’s clothes or the name of the divisional VP. If you drop a name, they cannot picture themselves in the story.  

So speak slowly and carry a good story and you’ll be successful.

Be Prepared... Be Confident in the Interview

Check out this Blog from "The Wise Job Search" Blog.

Not being assertive in an interview or being a "milk-toast" in a meeting that could turn into a job lead is all too easy if you're not prepared and lack confidence in yourself. Face it you're selling a product, YOU! If you're not confident then, why should someone buy the product. 


People want to believe that they are getting the best deal and there is a lot of competition out there today. Be yourself and be prepared. That doesn't mean you need to get in someone's face during the interview, in fact, that would be even worse than having no confidence. Sell your product by sharing the benefits that you will bring with you after they hire you. Help them to see you doing the job by telling success stories that show your value. 


Harry Urschel's Blog is called, Being "Assertive" in Job Interviews. The word "Assertive" can be misleading however. Don't make the mistake of being aggressive in the interview or the mistake of attempting to take control from the interviewer. Both of these behaviors are 99% effective at killing your chances in the interview. Mr. Urschel offers a list of other things to avoid in an interview... I totally agree with his list.

Remember you are there and it's your time to connect and win the job offer. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears... you cannot be too hot, too cold, but you need to be just right!


Review and practice telling your success stories every day. Then, review them right before the interview and you'll smile, endorphins will release in your body; calming and relaxing you, helping you to appear more confident. 

"Why did you leave your last Job?"

   There are a lot of thoughts regarding this toughest of interview questions. There are books that will give you specific responses to use. However, there is really more here than meets the eye. In an interview there really are only two kinds of questions asked. First, the informational question... tell me about yourself, for example. Second, the elimination question... why did you leave your last job? What is important to remember is that the goal of an elimination type of question is to get you to shoot yourself in the foot. So don't!

   So when you're asked why you're looking to change jobs or why you left a previous job don't panic. Relax, it's no big deal even if you left under less than positive circumstances. The one point all the experts agree is not to trash your previous employer. Don't even say anything that could be mistaken for a negative. You're a professional and you don't make problems, you solve them. So, when you are asked the question you'll deliver you response in a relaxed, unimportant manner that is quick and to the point. The more you say the more opportunity you have to shoot yourself in the foot. Answer the question with a short and positive response and then you're ready for the next question. 

    This means that you have an answer already before the interview begins. You've practiced it over and over again. You have the response down pat! You know it backwards and forwards so that it comes across like a conversation with your best buddy asking about last night's game. You don't want it to sound practiced or rehearsed. You want to come across as genuine and honest.

That's how you deliver the response, but what do you say? All the experts agree... No Negative! I like Challenger's format of creating a conversation:

Interviewer: Why did you leave XYZ Company ?

Candidate: There were no more challenges.

Interviewer: What do you mean? (Tell me more...)

Candidate: I had accomplished all my goals and I decided to seek new challenges elsewhere. 

But what if you got let go and it wasn't your idea to leave?

Interviewer: Why did you leave FX Inc.?
Candidate: The company consolidated operations.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
Candidate: A business decision was made due to the economy to consolidate operations within the company. This affected 30% of all positions including mine.

   There is safety in numbers and this reason for leaving says nothing negative, or as Joe Friday use to say, "just the facts." Normally you'll want to have the reasons for leaving any job going back ten years. Remember regardless of the situation that resulted in your leaving, you got a lot out of your experience there and you have nothing but positive things to say about the experience, the people, your boss and the company as a whole.