By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

1. Do you discuss company products and services with confidence and insight?
2. Do you give examples that support you have the knowledge, skills & abilities the company seeks?
3. Do you tell anecdotes that demonstrate you can hit the ground running?
4. Do you reinforce with examples that you have a shorter learning curve?
5. Do you expand your potential by establishing added value on topics not discussed in the interview?
6. Do you have a personality that fits the existing business culture?
7. Do you express passion and enthusiasm for the company and the opportunity?
8. Do you ask for the position?

The most difficult interview question is the one that you do not practice before you sit down in the interview chair. The key to successful interviewing is to know what you are going to say before you go to the interview.  Identify your most challenging questions.  Work out a good response.  Practice.  Test your response with someone.  Your success in interviewing will go up if you identify interview barriers and issues prior to the interview.

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

Below is my philosophy on how I spend the majority of my (mind) time each day.  This is how I get by each day.  What about you?  Have you ever giving thought to thinking about how you ‘think’ about preparing for the next day?  How much time do you spend getting ready for tomorrow?  Do you have a formal philosophy to guide you towards your achievements and accomplishments?

My approach to taking on life each day:

Once today is here, I minimize the amount of thinking time spent on the day’s tasks. [I don't take shortcuts.  I don't cut back on my efforts.  I put in whatever time necessary to complete my projects] However my philosophy is that today is already here.  Most of it will take of itself, whether I do something or not.  My attitude is to focus on tomorrow.  My mind is 80% (or more) focused on tomorrow’s tasks even though I am working on today’s business - I am always thinking and planning for tomorrow.  This attitude has always kept me on target.  Plus I have fewer surprises as I have already anticipated what might jump up and ’slap’ me on the side of the head and become a barrier or a challenge.)

[Time doesn't change.  24hours is always 24 hours. The key to successful management of your schedule is to manage effectively the time that you have.]

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

Job seekers should consider enrolling in Theater 101.  Exploring the mechanics of how to create a scene for a stage play offers unexpected rewards in upgrading your job search skills. What is a stage play but a series of activities design to engage an audience.  The audience is not told the outcome of a scene.  They are subject to storytelling through the use of staged activities. A successful playwright leaves the audience to think about the outcome and its implications and consequences.  An effective playwright uses actors to illustrate a storyline in the anticipation that the audience will leave the theater with an affirmative experience. 

Just like the audience leaving a theater, it is hoped too by the job seeker that the employer will have a positive experience from the job search encounter as well.  What if you approached your job search from the perspective of a playwright?   Every activity (telephone call, a networking event or an interview) is approached as a scene in a stage play.  Think of each of these scenes with their own beginning and ending. 

Job search is not “improv”.    Start by preparing a script on making a cold call to a potential employer.  Most importantly, your central point, is remaining true to yourself, your capabilities and future potential.  Your purpose is to prepare and present your case.   Think what are you trying to accomplish?    

1. Write a general scenario. [Illustrate your purpose through a picture created with words.]
2. Prepare a script [Define the call in your own words.  Compare and contrast available alternatives.]
3. Visualize the essential elements of your scene set [desk, mirror, résumé, script]
4. Create a storyboard like in a cartoon script [sketch your movements]
5. Work your script [Define call in your own words / Compare and contrast available alternatives.]
6. Walk through your script for wording [Verbalize the scene to develop your rhythm, intonation  and choice of words.]
7. Block your scene [Blocking is your play by play.] 
8. Rehearse your scene until you feel comfortable.

Perhaps the most exciting component of writing your scene will be that the actual telephone call or networking experience is not a surprise. You will find by working on staging your search interactions with employers that you are more in control over your job search.  You’ve already had the rehearsal dinner.  You worked out your kinks.  You have a script.  You know want is coming.  You analyzed assumptions and have alternative solutions to their responses.  You are prepared.

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

In the context of job search, networking is the process of communication that consists of using contacts and relationships (oftentimes a third party) to gain access to decision makers in the hiring process.

Historically, in the job search preparation stage, job seekers have been instructed to create and rehearse a brief networking (elevator) speech.  The original label of elevator speech comes from the situation when a salesperson is in an elevator, and low and behold who walks in but the purchasing agent they have been trying to make contact with for the past couple of weeks.  The salesperson has no more than 30 seconds to speak up before the door reopens and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity steps off the elevator.

While, a prepared elevator speech is essential to clear and effective networking; you are not always in an elevator, so think backwards.  It is not about you.  Give attention to the broader issue of networking.  The first obstacle you must overcome is to actually gain the other party’s attention.  Sales professionals will tell you that you cannot make a sale until you know the barriers you face.   The elevator speech that you have worked so diligently on is actually your number two speech.

An elevator speech is show and tell.  Your number one goal is not to show and tell.  If you don’t know what to show and tell, your elevator speech will not be effective.  This initial contact is the time for asking questions and active listening.  Your goal is to get the employer to commit to something or give you an angle about themselves or their organization.  Start with targeted questions.  In the course of this conversation your questions should be directed to identifying the type of employee the company is interested in, the skills and personality or behavior traits they seek and even the barriers or challenges the company faces that may be their Achilles heel.  Only when you have this information can you offer an effective elevator speech.   You have turned the table and given them something to talk about that is of interest to them and you have earned their attention.

Start thinking backwards today.  Create two networking (elevator) speeches.  The first is to open the door.  The second is to sell your talents.

NETWORKING ELEVATOR SPEECH WORKSHEET

By Lori S. Goldsmith, SPHR, GPHR

My role as a volunteer with the HR Certification Institute means that I can’t share actual questions with you; however, I can share some of my favorite study tips while on the run.  Speaking of on the run, did you know SHRM’s 2010 Learning System has gone mobile, too?  For actual retired questions, http://www.hrci.org/assessmentexam/

If you are an auditory learner, listen to your pdf materials. Visual learners, work with flash cards in your spare moments.  The exams are not trivia tests.  Stay focused on key concepts.  Don’t try to memorize, only a small percentage of the exam is knowledge based.  If you are really crunched for time, focus on key terms.  To make sound decisions, you must know what the question is asking and understand the meaning of the choices. The exam is experiential, draw on your life experiences.

Take as many quizzes as you can.  Don’t panic if you fail miserably.  Don’t get over confident if you are acing everything.  Neither is an indication of how you will do on test day.

Most importantly, plan to pass.  Treat your exam preparation the same way you plan strategically in your business.  Do an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses and plan study time accordingly.  Make sure your study plan fits in with your lifestyle.  Write your plan down.  If you have to deviate, you know where you left off and what you have to do to get back on track. If you are taking a class or participating in a study group, come to class prepared to intelligently discuss the assignment.  If you can talk about it or write about it in your own words, you will be in a much better position on test day. One encounter with the study material is not enough for long term learning, make sure your plan includes spaced reviews.

Already PHR, SPHR, or GPHR certified, what are your favorite tips?

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

[This week's lecture was Interviewing.  Students were instructed to respond to their most difficult interview question.  I share this encounter because it reflects the plight of many a job seeker.]

I think my most difficult interview question will be….

How will an employer recognize your value if you cannot?  Your key to achieving interviewing success is to identify what you offer an employer and be able to match or connect those values conclusively to the position you seek.  In short, it is not always the candidate with the best talent that is selected but rather the individual that communicates their skills the most effectively.

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

Does it sometimes feel that as if you are in the world described by the 1999 Matrix movie where humans are living in an artificial world and that the world is not quite what it seems to be and a menacing conspiracy is at work against you?  How do you unplug from the matrix and bring logic to your job search and life?

For whatever reason this thought came to mind as I prepare my final lecture for the semester.  What final wisdom can I leave my students? We have been together already (online) for 12 weeks.  {SLS 1301 Career and Life Planning}  The measured outcomes for this course are based on a student’s ability to identify aptitudes, interests, values and personality as related to their career decision-making and their personal life.

First I like to ‘ring a bell’ and remind my students to view their instructor (and other authoritarian figures) not as the sage on the stage but rather their guide on the side?  Greater longer lasting success is achieved in the classroom when education becomes student centered which translates to where students are given tools and hands-on experiences and taught to think by analyzing, reasoning and synthesizing to develop their own learning.  This is in contrast to where in the old days that we as teachers lectured and students were led to believe that the words and wisdom of the instructor is omnipotent.   (This approach would be considered instructor-centered teaching.)

I am thinking of closing this semester with the thought that a job search is not an isolated experience. All that my students learned this semester has a connection, not only to each of their assignments, but to that which they do on a daily basis as well as prior life experiences (like Experiential Learning).  For example, take something as simple as me going to the supermarket. It is not just about me going to the grocery store to purchase food.  To go to the store I have to consider whom am I cooking for this week?  Am I the only cook or will Lori be cooking this week too?  Will Lori’s mother be with us at dinner?  Are their health issues that we have to consider?  How can the food we purchase help us be healthier and live longer?  (Darn my parents!  Why did they make me leave a clean plate?) What is my work schedule?  What is Lori’s schedule?   And what about other experiences such as three weeks ago when Lori cooked a vegan lasagna that was actually good, for not having any meat.  (Do you understanding where I am going?  Do get my point?  If I was thinking of Lori’s lasagna for three weeks, how could it be an isolated experience if it was still in my thoughts?  Giving time I could bring in many more examples that a simple visit to the super market is not an isolated experience.

This premise that there is no such thing as ‘isolated’ holds true for the job search experience as well.  Like my supermarket trip there is more involved in a job search than only the specific event.  This is the message that I imparted last week when I spoke to c-level executives at the local workforce program and afterwards to ‘soon-be-graduates of our Honor College.  I like my students, with this final lecture, to understand that a job search is really a series of staged opportunities waiting for a successful experience to occur.  {Here are activities that could become staged opportunities; distributing a résumé, delivering a 30 – 45 seconds selling (elevator) speech, attending a networking business event, sitting for an interview, canvassing and cold calling, making a telephone sales call, or responding to an employer’s objections.}

Each of these activities is an event by itself.  How my students go about to achieve success in these activities now or following graduation is directly related to everything they have done in life to this point.  What they learned in their fifth grade writing class set a foundation for their résumé, or a high school speech class gave preparation for building networking skills, past work history establishing an employer’s attitude about their work expectations, or possibly accomplishments and achievements in other areas such as being a member of an association will have consider impact on what happens to them now in their job search and planning a career.   So to say a job search is an isolated experience is just not so.

I will share with my students that to be successful today, they must be mindful of all of their choices and decisions as they move through life if they want to boost their personal performance for improving job search effectiveness.  The message is to do their best, no matter.  Build success by doing everything well, whenever and wherever.  To be effective, they must keep in mind that their success is an accumulation of all their prior experiences and training that have led to this opportunity.

So where am I in preparing my final lecture?  Should the topic be, that there can not be an isolated job search (or life plan) experience?  Everything is connected.  Or maybe for now, I will just encourage my students to build a plan drawing from what learned in this course.  Write it down.   This makes it real.  Let this plan give you direction.

I have two weeks to decide.

Here’s my personal plan.  Use it to develop your own career and life map.

1. Define Yourself.
2. Follow a Plan. Write it down.
3. Retrain.  Don’t let your education and time pass you by.
4. Stay Informed in your field or where you want to go.
5. Get Involved.  Talk to people.
6. Stage your opportunities.
7. Keep in the Line of Sight of Decision-makers.
8. Measure everything – You don’t manage what you don’t measure.
9. Job Search – Ready Aim Fire

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

The reason that many job seekers do not secure an interview through networking may be that they approach the networking experience more as an  introduction rather than a closing.  I am talking about a closing like in securing a signature on a purchase contract.  Many networking experiences end in “Thank you, I’ll hold on to that information” or “good luck, I know you will be successful” rather than the employer inviting the job seeker to an interview appointment.

Job seekers attend networking events to secure interviews by introducing themselves through the stating of occupational title(s), talents, skills, achievements and accomplishments.  You have been told probably many times to rehearse this networking ‘speech’ to friends or to practice with other colleagues at networking groups.  Most job seekers follow this flawed process even though there are many road blocks in following this tack. The chief ruse of the job seeker is to ‘talk’ the employer into asking them to come in for an appointment.  This method does not work.  Sales are not made by talking.

Another view of this scenario is for the same job seeker to enter a networking event with a mindset of gaining access to interviews by getting potential employers to talk.  One approach is to follow the same techniques applied by successful sales professionals.  That is to become a good listener and ask targeted questions.  Sales are made by hearing first from the potential purchaser.  Successful sales people listen for clues.  These clues are tips. They could be issues, needs or barriers faced by the purchaser or an objection to products or services.

This is why I shout, “Long Live Objections! Objections are gateways that lead to successful networking experiences”! The secret of networking success is to ask questions.  The goal is to ‘bring out loud’ what is on the potential employer’s mind.  What are they thinking that you can use to open a door in order to promote your skills?  How can you use this information to promote your talents that may be good for them?   Strangely enough you asking questions will minimize your need to talk   This ability to ask questions may also give you control of the networking experience. [Keep in mind however that someone with objections is probably someone not listening. They may have tuned you out so it is important for you to be alert to signals such as body language in order to maintain their attention.]

The next time you stand in front of a mirror, do so by practicing your questions.  Develop a ‘handful’ of questions to bring with you to a networking event.  Aim your questions at getting the employers to talk about their barriers, the ones they face each day.   This is what you need to hear so you can initiate an offense to address (and eliminate) their objections.  Although this method maybe more frightening, it is through objections that you are able to identify real employer needs and what they really object to in giving you an interview.

By Larry Goldsmith, CWDP, P.E.T.

[When hires do not produce positive results, the costs are Thousands of dollars, Upset customers and Loss productivity to an organization.  Business success is all about Good Hires/Bad Hire.  Employers ask, “What can this candidate do for me?".   Job seekers must think, "What can I do for this employer?"]

Future Blogs on these Subjects

A Job Search activity is a staged opportunity for a successful experience to occur.©

Objections are gateways that lead to successful networking experiences! Long Live Objections!©

There is no such thing as is an isolated job search experience.©

The only difficult interview question is the one you did not practice.©

A job search is more than just a résumé.©

There are only five interview questions?

A successful job search is one which identifies an employer’s needs and fills those needs.©

Those who apply for a job called Anything end up with Nothing?©

You will end up somewhere else if your job search is missing an occupational title.©

Don’t leave your job search to chance.

Don’t leave your career to chance.

A Job Search is defined to place, period, and people.©

Don’t look only for job openings – Look for companies that hire people with your skill sets or occupations like the ones you seek.

Put yourself in the line of sight of the employer.