Be Mindful of the Small Things

When on your job hunt, there are many ways for you to show that you are the best candidate for the role.  There are also many ways for you to disqualify yourself from the running for a possible position.  I wanted to highlight some of the small things that can get you disqualified from a position, and although they are small, they are things to be mindful of throughout the interview process.  I’ve highlighted a few examples below.

Customizing or tweaking your resume is a good thing, as you always want to have relevant work that you’ve done for a particular job show up.  However, be mindful of how you save your resume, and the name you give this saved copy.  Hiring managers can see the name you have the resume saved as, so if you are applying for multiple positions then make sure you save a copy in a name and format that is appropriate for the position.  Many times I see a resume attached and it says something like “Resume for Medical Sales position” when they are applying for a Paralegal role.

When you chose to begin your job search, create a professional email to use when sending your resumes and cover letters, and include that email on all resumes.  Too many times I see candidates use their personal emails, and they have ranged from completely inappropriate too silly emails that don’t give off a professional presence.  When in doubt, try and have an email that is first name, last name such as Bob.Smith@gmail.com, or something similar.  Once you have created that email, make sure you check it regularly if you are actively looking.  Responding to a potential company that “sorry, I don’t check this email that often” shows that you aren’t serious about your search.

Be mindful of your Objective statement- many candidates tailor their objective statement to the specific company they are applying, (which I think is a good way to show a company that you are interested in them specifically).  However, if you chose to employ this strategy, then you must be sure and review your resume before EVERY submittal.  Nothing can kill an application quicker for a hiring manager than when they open up a resume and see a different company listed under the objective statement.

Spelling errors that Microsoft Word won’t catch with their spell checker.  When writing your cover letter and your resume, you must read it thoroughly when editing for spelling and grammar mistakes, especially those that aren’t caught by the computer.  Some examples of this are using “apart” vs. “a part”  (these two phrases have opposite meanings and are used a lot in cover letters).  Similarly, “lose” and “loose” have two different meanings and are interchanged mistakenly on a lot of cover letters I see.

Respond to requests for interviews from employers in a professional manner.  If you are lucky enough to hear back from an employer that would like to set up an interview via email, be mindful of your response.  In our mobile world it is easy to think that a quick response from your phone is sufficient, but if an employer takes the time to write a professional email to you, take the time to respond in kind, rather than just firing off a quick confirmation like “sure, 10 a.m. sounds great for a phone call.”  Many times professionals email you to set up a interview because want to evaluate your professionalism and writing skills before they pick up the phone.  Don’t rule yourself out of a job before you even have a chance to interview for it.  Also, if possible; remove the message that says “sent from my iPhone.”

Delays in responding to companies and interviews can be read as disinterest, or lack of motivation.  If you’ve had a first interview and are asked to follow up, do not be lazy about the next step.  Hiring managers like to see candidates who seem eager to pursue the opportunity, and if there is a long pause between communications then it can be open for interpretation from a hiring manager.

Thank you emails and letters are still important.  This is a point that you hear frequently, but I still very often see candidates skip writing a thank you letter.  This can be blamed on the multiple ways that interviews take place (email responses, phone interviews, Skype, in-person, etc.) but when in doubt, send a thank you letter.  If you’ve had a phone interview and it only lasts 5 minutes, send a short thank you letter expressing interest.  If your interview is an hour (or longer) in-person interview, send a longer thank you email highlighting the most appealing things you learned about the company and express your interest in joining the firm.

Be on time for your interviews, especially any scheduled phone interviews.  I’ve seen hiring managers schedule phone interviews as close as 15 minutes apart from each other, so if you are a few minutes late and miss their phone call, they’ve already moved on to the next call.  Be prepared for the phone call several minutes beforehand.

Don’t conduct a phone interview on your car Bluetooth.  Technology is great, but there is still some clarity loss when someone is driving and on their cars hands-free device.  It can come off as a lack of interest or prioritizing the phone call if you are driving while speaking with a hiring company.  If you get caught in your car unexpectedly during a scheduled phone interview, it’s best to pull over in order to concentrate on the phone call.  If an interviewer calls you out of the blue and you’re driving, it’s entirely appropriate to ask to schedule the phone call at a time that you can be in a quiet place.

These are all small points that at first glance don’t seem to be things that would make or break your job search, but they are still aspects to be mindful of especially in a competitive interview process.  Many times it is a small thing that separates a company’s top candidate from the runner-up…so you want to do these small things well!

Negotiating Your Pay

As someone that has worked with thousands of candidates on their job search, I’ve learned a few things about negotiating salary that I would like to share. Most people feel that they can only negotiate their salary if they are currently working and are earning a salary that they can refer to, or are fielding multiple offers that they can play off of each other.  While having these helps, even without a current job there are things you can do to maximize your negotiating power when interviewing, even if you’re an entry-level candidate entering the job market.

Do your research

Before you embark on interviews, understand what the market value is for your position.  Understanding the demand for your role and what firms are paying for this type of position will give you the confidence to know what to ask for when the attorney poses the question, “How much are you looking for?”

How can you find out this information?

a.    Several national HR and Recruiting firms conduct salary surveys of their clients and compile this information into an annual pamphlet, which can be found online. Google “Salary Survey 2016” and you should be able to see the latest versions of these, many times offered free.

b.    Glassdoor.com captures market data on specific positions and what their salary ranges are.  This can vary widely based on the size of the company/firm but does give a range.

c.    Recruiters!  Although I may be biased, I can say that recruiters in a chosen field are typically the best source of information for what the market is paying for a given profession.  We speak to hiring managers and others in the field daily, so we have a pretty good gauge on what the market rate for a specific position is.

d.    Informational Interviews with others in the field. When attending an industry event like a trade show or job fair, you will meet others that are further along in their career.  Conducting an informational interview would be a great way to learn about what salary you can expect to make for a particular position now and in the future.

Discussing salary during your interview

I see most interviews follow a 3-step process:  The first interview is when a company determines if a candidate might be a fit for them, the second interview is a chance for the candidate to examine if the company is one that they would like to join; and the third step in the process is for there to be a mutual discussion of what the particular details of the position will be.  I always recommend that candidates shouldn’t bring up salary requirements until at least the 2^nd or 3^rd interview.  The majority of the time a good Recruiter or HR Manager will explore the range that a candidate is looking for, to make sure you are in the right ballpark, so it won’t be up to the candidate to mention compensation.  However if you do get to a third interview and the company has made no mention of salary, now would be an appropriate time to mention it.

How do you answer the question, “How much are you looking for?”

Here is an effective answer: “My first priority is this opportunity to work with your company, as I think your organization fits with my short and long term career goals, and I could contribute greatly to your growth.  Through my research, I’ve learned that the market value is typically ___.  Through my other interviews and exploratory conversations, I feel that the minimum I would consider is ___.”  Notice that in this example you are giving an actual salary figure. Most companies and hiring managers do actually want to hear a number, and it can be frustrating for a hiring manager to determine if you are even in the same ballpark as their pay scale. Know your bottom line prior to your first interview & what you would be willing to accept.  Not every offer has to be negotiated at the end, so if you know what you would accept, then let them know that at the outset.

Understand company constraints and capabilities. 

Small companies will have certain advantages but also some constraints when hiring employees. Generally, smaller companies mean smaller budget for employee salaries.  However, a smaller firm or company might also have a greater flexibility to negotiate your titles, time off, or review periods, and these are things that you can negotiate during your job interview.

Larger companies can typically pay more, but also have set pay schedules for set years of experience, and can’t vary from their pay scales for one employee. 

When Negotiating…

Make all your requests at once.  When negotiating with a company, you would never want to ask for a salary that you ultimately would be unhappy with.  If you are going to negotiate, then be prepared to say ‘yes’ if the company agrees to your initial demands.  Additionally, my opinion is that you shouldn’t ask for certain demands one item at a time.  Discuss all of the items that you would like to negotiate, that way your potential employer only has to get approval from the powers-that-be once.

Make a business case for your demands.  Hiring managers and companies will be willing to hear what you have to propose if you can make a business case for it.  Sell the company on why they should be willing to give you these things by helping them understand the return they will get on their investment in you.

Communicate time & response expectations clearly. There is nothing wrong with taking time to think about an offer.  Most companies don’t have a problem with having you take a day or two to review the details of the offer or discuss it with your family, etc.  If you aren’t ready to say yes immediately, then I think it’s always important to communicate when they can expect to hear your answer to their offer.  When receiving an offer, give an exact day and deadline that they can expect to hear back from you.  Hiring managers translate silence as lack of interest, so you want to make sure that you are both on the same page with the timing of your communication. “Thank you very much for the offer and this information, and initially this all looks great.  Do you mind if I take a day to review the details, and give you my answer no later than Friday at noon?”

Lastly, always be positive. 

Understand that you cannot take any negotiations personally. If you are insulted by a company’s initial offer when interviewing and negotiating for your next job, this can start employment off on the wrong foot!  Do you part by consistently vocalizing how excited you are to join the team and company, and how obtaining the desired position remains your number one priority.  Likeability and positivity can help nudge a stuck negotiation along, so keep these in mind so the interview process doesn’t turn adversarial. 

Which Interview Style Will you Encounter?

One aspect of interviewing that is very rarely discussed is what interview style you should prepare for as a candidate- many times this can dictate as much about how the interview will go as any actual skills that you are able to relay.  Will the interview ask you to solve a puzzle? The amount of times it would take you to fill an Olympic sized pool with sand using only a measuring cup?  (Yes these questions have really happened.)  Understanding the interview techniques that firms & companies use should give you better confidence when heading into your next interview, so let’s review a few:

1. Behavioral interviewing is one of the most popular ways of interviewing candidates today.  Rather than focusing on specific skill mastery, in a behavioral interview the goal is to pull out past behaviors as a way to show what kind of future employee you could be at the firm.  Examples of this type of questions will be along the lines of: “Tell me about a time when you…”  This could be “tell me about a time when you overcame a bad boss” or “tell me about a time when you exceeded expectations” or other such questions.  How to tackle these questions: Practice and prepare to give the S.T.A.R or P.A.R answer to these questions in order to give a strong, well rounded answer to any behavioral question posted.  To use this method, be prepared to answer giving examples within STAR.  S.T.A.R refers to Situation or Task, Action, and Result (substitute ‘Problem’ for ‘Situation or Task’ in the PAR.)  
2. Group interviewing is another interview technique in which candidates are interviewed in a group setting.  Imagine sitting alongside others vying for the same job and being in the room together.  Companies use this to see how a candidate might be able to best sell themselves in a somewhat competitive situation.  In actuality many companies also use it as a time saver in order to explain a position to several candidates at once, in order to save time and efficiencies. How to tackle these questions: Knowing it is a group interview beforehand will allow you to mentally prepare to be sitting next to fellow applicants.  Be professional and polite to the other applicants, as many times this is being judged by the interviewer.  Prepare your research and have well-thought out questions you can pose to the interviewer if time allows, as many times these questions can be the differentiator in an interview.
3. Phone Interviews have become the norm not only in a first interview, but many times companies will barely meet a candidate face to face throughout the interview process.  So much work is done virtually that it’s less important for a company to actually see how someone behaves in their office.  How to tackle this interview: I’ve written an entire article on phone interviews, I think they have become that important.  Chiefly, don’t be put off or surprised by a company that asks for several rounds of phone interviews before asking you to come to their office.  Do your best to know who is on the other end of the phone before each round of interviews, and do your research on them as if it were a face-to-face interview.
4. Sell-you-out of the job interview technique. In this technique, the interview attempts to talk the interviewee out of the job throughout the interview process.  They will downplay the perks of the job and focus on the challenges.  This technique is used to see how resilient a candidate’s interest is in the job even after hearing the worst parts of it.  Many times an interviewer will observe closely a candidate’s posture and demeanor, and see how they react when hearing the negative aspects of the job.  How to tackle this interview style: Be prepared to recognize this interview style early in the interview process, and you will instantly be prepared to handle those negative points.  You won’t get deflated by anything they say because you know that they are testing you, and remain extremely positive no matter how awkward it might seem.
5.  Off-the-wall Interview questions have become well known as of late because they are used frequently by today’s high profile tech companies. Google was rumored to ask such questions as “how much does the Empire State Building weigh?” when interviewing candidates.  Much like the other interview techniques listed in this article, these could be used as a way to fluster an interviewee or see how they react under pressure.  These open ended questions are also looking for a candidate’s reasoning and problem solving skills, even if there isn’t an expectation of the person getting an answer actually correct.  How to tackle these questions: Spend a little time researching and reading about “Fermi Problems” online, or estimation problems & answers. (Wired Magazine in particular has a great in-depth article about these questions and how to answer them.)   If one of these questions is posed to you in an interview, don’t be afraid to ask questions of your own to attempt to make the answer collaborative with the Interviewer, and unearth more information that they might possess about the problem they’ve posed.  Don’t concern yourself with whether you got the answer correct or not, but focus more on the steps you are taking to get there.

The bottom line is that interviewing is an inexact science, and in many cases the best employees don’t necessarily make the best interviewees.  Companies and hiring managers are constantly looking for reliable ways to evaluate potential employees, and thus you might be subjected to one (or a number of) these techniques.  With a little bit of preparation and knowledge of the interview style, you will be better armed to tackle the interview and let your skills and talents shine through!

If you are reading this and have been subjected to one of these interview styles (or others), I’d love to hear your story!  Please feel free to email me at mitch@rrs-la.com