One of the most misunderstood parts of a job seeker’s career search involves meeting with an agency recruiter.  Many times I walk out of a meeting with a candidate and think, “That is a great candidate.”  Your goal as a candidate is to get whoever you meet with to think the same thing.  As a recruiter, my thought process after wrapping up an interview is to think about how I think a candidate is going to represent me, my company, and him/herself.  Why are the first two things me and my company? – Because, I have to protect my reputation and our brand with the hiring managers that we work with on a daily basis.  If they start to think that the candidates that I send are consistently not the right fit then a hiring manager is of course going to look into other avenues to find the candidates that are the right fit. 

As a candidate what you should be thinking of is treating the interview with a recruiter as important as an interview with a potential employer.  Why?  When your recruiter has to put their reputation on the line to speak to your abilities and candidacy – you want your recruiter to be emotionally invested in selling you.  As a flip side to this I recently had an interview with a candidate who told me in no uncertain terms that she wanted to make more of a base salary, work less, and that she didn’t really like to work that hard at all.  The last part she told me twice. And the topper was that her sales accomplishments were less than impressive.  But, I wanted to find her a job and thought there might be a chance with one of our clients.  Until, I got one question. 

What was the killer question? – The sales manager for our client who I have built a relationship with called me and asked, “Brian, would you hire this candidate for your team?”  I hemmed and hawed to come out with some type of explanation as to why I felt she could succeed.  My lack of positive feedback spoke more volumes than anything and in the end, ruined any chance of setting up an interview.  I am sure some of you reading this will think, “Why didn’t you just lie?”  The answer is based on my interview with the candidate I had no confidence that she would not walk into an interview and tell a manager that she didn’t like to work that hard.  Also, there are times when you need to put your neck on the line for your candidates and you can’t burn your reputation as a recruiter for someone who didn’t want to impress you. 

On the positive side I have a candidate who was referred to me.  The candidate was aggressive about getting me on the phone and then when he came in to meet with me he was all positive energy, engaged, and looked the part of a salesperson.  He was successful in sales and was asked in his previous company to move into a non-sales role.  When his company downsized him the challenge was getting back into a sales role.  But, because of his presentation I was willing to put my neck out with my clients as I knew that if he had the chance to meet with a sales manager they would be impressed.  He started last week in his new sales role.  Morale of the story; do your best to impress your recruiter and we will work hard to have doors opened for you.

Social networking is nothing new – we learned how to do it in grade school. Remember when you made friends with that kid because he always brought PB&J sandwiches and you wanted an ‘in’ to trade with him…that was social networking. When we first became professionals we often attempted to expand our resources and network by attending events. We walk around a hotel lobbies with cocktails in hand and introduce ourselves to everybody. Personally speaking, I find that networking events are not very effective for my business. I typically meet a lot of good people but there is nothing that comes from our encounters besides an exchange of business cards and courteous emails. If you want to find something to do with those business cards – go to www.jigsaw.com Over the past few years social networking websites have swapped our drink tickets and awkward conversations with effective introductions and value added propositions with a few clicks of the mouse. Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and a myriad of other sites have proven very useful and effective for professionals trying to broaden their exposure. There are so many functions to utilizing Social Networking sites – with a few strikes to your keyboard, you can broadcast an update about what you are currently doing at work, share a best practice, promote a great blog that you just read (ahem), or even join a group that will expose you to people who otherwise you would never share a room with. The possibilities go on and on. I currently network with people halfway across the world and we are adding value to each other’s businesses. I would never have met these people otherwise. My point in bringing all of this up is to ask you, my network, – what do you find is the most effective way to network on these sites? What is a success story that you can share about a social networking site? Were you able to expand your business through a partnership initiated on-line? Did you find a new client across the country that you otherwise would never know? You may be doing something that someone else never thought of – sharing a best practice will lead to a growing network. Which is the name of the game, after all!

1.  The Negative Sell:

1.  
   • “You are probably overqualified for this position”
   • “This position, is almost 100% New Business Development, all you will do all day is make cold calls.”
   • “There are other positions open in Marketing or Account Management that you might be more interested in, would you like me to get you in touch with those hiring managers?”

One of the most common traps is the “Negative Sell.”  The negative sell can come in many different forms, but most commonly hiring managers will bait you with other positions internally that may or may not be open to try to get to the bottom of your primal interest.  You may be telling the interviewer that you are willing to hunt for new business but would much rather work as an Account Manager?  Are you unemployed and getting desperate, thus willing to take a role that you are overqualified for?  Are you an experienced Sales Person, tiring of the rat race, and thus looking for ways to get out of sales all together, (i.e: a Product Marketing, training, or something else).  Or are you an entry level sales person that ended up in sales purely out of default, still under the assumption that marketing, advertising or PR, would be the “sexier” career choice? 

In the market that we are currently in, where interviews are hard to come by, the key to overcoming this trap and ensure a positive interview you must have the following:  Tact and Focus.   

Be tactful and show focus to the job you are interviewing for:

(Example Reponses)

 “Everything I’ve learned about your organization leads me to believe this is certainly a company I want to be a part of.  I am here today to focus on learning more about the Account Executive Role.  I feel strongly, that based on my experience I could be both happy as well as highly successful in the role.  Do you have any questions or concerns that would lead you to believe I was not a good fit for this role, and is that the reason you are suggesting other avenues to take?”

There certainly are instances when you go into a company, interviewing for one role, and ultimately end up getting an offer for a different role.  The above response would allow for that while not disqualifying you for the role in which you initially applied. 

2.  The Bad Cop

Another very common trap in sales interviews is what we like to call Bad Cop.  You have had one or two interviews and great rapport with all the people you’ve met with until…..THE BAD COP.  Right off the bat, this interviewer is confrontational.  You show up on time, and they say you are late.  You answer their question and they always have a rebuttal.  No matter what you say, you just don’t seem to say the right things.  They object to everything you say, and purposely don’t answer your questions…they may even get up and leave the room while you are mid-sentence.  At the end of the interview, they may flat out tell you that you are not a fit. 

If this hasn’t happened to you yet, then consider yourself lucky.  This tactic is used by hiring managers and many times by outsourced consulting firms who are hired by the hiring company to simulate a challenging prospect you may encounter while in an actual sale.  This can commonly look like a terrible interview but it is in fact a trap the interviewer is trying to get you to fall into.

The key to this is to anticipate what might be coming and remember it is not a personal attack, this is an interview trap.  Just like in sales, you have your awesome prospects, and those that…well… are not so awesome.  Great Sales People find a way to win over any audience.  So keep your cool and remember their challenging personality could simply be a trap to gauge how you would handle yourself.  Take your time overcoming their objections in a non-defensive way.  Ignore their blatant disrespect by spinning conversation back to positive aspects of your background whenever possible.  Of course, no one wants to work for a jerk, however, get through the interview by treating it like a sales call, don’t let your feathers get ruffled and then later in the process probe and qualify who this person is and in what capacity would you work together. 

3.  The Comfort Zone:

Oh, the comfort zone…how easy it is to sink right into the casual conversations about your weekend activities, how much you hated your last boss, or the fact that you are really looking for a sales role that pays the most money but requires the least amount of work.   The Comfort Zone might as well be a hole full of quick sand because when you fall into The Comfort Zone there is no talking yourself back out.  You’re done.

At first read, you may say, “I know better than to do this,” however it is easier trap to fall into than you may think.  The more experienced your interviewer, the more artful they are in creating, “The Comfort Zone”.   Even with all of today’s technology, sales is still about people and ultimately, people buy from people they like and trust…they also hire people they like and trust.  Thus, within that conquest to relate to the hiring manager, to get him/her to like you, it is one’s natural inclination to walk down the same conversation paths as the hiring manager. 

The key to this isn’t unlike any of my other advice….it is all about preparation.   Be cognoscente that these traps exist, so you are on your toes, looking out for them and tactfully sidestepping them.   Definitely relate to your interviewer, but avoid all potential topics of controversy or inappropriate nature.  You can have a very dynamic conversation, full of positive affirmations, head nods, laugher and eye contact without saying anything damaging!!!! 

After all, “failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”  Think of a mouse trap….it only works if it catches the mouse off guard.  Once the mouse knows that it is there, the mouse can easily take a different path to bypass the trap.  Some mice even get skilled enough to take the cheese out of the trap without it closing on them.  These Mice go happily on their way with a belly full of cheese.  So, next time you’re gearing up for your next interview, put some time into anticipating these common traps and others. 

Interviewing is a skill.  With a little preparation, you will soon find yourself facing interview traps with confidence and leaving interviews not overcome, but leaving with offers!!

NOPE! 

Any company that orchestrates a job fair will tell you that Job Fairs are a very effective resource to finding a job. 

I, on the other hand, will tell you they’re a waste of time. 

Job Fairs are built for companies, not job seekers.  Job Fairs are based on an advertising business model, which is precisely how the organizers make their money.  The model is not about getting people jobs; it is about creating enough hype and promoting traffic in order to entice potential clients to purchase space.  Simply put:  Job Fair companies sell advertising.  That advertising comes in the form of booth rentals, company sponsorships and print advertising.  The larger the space, the larger the revenue.  The larger the ad in the Job Fair directory the larger the cost.  Due to contrary belief, the goal of a Job Fair company is not to get people jobs, but instead to drive enough traffic to sell ad space.  

The advantage for companies is that it is an inexpensive way to promote and build brand awareness around your firm especially if you are always hiring due to attrition.   So for those companies that have a lower need for talent, this type of model gets them in front of many people.  These companies typically have a high turnover rate and need to constantly keep the funnel full of applicants.  For them the business model is bodies in seats.  After 30 days, if they retain 2 people out of 50, they consider themselves successful.  The point being, the next time you are at a job fair, look around the room and see what kind of companies are there.  You will typically find well branded companies with jobs that are not very appealing.  Because of the low cost of entry for these firms, there is limited risk and little importance placed on the actual candidates that visit the booths.  It is more about driving a consistent message to the public and yelling from the roof tops that a company is hiring.  Companies do not attend to find a specific skill set, instead they are there to speak with the masses.  

In conclusion, Job Fairs are about volume.  As a result, I cannot say there is any advantage for job seekers.  I would love to tell you that Job Fairs are a great resource to getting a new job, but it is simply not true.  Most of the opportunities are high turnover or  entry level where past experience is not necessary.  If you are just starting out in your career and have no idea what you want to do and have time to experiment, then by all means give it a shot and at least gain some experience of what Job Fairs are like.  Otherwise, if you are successful in your career, use your network, search firms, Linkedin, Facebook and other social media to spread the word and target real people at real companies with a real need.  The time you spend at a Job Fair could be spent digging up qualified leads to truly help you advance your career.  The goal is to find a career, not just a job.    

Now that you know the model behind Job Fairs you can decide for yourself if they are worth while.  If you get lured into a Job Fair make sure you are not wasting time and if you find that you are, just leave.