“Great hiring isn’t an instant process, and many companies would benefit from developing more-structured internship programs, in which success and proof of a good fit are measured over time,” says Mary Ellen Slayter in her recent article entitled Bring Strategic Rigor to Your Internship Program.

In the current economy, companies can afford to take more time with, and put more effort into, the hiring process. In fact, smart companies should be doing exactly that. When the labor market is slow, more talent is available and companies should tighten up hiring procedures, improve job descriptions, and focus on hiring quality people instead of hiring a resume. Internships are a great way to take a look at job candidates and determine – in real time – if they have the skills and attitude to flourish in the company.

Over the last several posts, I have tried to make it clear that finding a good job is about much more than polishing up your resume and checking out a few websites. Candidates have to work diligently at improving their value to employers. They have to find ways to increase the ways in which they can contribute to the success of an organization. In a nutshell, you simply cannot rest on your laurels; you have to be improving, growing, and constantly learning.

Need more proof? Read this excerpt from Slayter’s article:

Scare B-list candidates away upfront. General, fluffy job listings create more work for your HR team in the long run than a sharply focused one would. First, too many random candidates respond. Second, HR must then sift through a mountain of lackluster or insincere applicants. Third, these are short-term applicants that need any job they can get, as opposed to A-list candidates interested in a long-term career path with you. There’s a much better way: Sit down with key managers to carefully draft the most challenging, rigorous, mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive job description write-ups as possible –– with zero fluff. Include a roster of advanced role requirements and high cover letter expectations that invite only the keenest and most accomplished to apply. In short, scare the heck out of flaky applicants. Shotgun-blast resume slingers and well-dressed slackers won’t bother applying.

At first glance, this might be pretty intimidating. As you look at your situation and your resume, you might worry that you have little chance to secure that “perfect job.” My suggestion is to change your perspective: to move out of the realm of “resume slinger” or “well-dressed slacker,” you have to make every single job interview a learning experience. Failure to get an offer is not FAILURE – it’s an opportunity to learn where you need to improve. If you don’t get the job, you need to get as much information as you can that will help you in the next opportunity.

Always thank your interviewer and ask if you might ask a couple of questions regarding your interview. Most HR professionals will give you the opportunity, so make the best of it:

“I want to learn from this experience, so…”

“If you were in my shoes, what one thing would you work on to improve my ability to get hired?”

“What is the weakest part of my resume?”

“As an HR professional, what advice would you give me regarding my interview with you?”

At the same time, if you are serious about working for a particular company, you should consider an internship. They may or may not pay, but you could gain valuable experience inside an organization and potentially work yourself into a nice opportunity. If you don’t get an offer, and you’re fairly certain you were a final candidate, don’t be afraid to ask your interviewer if an internship is an option.

“What are your strengths?”

How many times have you heard that question in an interview? There are few things that are more predictable in an employment interview than questions about your strengths and weaknesses, so I’m sure you’ve spent considerable time examining your answer to these questions….right?

OK, I know you have, but you would be surprised at how many candidates “wing it” when it comes to answering these (and other) common questions. Think about this for just a minute: if you consistently answer the same questions the same way, and have not yet been hired, should you rethink your answers….? (I’m just sayin’.)

Savvy interviewers ask these questions for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they want to see how you respond. Do you spit out a standard answer that shows little or no thought? Are you confident or shy? Do you stumble over your response? Are you contemplative? Are you genuine or putting on a show? Consider that how you answer is often just as important as what you say.

Second, a good interviewer doesn’t stop with the initial question, but continues to explore your answers with additional questions that probe a little deeper. This allows the interviewer to discover how genuine your answers are, and how you deal with the stress of being pushed a bit. If you chose to regurgitate one of the canned responses available in those interview self-help books, the follow-up questions could pose a bit of a problem.

The best way to deal with the standard “What are your strengths?” question is to find out the true answer. My suggestion is to get a DiSC® profile (available online for $25 to $30) and read carefully through the analysis of your behavioral style. This assessment will provide a number of clues to the work environment you prefer, and will highlight your potential strengths and weaknesses. This exercise will allow you to answer the question and provide objective confirmation.

A second online test that I highly recommend you complete is the Clifton StrengthsFinder®. You can buy the book and take the online assessment for about $14. This assessment will provide tremendous insight into your workplace strengths and give you additional ideas about what occupations or positions will best capitalize on those strengths. This information will not only provide excellent material for answering the “strengths” question, but it will also help you understand exactly what jobs fit you best.

Avoid the trap of preparing for interviews by studying the “pat” answers to interview questions. Instead, spend that time learning about yourself and improving the skills you need to get the job you’re looking for.

The “Johari window” (pronounced Joe-HAWR-ee) is a psychological model that was created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in the 1950s to help people better understand their interpersonal relationships. It’s a pretty simple model, but profound in helping individuals understand how they are perceived by others – and how that perception varies from one’s own perception.

The quadrants (see graphic) are as follows:

• What is known by self and known by others (public arena)
• What is known by self but unknown by others (private arena)
• What is known by others but unknown by self (blind spot)
• What is unknown by self and unknown by others (unknown arena)

The two key quadrants for any individual are the two that are “unknown by self.” These quadrants would illustrate what  someone means when they say, “I don’t know what I don’t know.” If other people know it or observe it, however, this is described as your blind spot – what other people see in you that you don’t see in yourself.

As you mature, one of your objectives is to make your blind spot as small as possible. In other words, you want to have a high degree of self-awareness. At some point in time, you have probably heard someone described as having no “social awareness,” meaning they say or do things in public that are out of place. Typically, they have little awareness of the issue.

How does this apply in your job search? Simple. The smaller your blind spot – in other words, the higher your self-awareness – the more mature you will be perceived, and the more accurate you will be in representing yourself. The problem with many interview questions is that you cannot answer them from an outsider’s viewpoint – you can only answer them as you have awareness of the topic. For example, an interviewer may ask, “What is your biggest weakness?” Really?? Like I would know? My biggest weakness is probably the one I am not aware of!

My suggestion is to talk to three or four people you can trust and have a discussion about your “blind spot.” Start this way: Use the table of words below and have them pick out six or seven words that best describe you, while you independently pick out the six or seven words you think best describe you. Then compare.

• The words you both pick are in your public arena.
• The words you pick and the other person doesn’t are in your private domain.
• The words the other person picks and you don’t occupy your blind spot.

Don’t rush to defend yourself or explain the other person’s observations. Instead, ask for details; ask how you might improve. Then use that knowledge to make yourself a better candidate.

Johari Window Word Choices

Hey, want to see how marketable you are? Here’s an exercise for you: create a PowerPoint presentation that is designed to market…YOU! Yes, that’s right – create a marketing presentation for yourself. No, I’m not suggesting that you use it in a job interview, but consider this exercise as a way to think carefully about what you bring to the table for an employer.

A couple of words of caution before we discuss some ideas for your presentation: First, if you don’t know how to use PowerPoint, here is a good time to figure it out. Get a PowerPoint for Morons book, or some such thing, and start learning. However, do your homework on the Internet and learn some basics about good presentations (check out this blog post, for example). Second, many job positions require some aptitude with PowerPoint, so this may actually be good practice because most people don’t have a clue about how to create an effective slide presentation (haven’t you seen some really awful presentations in the workplace?). Do some research and learn how to avoid disastrous presentations (here is another great blog post to read). Google “bad PowerPoint presentations” and you will get a bazillion hits; go ahead and read one or two.

OK, let’s get started.

1). Write down your personal workplace strengths. Get out of “interview” mode and be real for a second. What skills and talents do you have? Are you dependable? A good listener? Are you Rain Man on Microsoft Word or Excel? Can you write coherent business correspondence? (If so, there are about 40 of you left in the universe.)

Think it through…why should an employer hire you? What makes you special? Now, put together a half dozen slides – one for each strength. Find a graphic for each slide. Prioritize the slides and build a case for yourself.

2). Next, write down your personal weaknesses. Same process as before – get real and be specific. Are you horrible with details? Do your follow-up skills leave something to be desired? Do you have the people skills of a pit bull?

The more you know about yourself, the smaller your blind spot in an interview. Interviews are not about clever answers to tricky questions; they are about positioning yourself effectively to minimize your weaknesses and maximize your strengths. If you can be honest with yourself and identify a key weakness that is keeping you out of the best jobs, you can create a plan to improve that weakness or manage it effectively. Do that now – create two or three slides that identify your weaknesses, one per slide. Find a graphic that fits. Then, create a solution for each weakness and use a slide to communicate it.

3) Finally, answer these questions: What do you want to do most? What is your vision for your career? What is it that you do in the workplace that gives you great energy and satisfaction? Now, create two to four slides that communicate your passion.

The point here is that, until you know what you want to do, you won’t look for the ideal job for you – and you won’t remove every possible barrier in order to get that position.

When you are all finished, show it to two or three people who care about you and are willing to offer some constructive feedback – about the presentation itself, your thoughts about your personal strengths and weaknesses, and how you are positioning  yourself in the workplace.

Take notes, make changes. Get serious about your personal marketing.

The benefits of failure??

Sure. In fact, my question is why would you look at failure in any way other than from the positive side? The alternative is to wallow in self-pity. Blame the economy. Descend into depression. Sit on the couch, watch bad reality TV shows, and put on forty pounds.

The truth is failure is a necessary part of life. Failure can be a tremendous teacher. It is, as they say, all in the way you look at it. Failure can be viewed as a commentary on your personal value, or it can become a building block in your character. Failure can be viewed as a reason why you don’t deserve to succeed, or it can become a stepping stone in your path to success. Failure can cause you to give up, or it can be an indicator of what didn’t work this time.

This short video is a classic – an accounting of several famous people who overcame potentially crippling setbacks:

“If you’ve never failed, you’ve never lived.” As an active job searcher, you need to understand that savvy employers look for failure in your background. They don’t ask those classic interview questions, “What was your biggest failure?” or “What is your biggest weakness?” just so you can spout some glib, prepackaged, seminar-influenced answer. They ask because they are often looking for employees with courage and initiative, and they realize that those people fail. The question is not whether or not you have failed, the question is how do you deal with it and did you learn anything valuable?

If you have interviewed twenty times and still don’t have a job offer, don’t blame anyone. Companies are not looking for employees who point fingers; they are looking for employees who solve problems. Sit down and figure out where you need to improve. Get professional help (you can find a career coach here at 360jobinterview.com). Make changes.

The main thing is to get moving. The late, great Chicago Bear’s running back, Walter Payton, rushed for over nine miles of yardage in his NFL career. When he retired, he was the game’s career rushing leader, having carried the ball 3,838 times and averaged 4.6 yards every time his number was called. This may sound simplistic, but it is nonetheless true – Payton was knocked down 3,838 times, usually by more than one 300-pound behemoth, meaning that he also got back up 3,838 times. In fact, it is fair to say that Walter Payton is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame today, not because he carried the ball 3,838 times, but because he got back up 3,838 times.

Choose to see failure or adversity as a teacher, not as an event. Get back up, and get back in the game.

So you were let go from a job you gave years of your life to and more energy than you’d like to admit due to your company cutting corners and needing to let valuable, hardworking employees go. While you’ve been searching high and low for a job to replace your last, no prospects are turning up and as more and more companies politely tell you that they have no available jobs to offer you, your mood continuously plummets.

While it is not only understandable, but expected to lose your drive and take on a defeated attitude when searching for a job that you believe will never come, it is important to recover from your poor spirits quickly. As cliché as it may sound, you never know when the perfect opportunity is going to come your way, but if you’re not there to take it, it’s going to become someone else’s perfect opportunity and with the way the job market is now, there is hardly time to waste before the opportunity slips from your grasp.

When you conduct your life, especially your job hunt, with a defeated attitude, you will unconsciously go about looking for a job without applying the effort needed to sealing the position. When you go in for an interview with a prospected employer, the moment you begin to think that there is no way you will be hired for the position you’re interviewing for, you will immediately stop trying as hard as you would if you thought there was no way that you could be turned down for the position. Attitude is everything and if you walk into an interview confident and sure of yourself and your ability to perform the job you are applying for, chances are that the person interviewing you for the job will pick up on that self-confidence and will at the very least, ask you back for a second interview and at the most, land you a job that you will excel in.

Preparing for a job interview involves several aspects: Understanding yourself, understanding the company and job, and developing answers to potential questions (including formulating what questions to ask the potential employer). 360 Job Interview can help you prepare for all of these things with 360° Career Coaching. We’ll set you up with a professional who specializes in your industry and will guide you to selling yourself using the strengths you have to offer.

Get to Know Yourself

In this marketplace, it is very important that you are able to articulate on a resume and in an interview what makes you stand out from the pack. For an in depth assessment and professional structuring of your resume, 360 Job Interview can give you the advantage you need to get your skills and experience to really shine.  As an option for self-assessment, I refer you to the book “Career Distinction” by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixon.

You need to be able to communicate to others your past achievements, present strengths, and potential contributions. Laura Allen, in a recent seminar at Pace University, stated that it is important to demonstrate what you do best, rather than branding yourself as a generalist who can do everything well. A great way of starting this process is suggested by Katherine Hansen in her recently published book, “Tell Me About Yourself, Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career.” She suggests that you write up stories about yourself that demonstrate your competencies. It is important that you don’t sound like a talking and walking  job description.

Another important activity is to make a list of your accomplishments. For each accomplishment list what skills that were necessary to achieve that result. Make sure that the accomplishments are discussed in terms of quantifiable and observable results if possible. At the end of this process you will have a list of key competencies and specific examples that demonstrate them.

Every job that requires a college degree requires at least three areas of competence in addition to technical skills. They are analytical skills, interpersonal skills, and administrative or organizational skills. Make sure that you have at least two examples of each before the interview. If you don’t prepare these adequately before the interview, it will put much more pressure on you. Don’t waste your energy on trying to come up with good answers during the interview, prepare. 360° Interview Coaching can provide you with the skills to blow your interviewer away.

The next post in this series will focus on how to obtain and utilize knowledge of the company to get you ready for the interview.

(above image source)