Article Title: Interview like a Rock Star
Author Byline: Phil Rosenebrg, President reCareered
Author Website: http://linkedIN.com/in/philrosenberg

Nope, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke.

You just had a Rock Star interview….you walked out of the office and knew the job was yours for the taking. The company is dying for you, and even you choose that this job isn’t the right move for you – at least the ego boost feels great.

There are two secrets to a Rock Star interview: Preparation and Execution.

Preparation:
Research - Rock Star preparation starts before you even write your resume. Research the company and industry, using SEC reports (if public), Company Website, press releases & Articles, Hoovers, Yahoo Finance, Google searches, social network contacts, and blogs. Find out everything you can about industry trends, how the company is reacting to them, or planning for them. Find out the company’s goals and challenges.

Peel - After you’ve done your research, start to peel the onion a little. Ask yourself what challenges the company is likely to face along the way. How will the company’s changes also change the area you are interviewing for. What problems are likely to arise that your Subject Matter Expertise can uniquely solve.

Solve Problems - Now you’re set to write a Rock Star resume – one that presents a solution to problems your target company faces. Throw out the old biographical resume. Instead, craft a resume that anticipates your target company’s problems, and demonstrates what you’ve already done to solve the exact or similar problems in your past experience.

Bait - To make a truly Rock Star resume, you’ll want to list a few points that cause the reader to ask more questions….questions that you’re dying to answer. Bait your resume with a few partial statements, and leave your audience curious to learn more, helping you to control the interview by what you’ve left out of your resume.

Prepare questions - Lots of them. Forget the questions about work environment career advancement and benefits – you’ll have plenty of time to ask these later. Ask questions to draw out problems and implications – of problems you can uniquely solve. Ask questions you already know the answer to, to see how the prospective employer answers, and how impressed they are that you had the insight to ask.

Anticipate - What questions will the interviewer ask you? Practice answering questions in a positive manner, while still telling the truth.

Execution:
For management/professional roles - Go in with the attitude that you are interviewing the company…not the other way around.

Dress the part – see my earlier post What to Wear? Acing the Interview – Part 1

Open - Stand tall, maintain eye contact, smile, and use a firm handshake – just like Dad taught you.

Initial impressions count - Remember that people form an initial impression of you in the first 30 seconds. That’s before the interview even begins. Start it out with a little small talk or a quick joke – getting your audience to laugh goes a long way to pass the “likability test”.

Control the interview - For more on controlling the interview see my post on How to Take Control of the Interview.

Eye contact - Maintain eye contact while talking, but don’t stare the interviewer down, either.

Questions - You control the interview and demonstrate both Subject Matter Expertise and leadership by asking questions. For more on questions to ask, see my earlier post Do you have any Questions?. Ask the same questions to different people in your interviews and see if they answer differently.

Turn negatives to positives - Why say you left because your boss was an insufferable jerk, when you can say that you didn’t agree with management’s direction? Wouldn’t you look wiser by anticipating the poor strategy of your company, than looking like you were a difficult employee for your boss? Don’t lie in your interview – it’s not necessary, and there’s a high likelihood you’ll get caught.

Close – Closing techniques will take a number of future posts to cover. In general, close by gaining some sort of feedback, and time/action commitment to next steps. If your interviewer is asking you what other companies you are interviewing with, you’re a finalist (not applicable for recruiters – headhunters ask this question to everyone). If your interviewer is asking you when you’ll be making your decision…you’re the Rock Star.

Re-Close - Send a Thank You note. For Thank You note strategies, see my earlier post Thank You! Make an Impact in 5 minutes.

Now that you’ve been through Rock Star School….what are you going to change in your next performance?

If you’d like to discuss how you can turn ordinary interviews into a Rock Star interview, a free 30 minute resume consultation, or some advice about your career transition, just email your resume to reCareered at phil.rainmakers@gmail.com, and we’ll schedule a time to talk.

http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/04/nope-this-isnt-april-fools-joke.html

Phil Rosenberg
President, reCareered & Rainmakers Global
Email: phil.rainmakers@gmail.com
Web: http://reCareered.com
Blog: http://reCareered.blogspot.com
LinkedIN: http://linkedin.com/in/philrosenberg
Facebook: http://profile.to/philrosenberg/

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

You know you need to appear confident when you go to a job interview.  No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing or appears hesitant about their own ability to do the job. 

Interviewing on video brings another level of anxiety to this process, because you’re not speaking to a person, you’re speaking to a camera.  (Although that could work in your favor–you don’t have to worry about establishing rapport with a camera.  You just have to remember to look at it.  And smile.) 

The good news is, tips on how to build up your confidence for an interview also apply to your situation in a video interview.  For instance, you can practice your presentation skills and approach.  Research the company before the interview and practice answers to common questions (from 20 Interview Tips).  One tip from Calming Your Interview Jitters suggests you should pretend you are talking to a relative, which is pretty easy to do with a webcam. 

Just be careful that your confidence doesn’t veer into know-it-all, overconfident behavior.  The kind where you don’t acknowledge any problems you’ve ever had (which leaves you unable to convey your ability to overcome them) or where you don’t give any credit to co-workers or managers who have helped you.  That kind of attitude can turn off a hiring manager, no matter how much experience you have.  It can be a fine line, according to Heather Hamilton from Microsoft.   

Interview On Demand provides tutorials that walk you through the interview process, complete with more tips on interviewing, and practice questions so that you can see how you’re coming across before it counts for real.  And remember, the company is already interested in you, which is why they contacted you for the video interview.  That should make it easier to maintain your confidence.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

OK, I have to confess:  I’m so spoiled, I don’t think I could live without my TiVo.  I think the DVR is the greatest technological convenience ever.  (Besides my cell phone, of course.)  I am no longer a slave to the schedule of TV programmers who don’t take into account how busy I am.  I no longer have to patiently wait and suffer through commercials I can’t stand.  TiVo has changed my life.  (Yes, I know that seems pathetically shallow to some of you, but that’s only because you don’t have one yet.)  At the touch of a button, I can watch what I want, when I want.  It saves me time because I can skip commercials.  And if I need to see something again, I hit Replay.  It’s EASY. 

TiVo is revolutionizing media in America–from what we expect as consumers, to marketing practices, to advertising, to what we can imagine might come next. 

I am here today to tell you (and you knew this was coming, right?)  that Interview On Demand is TiVo for job  interviews. 

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand is convenient.  Interview On Demand makes it easy to arrange interviews to fit your schedule.  Watch the interview when it’s best for you.  With no hassles involving traffic, airlines, or hotels.

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand saves you time.  Interview On Demand gets you the answers you need in the fastest amount of time possible.  Video interviews consistently take less time than in-person interviews.  You can skip over interviews that you can tell won’t be a good fit. 

Like TiVo, Interview On Demand is easy to use.  Interview On Demand is intuitively easy to navigate.  Once you’ve contacted Interview On Demand, we can walk you through setting up interview questions.  We contact your candidates by e-mail and offer them tutorials on how to video interview.  Once the interviews are done, we store them online for you (or any member of your hiring team) to access anytime.  And you can hit Replay if you want to see them again.

Interview On Demand is revolutionizing the hiring process just like TiVo has revolutionized TV watching. 

Join the revolution.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Tips for successfully answering interview questions can apply to video interview questions, as well.  Here are two great articles offering job interview tips that illustrate this:

From Seven Crucial Interview Tips:  

1.   Use the power of “I” in your statements and avoid generalizations to keep the focus on you.

2.  Keep your language clear and direct, rather than using buzzwords to impress.

3.  Keep your answers short and sweet, giving enough information to answer the question, but not going on and on and on.  (Interview On Demand’s video interviewing system automatically limits candidate answers to 2 minutes.  It keeps you from going on longer than you should, but you should remember to practice answers to common questions to be sure you can answer well within the 2-minute limit.)

From What Not to Say in a Job Interview:

1.  The answer to “Why are you looking for a new job?” should hover somewhere near, “I’ve learned a lot from my job, but I’m ready for new challenges.”  And then you could point out something positive about the company you’re interviewing with.

2.  To answer “What are your strengths?”  point out some positives and how they’ve helped you in your job, and how they relate to the job you’re looking for.

3.  To answer “What are your weaknesses?”, don’t point out a fake one (as in “I just work too darn hard”).  Pick out a real (but minor) one, and what you are doing to fix it (reading books, etc.).   

When most people are offered the chance to do a video interview, the great fear is how they’ll come across on camera.  Interview On Demand does offer lots of tips on how to look your best on the video interview and be comfortable.  However, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t matter how comfortable you are on camera if you can’t deliver substantial, quality answers to the questions. 

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Posting your video resume on YouTube is supposed to get you noticed, according to some.  One article on video resumes says that you can search “resume” on YouTube and you’ll get 15,000 results–but that of course, only about seven of them are any good.  In fact, one of the main arguments for video resumes seems to be that “everyone is doing it, so we might as well get used to it.”  That’s not much of an argument. 

In theory, employers like the idea of being able to see someone before they invite them in for an interview.  It gives them more information and saves time.  In practice, it doesn’t work out so well.  Employers are leery of video resumes just like they are of pictures attached to a resume–because it opens up the possibility of being accused of discrimination.  Viewing video resumes is time-consuming, and candidates often don’t edit information like they should–see It’s Time to Hit Pause on Video Resumes.  Video resumes have an excellent chance of ruining a candidate’s chances simply by being done badly.  One article quotes a human resources person saying that “many video resumes come across like auditions for American Idol”–not exactly the professional image most candidates want to project. 

The solution for these issues is, of course, video interviews. 

A system utilizing video interviews allows hiring managers to sift through written resumes first (also a time-consuming process, but considerably faster than viewing video resumes) before inviting candidates to interview through a webcam.  Hiring managers only have to spend time previewing candidates they’re already interested in.  That saves candidates and managers time when it comes to scheduling face-to-face interviews.

Video interviews standardize the process.   Employers know what they’re getting because they asked the questions.  Each candidate receives the same questions and the same time to answer them, (which also means employers will know how much time it will take to review them).  Combining that setup with the fact that the candidates were chosen for interview through a traditional written resume, eliminates any potential charges of discrimination. 

Interview On Demand’s tutorials show candidates how to set up a non-distracting background and how to look their best for interviews, ensuring that they appear as professional and competent as possible.  Candidates are still able to let their personalities shine through, (which is important, and one of the most compelling reasons for using video in the hiring process) but with less chance of looking foolish.  No American Idol wannabe’s here.  Well, maybe, but you won’t know it from their job interview.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Confessions of an Executive Restaurant Recruiter has a post called Top 10 Ways to Blow Getting the Job, and a few of them are extremely applicable to candidates who will be video interviewing:

Inappropriate dress:  showing up for the interview in attire that is not proper for your industry and position.  You must dress as professionally for a video interview as you would if you were going in to meet with the hiring manager in person.  Here are some tips for appropriate interview dress. 

Not showing desire:  not showing the interviewer(s) at every point that you are ready, willing, and able to make a job change and that you want to work for them.   A video interview is the ideal chance to show your enthusiasm and desire for this job–before you even get in the door. 

Lack of knowledge:  not knowing about your business and profession, and not knowing about the company where you are interviewing.  Even though the questions you’ll have to answer are likely to be standard ones, there’s no excuse for not finding out about the company you’re interviewing with and what it is they need.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.  Here’s a link for what your pre-interview research should cover. 

Poor language skills:  inability to communicate effectively, inability to articulate ideas using proper English, using curse words or slang during the interview.  This, possibly more than any other factor, could knock you out of the running in a video interview situation.  If companies are using video interviews, there’s a good chance that they are interested in your presentation skills, as well as how you react under pressure.  Good language skills matter.  Avoid common bad habits.  (A video interview is a simple thing, but the pressure is tremendous once you know the camera is on–believe me.)

Interview On Demand will provide as much information as we can to make the video interview process as easy as it can be for you.  In addition to the tips on our website, here’s a link to techniques for a great interview and here are some previous posts you can go to:

Acing Your Video Interview

Be Confident On Camera

What to do if you get invited, but you don’t have a thing to wear (on camera)?

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

Here’s the story:  you have just received an invitation to complete a video interview through Interview On Demand.  The interview is for a position that you are very interested in getting, and since you got the invitation, you know that the company must have been pretty interested in your resume.  This video is your next best shot at getting through the doors for a face-to-face interview (where, of course, you’ll knock their socks off). 

Chances are, you’ll complete your interview in the privacy of your own home (at the best time for you, thanks to the convenience of video interviewing) through a webcam attached to your computer.  Here’s where you might get tripped up a little.  Not only do you have to be well-dressed and have answers to various questons ready for a smooth delivery, you have to think about your setting—lighting, background, angles.  Not to worry, Interview On Demand is here to help.  There are several video tutorials available at Interview On Demand, such as “Taking the Interview:  Practice and Review“ and “Taking the Interview:  The REAL Interview” that will be full of tips to make your interview as smooth as possible.  (There’s even a system test so that you can feel assured that your system is capable and ready to go.)

For good measure, we would like to direct your attention to Expert Videos, where there are several more videos to help you:  How to Use a WebCam for You Tube discusses general topics to remember, like lighting (use an extra desk lamp if you need more light).  Also, check out How to Use a Camcorder and All About Camera Angles. 

Interview On Demand is very interested in making sure that your interview shows you to your best advantage, so we want you to have all the information you need to make your video interview a success.  Check out our website and our other blog posts for more tips.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

You should always look your best for a job interview, and a video interview is no different. (Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can slack off since it’s not a “real” interview yet. It is. The video interview is what’s going to assist in getting you in the door, but this is your first impression.)

However, in a video interview, much more attention is focused on your face and upper torso (since that’s where the camera is aimed). Everyone should appear well-groomed and tidy, and women’s makeup should be understated (here’s a quick video on applying makeup for the camera). Not too much jewelry…you get the idea. A conservative appearance is always best for first impressions. You can loosen up later. (Depending on your job).

Interview On Demand has lots of tips available, and your practice session will allow you to review what you look like before you commit yourself to the real thing. What you see is what the hiring manager will see, so you should make every effort to appear as professional as possible.

Bottom line–nothing about your appearance should detract from your message: you are THE right person for this job.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

You know you’re supposed to write a thank you note after you’ve been to a job interview.  Ian Christie’s extensive article on the Effectiveness of Interview Follow-Up Letters points out that writing one won’t get you the job by itself, but when it’s added to a great resume, the right qualifications, and a good interview, it could certainly push you over the top.  (Many people think about it, but not everyone actually does–that’s why you should.)  But what about writing a thank you note after a video interview?  You bet.  In this case, it probably doesn’t have to be a handwritten note (although that never hurts), but following the logic that you were contacted by e-mail to take the interview, and then you answered the interview questions online, a quick e-mail “thank you” would be just fine.  And a nice touch.   “Thank you for the opportunity,” “I look forward to speaking with you in person,”  that sort of thing.  Maybe that will be what it takes to prompt the hiring manager to look at your interview again.  And if your nerves got the better of you during the answering, you could take this opportunity to clear up anything that you felt didn’t come across well.  Just don’t make it too long–remember, it’s not another interview. 

For some great tips on what to say and how to structure it, see Heather Hamilton’s article, Post-Interview Thank You Notes. 

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.

The hottest ticket in town is always Oprah’s “Favorite Things” show, when she gives away thousands of dollars of really cool stuff to everyone in the audience.  (I know I want a ticket to that one.)  One of the things she’s highlighted is a webcam from Hue HD (it comes in bright colors, has a bendy neck so you can easily get the best angle and lighting, etc.).  If you aren’t lucky enough to get a free one, though, it’s definitely worth the investment. 

Why buy a webcam? points out that you can use them for talking with friends, sending immediate pictures, or even showing an item for sale.  Children would be more interested in talking to friends and family online if they could see who they were talking to (think of the grandparents). 

Of course, what we’re most interested in is using webcams for job interviews.  Having a webcam allows you to practice your presentation skills on your own before you speak in front of an interviewer.  Record yourself, play it back, and catch every time you say “um” or “like” or display other nervous habits that could ruin your opportunity. 

Don’t forget:  Interview On Demand’s website offers tips for online interviewing, and practice time before each interview so that you look professional, capable, and right for the job.

INTERVIEW on DEMAND - removing the barriers between TOP CANDIDATES and the COMPANIES that seek them.
Hiring managers - make faster, better hires while reducing costs.
Recruiters - make more placements with more companies, faster.