You just got out of the interview. You debrief yourself. You are feeling fairly good about how you answered the questions. You liked it because it didn’t feel like an interview – it was more of a conversation. Good.
Here is what I would like you to focus on and I SO wish we had gotten to talk about this before your interview. What did the interviewer say? NO! – not what do you think they said. What did they ACTUALLY say? What words did they use? The words matters. I see plenty of self-deceit in these moments, we need brutal honesty. Were you listening? Listen.
You feel good about your experience. Why? We need specifics. What specifics did they offer you or was it all general commentary? Anyone can get general commentary. You want specifics.
“I like your background.” “You certainly could do the job.” General. “I like your background in dealing with the implementation of…” – “I am glad to hear you have managed a team through a merger because we are in acquisition mode.” That is better.
We want to sell ourselves in specifics and we want to listen for specifics. If you want specific feedback, you better sell YOUR specifics. Just as facts on a resume serve as “speedbumps” to the reader, facts in the interview illicit more questions. More questions signal more interest. More interest signals more chance of you getting this offer. That is why you are interviewing, right?
This applies whether you are a construction superintendent, a CFO, a whatever. I had a construction superintendent tell me yesterday that his projects “were on time and under budget.” I was thinking, “that is what they all say.” I asked him, “Can you elaborate?” He then says, “My last project we finished in 11 months as opposed to the scheduled 13 and we made 14% intstead of 7%.” He goes on with this nugget, “I also ran 300 guys on that $40 million job with no lost work time due to accidents or safety issues.” I would say that sets him apart – specifically.
Specifics Sell. Are you just a construction superintendent or are you a construction superintendent ready to sell what you can do for the company?
Tags: Andy Gregory, interviewing
Excellent point and solid advice!