Facing a Job Interview?

5 Prep Tips for Acing It! Part 2

So, you’re facing a job interview!  Need advice about how to prepare for it? Well, there’s no shortage of advice available to you on the internet. A Google search for “how to prepare for a job interview” yields more than 200,000 hits. And some of those hits will tell you that their advice is “best” or “the ultimate”.

Here in “Prep Tips for Acing It!” we divide the preparation into two parts:

Part 1: RESEARCH … see last month’s blog post for Part 1 or the SlideShare version below…

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/facing-a-job-interview-5-prep-tips-for-acing-it-part-2/178766618

Part 2: the THINKING that builds on the research you do

Here in Part 2 are 5 tips for the THINKING phase of your preparation:

Think about how you FIT with BOTH the job AND company…

Now that you’ve researched the company as described in our Part 1, it’s time to put your research findings to use in thinking about HOW YOU FIT WITH THE JOB AND WITH THE COMPANY. Your interviewers are going to look for what interests you about the company, why you want to make a change, and why you think you’d be a good fit for the job and with their company. THINK about your answers to these question areas.

Think about your past PROFESSIONAL accomplishments…

Your interviewers will also be looking NOT ONLY for what you’ve done in previous jobs BUT ALSO how you’ve done it. Did you show initiative, resourcefulness, persistence, special skills, great teamwork? Are you a consistent achiever, or a “sometimes” achiever? What do you do when faced with obstacles or setbacks? Plan to provide specific examples (more than one, for sure!) to respond to questions related to your professional accomplishments.

Think about your past PERSONAL accomplishments…

Interviewers also want to get to know what YOU are like as a person and how your personal characteristics lead to success on the job. Again, plan to provide specific examples to respond to questions related to your personal accomplishments.

Think about how you MAKE DECISIONS on the job – including this decision to change companies!

Think through RATIONALLY, not EMOTIONALLY, why you are considering making a change. Interviewers want to learn how you make decisions – BIG decisions, such as leaving your current job and moving to another one.

Think about what UNIQUE and valuable contributions you could make in your new job and company...

Develop AT LEAST one compelling reason why YOU could be UNIQUELY helpful to your new company in the job you’re seeking and be prepared to talk about it enthusiastically! If you aren’t asked a question directly about this by your primary interviewer, plan to use this compelling reason as your SALES PITCH at the conclusion of your on-site interview AND in your follow-up THANK YOU letter to your interview contacts at the company.

So when you’re FACING a job interview, remember:

RESEARCHING it + THINKING about it = ACING it!

Facing a Job Interview?

5 Prep Tips for Acing It! Part 1

So, you’re facing a job interview!  Need advice about how to prepare for it? Well, there’s no shortage of advice available to you on the internet. A Google search for “how to prepare for a job interview” yields more than 200,000 hits. And some of those hits will tell you that their advice is “best” or “the ultimate”.

Here in “Prep Tips for Acing It!” we divide the preparation into two parts:

Part 1: RESEARCH

Part 2: the THINKING that builds on the research you do

Here in Part I are 5 tips for the research phase of your preparation:

Research the COMPANY you’ll be interviewing with…

There are more online resources than ever to help you with company research. Some questions to direct your research: What businesses are they in? What geographies are they in? Who are their customers? How are their products or services used? Are they getting into any new areas? Are they moving away from old areas? Are they public or private?

Research the JOB you’ll be interviewing for…

Read the job description carefully. What is specifically included in the description and what appears to be left out? What can you infer from the job description about the “soft skills” the ideal candidate should have, e.g., time management, decision-making, and team member skills?

Research the PEOPLE who work at that company…

Who in your network has worked for, still works for that company? Use your college alumni directory, LinkedIn, and other social media groups to identify personal or professional acquaintances who can provide some insight into the job candidates that would be attractive to the company and why.

Research the CULTURE of that company…

The contacts you find during your research in step #3 above can also provide information and insight regarding company culture, too, especially the “unwritten rules” that typically govern day-to-day work life.

Research how the company is doing FINANCIALLY…

If the company is publicly held, then numerous online sources of financial performance information are available, e.g., Yahoo Finance.  For both publicly traded and privately held companies, check the company website for downloadable management and financial reports. Consider setting up Google Alerts using the company name as the alert term, so that you’ll automatically receive notice as soon as any information about the company has been posted anywhere on the internet. And the contacts you talk to in step #4 above may also be able to provide information regarding the company’s current and even near-term future financial performance.

The research you do in Part I of your preparation will eliminate much of the uncertainty regarding your prospective new employer and prospective new job. The research findings will serve as the raw material for the “thinking” part of your preparation, which we’ll cover in Part 2. Stay tuned!

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The Moving Ahead Program of St. Francis House, Boston

Several years ago, I had the privilege of being invited to a special graduation celebration for a half-dozen adults who had successfully completed the Moving Ahead Program offered by the St. Francis House in Boston, Massachusetts.

“MAP”, as it’s known, is a 14-week job- and life-skills training program for individuals who have experienced serious disruption in their personal life: homelessness, addiction, mental illness, incarceration.

MAP offers essential tools, training, and support to those who are accepted into the program:

  • Transitional housing
  • One-on-one job coaching support
  • Internship opportunities
  • Weekly stipend and public transportation pass
  • Clothing and image consultation program
  • Individualized counseling, referrals, and legal support
  • Lifetime access to St. Francis House services through its Alumni Program

MAP “Life Skills” instructors teach:

  • Resume writing
  • Online job searching, filing applications electronically
  • Preparing for interviews
  • Setting goals
  • Developing positive interpersonal relationships
  • Dealing with trauma and negative emotions

The MAP program works!

  • A total of 97 students were served in 2018, with a graduation rate of 70%
  • 82% of graduates were employed at time of graduation
  • Average hourly wage of employed graduates was 42% more than the Massachusetts minimum wage

The MAP program has been recognized!

  • Selected by HUD to serve as a “best practices” model for other HUD-funded programs considering replicating MAP
  • MAP-Topeka (Kansas) and MAP-St. Louis (Missouri) both launched

But for me, the MAP success I’ll never forget was what I experienced at the graduation ceremony:

  • the JOY and GRATITUDE of the graduates!

For more on the Moving Ahead Program at St. Francis House, Boston, see https://stfrancishouse.org/programs/moving-ahead-program/

“Flipping the Script” on Homelessness & Unemployment

Ever lost a job? Suffered domestic violence? Had an expensive medical emergency? Survived a natural disaster?

If you did, you may have suffered “situational homelessness”…that is, you may have been forced to live without housing for a while.

Of the estimated 3 million Americans who are homeless, more than 70% are in situational homelessness.

To make matters worse, situational homelessness often leads to job loss. The combination of homelessness and unemployment makes it that much more difficult to get back on your feet.

In the Washington, DC area, that’s where Shelters to Shutters makes matters better.  Shelters to Shutters (www.shelterstoshutters.org):

  • Provides housing and employment for “ready to work” individuals.
  • Works to “flip the script” – to transition “individuals and families out of homelessness to economic self-sufficiency by educating and engaging the real estate industry to provide employment and housing opportunities.”

Launched in Vienna, Virginia, Shelters to Shutters has expanded its operation to a dozen other cities, including Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, and Portland.

Shelters to Shutters screens job candidates and refers them to property management companies looking for full-time help. In return, the hired participants get discounted housing at the buildings where they work.

Some of the jobs its participants hold in the real estate industry are maintenance technicians, groundskeepers, service technicians, and leasing agents. Employee retention rate is close to 90%; about 90% of employees have received promotions or wage increases; and more than 90% have not had to re-enter homeless service programs. For more about Shelters to Shutters, see also https://tinyurl.com/y4edowlp

Four Reasons Why Introverts Make Good Mentors

In the workplace, employees chosen to mentor less experienced staff are generally selected on the basis of their objective work skills. For example, if the mentee is joining the accounting department, then a more senior employee in that department is often chosen as the mentor. Similarly, if the mentee is an apprentice tradesman, the mentor chosen is a colleague more skilled in that trade and in how it’s carried out in the workplace.

But, the subjective (or “soft”) skills of a mentor matter, too. If you’re an introvert and have been chosen to be a mentor because of your technical skills, know that you have even more to offer!

Here are four (more) reasons why introverts can make good mentors:

  1. Introverts prefer to develop fewer, more meaningful professional relationships rather than to engage in relatively superficial relationships with a large network. The benefit to the mentee:  your mentor is more than willing to invest time and energy in your mentor/mentee relationship.
  2. Introverts are good listeners. The benefit to the mentee:  your mentor will be attentive to what you’re saying, enabling her to engage in a relevant two-way conversation and to focus on achieving a mutually satisfying outcome.
  3. Introverts thnk, and think, and think again before speaking up or offering solutions. The benefit to the mentee: your mentor will respond thoughtfully to the issues important to you both, and provide you with her most useful perspectives, informed by her knowledge of the company’s “big picture” goals.
  4. Introverts love ideas, images, thought experiments, and “what ifs” – all things related to their inner world. The benefit to the mentee: your mentor will welcome ideas that to you may seem “out-of-the-box,” perhaps even “out of left field.” But, as a mentor with company goals in mind, she’ll then want to test them and vet them for “do-ability” within your work environment.

For all you introvert mentors (and would-be-mentors): recognize that your preferred work styles facilitate satisfying and productive mentor/mentee relationships.  Your collegial and productive discussions directly benefit the company and can direct you both toward achieving your business and professional goals.

Mentoring an Introvert? Five Points to Consider

If the personality descriptors “introvert” and “extrovert” are familiar to you, you may already recognize which of your work colleagues belong more to one category than the other. If one of your mentees is an introvert, here are five points to keep in mind:

  1. Your mentee may work independently…independently of you and her work colleagues. This does NOT mean that she’s not collaborative, or that she’s not a team player. Her preference is to think about and complete her specific tasks by herself before delivering them (complete and on time!) to the team.
  2. Your mentee rarely speaks up in large meetings. This does NOT mean that she doesn’t have something useful to say. Rather, her preference is to listen to what’s going on in the meeting, take time to think about what’s said, and then consider all aspects of the discussion before formulating a response. Ask her for her opinions after the meeting, perhaps the next day, and chances are you’ll get them!
  3. Your mentee seems to procrastinate about decisions or about taking action. This does NOT mean that she’s unconcerned or lazy. Rather, she has a strong preference to think before acting, to avoid bad decisions or unproductive/unsuccessful activities.
  4. Your mentee attends company-wide functions but may be among the last to arrive and the first to leave after clustering with a few colleagues she knows well. This does NOT mean she is ungrateful or lacks interest in the company as a whole. Rather, she strongly prefers one-on-one gatherings over large group social functions.
  5. Your mentee’s ideas sometimes seem “out-of-the-box”, perhaps even “out of left field”. Such “original” thinking reflects an introvert’s preference to think and work alone, with little, if any, input from the outside. Welcome these new ideas – then vet and test them!

For a mentor, understanding that your mentee is an introvert and that her preferences and actions will consistently reflect that can help you prepare to engage in collegial and productive discussions and direct you both toward achieving your business and professional goals.

If You Don’t See It, You Can Still Be It!

It’s been said that prospective mentees look for mentors with whom they can relate on matters such as age, culture, ethnicity, or gender. Said another way, if mentees don’t see a prospective mentor that looks like them in some way, they won’t be able to visualize themselves in that role.

Actual experience, however, teaches us differently. Consider the following 3 real world examples:

  • Condoleeza Rice, the first female African-American Secretary of State

Her first mentor was Josef Korbel, a Soviet specialist and professor of International Politics at Denver University.  A subsequent mentor was Brent Scowcroft, the U.S. National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush. At Scowcroft’s invitation, Rice served on the U.S. National Security Council as a Soviet expert. Later President Bush asked Rice to serve as in his cabinet as Secretary of State.

  • Matthew Towles, Assistant Professor of English, Liberty University and contributor to The Atlantic

Quoting from Towles: “…aside from a very few brief instances, I have rarely had male professional mentors. Whether it’s a reflection of my chosen career path or my generation, I’m not certain, but my professional mentors have nearly all been women From my undergraduate advisor, to my master’s thesis chair, to my dissertation chair, to my current job, my professional mentoring relationships have all been guided by women.”

  • Nikki Haley (Nimratta Nikki Randhawa Haley), the first female governor of South Carolina, and the second U.S. Indian-American governor

Haley is perhaps best known for her recent service as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.  Haley herself sought out a mentor for the new-to-her duties as U.N. Ambassador. She chose Henry Kissinger, considered by many to be among the most effective Secretaries of State in the post-Lyndon Johnson era. Haley met with Kissinger on a regular basis during her time at the U.N.

In each of these 3 examples, the successful mentor/mentee relationship was built on mentors who were competent, involved and generous in sharing their insights and expertise for the benefit of their mentee and for the larger objectives both mentor and mentee sought to achieve. 

Michael Towles quotes sourced at: https://tinyurl.com/yy2unzdz

Five Ways Your Hiring Process Might Be Turning Away Candidates You Want

Project Include is a non-profit that uses data and advocacy to facilitate workforce diversity and inclusion in the tech industry.

As reported by Project Include on their website, here is what research and data have shown about ways in which aspects of your hiring process may very well be turning away and turning off job candidates you want:

  1. Did you know that including “salary negotiable” in a job description can REDUCE the gender wage gap by 45%? The gender gap is much larger in jobs where the “rules” around wage negotiations are vague or uncertain.
  2. Did you know that increasing the amount of paid maternity leave could reduce the rate at which new mothers leave by 50%?  Susan Wojcicki, Google’s first marketing manager and currently CEO of YouTube, increased maternity leave at Google from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, resulting in a 50% reduction in the rate of departure of new mothers.
  3. What’s in a name? Well, it could be a resume reviewer’s bias.  Resumes that are identical with the exception of names that signify gender or racial background are subject to unintended bias during the resume review process. 
  4. Unstructured interviews are still widely used to vet job candidates despite a vast literature suggesting that they have little validity.   Develop an objective, standardized, codified set of interview procedures, content as well as process, to be used by everyone involved in hiring.
  5. Making a final decision about a candidate? Who has a vote? Who has a veto? “Vetoes are problematic” since individual biases mixed into group hiring decisions can “torpedo” an otherwise good candidate.  

Full citations for original research sources available at https://projectinclude.org/hiring

Yes, MENTORS, there IS a PAYOFF!

What business roles have the greatest return on investment as measured by revenue and economic growth? The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in collaboration with Ernst and Young (EY) explored this very issue. The scope of their study was broad and deep: approximately 22,000 publicly traded global companies; 91 countries; a range of industries and sectors. The results of their study were published in a 2016 report titled Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Study.  Among the reported findings and related implications:

  1. An organization with 30% female leaders could add up to 6 percentage points to its net margin.
  2. Payoffs from policies that enable women rising through the corporate ranks could be significant.
  3. The largest economic gain came from the proportion of female executives within the firm, followed by the proportion of female board members.
  4. There is a “robust and positive” correlation between having female management, and presumably a pipeline of female future leaders, with increased firm profitability.

Think about this: an organization with 30% female leaders could add up to 6 percentage points to its net margin. Mentors and managers, if you were challenged to add 6 percentage points to your company’s net margin, how would you do it? If you haven’t yet elevated formal mentoring of your women staff for the purpose of developing a pipeline of female future leaders, you’re ignoring a strategic business process with demonstrated power to improve profitability. For much more on how and why to be a better career mentor, see my full article “How (and Why) to Be a Better Career Mentor to Women” published in AMA Quarterly, Summer 2018, p. 45  https://www.amanet.org/uploaded/amaquarterly-summer-18.pdf

A Diagnostic Checklist for Your Mentoring Program

All stakeholders in the mentoring process—the company, the mentor, and the mentee—benefit when mentors think and act strategically.

Whether you’re just beginning a mentoring program or already have one, consider the following diagnostic checklist of effective mentoring practices to identify potential improvements for your process:

  • Is mentoring a priority?
  • How visible are your mentee’s assignments to upper management?
  • How and how often do you review progress on assignments with your mentee?
  • What resources are available to help your mentee learn and navigate the workplace culture?
  • How does the mentee learn about external market and industry dynamics that affect your business?
  • Do you have a mentoring process that specifically addresses senior-level mentees?

For a deeper dive into this post, along with “answers” to the diagnostic questions above, see the full text article in the AMA Playbook, accessible here https://playbook.amanet.org/training-articles-checklist-evaluate-mentoring-program/#.XGrZWxEhYCQ.link