Your broadcast letter has done a job ahead of you. It has started to create an image of you. It has almost placed you on a pre-sold basis. You are now in an enviable position. You are going in with the dignity of an equal. You have been invited.
Even the secretary is expecting you. You no longer have that "hang dog" feeling that you are looking for a job. No, here the job is looking for you. You are no longer just an unemployed person. Your ego is restored. You are the one in a hundred who has been called in-the one who seems to fit their need. This is not baloney to make you feel good. This is a fact.
The interviewer may have selected you out of 200 or more who sent him letters or who answered his advertisement. Everything you have done up to this point-your resume, your broadcast letter, your mailing list, your answering of advertisements-has been in preparation for one thing only-getting an interview.
You are now face to face with a prospective buyer of your services. Now he has a chance to size you up, and you, in turn, can take his measure. He has a chance to decide whether or not you are the one his company needs, and you can decide whether or not this is the company for you.
Some wag described interviewing as similar to two strange dogs meeting for the first time. They are reserved and cautious as they size each other up; they either bristle or wag their tails. So it is with people. Don't expect that you will like every interviewer or that every interviewer will like you.
Interviews, however, you must have. There is no way to arrive at an offer of a job except through the interview. Yet I find many people who are fearful of the interview. Truly, this is a transitory feeling. Most people have this fear when they face any unknown situation. Perhaps your worst fear is that you may muff a chance. I say, ''So what?'' Even if you do muff an interview now and then, there are many more ahead. You might actually find yourself with more interview opportunities than you can possibly handle. I have known of some who couldn't accept more than half of their invitations for interviews. You will find each one easier and more rewarding. I have yet to hear of a one who didn't survive and walk out alive after an interview. Some salesmen have this uneasy feeling every time they call on a new customer. Most great actors have such jitters before going on stage the first night; some have the jitters every time the curtain goes up.
Interviews can and will become fun. I have had many people tell me that they look back upon the time when they were interviewing around town as one of the most satisfying and valuable periods in their lives.
If you go about it in the right way, you can control the interview. To do this, however, takes practice. It takes experience to polish the skills you need to handle and control each interview to your advantage. Don't for a minute believe the old saw, "Salesmen are born and not made." Quite the opposite is true. Most good salesmen are made through training and experience. Good interviews require polish, preparation, and, I am sorry to say, a certain number of failures.
An important by-product which will come to you as a result of being interviewed must not be overlooked. Thinking about an interview and working it up properly will stimulate you to remember many of the accomplishments of your past that you had long since forgotten. Once rooted out, these additional selling points must be added to your resume. Each interview smoothed out your presentation and responses and thus develops in your mind a feeling of adequacy and self-confidence. It also contributes to the storehouse of personal assets you can use at a later date. I strongly urge you then to grasp every possible opportunity for any interview that you can get in your job field. Many people hesitate to follow up a job lead because they don't want to put themselves in the position of seeming to ask for something. They will explain to me that they are afraid they are too old or that they are too young, that the job may not pay enough, or that they fear they will have to travel too much. By not accepting each available interview, they are losing invaluable experience.
Make it a rule to take every interview you can get-that's the rule. This is the only way you can acquire practice in the asking and answering of questions and in methods of control ling conversations to your own interests.
No one plays a good game of baseball or makes a good speech without many hours or even months of practice. When you return home after an interview, review it thoroughly in your mind; try to discover where you bungled it and how you could have improved it. Go over and over the whole episode until you have it all clarified to your own satisfaction.
Follow these guidelines. Then, when you come to the interview for the one job you would really give your eyeteeth to get, you will be prepared. You will be able to handle yourself with poise and skill, and you will find yourself completely relaxed. Remember you may get just one chance at this crucial interview; there are seldom any repeats of the truly fine opportunities in life. It is up to you to make the most of this one.
A company president once told me about an experience he had when interviewing a man for the position of company controller. "The man walked in erectly, shook hands firmly, smiled when he introduced himself, and seemed perfectly at ease. However, when I started to ask him questions, he stammered and fumbled, his face reddened and he began to perspire so profusely that his collar wilted. I felt so sorry for the poor man that I opened the window even though the room was cool." Here was a waste of a good opportunity-a waste that could have been avoided if this man had previously taken interview after interview and had had more practice.
Try for a Win
If you are really nervous, pretend to yourself that you are playing a game of questions and answers. It is your role in the game to impress the person who has the job and get that person to offer it to you. Play the game with as free and easy a manner as possible. Try to think of it as just a game; in this way, you will have nothing to lose, and you will find yourself completely relaxed.
At the same time, you must realize that to get the most out of this game you must play it properly; you must try for a win. Genuinely try to get the interviewer to offer you the job. Make him feel that he works for a good company and that you are discussing a good job with many opportunities. Look him in the eye and smile. Do not take your eyes off him. Many job offers are lost because of diffidence. The inter viewer is only too likely to interpret diffidence as indifference or uncertainty. This may lead to his doubting your sincere desire to get the job or your ability to do well in it.
This little episode illustrates what I mean. A young man was recently interviewed by a college entrance officer. He wanted very much to get into a certain top school. His high-school record was excellent. When the boy was interviewed, however, he flunked his chance. The interviewer reported that the boy was not at all enthusiastic, that he seemed to have no purpose, and that he seemed not sure that he wanted this particular school. He muffed this interview because of his diffidence.
Go into every interview with determination and enthusiasm. Let the interviewer feel that he has a company to be proud of, even if you do not say it in so many words. Let him see that you admire his company, are enthusiastic about its future, and are eager for the job.
If you do get an offer, don't make a decision at this time. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you are wanted, that you have a choice to make, and that you are in a position to turn down a job. After a few such interviews, you will look forward to the next one. You should have enough confidence in yourself now to leave your resume at home. Do not take either a briefcase or an attached case with you. If you do, the interviewer will think you have a resume in there, and his mind will be on it instead of on you.
Get the Interviewer to Do Most of the Talking
In general, the less you talk and the more you encourage the interviewer, the better the interview will go from your point of view. Force yourself to ask short, pertinent, and in formed questions. While the interviewer is answering your questions, get ready to follow his lead and add something appropriate about your own accomplishments and experience. Then ask him another question-and another.
What Kind of Questions Do You Ask?
You will want to know what kind of questions you should ask. First of all, do not make them either subjective or personal. To help you steer and keep in charge of the interview, you should ask questions about the man's business and his interests. Remember, the interviewer is not interested in what he or his company can do for you. He wants to know what you can do for them. Don't ask him about pension systems, annual bonuses, hospital benefits, vacations, holidays, travel problems, or about the possibility of your having to move.
Nothing will make a prospective employer lose interest in you faster than having to hear questions like these. When your interviewer is sold on you, he will begin to embellish the job, and then he will tell you voluntarily all about the fringe benefits his company provides. When you have him truly interested in you, he will try to sell you on how wonderful his company is. He is now more anxious to get you than you are to work for him; thus, he will tell you all about the extra benefits and you can discuss them with him.
Use a Loose-Leaf Notebook
It is easy to keep your questions in line if you will do a little homework about the company and the man who is to interview you. The men who have become the most skillful interviewers keep notes on each company and some of its executives in a small loose-leaf notebook. They carry a notebook of only one company at a time. This is to prevent fumbling. It also makes the interviewer feel that you are concerned only with his company. If you have several interviews for one day, carry several notebooks. Leave at home in your file the notes on companies previously interviewed.
Your notes must be in line with your job direction. If this should be in sales, you will probably have notes on total sales, profit per sales dollar, advertising budget and agency, and new products. If your bent is toward finance, you will have notes on capitalization, kinds of stock outstanding, mortgages, bonded debts, preferred stock, profits, depreciation, and cash flow. You will include write-offs, research dollars, new products, new capital outlay requirements, and sources of new capital.
Thus, as the job-hunter asks a question, he pulls out his notebook and says, "Let me see now-do you mind if I re fresh my memory? Your sales were up $100,000 a year ago and up another $150,000 this year. How did you achieve such a good increase?" "Isn't this a better percentage than your competitors?" Or "How do these sales compare with those of your competitors?" Any relevant question will do. Using notes always makes a tremendous impression. Interviewers have often commented favorably about it. Again, this job-hunter has used a device to make him stand out as that one man in a hundred.
Stay in the Groove
Confine your questions as much as possible to your specialty. Stay in your job groove. Keep on asking questions, even though you may know the answers. Your job is to get the interviewer to do most of the talking. In doing so, he will sooner or later reveal the problem or problems which are facing him at the moment. Often he will blurt out, "I'll tell you why I called you in. I liked your letter and a certain paragraph made me feel that you might be the man we want."
Now keep drawing him out about his problems. If you are in sales, question him about his selling organization; ask if he sells directly to retail outlets, or whether he uses distributors, wholesalers, or jobbers. If he does, ask him how he gets them to concentrate on his product. Ask whether he has a ware house at a strategic place and how he keeps his inventories in line with his sales. Ask him how he accomplishes market and sales planning.
I mention such questions only with the purpose of stimulating you to think up some of your own. Develop your own question outline. You will have no trouble in thinking up many more. Do plenty of homework so you will be well prepared for each future interview.
Do Your Homework
You will want to know now how and where to do your homework. Go to the public library-many of them have business sections. Go to your local banks. Find out which of them have business libraries. Insurance companies, investment trusts, and stock brokers all surround themselves with the information you are seeking. You will be surprised to find how many of them employ one or more librarians. These librarians will be glad to help you if only for the sake of public relations.
Perhaps you can get access to a Dun & Bradstreet report through your bank or through a friend. Sometimes an annual report to stockholders of the corporation is available. Review Readers Guide for magazine articles to get background information on the company and its officers. Fortune, Forbes, Dunnes Review, to name a few, carry lead articles about many businesses. If the company is publicly owned. Standard and Poor Industrials or Moody's could be very helpful. Check Poofs Register of Directors for data on individuals you plan to interview. You may find something in Who's Who. You will no doubt run across other sources.
When you selected names for your direct-mail campaign, I suggested that you should not be too choosey or selective in picking them. Aside from limiting them as to the size of the company or industry, you would be wasting time being too selective. When you have been requested to come in for an interview, you can then look up everything you can find about the company and its officers. If you do it this way, you simplify the task, for then you need to research only those companies which have shown an interest in you.
Your homework should develop good background material on the company you plan to visit. It will enable you to work up questions which will help you to impress the interviewer with your interest and knowledge about both his job and his company. Don't try to sell yourself; don't try to sell an idea.
Don't try to tell him what you can do for his company. The interviewer will consider it preposterous for an outsider with no knowledge of the inner workings of the company to tell him what he can do for it. If your questions are right, they alone will make him think you are smart.
Develop an Outline
Develop an interview questionnaire or outline. This could be made up of the important characteristics of the industry, the company, and the job. If you prepare this correctly, you will develop more and better questions with each successive interview. Try to ask questions which lead up to your own experience and accomplishments. Thus, you try to guide him into retaining the proper job image of you. Try to think through your resume before you go for your interview. This will help you bring out your strongest points. It will give you more poise and make you more alert during the interview.
The outline will help you not only with the interview but it will also be a great aid afterward when you want to make notes for your record. In further interviews you will then know what ground was covered. Thus, it will help to prepare you for subsequent interviews. Since you may have two or more interviews going simultaneously with different com-panics, this will be of great help. This is one more reason why you will find the loose-leaf notebooks so useful. By recording the information in the notebook immediately, you can make note of the questions you asked and of your answers to his questions. This will highlight both his interests and his needs. In your next interview you will then be able to concentrate on your fitness for the position.
The Resume in the Interview
For many years I have suggested that applicants go into an interview without their resumes. I discovered this quite by chance after listening to many individuals giving me all the details about their interviews. Remember, very few executives know how to interview, and they may well be as apprehensive as you. To show executives how to interview, a management firm has put out a booklet called Comments on Interviewing." This booklet is made up of nearly twenty single-spaced typewritten pages. Some of the titles are "Purpose of the Interview," "Kinds of Questions to Ask," etc., etc. Just to read it is confusing. To use it properly an executive would have to practice hundreds of interviews. I am willing to gamble that not one businessperson in a thousand would ever attempt to familiarize himself with this book enough to make it of value to him. You can be of tremendous help if you guide the interview into the right channels.
I remember a very shy young man, not at all loquacious, going in for an interview about a job as assistant to the controller of a well-known drug and chemical manufacturer. I had suggested that he withhold his resume and, instead, just ask questions. The first thing that the controller asked was "Have you brought a resume?" The man answered that he had and would leave it with him after the interview. The controller insisted on seeing it at once, so my friend handed it to him reluctantly. As the controller put on his glasses and opened it up, the applicant for the job asked him a pertinent question about the company's accounting system.
The controller looked up, took off his glasses, laid them on top of the resume, and from there on, the interview lasted for two whole hours of questions and answers. Not once did the controller open the resume again.
This illustration shows that the controller didn't need the resume at all. He asked for it as a matter of habit. He was using the resume as a crutch. Once a question was thrown to him, he was in his element and could talk with ease and enthusiasm.
After hearing of many, many interviews like this, I concluded that very few executives know how to interview. They are just as nervous and tongue-tied as the applicant. Trade and management associations have written reams and reams of treatises for executives on how to conduct an interview, what questions to ask, etc. If all executives knew how to interview, these instructions would hardly be necessary. Asking questions helps the interviewer; it puts him on familiar ground. There is no subject about which he is better informed and none he can talk about with more enthusiasm than his own job. While he talks, you should think of further questions which will help guide the interview into your field of accomplishment. Your homework will have laid the foundation for all this.
If you are asked point-blank for a resume, tell him (the truth) that you have one prepared but it is very general and not specific enough. However, you would like to bring in a special one after you have explored the nature of the job, both its requirements and its problems. Tell him that you can have it ready within the next few days. The interview itself will give you plenty of clues about the problems and direction and scope of the job. Your own questions and his answers will tell you what your resume should contain. When you come again, you can bring him a resume which is sharp and points directly to the job. You will then stand out as the person with the special talents they need for this position. This way of presenting the resume has worked out well in all cases. With a little practice, neither you nor the interviewer will miss the usual generalized or functional resume.
The Salary Question
I am repeatedly asked for advice on the question of salary. Indeed, it is one of the most difficult of all the hurdles that must be overcome in signing up for a new job. Here are some guidelines.
Some of the first questions tossed to you, and sometimes the very first, are questions like these: "What salary did you make in your last job?" "What salary are you thinking of?" "What salary do you require?" "What salary do you have in mind?"
You must be ready to field these questions and any variation of them. Defer, if you possibly can, all talk of salary until you have presented your case to the best of your ability. Here are some suggestions for answers:
"It's not just a question of what I want but what I am worth to you. I think I will leave that open to your own sense of fairness."
"Your salary for this job may have quite a price range. I, too, have no fixed amount in mind. I am open to negotiation.
Perhaps, after we have discussed your needs and my experience in solving similar problems, we will both have a better idea of salary, don't you agree?"
"I would rather not talk at this time about salary even though it is important-I need to eat. But isn't it more important right now to delve into the job requirements?"
"May we leave that until later? There are many things as interesting to me as salary, such as the place and people I would work with. I would like the feeling of growing with a company. I would like to take on an assignment which no one else wants, and then reap the reward by a raise in salary and possibly a stock option. There are some companies that I wouldn't work for at double the amount I was making, and there might be one that I would go to for less."
Let me mention right here that I am fully conscious of the fact that to many people, success is equated with a high salary. This does not by any means signify that I give this concept my total approval. There are people who get their satisfaction from other things besides money.
You will have no problem about salary in a company which has an organization chart where the job description has been formalized. It will list the duties and responsibilities. The salary range will be predetermined. You will also find out from the chart to whom you report and who reports to you.
In a company which does not have salary structures representing careful appraisal and job evaluation (it is surprising how many good companies lack this), you will have to dig out this information yourself in the interview. You do this by gently exploring the problem and the job assignment, trying to make it all more definite. Get your duties and responsibilities agreed on verbally and, if possible, in writing.
After the job description has been agreed on, the salary can be set. If the job is described properly, the price tag can be more easily and fairly determined. Don't fix your salary too low. This may lose you an opportunity for a good salary when the interviewer had expected to pay more. Don't price yourself out of a job by putting too high a price tag on yourself. Salary should compensate for the job responsibilities and the work to be accomplished. It will differ according to various factors; that is, the size of the company or the geographical area. The level of salaries varies from company to company, even in the same industry. Often salaries are lower in the new glamour companies. They have applicants by the score and so are in a buyer's market. Then, again, some old-established companies may offer you security in lieu of a higher salary.
Sometimes you will be offered the job of someone who is about to retire. You are to go in as an understudy and will be offered less pay than he was getting. In this case, tell the interviewer that you would prefer that the question of salary be deferred for a while. Tell him you would hesitate to accept a salary out of line with that of the other employees, and you would like first to show him what contribution you can make to the company.
A Word of Caution
Sometime you may run up against a situation where the need for your service is so great that the company will pay almost anything you might ask. They may need you badly to solve a specific problem and do not have the right one to do it.
For instance, they may have acquired another company through a merger. They need someone to integrate the two, to close up plants, and to dispose of machinery. They may need someone for the really nasty job of firing the old employees. You may be competent in doing an excellent job for them, but where will it lead? You, too, will be let out. You were hired to do a very special job, and when that job is finished you may be, too.
Always be cautious when you are offered an astronomical salary. Weigh all the facts coldly and try to discover what hidden meaning there is to this. Too often a person who needs a position rather desperately will let this fact tip the scales in favor of his accepting a job which he should turn down. The applicant might get so wrapped up in selling himself that he may neglect to analyze the situation.
One very important question which the job-hunter should always ask himself is "Are the people I am going to be working for my kind of people?" I mean morally and ethically, not ethnically. Much of your happiness and your family's will depend on the answer to this question.
When the job and salary are both cinched, do not ask for frosting on the cake. Recently, B. A. had a very successful interview for the position of assistant controller. The controller (interviewer) felt that the salary and duties had been fully decided upon and asked B. A. to see the personnel man to get himself formally on the payroll. When the applicant told the personnel man that his salary was to be $25,000, that individual said that that was more than he got and he had been with the company for ten years. This caused B. A. to get into a discussion as to what he could expect in salary increases in the future and to ask for more details about the job. The personnel man reached for the phone, called the controller and told him that B. A. wanted more information about his salary and duties. The controller answered bluntly that he thought he had outlined all of them very clearly and asked to have the employment held up, saying he would give it more consideration. That was the end of the job.
You may run into a similar situation. A jealous person can undo you in a matter of minutes. Don't give him a chance.
Another man was asked about his family, the number of children he had, and what schools they attended. He told the interviewer that he had four children and added proudly that they were all in private school. The employer then remarked that that must be costing him plenty, and wondered aloud how he could possibly afford that on the salary in question. When he was told that the applicant had independent means, the interview cooled quite perceptibly. A few days later he received a note from the prospective employer explaining that he was not filling the position immediately.
Never mention that you have independent means or intimate that salary is not important. Keep that out of the salary discussion. Employers want hungry people.
Never reveal the state of your finances. If you are up against it, some employer might take advantage of you and offer you less. If you have money, he may feel that the job is not your primary consideration.
Avoid Telephone Interviews
The telephone requests to come in for an interview during a job campaign may be as many as those that come in by mail. Some firms will try to interview you directly over the telephone. Always avoid this and keep striving for a personal interview. Keep control of the situation by saying that this is not a good time for you to talk and ask if you can come in to
How to Conduct the Interview
See him later. Do not let him put you off by telling you that he will call you. Instead, suggest a definite interview time. Say, "Would you prefer next week to this one?" or "Would Tuesday or Wednesday suit you better?" Never leave it to the interviewer's option to call you. Keep the initiative. If he says he can't see you this week, reply, "ilay I call you next week? It will be easier for me to call you, for I am not always available by phone. I have quite a few interviews scheduled."
Mary P. tells me that when someone tries to interview her by phone she says, "I am so very sorry but I am unavoidably dashing off at this minute. May I call you tomorrow?" Mr. C.H. says, "I can't talk very well right now as I have someone here; may I drop in tomorrow or the next day so we can talk freely and in private?"
You will develop your own technique and use your own words, but be sure you don't let anyone interview you over the telephone. Remember, an interview must be carried on face to face. This way you don't take the chance of a click of the receiver which may be the end of your opportunity.
References
References, like salaries, should be left until the end of the interview. Do not type them on your resume. Simply state: ''References will be furnished on request."
Try not to give out references until you are in the final stage of negotiation. If you give them out too often, the one who has to answer them will get tired of the whole business. At the beginning he may give careful, thoughtful statements, but at the end he may give only perfunctory answers. If one person gets too many requests for references, he may wonder why you need to see so many people and why it takes you so long to get a job. His confidence in you may slip a bit.
If possible, see all the people you use for a reference. Tell them about your job campaign. Review with each of them the details of your past employment. Show them the factual information you plan to use and ask whether they agree with the correctness of your statements. Change things to suit them if they request you to. Leave them an outline of the points in your resume that refer to their concern. This will not only help you but it will help them to give proper direction to what you wish them to say about you.
Overcoming Bad References
You must know what to do if you find out that someone is giving you a black eye, or, even worse, damning you with faint praise. You will begin to realize that something is wrong after you seem to have had a perfect interview and you think that you are in, and then you are dropped like a hot potato.
Go right back to your interviewer. Ask him what happened and if something was wrong. Ask him if he received replies from all your references and if not, tell him you will get them for him. Oftentimes, if approached this way, he will come right out and tell you the real reason he lost interest. He may even tell you that one of your references was lukewarm, or worse. You will now have to find out where the bad reference came from, although you may already have guessed, for you will know the circumstances about your having left a certain company.
For instance, C. H. discovered he was getting a bad reference from a man with whom he had been associated in business. When they parted he had to sue his former associate to get the money that was coming to him. He hacked the problem this way. Whenever he gave out references, he would say, ''You will find my references are all excellent with the exception of one." He would then tell the story of having been associated with this man in business and the sad consequences. In this way, he prepared his prospective employer for the bad reference. It then would not count against him.
Another man, M. M., was getting a very dubious reference. His last employer would write, "When he came to us, he had fabulous references. He did all right with us, but he didn't fit in too well. He wasn't contented where he was." When M.M. discovered what was happening, he would say simply, "The references from my previous employers are excellent, except the last one. I quit after six months because the company had suddenly changed the ground rules. I was to report to Pakistan. In Hong Kong, en route to Pakistan, I was cabled to report to Singapore. I had my wife and a four-month-old baby with me. I had to leave them in Hong Kong because I could get no accommodations for them in Singapore. When it became evident that I could get no accommodations at all for them, I resigned." This recital of the facts completely satisfied the employer. The lesson to be learned from these examples is that if you do get a bad reference, bring it out yourself ahead of time and you will minimize its importance.
Personality Tests-The Great Divide
Just when it seems that you are about to be put on the payroll, you may be told that there is one more hurdle to overcome. You have now come to the Great Divide-known as the psychological test. It is one of the great barriers which keep the unemployed from being employed. It is said that there are more than a million tests given daily for one purpose or another. These tests keep people out of jobs and often keep them from getting promotions. Before you get on a payroll, you may have to take as many as eight or ten of them.
Banesh Hoffman, in "The Tyranny of Multiple-Choice Tests" in Harper Magazine, has this to say: "Busy executives, especially those who lack confidence in their own judgment, are all too happy to hand over to professional testers the job of deciding who is worthy and who is not." It is apparent from the large number of tests that are given that many executives seem to abrogate the vital selection of their team mates to people who have never had to participate in profit-making decisions in the competitive business world.
You will have no choice about taking these tests, whether you like them or not. Wherever they are required, you will be compelled to take them. Otherwise you will not get on the payroll. Inasmuch as you will have to take them, prepare yourself by doing a little homework. There are a number of books which will assist you: The Brain watchers by Martin L. Gross, published by Random House, and The Organization Man by William H. Whyte, published by Simon and Schuster. Both of these can be purchased in paperback editions. There are also two magazine articles, both by Martin L. Gross, "The Hire and Fire Tests-Can You Beat Them?" and "The Brain Pickers Can Cost You Your Job," published in True magazine. If you do a little homework on testing, you will at least have some idea of what is expected of you and it will help you take the tests in your stride.
Here is a letter from a friend who took some of these tests:
How to Conduct the Interview
Dear Carl:
I have accepted a position with-. Your efforts and those of the Thursday Night Club resulted in a letter which brought in four job offers, plus several other live possibilities. I certainly appreciate the great help.
As I mentioned to you recently in the - Club, I had one experience with psychological testing. I was given a battery of tests which took about six hours to complete. Following this, I had an "informal chat'* with the psychologist for about an hour and a half. I came away from the entire experience with these conclusions:
I. Anyone with knowledge of these tests could influence the results of them substantially.
2. In the post-test interview, the good doctor commented that he saw something interesting in my make-up that he would comment on even though he wasn't supposed to. Believe me, he was way off base. From that point on, I felt that I was in the presence of a tea-leaf reader. He would make a rather leading statement, and then wait to see if I showed agreement, con fusion, etc.
3. The final step was the most interesting. He mentioned that I had tremendous latent talent ability which if completely unlocked could lead me to undreamed-of heights. He then suggested to me that although he might not be able to take me on, he could lead me to someone who could be of tremendous help in a one-hour period a week for about six to eighteen months.
Incidentally, this testing was requested by one of the companies which were interviewing me. It is pathetic to think that management would have to use as a crutch such hocus-pocus.
I will look forward to dropping in occasionally on Thursday night to offer what assistance I can.
Thanks again for your help.
Don’ts on Handling the Interview
- Do not take your resume, your briefcase, or even an envelope with you into the first interview. Leave them in the outer office.
- Do not talk too much. The interviewer should do more than 50 per cent of the talking. You can manage this by asking questions.
- Do not try to sell yourself. Let the interviewer want to buy you. Let your past performances and accomplishments do the selling for you.
- Do not try to sell an idea such as telling what you can do for the company and how you would do it.
- Do not get involved in a discussion of politics, religion, or the personalities in your previous company.
- Avoid name-dropping. You do not know what reactions it will set up.
- Never say, or even imply, that you can do anything. Stick to the specialty that brought you in; otherwise you will immediately lower your demand and salary value. Go hungry a while longer.
- Do not lose your temper no matter what the provocation. You will find some small men who will goad you with contemptuous and slurring remarks. Leave their execution to someone else.
- Do not get involved in an argument. You can't ever win it. The interviewer is both judge and jury. Change the drift of the conversation with another question.
- Refrain from criticizing the interviewer or pointing out where he is wrong. Showing up the interviewer is fatal only to you. Quoting Lord Chesterfield: "Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so."
- Avoid the question of salary until you feel you have made a sale.
- Do not let yourself be interviewed over the telephone. Do not talk salary over the telephone. Do not send your resume after a request by telephone.
- Never name your references or allow them to be contacted until you and the prospective employer have had a meeting of minds.
- Do not write a trite or flowery "thank you" letter in gratitude for the interview. Leave gratitude to beggars. Review, instead, the highlights of the interview. Bring up any additional pertinent points to the interviewer, particularly those that relate to solving his problem. Give him more bait.
