The Group: Do you want this job? Are you willing to go through a brick wall to get it? RACHEL: Yes. I am. I really want this job. ME: Let's think about overcoming their objections. If you can write a PR plan after you get hired, why not do it now? Why ask them to trust you?
Two people in the group had old PR plans, which they lent her. Remember: the proposals or plans or ideas you write will probably be wrong. That's OK. You're showing the company you can think the problem through and actually come up with solutions.
Rachel's lack of experience with newsletters was also an objection. We suggested Rachel call law firms in other cities and get their newsletters.
After doing research, Rachel sent a very different note. In this one she said she had been giving it more thought, and was very excited about working for the firm. She had put together a PR plan,which she would like to review with them, and had gotten copies of newsletters from other law firms, which gave her ideas of what she could do in a newsletter for them. Of course, she got the job.
Uncovering Their Objections
Rachel got the job because she overcame the objections of the hiring committee. Start thinking about how you can overcome objections. This will change the way you interview, and you will become more attuned to picking up valid objections rather than quashing them. Then you can even solicit negatives. For example, you can ask:
Like A Consultant
Since most jobs are created for people, find out what the manager needs. Hiring managers often decide to structure the job differently depending on who they hire. Why not influence the hiring manager to structure the job for you?
Probe and don't expect anything to happen in the first meeting. If you were a consultant trying to sell a $30,000 or $130,000 project (your salary), you wouldn't expect someone to immediately say, "Fine. Start working." Yet job hunters often expect to get an offer during the first meeting.
Forget about job hunting. This is regular business. You're selling an expensive package. Do what a consultant or a salesperson does: Ask about the company's problems and its situation; think how you could get back to the interviewer later. Get enough information so you can follow up and give the interviewer enough information so he'll want to see you again. Move the process along: Suggest you meet with more people there. Do research. Have someone influence the interviewer on your behalf. Then get back to him again. That's what a consultant does. Remember to move the process along, and kill off your competition.
Case Study: Ken Identifying The Issues Timing
Ken was the first person interviewed for a senior vice president of marketing position. When Ken asked, the interviewer said he would see five or six more people. As you will see shortly, being first is the weakest position. Kill your competition quickly, or find ways to maintain the interviewer's interest and meet with him again.
Ken identified the company's most important issue it was not wondering what Ken would do as the head of marketing, but something more basic: it was debating the role marketing should play in the new organization.
Determining the real issues is critical in deciding your follow up plan. And since the timing was against him, Ken acted fast. He wrote a handsome four page proposal about the role marketing should play, and he sent it overnight.
When Ken was called for a second round of interviews, he found there were no other candidates. Ken had killed off his competition. Ken not only identified the issues, he was in sync with the company's timing. It was planning to decide quickly, so he acted quickly, too.
Case Study: Leon How Did He Get The Job?
Leon came to the after fifteen months of interviews. After three meetings, he got two job offers simply because he followed the group's advice and wrote proposals. When he told the group his good news, someone asked him how he got the two jobs, and he said that one offer was from a search firm, and one was from networking. Leon had been pursuing jobs through networking and search firms for fifteen months, but it wasn't until he decided to follow up on these that he was offered a job.
Case Study: John
Consider Your Likely Competitors and Go For It
Most job hunters think anxiously about the "competition out there." Instead, be objective about your likely competitors.
John thought he was job hunting for a year. He answered ads, met with search firms, and even went on interviews, but he wasn't job hunting: in a tight market, the job hunt starts after the interview.
At our first meeting, John recounted his activity. One ad he'd answered was for a job at the Kennedy Foundation, and he'd met threepeople there two weeks earlier. He was waiting for their call. Before John went on, I stopped him.
"John," I said, "do you want that job?"
"Well," he replied, "I'll see what happens next. If they call me, I'll consider it."
"The way things stand, John, you are not going to get that job. If they call, they'll say they found a better match. Are you willing to go through a brick wall to get that job? If you are, I can help you and it's a lot of work. But if you essentially want to sit on the bench answering ads, there's not much a coach can do."
John said he was willing to go after the job. A job hunter's commitment is absolutely necessary or he will not be willing to do or even notice what needs to be done to win the job.
Who Are John's Likely Competitors?
The Kennedy Foundation wanted a controller. John had been a controller in a major corporation for twenty years. What kind of controller would the Kennedy Foundation most likely want?
Develop a prototype of your likely competitors. We have to guess about our competition, but then we'll have a target and can develop a plan. Remember, your competition might not be real people, but an ideal in the mind of the hiring manager. Kill off that competitor, too, or the hiring manager will continue looking for them.
John thought his likely competitors were people who had been controllers in not for profit organizations. I suggested that he spend a day at The Foundation Center (a library), and research the controllership function at other foundations. I told him to make sure he could handle the work and knew the jargon.
John came back with good news: "I know how to do that kind of accounting. It's actually what I've done all along."
How Does John Now Stand In Relation To His Likely Competitors?
Don't forget that it (your product or service) is not differentiated until the customer understands the difference. TOM PETERS Thriving on Chaos
John now has twenty years of corporate controllership experience and a day in the library. His likely competitors have real hands on experience.
At this stage, John is not even with them. He has to do more if he wants the job.
John and I searched his background for areas that might interest the Kennedy Foundation experience his likely competitors would not have, such as securities accounting.
Look at all the work and thought John has put in so far without a request from the hiring manager. The ball is always in your court. But here the game is not tennis, but golf. The person who is farthest from the goal must keep hitting until he gets ahead.
John had met with three people at the Kennedy Foundation. Among the three was a financial person, and someone from personnel. His first draft of the letter to the financial person was negative: "Despite the fact that I have no not for profit experience, I believe my credentials ..."
Wrong. Come up with something that beats out your competition. You must be in a position to say, in so many words, "Unlike others who have spent a lot of time doing this work, I bring something extra to the party."
Also remember that you are interviewing with individuals not organizations. You are not interviewing with the Kennedy Foundation or IBM. Each person you meet has her own opinions about the issues that are important to her, the things she likes about you, and the reasons she might not want you there. Address these points with each person.
