How To Ace A Job Interview
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
A few years ago, I was interviewed by Cheryl Grace from “Live from The Pink Couch” about how to ace an interview. She recently released the interview as a standalone segment apart from the other people she interviewed that day and I wanted to share it with you.
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I’m Sheryl Grace, Corporate Executive and Founder of the lifestyle brand, Powerful Penny. When I started my career, no one would help me, and I vowed that if I ever became successful, I would make it my business to mentor others. I’ve done just that for 20 plus years, and what I know for sure is that names change, but the challenges rarely do.
So join me as I mentor five professionals in real time on Live from the Pink Couch. Who knows, you might just discover a solution to your career dilemma. Hey guys, I’m Sheryl Grace and welcome to a special segment of Live from the Pink Couch.
Usually, we have coaches assigned to a specific mentee, but today’s coach, Jeff Altman’s advice is so dead on point, we wanted to share it with all of our hashtag next level tribe mentees at the same time. Jeff is the big game hunter. He coaches people to be more effective in the workplace.
He is the host of No BS Job Search Advice Radio. It’s the number one show in Apple Podcasts in the category and Job Search TV. It’s available on Fire TV or Fire Stick via the Job Search TV app and on Apple TV, Roku, Sony, Samsung, 90 TV platforms on Zingle TV and BingeNetworks.tv. You’re all over the place, Jeff.
You betcha. I’m trying to help a lot of people just like you are. I love that.
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I love that you’re doing that. So Jeff was going to talk to us today about the importance of interviewing, and he’s going to give us some tips on how to make sure you’re nailing those interviews. So, Jeff, what tips do you have for our mentees? Well, I’m going to start off with the premise that most people know the typical format for an interview.
You know, they say, you know, tell me about yourself and what you’ve been doing. And you do that. And then they start going back and forth with you to qualify what you know and what you’ve done.
And eventually, they get to the point where they say, so do you have any questions for us? And you say, could you tell me about the job? And they do that. You say, sounds great. Terrific.
We’ll get back to you. And it’s no wonder that most people flub the interview, because they’re nice, compliant people. And they go along on the conveyor belt being turned into sausage and salamis.
So with that, I think of interviewing as being a little bit different. I start off with a premise that I have confirmed so many different times, and that is job descriptions are about 80% accurate. All right, only 80% accurate? It’s at best 80%, because no one ever updates them.
Okay, that’s true. So the result winds up being that you walk into an interview, you don’t know which 20% isn’t right and where the emphasis of the job is. So I want you to start off an interview by asking this question.
Hey, thanks so much for making time to meet with me today. You know, I spoke with Cheryl about the role and she gave me a brief description. But I want to get your take on it.
Could you tell me about the job as you see it and what I can do to help? And the first thing that does is it draws them into the conversation, and they’re going to tell you the current thinking about the job. So that way, you can talk about what you’ve done that matters to them, and not just talk about what you’ve done, which could be completely different than what they care about. Love it.
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And every hiring manager I know who I coach, also was it because they recognize the flaw in the process once I say this. Right. And then you let them go to tell me about yourself.
And instead of answering it the typical way, here’s the way you should answer it. You know, I’ve been in the field for however long it’s been. And for the last few years, I’ve been working for so and so.
I’ve done this and that and this and that. And you reference the previous firm and do much the same thing. And here’s the key phrase you’ve got to use.
But what probably is most relevant for this role is my experience with filling the blank. Love it. Love it, Jeff.
Thank you. Because what it does is connect the dots for the interviewer. Yeah.
So they don’t have to work so hard. Yes, yes. And as such, every answer to questions should be about a minute to a minute 20, in order to ensure you don’t lose their attention because they’ve got lots of things going on in the course of their day.
Okay, so, Jeff, I need you to repeat that because we’ve had a couple of instances where some of the mentees have given really, really long responses. And so I need you to repeat that point. My pleasure, because you have to remember, we live in an ADHD culture.
We’re all clicking away really fast, right? TV doesn’t keep us engaged. We go to something else. And interviewers are no different.
You’ve got to give them the information quickly. In one minute to one minute 15 tops. If you slip and you go to a minute 20, it’s okay.
But you cannot do it soliloquy as though you’re performing Hamlet. You have to give them the information or else you lose them. It’s so true.
It is so true. I’ve been in interviews before where I’ve interviewed someone for a job. And I really don’t want to nod off in the middle of their . . . and they’ve got great information.
It’s just too much. And my brain can’t absorb all of it. Right.
Just make it easy for the interviewer to want to continue the conversation. And then after this, they’ll normally go to a part of the conversation where they’ll ask you to tell them about experiences that you’ve had that are relevant. And this is where I go into story time.
And stories follow a simple format. If you’re inexperienced, you probably have heard of the STAR acronym, situation or task action result. And the result has some quantifiable measure to it.
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Money saved, money earned, percentage improvement. So, if you’re in a role where there’s no sense of how much you’re financially impactful, then you talk about a percentage improvement over the norm. And the other acronym, if you’re more experienced, is SOAR, S-O-A-R, situation objective action result.
So, this way, you contextualize everything for the interviewer to give them a sense of impact. And there’s always a difference as you’re contextualizing this between a $5,000 project, a $500,000 project, $5 million, $50 million, $500 million and beyond. And thus, you want to give them a sense of size and scope and what it was that you stepped into.
That’s the situation and what you had to do to get it done. So, can you give an example between STAR and SOAR? So, with STAR, STAR is geared toward junior people. So, you may just say, my manager assigned me to do such and such, or I was asked to do such and such.
That becomes situation or task. So, what I did was . . . and then you tell them about what you did with the result was I was able to finish four days early and thus be able to go back to everyone and see whether this met their needs and yada, yada, yada. With SOAR, I’ll deal with a more senior person.
You’re a manager. You’re a director. You’re a leader in an organization.
And thus, you might talk about, you know, I stepped into a situation where my predecessor left on short notice. As I stepped into it, I saw right away that they were behind the eight ball. They were probably two, three weeks behind at this point.
And what we had to do was get this done no matter what. That becomes the objective. So, what I did was . . . and you talk about . . . what I did was the action.
With the different people who’d be using this, and I got this result with money saved, money earned, etc. And that’s the art. So, that’s SOAR.
Right. Love it. Love it.
It’s very much in sync with how I’ve been mentoring my mentees regarding their resumes to make them accomplishment-based, not responsibility-based. Because so many people, you know, I was responsible for this, this, and that. Well, that’s great.
But what did you do? And how well did you do it? Right. They talk about we. We did this.
But what did you do? Right. What did you accomplish? What’s your impact? Above and beyond what you were supposed to do. And then there are some great questions to ask at the back end.
Okay. What are those great questions? So, you can’t ask about the job because they already answered that, right? Yeah. But you can ask a clarifying question or two.
So, like, when you describe the position, you mentioned the focus will be on such and such, but I noticed you asked a lot of questions about whatever this is. How does this all fit together? And you kind of turn it into a puzzle for them to explain for you. Okay.
Then is, let’s say you hire me and I come on board. What would your expectations of me be for the first 30, 60, 90 days? Yes. Next question is, and let’s say I’m on board, and it’s a year from now.
And you are thrilled with the decision you made to hire me. What will I have accomplished during that year that will make you think that way? I love how you phrase it that way. I’ve never, I understand that, you know, setting yourself up for success early on is really something that I make sure that our mentees understand.
And, you know, and I also coach them to have like 30-day touch bases, every 30 days touch bases with their manager, but getting clarity early on, on what success looks like for your boss. And a lot of people, I just had a call the other day where someone was saying, you know, she thought she had hit it out of the ballpark because she’d done all these extra things and her boss still gave her meet expectations. So that’s why I love how you’re saying this.
Thank you. And then there’s the fun, final two questions. So, the first question is, could you give me a sense of your timetable for next steps? Yeah.
Because you want to know when they might be getting back to you. And thus, if they say, well, I expect we’ll be in touch with the early part of next week. That’s different than saying, well, I expect we’ll be back to the early part of next week to schedule another interview.
Or I’ll be back to you somewhere after we finish interviewing 37 more people. Now, there’s different . . . And they’re never going to tell you that, though, are they, that they’re interviewing 37 more people? Well, they’re signaling that they’re still dating, and they’re not ready to get married. And thus, it’s important to know that to manage your own expectations, right? Yes.
And here’s my favorite one. The final question before you say, oh, I’m interested if that’s true. Is there anything that you’ve heard, or not heard, that gives you reason to hesitate about my candidacy or my suitability for this role? Because sometimes, they’re not really skillful interviewers.
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And thus, they ask questions that lead you in one direction. And they really want you to go a different one. And thus, this gives you one last chance to cut out and to figure out where the deficiency is in their mind.
And the way to respond to that is by going, oh, when you ask that question about such and such, oh, you were looking for my experience with this. Not that. Would it be okay if I walked you through it? Yeah.
There’s a lightbulb moment that goes off in your head. It’s like, oh, I could have answered it this way. I love that.
And on their side, it’s a lightbulb moment for them that you did have this experience, and they just framed it in a way that directed you in a different manner. And one more thing I just want to point out. Actually, two, if that’s okay.
That’s okay. Thank you. Number one is you’re an actor on the stage.
You’re putting on a performance. When firms hire, competence is only one thing that they’re looking for. They look for self-confidence, character, chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma, all of which adds up to, we trust him.
We trust her to do this role. They’re going to be low maintenance. I don’t have to worry about them.
Low maintenance employees are the best, Jeff, the best. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And thus, they don’t want to ever worry about someone. So your goal is to convince them through your manner that you’re qualified, not just what you say. And the last thing is, every great athlete I know practices and every great entertainer I know rehearses.
But job hunters go on interviews and the first time the words ever come out of their mouth or at the interview, and then they wonder why they don’t ace it. They never, you know, we don’t have the script for the play. And thus, it’s no wonder that they walk in, they can’t ad lib.
Yes, you’re right. You’re right. One of the exercises that we gave one of our mentees was to record herself answering questions and to listen to that recording.
And then we also had someone else listen to her recorded answers. And I think it was very helpful. Practice makes perfect.
You’re absolutely right. And mock interviews are the ideal and the way of practice. And if that’s not available, you practice delivering your lines to the mirror.
Yeah. And thus, you get better and you make your mistakes in advance so that this way, you get them out of your system self-correct before you lose an opportunity that you really want to have. Jeff, you are just like the best.
Thank you so much for taking the time out to be here with us today. You have provided so many tips. We call these some of these tips that we’re going to actually frame up our coach’s pink couch tips.
And so we’re going to take some of these tips and we will make them available, if you don’t mind, for individuals who follow us on PowerfulPenny.com. But there have been so many great insights that you shared today. Thank you for taking the time with us. Please make sure that you and your family stay safe during this really precarious times.
Thank you so much. And that’s true of all of you folks as well. Thank you, Jeff.
Great advice. Talk to you soon. Be great.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ career easier. Those things
can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
You will also find great info and job search coaching to help with your job search at JobSearch.Community You can get free copies of 25 Interview Questions and Answers, How to Craft a Compelling Elevator Pitch in 20 Seconds or Less, Get Ready for the Job Jungle, Diagnosing Your Job Search Problems, No BS Resume Advice, and Prove Your Worth First, Then Negotiate. Receive free weekly suggestions and more.
He is the producer and former host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3000 episodes.
Website: https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us (schedule a paid coaching session, a free discovery call or ask questions using my Trusted Adviser Services)
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