Who is the Interview For?

One of the real problems with job interviews is that candidates tend to walking in with a begging bowl mentality that makes them subservient to the interviewer. This can make it very easy to be taken advantage of. Whilst I wouldn’t expect people to face extreme negative feedback like the video below I have heard some really reprehensible questions asked of candidates in interview situations.

Categories of Dumb Interview Questions

At least in the UK most forms of discrimination are illegal. Unfortunately discrimination is alive and well in the country and I suspect in many other countries too. If you are asked a question that you think may be discriminatory the first think to do is to check out the intent behind the question. For example you might be asked about your age as a way of determining something about your relative level of experience. In which case it should be easy for the interviewer to explain or reframe the question to get the point they were looking for.

If you are not satisfied with their explanation of why they are asking the question just refuse to answer and let your interviewer know why. At this point the interview will be very defensive and the likely hood of you getting the job are probably quite small. The reality is though would you want to work for an organisation that are willing to put you in that position even before you start?

The sad thing is I’ve spoken with quite a few people that have left companies and they knew right from the interview that it was not going to work for them. They ended up accepting the job because it was offered to them and they felt obliged to take it. So the first thing to be able to react better to this sort of thing is to have the self esteem to stand your ground and the confidence to know that there are other jobs out there. The reality is that when you frame your experience and aim it at the kind of work you want to do there are usually lots of jobs for you. My NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills System is based round creating that winning attitude first and then framing your experience so you can target jobs in a way that interviewers will be begging you to come for interview. Once you are there it is far easier to negotiate from a position of strength.

Some of the people that have been through my system tell me that after setting the interviewer straight on the issue they have walked out of the interview and addressed it by writing to the CEO of the company.

Ego Driven Questions An interview should be a two way process designed for you to give the company the opportunity to explore the benefits of employing you and for you to decide if the company can provide you with a rewarding and fulfilling environment to work in.

Some interviewers mistake the interview context as an opportunity to act up and try to act clever. They ask questions designed to trip you up or they just play silly games. Any difficult, awkward or plain stupid question just needs to be redirected to something more intelligent. I like doing this by including a soft verbal bitch slap for the interviewer for being stupid. If you don’t feel like being that adversarial then you can easily soften the approach. The general approach is:

• Acknowledge the question
• Redirect it to something more sensible
• Answer the new question with your prepared material

Let’s look at how this might work in a couple of different examples. Typical dumb interview questions focus on negative or the past that don’t give you the opportunity to open up the real issue, which is how you can provide benefit to the new company or role. A typical question might be something like; “Why do you want to leave your current position?”

Using our general formula the answer might look something like:

“The issue is not about leaving my current position. The issue is about why I want to come and work for you. I want to do that because based on my research I think I can provide you with a great return of investment for example…” and then you can launch into one of your prepared examples.

Here is another rubbish ego driven question that does deserve the interviewer being gently bitch slapped. The question is something like, “What is one interview question you would hate to be asked?” After you answer they obviously follow up by asking you that question. You can tone this down if you want to be easy with the interviewer but my preferred response would go something like:

“The worst question you could ask me in interview is any question that is ego driven and designed to play games rather than to explore the benefits I can provide for your organisation. The issue is not about playing games but being able to demonstrate the things I can do in the role that you are offering. For example I can…” and again you can launch in to one of your prepared examples.

As you can see both examples follow the general formula we discussed earlier. In my NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills System we discuss how to develop answering difficult questions so you can respond to almost everything (extreme negative feedback excluded) with a prepared example that links you directly with the role and the company values as well a leaves the interviewer with an image in their head of you being the ideal candidate for the role. The system is full written up in the Persuasion Skills Black Book of Job Hunting Techniques. 

Buy it from Amazon.com: Paperback orKindle

Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Paperbackor Kindle

Persuasion Skills don’t have to be Rocket Science

There are all sorts of clever ideas, tools and tactics that you can use in persuasion. And the issue is if you have missed the foundations you are doomed to make things hard work. A key element that I see missed out a lot is just seeing things from the view point of the person you are trying to persuade. It sounds simple but so many people just either get it wrong or refuse to even look from that perspective.

Here are a couple of examples of this can lead you in to trouble or create instant success depending on how much you consider the other person.

Job Hunting an Exercise in Perceptual Positions

We are seeing a growth of people self-publishing on social media platforms as a route to employment. There have been a few media events, like the guy who set up his website with the “honest” CV, the “worst CV in the world” and that sort of thing. And several people setting up websites complaining about traditional job search methods not working any more so they are driving traffic to their CV on a website they have set up.

I suspect this sort of thing will get you noticed and possibly get you in front of someone that might hire you. With a little bit of thought this could be enormously successful. In fact I have seen a few people that have used social media to get great jobs. Below I will outline one strategy that I have seen used several times and has been so successful each time I have seen it used that I recommend it in my book; the Persuasion Skills Black Book of Job Hunting Techniques. But before we get to that I want to hit home the important point so let us switch contexts.

Whose Needs are We Talking About?

I spend a lot of my time on the internet and find myself raging at a lot of web sites. Many websites have lots my custom instantly because in their excitement to tell me all about themselves they don’t bother to tell me why I should want to know about them. It might be really nice for them that they have been in business for hundreds of years, have a great list of values and won so many different awards…but why should I care? What I want to know is what are you / your company / your products and services going to do for me.

Over the years I have been taken through a sales process many times over. In fact I am a complete pushover, love being sold to and as a consequence will buy almost anything when they do a good job of selling. But if they start with what a great product / service / company it is; or hit me with benefits without finding out my needs first, they will not get my business.

On the same grounds in a recruitment situation if an interview candidate can’t tell me how their skills, experience and attitude will fit with my company or the role then I already know they are thinking about themselves and not what they can do for my company. I am already less inclined to hire them.

Perceptual Positions are Key

Imagine you are on the internet and you are looking for a particular service, for the illustration let us say you need an accountant for your new owner run one person start up business. As you search the internet you come across three websites:

1. Accountants ‘R’ Us – We deal with all your accountancy needs large companies, small start-ups, international tax law, dealing with insolvency, audits and mergers. If you need an accountant we will have one for you. Here is a list of all the accountancy awards we have won from around the globe and a list of all the huge mega corporations we have worked with.
2. Small Business Accountant – I specialise in accountancy services for small owner run start-up businesses. Here are a number of case studies of successfully run one person business operations I have helped to get started. Give me a call and I can arrange for you to go and speak with any of these businesses about the quality of service that I provide.
3. Accountants ‘n’ Chips – I run a Fish and Chip shop and do some painting and decorating jobs on the side. I also do all my own accounts. Since the economy is slow at the moment I need to bring in some extra cash so I am hiring myself out as an accountant, any takers?

Are there any of these three that you would automatically call or any that you would automatically reject?

Appeal to All Appeals to None

You might thing the example above is a little silly and I would agree with you. I have recently seen a number of websites with people using social media to try and get a job doing exactly this. In all the recent cases I’ve seen they have posted a general CV that is nothing more than a list of their experience and have listed several unrelated jobs that they would be willing to do. To make things worse they generally start with saying that they have tried the “traditional route” and it hasn’t worked so they are trying this instead.

Now look at the impression this creates for any potential recruiter. For me it shows that they are desperate, they are just thinking about themselves and doesn’t sell me any benefits of employing them. Unless I have a specific role or unique place for them I will have rejected them as quickly as I would if their CV / Resume had landed on my desk. Bluntly if they just did some decent work on their CVs / Resumes they would find that the “traditional route” still works fine.

Whenever I have spoken to guys doing this sort of thing they usually tell me that this strategy has generated more interested than their months of sending out CVs and Resumes. And I can see this, at the moment it is a quirky, relatively unknown and newsworthy way of job hunting. So people will watch with interest and with a little activity traffic will get to the CV / Resume.

Over the last six months I have seen this strategy being employed four or five times. When the novelty value wears off I suspect this won’t work as well and even if it does targeting is the key. How much more effective would it be if you wrote your CV / Resume to target a specific job and then drove specific targeted traffic to it? To do this you need to get into the heads of the people that you want to see your CV / Resume.

A Social Media Job Hunting Strategy

Compare and contrast that approach to something I have seen work several times over.

The candidate builds their CV relating it specifically to the role they are searching for. Instead of a bland list of “work experience” (Who except a 16 year old just leaving school describes their career as work experience? ) they have a highly targeted profile that links their experience to the specific job. They fill their professional experience with key achievements that provide evidence of the benefits they can provide.

Once they have the CV up and running they join forums and groups related to the job. LinkedIn is the perfect environment; in fact it was developed for this sort of networking. The candidate asks opinions, writes articles and debates key issues within their industry. On LinkedIn you can set up groups for specific niches, you can also ask or answer questions about relevant topics. A few days of this sort of activity will allow you to demonstrate your expertise and if you are not already talking with the people you need to network with you are better placed to approach them directly.

I have seen this approach work several times and I can see it work in wider, more general social networking groups.

Getting the Foundations Right

All the people I have seen that are bemoaning that the traditional route doesn’t work and are trying a social media strategy have been missing some fundamentals. The biggest part being they fail to look at this from the employer’s perspective. If they did they would have better CVs / Resumes displayed on their websites. The odd thing is if they had a targeted CV the traditional route still works very effectively. All you need to do is understand what your potential employer needs and then write your CV / Resume to demonstrate how you meet those needs.

Here is an email that I received a couple of days ago:

The Key Point in Persuasion

Just learn to see things from the other guy’s perspective, find out what is in it for them and then present that to them in a way that is compelling for them.

In the job Hunting context the NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills Course shows you have you can write your CV / Resume so that your targeted employer is almost compelled to call you for interview. It also shows you how you can answer most interview questions leaving the interviewer with an image of you as the perfect candidate. And for all those difficult questions; the course shows you have you can reframe them into questions that you want to answer. Click through and find out more here:

Nice CV Mr Hendrix, But Are You Experienced

I was hanging out on Facebook the other day and caught the picture below on Theories of the misunderstanding of things page. After I had finished laughing I thought about the very real problem job candidates face when being interviewed.

The key issue is that many candidates go into the job hunting process with a begging bowl attitude almost begging for a job. Have you ever been face with a desperate over eager sales person? If you have then you will understand how badly this comes across and how unlikely you are to buy from this person. Job candidates come across in the same fashion.

NLP Techniques, Reframing Experience

Imagine a sales person that instead of bombarding you with statements about how great their product is; they take the time to understand your needs. They then go on to link your needs to how their product could solve those needs. They negotiate intelligently and are prepared to walk away if the deal doesn’t suit both parties.

In a job interview situation this is reflected by the candidate walking in with an air of confidence, presenting their experience and linking it to the role they are applying for. The ideal candidate understands that the interview is not about them, it is about the company’s needs and how they can fulfil that need.

Usually when I say these things some people normally start saying things like, “But you aren’t in control of the interview and all you can do is answer the questions that are asked of you.”

I normally respond by suggesting that as an interview candidate it is your responsibility to be in control of the conversation. Whilst the standard form for an interview has the majority of the questions being asked of the interview candidate it shouldn’t stop the candidate being in complete control of the situation.

I am suggesting that the interview candidate should have done several things prior to the interview.

Firstly the candidate needs to set up their CV or Resume so that they already know what questions should be asked and what experience they will be presenting back to the company. This experience should be based on the company values, the job criteria and benefit statements that meet the company needs.

For example if your last job was a pizza topping designer and you are looking for a job as a brain surgeon you need to explain how the precision hand eye coordination of placing toppings on a pizza relate to making precise cuts with a scalpel that a brain surgeon makes. If Jimi Hendrix were going for a management position he might link his skills as a performer to captivating and selling the vision to his team.

Using Questions to Present Your Experience

Once you can do this all you need is to have an answer formula that allows you to relate the question to your experience and forces the interviewer to see you as a successful applicant that is doing a great job for the company. The more you can get the interviewer to see you this way the better success you will have.

Obviously this takes a little bit of practice and the reality is spending half an hour for the next week practicing this way of answering questions will inevitably end up with you achieving your dream job. If you need more information the whole process is laid out in a step by step process in the NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills course. Here is what Raymond had to say about it:

You can click through and get a copy of the course right here

Reshaping Reality Using Hypnotic Language

One of the great things about language is that we can use it to frame our reality. Imagine how great a persuasion tool you have if just by the very words that you use you reshape reality around you. I suspect some readers won’t believe that it makes sense, it is possible or that it is easy to do. In this video you will see me doing it as part of teaching a bunch of student how to do it.

This video is almost an hour and half long and this is just the start of the material we discuss. You can imagine just how powerful the rest of it is. If you want an opportunity to see the rest of the video keep an eye on this article page or sign up to my list. I will be releasing details on how you can get a copy in the next few days.

Persuasion Skills on Steroids Deconstructed

Alternatively if you want to start studying how you can apply these concepts to everyday persuasion situations then click through and find out more here.

NLP Job Hunting Skills

Here is the email from Barry:

Last Thursday 3 pm

Hi Rintu

I hope you are good and I just thought I would drop you an email, firstly to thank you for all of your work and support, I have just done part of the Persuasion Skills on Steroids, it’s a great piece of work.

As you might remember I used your interview skills book and course to great effect exactly two years ago. (Click through and read the article here – Rintu)

Well to get you up to speed I got a call a few weeks ago from a “head hunting” agency re another position. I really really didn’t think I would be thinking about possibly moving again so quickly but it interested me and also I have become a little disenchanted with my present company, I have now been able to pin point it, it’s become clear after persuasion on steroids. It’s that my top level values are mis matched with my bosses.

So, I have had one face to face and one telephone interview and am now going next week for a face to face with the company. I have been spending as much time as poss. reviewing your fantastic material and preparing for it.

I was wondering if you could help me with two points they are bound to ask and I am struggling with a bit

1. Is that they want someone to stay in the post, and my CV demonstrated I have moved after 2-3 years

2. They are really pushing for me to disclose my current package, I have managed to not divulge it so far, part of it is that my contract stated I am not allowed to divulge it so I would be in breach, also obviously it compromised my negotiations.

I got the email a few days ago re the NLP course in Sept/Oct and would really like to attend, not quite sure at the moment due to the possibility of a new job but hope to be able to make it happen.

Thanks for your support Rintu

Kind regards

Barry

PS of course would love to write anything for the web if you want

The Balance of Power in Job Hunting

Let’s start with Barry’s first question. This company wants to employ someone that will stay with them for a few years. My immediate response to that is, “What are the company prepared to do to make this happen?”

Companies often seem to demand loyalty from their employees. I think they are counting on the normal inertia of people and the idea that it is difficult to find good jobs. When you have been through my Job Hunting System you will find, like Barry is that you become more independent and in demand.

This means that you can start looking at companies for a fair exchange of values. I think every employee should be giving their company a great service, that is their end of the contract. In return the company should be giving the employee a great return of investment that goes well beyond just a salary.

Whenever either party is not feeling like they are get a good return of investment I think it is legitimate to look elsewhere. So I am back to the argument that if the company want Barry to stay for a long time they also have a responsibility to provide Barry with an environment that means he will want to say.

Now the only issue is how to articulate this in a way that is not confrontational.

Answering Questions with What You Want to Say

My inclination is to talk to them about this fair exchange of value to preframe the standard “the issue isn’t (x,) it’s (y)” language pattern. In practice this might look like:

“I believe in a fair exchange of values. I want to work in an environment that allows me to give you a massive return of investment and I can provide results that are way above target because I am passionate and enthusiastic about the products, the markets, people and company I work with. So long as I have that I will stay with your company. Who wouldn’t? So the issue isn’t will I stay but very much about how the company will work with me to create the environment where I will want to keep providing you that service. How do you see the company working with me to create this situation as we move forward?”

Okay that is a little clunky because I am trying to force in a lot of other patterns for you to catch. Read it out loud and keep playing with the emphasis to find the embedded commands and look for the forced presuppositions, I/ You shifts and future paces. But simply all we are saying is that so long the company provides me what I want and I keep providing the company what they want we can keep this going forever.

Meanwhile Back at the Point

To summarise this process, all you are doing is preframing where you want the conversation to go, using an x/y redefine pattern to move it there and then adding a future pace question to your answer to get the interviewer talking about how the company will help you stay there for longer than a couple of years.

Take a few objections that come up for you in various situations and see if you can generate a few patterns based on this idea. After a few goes you will find the concept easy to think through. And then the only issue is not thinking the patterns up but using them in the heat of the moment. And that is an easy thing to resolve with practice.

You obviously saw me using the same approach in the paragraph above. And you will have noticed that I set the pattern up by talking about objections. So for practice take the patterns you have thought of deliberately start a conversation with someone with the express intention of using the pattern. A couple of goes at this and you will very quickly find yourself doing this automatically.

And Now Question Two

In response to their question I would probably answer something like this:

“Before I ask the question can I just clarify what I am being asked? I made a contract with my existing company not to disclose my salary. If I understand you right you are asking me to break that contract. As such where does that leave our relationship right from the start? You will know me as a person that automatically breaks contracts and I will know your company as an organisation that is prepared to act outside any ethical considerations. Is this the way you would choose to start our relationship? What was the question again?”

In simple terms I am just moving the frame to encompass a large perspective.

NLP Job Hunting

A while back Barry went through my NLP CV Writing and Interview Skills material, secured himself a great new job and is now moving even faster. When you read the book you will find a number of others doing similar things. We look specifically at Sue who used the approach twice in less than a year and went from being desperately unhappy in a dead end low paid job to flying around the world on an executive salary.

I can’t promise you the same results, there are too many variables. What I can say is that if you take the material and apply it diligently you will drastically improve your chances. Here is where you can find the book: