Treat Job Interviews on the Phone, Via Skype or Video Conference as You Would In Person

/in /by

With nearly half of all interviews for technology-related jobs being conducted remotely, job seekers should prepare for them just as they would for an in-person interview at the company’s own offices.

More companies are conducting interviews with job candidates via phone, Skype or video conference, especially for first interviews where a hiring manager is simply trying to pre-screen candidates for the team or when a candidate lives too far away to justify flying in for a quick interview at this early stage in the process. But job seekers are not always comfortable with the virtual aspect of this kind of interview.

Unfortunately, lack of preparation for a remote interview can put even the best candidate in an unfavorable light and ruin their chances for a next round, onsite interview. The saying, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” really rings true in these situations.

Here are some suggestions for job seekers who stand a good chance of having to be interviewed remotely:

  • Land lines still offer the best connection: When possible, arrange to conduct the interview over a land line. Cell calls, which are more routine than ever, still get dropped and can prove unreliable in the most important moments.
  • Go to a quiet place: A barking dog, crying baby or street traffic all present a distraction. Make sure you conduct your interview in a quiet room with the door closed, just as you would be doing if you were interviewing onsite at the prospective employer.
  • Get a pen and paper: Have something to write on and write with, as well as a copy of your resume, with you. Just as you would during an in-person interview, jot down important questions you want to ask, readily reference dates and key skills on your resume. Take notes about the position that the hiring manager shares with you.
  • Have questions ready: Make sure you have two or three questions to ask about the position ready to ask at the end of the call. The hiring manager will most likely ask if you have any questions. In an effort to both reinforce your interest in the position, as well as cover those aspects of the position you are keen to have answers about, have those questions ready to share. Ask for example “Am I a fit for the role?” or “What are my next steps?” These reinforce that you are very interested in the position.
  • Be timely: Showing up late for a job interview is getting off on the wrong foot. Be as punctual for those remote interviews as you would be in person.
  • Dress appropriately: Even if the interview is virtual, make sure to dress for the office culture you are interviewing for. If it’s business casual, wear a button-down shirt and slacks. If it’s a suit-and-tie shop, dress to impress. The only exception would be if you are coming from your current job where the dress code is different. Regardless, dress to impress. T-shirts and jeans are never suitable attire for any job interview.
  • Think on your feet: If you are conducting the interview via phone, stand up when you are speaking. You will naturally have more conviction in your voice and this translates to confidence and a smile.
  • Sit up straight: If your interviewer can see you during your remote interview, sit up straight with both feet on the floor. Also, feel free to gesture naturally with your hands if you do so when you are speaking in person. You will come across naturally and with confidence, as well.
  • Practice, practice, practice: Sometimes the technology associated with a remote interview makes people uncomfortable. Practice on Skype with a friend; find your best angle; and get comfortable with the controls, volume and camera position, for example. Do the interview on a laptop or computer screen versus an iPad. Don’t wear white, since it is a bad choice on camera; wear a blue shirt instead. Keep jewelry to a minimum. Wear a jacket if you are prone to sweating when you are nervous.

While in-person interviews are always preferable, remote ones have become the norm, except for C-Suite executives. If you are offered a choice, always go with the in-person interview. But if not, you CAN take the steps necessary to leave a good impression.

About the Author

Kathy HarrisKathy Harris is Managing Partner of New York City-based Harris Allied, an executive search firm specializing in Technology, UX/UI Design and Quant Analyst placement services in the Financial Services, Professional Services, Consumer Products, Digital Media and Tech Industries For more information, visit www.harrisallied.com. Contact Kathy Harris at [email protected].

The Advisor’s Corner – ‘Strategic Action’ is better than just a Plan

/in , /by

‘Strategic Action’ is better than just a PlanQuestion:

My boss wants a strategic plan next month. It’s a really short window and I don’t know where to start. Any ideas?

StrategyDriven Response: (by Roxi Hewertson, StrategyDriven Principal Contributor)

Just saying the words, “We need a strategic plan,” often elicits a groan and eye rolls. This is the response because most strategic plans come to nothing or almost nothing.

I wish I had a dollar for every ‘Strategic Plan’ or ‘5 Year Plan,’ sitting on a dusty shelf in this country. Every one of those musty shelf-dwelling ‘Strategic Plans’ cost those leaders and their organizations a great deal of human effort and lost productivity. In fact, strategic planning has gotten such a bad name many people only do ‘it’ because someone tells them they have to.

And yet, everyone likes to have a clear sense of direction, a plan, and an end goal that they believe can and will be accomplished. That’s why we need to create a smart plan of action. I call it Strategic Action because it’s about doing, not just thinking about doing.

A plan is the precursor to the action to be sure. It can even be fun to plan. When done well, planning should engage people and generate fantastic ideas — and still it’s only half the loaf. So how do we get where we need to go?

I have walked many clients through this process and it works every time. It’s simple, makes common sense, and can be shaped to engage any and all stakeholders. This is a summary, but it will give you a good idea.

5 Steps to Strategic Action

Step One: The Mission, Vision, and Values of the organization must be clear, shared, communicated, and understood by everyone on the staff and with appropriate others (Board members, key stakeholders, etc.). Revisiting the Mission, Vision, and Values statements is essential to the process even if they are just being validated. If necessary, create new ones so a solid foundation is in place first.

Step Two: Test the Vision. For a vision to be effective over time, it must be inspiring, clear, credible, and create a strong commitment in everyone guided by it. Always test your vision to see if it meets those criteria well enough to be the overarching, driving force that a great vision needs to be.

Step Three: Identify those significant few (2-3) big strategies on which you will focus for the shorter term (1-3 years for instance) that are aligned with your mission, in harmony with your values, and most effectively advance your vision. In this step you may need to conduct a SWOT analysis and an Environmental Scan look at both the internal and external factors you should be considering. By engaging your stakeholders, you give them a voice in influencing the strategies that will ultimately chosen by you and your leadership team.

Step Four: Action plan the strategies! Once the strategies are established, ownership and accountability for each strategy must be determined and action plans must be put into place with deliverables and time lines. Good communication across the organization is an essential part of this step.

Step Five: Action plan the tactics! Determine what specific actions will ensure the 2-3 big strategies are accomplished on time, on budget, and with high quality. This work is led internally by those accountable for the execution of the strategies — individually and on teams. Pay attention to both the head and heart of this process, making sure the tactical goals are balanced with the impact on people.

If doing this well requires more time than suggested, try to bargain for more and explain why. When you follow all five of these steps you will have a ‘strategic action plan’ which should satisfy any boss!

About the Author

Roxi HewertsonLeadership authority Roxana (Roxi) Hewertson is a no-nonsense business veteran revered for her nuts-and-bolts, tell-it-like-it-is approach and practical, out-of-the-box insights that help both emerging and expert managers, executives and owners boost quantifiable job performance in various mission critical facets of business. Through AskRoxi.com, Roxi — “the Dear Abby of Leadership” — imparts invaluable free advice to managers and leaders at all levels, from the bullpen to the boardroom, to help them solve problems, become more effective and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

The StrategyDriven website was created to provide members of our community with insights to the actions that help create the shared vision, focus, and commitment needed to improve organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We look forward to answering your strategic planning and tactical business execution questions. Please email your questions to [email protected].

Sharon Drew Morgen, NYT Business Bestselling Author, Writes Column for StrategyDriven

/in /by

 
Sharon Drew Morgen joined StrategyDriven as a Principal Contributor and columnist. Morgen authored the NYTimes Business Bestseller, Selling with Integrity, and will offer StrategyDriven readers advice to help them think about the changes they need to make in order to achieve personal and professional excellence.
 
 
Sharon Drew MorgenNationally renowned executive coach, speaker and author, Sharon Drew Morgen offers StrategyDriven readers insights about how their individual biases cloud their ability to effectively communicate. Sharon Drew imparts invaluable advice to executives and managers at all levels: helping them solve problems, become more effective, and realize a higher measure of business and career success.

“We are thrilled to have Sharon Drew as part of the StrategyDriven team,” says Karen Juliano, StrategyDriven’s Editor-in-Chief. “Her extensive experience and unique perspectives brings invaluable insights to our readers on listening and communications.”

Through her column, Sharon Drew will help StrategyDriven readers overcome the biases hindering their communications so as to enable them to truly understand their impact on their people and organizations. Her articles will help readers boost performance in the mission critical facets of their business; including client communications, vision communications, negotiations, decision facilitation and sales.

About StrategyDriven

StrategyDriven provides executives and managers with the planning and execution advice, tools, and practices needed to create greater organizational alignment and accountability for the achievement of superior results. We believe a clear, forward-looking strategy, translatable to the day-to-day activities of all organization members, is critical to realizing success in today’s fast paced market environment. Not only does a compelling, well-executed strategy align individuals to common goals, it ensures those goals best serve the company’s mission.

At StrategyDriven, our seasoned business leaders deliver real-world strategic business planning and tactical execution best practice advice – a blending of workplace experience with sound research and academic principles – to business leaders who may not otherwise have access to these resources. StrategyDriven refers to the family of organizations comprising StrategyDriven Enterprises, LLC. For more information, please visit www.StrategyDriven.com.

Business Performance Assessment Program – Use of Experience

/in , /by

StrategyDriven Business Performance Assessment Program Principles ArticleRigorous business performance assessments rely not only on observable, quantifiable facts but also on the experience of those conducting and participating in the assessments. When properly applied, experience accelerates issue identification and deepens contributed insights. Experience, however, should not be represented as fact nor should it be used as the primary mechanism to combine otherwise unrelated facts when making the case for a performance strength or improvement opportunity.

Hi there! Gain access to this article with a FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription. It’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.

Sign-up now for your FREE StrategyDriven Insights Library – Sample Subscription

In addition to receiving access to Business Performance Assessment Program – Use of Experience, you’ll help advance your career and business programs through anytime, anywhere access to:

  • A sampling of dozens of Premium how-to documents across 7 business functions and 28 associated programs
  • 2,500+ Expert Contributor management and leadership articles
  • Expert advice provided via StrategyDriven’s Advisors Corner

Best of all, it’s FREE Forever with No Credit Card Required.

Access the Article Now!

Return to the Business Performance Assessment Program Forum

About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.

Really, “close” the sale? Eh, no Sparky. It’s “earn” the sale.

/in /by

It never ceases to amaze me how many people still ask me, “What’s the best way to close a sale?”

Other than cold calling and finding the pain, this is one of the biggest misconceptions in sales. It’s not a technique. It’s not a manipulation. It’s not something that you wait until the end of your presentation to do. It’s not something that requires intimate timing. You don’t have to be afraid of being rejected.

What you have to do is have an intelligent and engaging conversation with someone who is looking to buy you and your product or service – a conversation that involves value, a win for them, a visualized outcome, and an understanding that the sale is made emotionally and then justified logically.

That’s a far cry from ‘closing.’

MAJOR AHA! If the sale doesn’t start right, it will never end right.

“Close the sale” is the wrong thought process. The prospective customer is making his or her decision AS the sales call progresses.

If you’re really wanting to complete the sale – also known as getting the order and also known as creating an atmosphere in which the customer will buy – there are questions you must answer for yourself in order to increase the chances the sale can be yours.

CAUTION: When you ask yourself these questions, and your own answers come up short of mastery, it’s an indication of why you lose sales. The better and stronger you answer each one, the more likely you are to make the sale.

Think about your last ten sales calls, and ask yourself…

  • How prepared were you in terms of the customer?
  • How ready were you to make a sale?
  • How friendly were you?
  • How enthusiastic were you?
  • How emotionally engaging were you?
  • How intellectually engaging were you?
  • How self-confident were you?
  • How relatable were you?
  • How compelling was your presentation?
  • How different were you perceived to be?
  • How valuable were you perceived to be?
  • How believable were you?
  • How trustworthy were you perceived to be?

Close the sale? No! It’s not an action. It’s a culmination and sum total of the elements that makes a favorable decision possible.

The close of a sale is a delicate balance between your words and deeds, and their thoughts and perceptions. And a sale is ALWAYS made – either you sell them on yes, or they sell you on no.

SECRET: You give me a prepared, friendly, enthusiastic, emotionally-engaging, intellectually-engaging, unique, valuable, compelling, believable, self-confident, relatable, trustworthy salesperson… And I’LL GIVE YOU A SALE! No close needed.

It is NOT the responsibility of the salesperson to CLOSE the sale.
It is the responsibility of the salesperson to engage the prospect.

It is not the responsibility of the salesperson to CLOSE the sale.
It is the responsibility of the salesperson to prove value to the prospect.

It is not the responsibility of the salesperson to CLOSE the sale.
It is the responsibility of the salesperson to prove differentiation to the prospect.

It is not the responsibility of the salesperson to CLOSE the sale.
It is the responsibility of the salesperson to EARN the sale.

There have been more words written about closing the sale than any other aspect of the selling process or the sales cycle. Most of it is manipulative rubbish. Most of it centers on your ability to push the prospect into a corner and make them feel pressured to make a decision. That pressure will often result in a no, or some kind of stall that will ultimately result in a no.

I’ve just given you an accurate dose of just who is responsible for making a sale, and how it should be completed.

NOTE WELL: By using this approach to selling you have just eliminated all of the silly objections and stalls. Price too high, need to think it over, we all meet next week and will decide then, call me next Tuesday, send me a proposal, yada, yada, yada.

Yes, I too have written a ton of information on “closing the sale.” You can find it in The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling, The 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling, and various blog posts and webinars. All of that information is in harmony with my philosophy: zero manipulation and build a trusting relationship.

THE KEY: Be comfortable with yourself. If you’re in a selling situation and you aren’t feeling the love, or feeling the comfort, or feeling the relationship, or feeling the mutual communication then the best thing to do is back off, and be truthful. Truth will win you more sales than manipulation. All you have to do to change and improve your outcome is change your mindset from ‘close’ to ‘earn.’

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].