Congratulations, you’ve made it past the first hurdle.
You’ve gotten past the gatekeepers, resume screeners, candidate tracking systems, and have gotten a call or email that someone would actually like to talk to you about hiring you for a job that they have open.
So Dave did a phenomenal job with part 1 and part 2 of “How not to suck at Interviewing for a Job” but as things happen in the world, things change and I wanted to add a couple things I thought were common sense, but I find out they are not…
1. Don’t drop the F-bomb in an interview.
Yeah, I thought this was pretty common knowledge, but as I find out…not so much.
For the sake of public mockery, I will keep the names out of it, but in short, I connected a friend of mine to a very well respected recruiter and good friend of itinthed.com since I thought my friend would be an ideal fit for a position they were looking for.
This position would have been life changing for this person, considering their career path to date has been lackluster, however he/she could have relished in this “break”.
Well, as it turns out, he nailed the first interview, killed it. If it wasn’t for protocol, they would have hired him/her on the spot. But he/she needed to interview with 3 more peers to make everything official.
Peer 1, nailed it.
Peer 2, did great.
Peer 3…Peer 3 my friend thought was a beer buddy and dropped the F— word. The word. The queen mother. The big kahuna.
And in one fell swoop, it was nice knowing you.
2. Use spell check.
Again, thought it was common sense. Thought this was pretty much general knowledge in the business world. Look for all words with a red underline, right click, and voila! The right spelling!
But no.
I realize everyone’s grammar sucks these days. I could understand (or maybe not) you’re/your, their/they’re/there because spell check doesn’t catch it.
But “opportunity”?
Really? The one thing you are getting and you MISSPELL it?!
You sir, as they say, get the finger.
3. Write and email a 30-60-90 day plan a week after your final interview.
So you interviewed with the recruiter, the hiring manager, 3 peers and the hiring manager again. What is going to set you apart?
A 5-6 page business plan. In Powerpoint, with their logo, or even better – use Google to find their corporate template if they are big enough of a company.
Outline your skills, a relationship map, what you hope to accomplish after 30, 60 and 90 days and then sum up your skills.
This my friends is the best thing you could ever do if you want to land a job you really want. It shows you have initiative, it relays your presentation and professional ability and it shows you will go the extra mile to get what you want.
I think you have more than enough ammunition now not to suck at a job interview. Our work here is done, you may now go out into the world…
Until next time.