Career Management Alliance Blog

Two careers industry professionals blogged last week about the fine art of storytelling in job search.

Abby Locke of Premier Writing Solutions talked about using stories incorporating the STARS approach (Situation — Task — Action — Result) to nail a behavioral-style interview.

“Hiring managers do not want hypothetical answers, they want the facts – supporting evidence, clear examples, proof of performance”.

Kathy Hansen, over at A Storied Career, explained why using storytelling to marketing oneself in job search works the way companies use stories to market their products.

“Just as customers are inclined to participate when they can see themselves in marketing stories, employers are inclined to participate (by hiring the candidate) when they see themselves in the job-seeker’s story”.

Storytelling is one of those common sense job search tools. When a job seeker presents a few career success stories in their resume and the interview process, hiring decision makers can see their company in the job seeker’s story. The stories offer tangible proof of that candidate’s potential value to the company – just what she is capable of and how she will make things happen.

Posted by Meg Guiseppi

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In our turbulent economy, U.S. companies are aggressively seeking competitive advantages in the increasingly diverse local and global marketplaces. It is a matter of not only growth, but for many, survival. These companies are not likely to be successful unless they understand the cultures and languages of their customers and employees. Multicultural experiences and / or language skills are very critical business assets employers are seeking in order to thrive in this new business landscape.

How can you communicate your multicultural experiences and / or language skills as an asset? First, you must convince yourself these attributes are advantageous and worthy of consideration.

Therese Droste, a Washington D.C. based career columnist, suggests writing a list of benefits you bring to the workplace. Below are few examples that have appeared on lists developed by clients and our readers:

• My language skills will be used to resolve cultural or language conflicts or problems between customers and colleagues.
• Being multicultural or multilingual demonstrates I can adjust my style to different people and situations. 
• Being multicultural or multilingual indicates I have experienced looking at problems and opportunities from different perspectives.
• Being multicultural or multilingual indicates I think before I act.
• Being multicultural or multilingual means I know how it feels to be misunderstood, and I also know what it takes to reverse misunderstandings.
• My accent will be seen as an additional competence that helps me communicate better with colleagues and customers from diverse backgrounds.
• I understand leadership and creative solutions within the context of my diversity.

The next step is to take that list you made and match them with positive experiences in your life in which your multicultural background or multilingual abilities helped you resolve a problem or communicate better with another person. It’s similar to creating a life resume. Yet because so many of our life experiences become distant memories, you have to ponder the past, target such situations and write them down. Your multicultural assets must be presented in a manner that proves that you can help drive a company’s business goals.

Let’s say you’re asked in an interview how you would deal with a problem situation with a colleague or customer. You could preface your answer with: “Partly because I know how it feels to have the shoe on the other foot…” and then fill in the rest with a specific example of how your background helped you solve a similar problem. Simply put, you provide the employer with an example of how you used your experiences as a multicultural and / or multilingual person to solve a past business problem or show how your skills helped you in a previous job. We suggest you read Be the S.T.A.R. of Your Next Job Interview and use the article’s worksheet to prepare your answers.

Once you’ve convinced yourself of how valuable your skills are, you will articulate them better and gain an employer’s confidence.

Posted by Murray A. Mann

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Your job interview is going just as you envisioned and prepared for. You think you’ve nailed it. Then you’re blindsided with an illegal, inappropriate, or offensive question.  Minorities, women, people with disabilities, and immigrants are more likely to encounter this dilemma.  

So what do you do if it happens to you? 

We recommend reading Emily Sanderson’s detailed post How to Answer Questionable Questions in a Job Interview. “Whether the question is legal or not, you still might have an incentive to answer it,” says Bill Coleman, senior vice president and chief compensation officer at Salary.com. . .”  

What if you believe that this is not a totally insensitive, discriminatory interviewer, but that the person slipped up in the phrasing of the question? Perhaps you are truly interested in this company, and feel that the interviewer’s insensitivity or inappropriateness may not be representative of the employer as a whole. On the other hand, you may believe that the interview does reflect the company’s treatment of people of different backgrounds.

This delicate situation becomes a real balancing act. We recommend that you choose to address these questions in a manner that supports your best interest in securing a job that fits your values and goals.  

While you can’t control the questions that are asked, you do control how you respond. Think about how you might TRIUMPH™ over illegal, inappropriate, or offensive questions by using the simple options below.

Take a step back; evaluate the question and the situation.

Respond to the question directly.

Identify the intent behind the question and respond indirectly with an answer that relates to the requirements of the position.

Upstage and ignore the question by redirecting the conversation.

Mention the error diplomatically.

Politely refuse to answer the question.

Hit the road. Gracefully and professionally excuse yourself.

To see examples for implementing the TRIUMPH™ strategy go to Diversity Intelligence . Posted by Murray A. Mann

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“Worn out phrases and longing gazes won’t get you where you want to go, no!” If you’re a Boomer reading this, you’ll probably know who sang those words in the 60’s and 70’s; I just checked with my Millenial offspring and they don’t have a clue. In any event, my client was sharing with me some of his ‘pet peeves’ regarding candidates he interviews. He encouraged me as a career coach to puh-leeze tell job seekers to avoid tired, overworked, and annoying words when discussing their credentials for a job. Do you use any of these words on this list of Buzzwords Gone Bad?

posted by: billie sucher

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An interesting point arose in a mock interview session I held with a client today. I like to begin by asking, “What questions are you concerned about, or what answers have you already thought of that you’re less than 100% confident about?” The client’s response was, “I’ve been thinking about my answer to ‘What brings you here today?’”

“OK,” I said, “So what have you come up with thus far?”

“I’m applying for the job you had posted on Monster.com as a special education administrator.”

Period?

Period.

Then I brought the mock interview to a halt. “Let’s take that answer up to another level, shall we? Why are you excited about potentially getting this job?”

Oh, my goodness, the answer flooded out of the client’s mouth. “Special education is something I was turned on to several years ago when I worked for an extended period in a special education setting.” “I was exposed to children with all different types of learning styles and educational challenges.” “I decided then to pursue an advanced degree in this field.” “I see this job as my opportunity to really apply my expertise in a wide variety of ways.”

Whew! I said, “Well, isn’t that what brings you here today? Let’s incorporate all of THAT into your answer!”

The moral of the story is, when interviewing, and quite frankly, when developing your resume, please back away from the static, typical answer. Find your passion. Tell your story. Speak from your heart. That’s how you make the employer really stand up and take notice.

Posted by Jewel Bracy Demaio

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Carmine Gallo, contributor to BusinessWeek and a communications coach and author, recently reiterated his compelling suggestion that “the most exciting business ideas fit on the back of an airplane napkin.” How does this relate to career changers, job seekers, and career professionals? Let’s compare the vision to the brand…

The vision can be compared to a clearly articulated branding statement that appears at the top of your resume and on the tip of your tongue. Gallo makes the point that a vision is not a mission statement. The mission statement resembles a narrative profile; both may use too many words and can be lost on the “About” page of a a web site. Yet the vision statement is economical: it is “simple, memorable, and concise.”Some examples of “concise, profound visions:”

1. Larry Page & Segey Brin’s vision: “Google provides access to the world’s information in one click.”
2. John Chambers: “Cisco changes the way we live, work, play and learn.”
3. Bill Gates & his father to Steve Ballmer: “MS is going to put a computer on every desk in every home”
4. Doug Ducey, projected that: “Cold Stone Creamery would become the ultimate ice cream experience”

Articulate your brand with similar verbal enthusiasm; try to create a kinetic or visual image; make it clear that your brand delivers ROI. Be sure that your statement is the “hook” that enables you to tell the rest of your story in a way that encourages others to join the brand-wagon. If you tell it, they will embrace it.

Posted by Karen P. Katz 

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Occasionally, I am asked to speak to college graduates about the “reality” of a job search. The rules I present to grads are useful to any job seeker.

• Don’t speak to strangers, and that includes HR
• No one thinks you are as interesting (or as smart) as you do
• No one cares about your career but your mom

Don’t speak to strangers…
As a former HR wench, I can say HR is the gatekeeper (and we are good!), and you must try to avoid them to get in the door of your dream company. Contact the department manager or anyone in a decision making position outside of HR.

No one thinks you’re interesting…
A rule to remember when you are networking and interviewing. Keep your responses simple, direct, and short. Listen as well as speak. Be interested in others and ask questions to open a dialogue.

No one cares about your career…
The days of expecting a manager or company to keep your best interests in mind are long gone. The days of mailing out resumes and sitting back to wait for the calls to pile up never were productive. You must be willing to make contacts, follow up, and document your achievements when you do land a job.

OK, these rules might not be as practical as the clean underwear thing, but moms can’t be experts in everything!

Posted by Faith Sheaffer-Thornberry

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At the Kennedy Recruiting
Conference in Orlando, FL earlier this week, I sat in on a Q&A
session with four recruiters representing both contingency and retained
search firms. All agreed that the most desirable candidates:

1. have a polished elevator pitch and an enthusiastic delivery.
2. discuss what they have done, (accomplishments) not what they do (tasks).
3. use a reverse-chronological format for their resume.

They went on to say that the best interviewees:

1. are completely honest.
2. ask questions throughout the interview to create a dialogue.
3. limit their responses to one or two minutes.
4. never bring up salary in an interview with a hiring manager.
5. let the hiring manager know they are interested in the position.

Barbara Safani

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Getting an interview is a big deal and for sure, it’s hard work to land one in today’s competitive market. Having said that, when you do get such an opportunity, make sure that what you’ve been told by “insiders” is factual, and not a “rumor.”

My friend submitted a resume for his “dream job.” Prior to doing so, he scouted around for somebody who knew somebody within the organization. Good move, smart move. Internal contact…potential information generator. He was told by his “internal source” that even if he was granted an interview, rumor had it they’d already made their pick…an internal candidate named “Jane Doe.”

A couple of days went by and my friend got a call; he’d been selected for an interview. Courtesy interview or not, my friend went because of the stellar reputation of the employer. When he arrived, he was greeted by none other than Jane Doe, the very person slated to get the job, according to “inside sources.” As it turned out, Jane Doe announced to him that in fact she was relocating to another state and would be “sitting in on the interview.”

Bottom line, the “insider information” was inaccurate. While well-intentioned, the source simply didn’t have all the facts and communicated erroneous information to my friend. Moral of story: get the facts – straight from the horse’s mouth.

Posted by: billie sucher

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It seems to be a Law of the Universe: The phone call you’ve been hoping for will come at the least convenient time.

Maybe you’re just coming into the house and you grab the phone on the last ring. You’re out of breath and slightly distracted. Or you’re leaving the house, your mind focused on the activity you’re headed off to, when you turn back to get the phone, “just in case.” Maybe your kids are fighting in the background. Or, as a client of mine experienced, the call comes on your cell phone and you’re in a noisy grocery store aisle. Or driving.

All too often you’re caught off guard and you don’t have the presence of mind to handle the call as you would have if you had been expecting the call at that moment. Fortunately, the solution is easy and effective: Tell the caller you’d be happy to talk, but ask if could you put them on hold for just a minute so you can go to another room and take the call where there are fewer distractions.

They’ll say yes - they always do - and you’ve bought yourself a couple of minutes to catch your breath, clear your head, and organize your thoughts. Then,

• If you’re at home, find your job search files so you can quickly refresh your memory about this particular company and the position you applied for, and get your appointment book along with paper and pen to jot down a few notes while you talk.
• If you’re on your cell phone, stop whatever you were doing (pull off the road, please), and go someplace quiet where you get good reception. If you have the option to call back immediately from a landline, do so to minimize the risk of annoying the caller due to static or a poor connection. Get pen and paper ready.

Take a deep breath. Smile. Now you’re ready to return to the phone with a clear head and in command of the conversation. You can ask the caller to repeat any information you didn’t catch initially (because of the distractions you mentioned earlier), and after that, you’re off and running. For more information on acing the phone interview, check out the article from Anne Fisher, found on CNNMoney.

If you expect the unexpected, you won’t be caught off guard.

posted by Wendy Gelberg

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