Interview Do’s

1) Visit the company’s website to get a sense of its products, services, and marketplace.

2) Spend at least an hour reviewing your portfolio, especially the pieces the hiring manager has asked you to bring (see above). Remind yourself of your contributions to the projects so that you can discuss them confidently.

Also, ensure that your work contains no errors (typographic, formatting, etc) that would reflect badly on your professionalism. Make notes about what you would improve about each piece, then use them when discussing its strengths and shortcomings. People who recognize suboptimal situations, take responsibility for the deficiencies of their work, and learn from their experience, are much more likely to be hired.

3) Make a list of questions you’d like answered at the interview (see our article, “Asking the Right Questions”), and bring this list with you. Candidates who don’t ask questions about the department, the company, their peers, their near- and longer-term responsibilities, the tools they’ll use, and so on, generally do not appear interested in the job and are seldom offered it.

4) If you’re interviewing for a position that leverages several of your demonstrated strengths and are confident that you both understand and possess the core skills to do the job, we recommend preparing a short verbal spiel that summarizes your accomplishments relative to (your understanding of) the job’s requirements. If you can — in no more than three minutes — tell an interviewer who you are, what you’ve done that’s relevant to what you think they need, and where you’d like to make a contribution, you’ve done their job for them. They’ll appreciate that!

Here’s the reason: most interviewers don’t scrutinize your resume before they meet you and don’t know what questions to ask. If you can ‘frame the discussion’ on your terms (without becoming pushy or arrogant), you’re almost certain not only to relieve their anxiety but to earn their gratitude and gain their trust.

All you need do — *once you feel you have a good understanding of the interviewer’s requirements* — is to offer to summarize your resume for them. How many people will say ‘no thanks, I’ve already got 30 minutes’ worth of questions for you’? Suddenly, you’ve got control of the interview. Now all you do is tell them:

a) what you imagine they need done and what kind of skills you believe the right candidate must have to succeed,
b) what you’ve done — and, just as importantly — what you hope to do (that’s relevant to their needs), and
c) emphasize your strengths and how complementary they are to (your understanding of) the company’s goals

If you can show passion, together with humility and calm self-confidence, the worst the interviewer will do is correct your understanding of the position’s requirements — giving you an opportunity to re-address them specifically. (Of course, if you are highly-judgmental and unalterably opinionated with regard to your skills being more valuable than the ones necessary for the job, it’ll be a very short interview….)

The danger of *not* framing the interview on your terms — that is, of ceding control of the interview — is that many interviewers are poor communicators and are anxious about evaluating your credentials. They therefore display the classic ‘fear what you do not understand’ response. Because they don’t understand your role or abilities and do not know how to find common ground, they’ll retreat, turn off their imaginations and any sense of empathy they might otherwise have felt, and start looking for the flaw that convinces them that *you don’t understand them* and are therefore unworthy to join their team.

Think about this for a moment — wouldn’t you do the same thing if you were interviewing?

Regardless of whether you take our advice and frame the interview to reflect well on your accomplishments, your job in the interview is to address your interviewers’ apprehension. In order to pass muster, you must help them understand what you can do to make them look good, and how you’ve succeeded in similar situations in the past. Anticipate their concerns so as to make it unnecessary for them to ask.

5) Get plenty of sleep before your interview. If an interviewer perceives that you’re inattentive, they won’t ask you why — they’ll just assume that you’re bored. For interviewers, perception is reality.

6) Bring at least two (2) clean copies of your resume, and arrive *early* to the interview. Some companies require you to fill out an application form before the interview, so be at least 10 minutes early. With most application forms, you needn’t answer all the company’s questions — just attach a copy of your resume, and fill in the missing information. If the application form asks for your salary history and you choose to omit that information, just write in “call” (or something similar) to indicate that you didn’t ignore the instructions but instead wish to discuss those details in confidence and after you’ve learned more about the position.

7) Dress up.

It’s seldom appropriate for women to wear heels and hose for anything but the first interview, but it’s worth proving that you can (at least once). In general, you won’t draw the wrong kind of attention to yourself if you wear conservative (and matching or complementary) colors, unprovocative styles, minimal makeup, and low heels. Interviews are the wrong place to make a fashion statement or demonstrate the ‘expressiveness’ of your wardrobe, so please leave the purple pantsuit with matching beret at home.

At the very least, men should wear a clean, unwrinkled, unlogo’d shirt with a collar, pants (not shorts or jeans) that have a discernible crease, and relatively well-cared-for leather shoes (not sandals, boots, or cross-trainers). For a first interview, a sports jacket and tie are entirely appropriate, but a three-piece suit is overkill.

If you need to keep your interviews a secret from your current employer or client, change clothes enroute to or from the interview. Hotels, banks, clothing stores, and even (selected) gas stations have rest- or changing rooms with mirrors so that you can transform your appearance as desired.

Engage your audience. Make steady eye contact, especially when you’re speaking. Uncross your legs and arms, and turn your body to face your interviewer. Smile. Show some passion — people trust passion. Pay close attention to what your interviewers say. Answer their questions *clearly and succinctly*, then ask if they’d like more information. Anticipate their concerns and address them concisely. Give examples that prove your points. Share personal opinions only when they’re relevant.

Even when your interviewer is entranced in a monologue, make it a dialog — volunteer evidence of your interest, understanding, sympathy, and experience. Interspersed comments such as “Boy, I’ve been there”, “That sounds really interesting,” “I’d love to be involved with that kind of a project,” or “I’m sure I could help improve that situation” usually leave the interviewer with a positive impression of your abilities and interests. Sometimes simply nodding and giving the occasional “uh-huh” is enough to show your enthusiasm and awareness.

9) Always ask questions that demonstrate your familiarity with and interest in the subject being discussed (see our article, “Asking the Right Questions). An interested but under-qualified candidate will be hired almost as readily as a qualified but passive one.

10) Ask your interviewers for their business cards. Even if you’re not sure you want to work there, send each interviewer email to thank them for their time and interest in your services, as well as for sharing their perspectives.

It’s a very small world, and you or your resume will likely cross these interviewers’ paths again. You can only improve your chances of being hired (now and in the future) if you show courtesy, interest, and enthusiasm.

Interview Don’ts

1) Don’t be late.

2) Don’t criticize former colleagues, employers, or clients. Badmouthing almost always backfires on the badmouther. At the very least, it proves that you can’t be trusted not to disparage your peers and managers in the future.

3) Don’t forget your portfolio. Unless this is a second- or third-round interview and you *know* you won’t be speaking with anyone you’ve not already met, don’t even think about showing up without past examples of your work. This rule does not apply to entry-level positions and professions that don’t foster portfolio growth, such as retail or administrative positions.

4) Don’t dress for failure. Show your prospective employer that you are willing to make an effort to impress — and that you know that appearances count. You’ll never lose points for being better dressed than your interviewer, especially on a first-round interview.

5) Don’t just sit there. Don’t yawn, look bored, or look at your watch. Don’t let your answers ramble or wander off topic. And don’t blame, judge, or let yourself become defensive.

6) If asked a question about an area in which you have experience, don’t change your opinion halfway through a response. It inspires infinitely more confidence in your skills if you disagree politely with the interviewer’s opinion. Reconsidering an answer, unless the interviewer changes the parameters of the question, will be taken as evidence that you lack authority and aren’t the expert they expected. (An added bonus is that you get to see how the interviewer deals with conflict.)

7) Don’t discuss money. Interviews are stressful — even when they go well — and the hiring manager’s job is to balance your potential contribution with the cost of your services. Most will ask you “what’s your rate?” or “what kind of salary are you looking for?” before you’ve had the chance to inform yourself about:

a) the value of the total compensation package — which for staff opportunities may include raises, bonuses (sign-on and performance-related), training, subsidized education, stock options, vacation time (and even sabbaticals), as well as insurance (medical, dental, vision, and so on) and retirement plans

b) the compensation available at similar companies for similar opportunities

c) your qualifications relative to other candidates the hiring manager has interviewed (which may or may not correlate with the hiring manager’s level of interest in those candidates)

Answering the “how much?” question with a specific number or too narrow a range will almost always work against you. Shoot high and the hiring manager may think you unrealistic and insatiable. Aim low and you’ll undermine your ability to negotiate more later on.

When asked about your expected compensation, try replying with one or more of the following:

a) “I really haven’t thought about it yet — the reason I was interested in the position is because of its location / responsibilities / industry. Now that I’ve met with you and your team, I’m even more interested, although money is certainly a factor. What do you think would be fair for someone with my experience and abilities?”

b) “I know the maximum rate/salary listed in the job description, and I know the compensation available from other companies to which I’ve applied (or with which I’ve interviewed), but I need to educate myself more completely about this opportunity and at least think about it overnight before I can give you an appropriate number.”

c) “Money’s not my only consideration, but maybe it’ll help you to know that I’ve been interviewing for positions in the range of $X to $Y. I think my skills are worth a lot more than I’m currently making to the right company, but I can be pragmatic if nonmonetary factors make an offer compelling.”

d) “Let me answer that by asking you a question: ‘If I were hired and then, later on, found out I was making too little or received an (unsolicited) offer from a similar company to do identical work, would I be granted a raise?’” Most hiring managers will answer ‘no’. Then you say, “I didn’t think so. And I’d hate for either of us to be in that situation — which is why it makes sense for me to do some more homework before I give you an answer.”

In summary, being asked for ‘your price’ always results in a high-stakes game of chicken. It’s a test of your character as well as of how well-prepared you are. You can keep your cool and respond sensibly, or you can lose it — either getting lost in self-doubt and selling out for too little, or getting lost in ego and appearing greedy.

A word of warning to those prone to the latter course: greed will almost always work against you — even if you’re hired, you’ll be resented. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that a company’s interest in making you an offer automatically means that it’s willing to pay you the maximum advertised price. Unless you are perfect for the job in every way possible, you’ll find that humility pays serious dividends.

Don’t let down your guard. It’s a bad idea to get too familiar with interviewers, even if “everything went really well” and you’re just chatting with your potential colleague or manager in the lobby, on the phone, or by email. Careless interviewees often lose jobs they wanted and for which they were well-qualified because they sent the company overconfident or otherwise upsetting signals — an arrogant remark, a typo-ridden note, a disparaging comment about a colleague, manager, or even a political figure, an intolerant opinion or bias, expletive-laced voicemail, inappropriate ad-hominem criticisms, or unreasonable compensation demands (see above).

Cancelling an Interview

You should do all you can to avoid cancelling an interview fewer than 24 hours before it is scheduled. The only acceptable exception is if you’ve *already accepted another position* and would therefore be wasting the other company’s time.

If you decide you’re not really interested in an opportunity less than a day before you’re due to interview for it, but aren’t yet formally committed to another company, we strongly suggest that you keep an open mind — and the appointment. A ’sure thing’ often does not come through as anticipated, and it never hurts to have alternatives — no one can have enough allies, and no one works anywhere forever.

Regardless, cancelling an interview at the last minute is often perceived as thoughtless and rude so, if you don’t want to burn your bridges, at least call or email the company to explain your situation. They’ll appreciate your courtesy and understanding that their time is valuable.

Here’s a great article with 5 tips to calm your nerves and make sure your first day sets the right tone.

Here’s a snippet from the article, and my subsequent retort as to why we should redefine the criteria for a job gap:

“Let’s say you left one job, and then had 3-6 months of down time before securing your next job. In this situation, your primary concern is that the employer will have a suspicion that you were fired from the previous position. The conventional logic is that good people get recruited to their next position; therefore they don’t have gaps in their work history.”

Before you’re scared into thinking you’re a “bad candidate”, let’s challenge the definition of a job gap by this author’s standards.

In my world as both a job seeker and career counselor, a time period of 3-6 months of unemployment should not be considered a job gap. Perhaps 10-15 years ago this was true when we could rely on our company to stick around for a while, give us a pension, promote us consistently, and send a turkey at Thanksgiving. But nowadays, so-called job gaps of 3-6 months are on everyone’s resume. And, quite frankly, they should be.

Job searches, even conducted by “good candidates” with the help of a seasoned career coach take 6 months or more. Especially when we’re waiting to find a job that actually fits us. Just because we’re not working for 3-6 months doesn’t mean we didn’t get any offers for work or that we didn’t get approached by enthusiastic recruiters.

In fact, an employer should look at 3-6 months of in-between time as a good thing–a sign that a job candidate has taken the time to reassess their goals and value offering to come up with the next step in their career. This is the type of employee that has staying power, one who will stick around….even if the company doesn’t reciprocate such loyalty.

That said, when your career moratorium exceeds a year, you probably have some explaining to do–explaining you can do on your resume and of course in the interview.

Let’s cut us all a break and admit that work is no longer a linear process where one job leads to the next in a logical and predictable sequence. We’re constantly having to reinvent ourselves, even if we’re staying with the same career. Again, this type of behavior should be applauded, not condemned. Introspective, patient, future-focused job candidates make the best employees but to foster these attributes in ourselves, we need some time between jobs, to do research, redo some self-assessments, network with new and old contacts, and complete formal and informal training.

Put another way, these job gaps that appear on our resumes are most often NOT OUR FAULT as employees, and yet we’re still put on the defensive in the interview to explain them. Perhaps hiring staff need our help in reminding them of this: Time off is not necessarily time squandered.

Stay on the BrightSide.

You read correctly: Career expenses, including fees incurred for career counseling, professional resume writing, and job-search coaching, are tax-deductible for everone with only a few exceptions:

Your are NOT eligible for career-related tax deductions if:

1. You’re looking for your very first job
2. You’re looking for a job in a different line of work
3. You’re looking for a job after a substantial break from your last job

Otherwise, you’re golden.

According to IRS Publication 529–which deals primarily with job-search expenses–a job seeker can deduct certain expenses related to looking for a new job, EVEN IF he/she never actually lands a new job. These expenses should be listed as “miscellaneous itemized deductions” on Schedule A (Form 1040)

Check with Publication 529 from the IRS to see just how much you’re allowed to deduct.

Among the approved expenses are

• Resume Services. Eligible fees include costs to pay a professional to develop your resume as well as paper, ink, and mailing expenses.
• Career Consultants & Outplacement Agencies. Hourly charges and packaged prices for personal assessments, counseling, coaching, consulting, advice-giving, and the like are all tax deductible.
• Travel & Relocation Expenses. Any trips, including international trips, airfare, hotels, and car rentals are tax deductible as long as they’re related to your job search. Relocation expenses for a family move are acceptable as well as long as it’s due to your job situation changing. Even the (overpriced) gas you put in your car and your mileage is fair game–if only to drive across town for an interview. Check IRS Publication 463 for more on these rates.

The government wants you to get back to work doing what you do best to make a contribution at the city, state, and/or national level.

Take them up on their offer. Hire a professional to help sort you out and expedite your journey back to employment.

Stay on the BrightSide.

The key is recognizing and remembering that your work experience can play a *supportive* role as well as a leadership role with organizations. The two need not be mutually exclusive.

If you’re over 50, you’ve probably had the experience of being labeled as overqualified. And in response to this unwanted job-search slur, you’ve probably done what any intelligent, ambitious individual would do: Dumb yourself down (on your résumé, at the very least).

A good move but what’s this do to your career confidence?

If today’s market is telling you repeatedly via carefully worded form-letter rejection emails, “We don’t care about your lifetime achievements or your obsolete business management model”, it’s no wonder a breech in your armor develops.

As an “over 50″ job candidate, you have a unique challenge to grapple with–and unfortunately this wrestling match often occurs in a very public arena: The Interview.

The main event?: A paradoxical tug of war which stems out of your being told you’re overqualified but feeling dramatically underqualified.

You’re overqualified because of the simple length of your resume, the style of your suit, color of your hair, and lingo in your business repertoire–or so they tell you.

You’re underqualified because you may lack some understanding of today’s rapidly evolving technologies, flattened infrastructure, and business culture.

As you sit there in the interview staring back at your Gen X boss-to-be in his hybrid sneaker-sandals and ironic T-shirt, you’re torn between standing up and screaming “I could do your job in my sleep” and humbly whispering “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Coming to terms with this paradox (before you enter the interview) is an essential component to building back your career confidence.

The next step–and no small feat–is to figure out how your strengths (i.e. what you can teach) *as well as* your weaknesses (i.e. what you can learn) match up with your targeted companies. It’s important to know both of these aspects of your professional self prior to your job search, and it’s important to know how to present them to your next employer—on paper and in person.

Stay on the BrightSide.

• I am too old
• I’ve never managed anyone directly
• I don’t have Microsoft Excel experience
• I have a job gap from 2002-2004

You’ll never see these above items on a resume because the purpose of the resume is to put your best foot (or feet) forward and to downplay your potential weaknesses.

Adding an easy reference to your age is the same thing as saying “I am an older adult.” Unfortunately, this can be viewed as a weakness by many hiring managers and recruiters.

Let me be clear: Don’t put your graduate date down unless it’s within the last 10 years or will be obtained within the next 2 years. As long as you have dates for your experience, your candidacy will not be dismissed simply for leaving out a graduation date.

Recruiters may tell you to include the graduation date and to “just be direct and honest about your age” but they don’t have as much to lose–that being the interview, your interview. And your interview is your chance to help the hiring manager get past his/her prejudices. Everyone limits him or herself through stereotypes–which originate as part of basic survival skills. People—all people—generalize and categorize to make their life easier (and in some cases safer). And we all miss out on great opportunities by holding to these beliefs.

Recruiters succeed because of their talent in matchmaking, which is why they’ll encourage you to include your age (so that you can find an employer who prefers hiring older workers and a true-love match can be found). Just remember, that some employers may need a little more help in seeing the match. Oftentimes older workers’ enthusiasm, loyalty, and work ethic far exceed that of the younger competition but it’s only in the interview where these attributes can truly shine.

As long as your skills are updated, your mind is open, your ego is checked, and your health is satisfactory–you’ll win the employer over in the long run.

Stay on the BrightSide.

1. If prompted for compensation requirements before the interview, avoid giving a “ball park” figure. Instead say, “I’d like to find out more about this position and the needs of the company before we talk about salary.”
2. If probed for salary information during or immediately following the interview, politely decline by saying “I’ve learned a lot in meeting with you and I remain interested. However, I’d like some time to fully digest our discussion. Is ____ soon enough to get back to you so that I’m still in the running?”
3. If you’re pressured repeatedly to give your salary requirements and you see no way around supplying an answer, try this: “I’m looking at positions that fall within the $____ and $____ salary range.” This comment will satisfy the hiring manager’s demands while leaving yourself with some breathing room to negotiate later. But most importantly, you’ll be subtly volleying the pressure back onto the hiring manager’s side of the table by insinuating there are forthcoming offers from competing organizations.

Remember the age-old rule of negotiation. He who speaks first, loses. So if you must speak, make sure your answer is general enough to force your prospective employer to show some of the cards in their hand.

Stay on the BrightSide.

1. Generally speaking, your references should include at least one supervisor, a peer, and (if appropriate) a direct report, client, or contact from a partnering organization. Never supply a prospective employer with less than three references.

2. References should attest to—and be able to elaborate upon—the skills you’ve claimed in your interviews. In particular, be sure to supply references who can discuss your reliability, intelligence, adaptability, conscientiousness, productivity, resourcefulness, and ability to handle responsibility.
If you’ve claimed to have a rare and valuable skill, such as mental telepathy or the ability to translate Japanese into Afrikaans, provide at least one reference who can confirm that you do indeed possess this skill.

3. It’s important that the references you supply have worked directly with you and that they know the details of your job duties. You might be surprised to learn how many of your co-workers are unaware of what it is that you do all day!

4. Keep it local. Whenever possible, use references who live and work in close proximity to your prospective employer.

5. It’s critical that you tell your references in advance that you’re looking for work and would like them to supply a reference for you. Tell them what tasks you anticipate the new job will involve, and indicate which of your skills you expect to be relevant.

Do this in a face-to-face conversation or, if that’s not possible, over the phone. Please, for your own sake, do not do this by email unless you’re absolutely certain you can count on this person saying only positive things about you relative to the responsibilities you’ll have in this new position.

Why? Because you’ll miss the opportunity to witness their reaction to your request for help. If you sense any discomfort or hesitation on their part about giving you a reference, we strongly advise that you DO NOT use them. Our experience is that such people’s anxiety is conveyed in their voices and body language, and hiring managers (telepathic beings that they are) pick up on it, probe deeper, and invariably discover unflattering truths.

6. Verify all of the information your references provide for you. Make sure the phone numbers are current, and that their outgoing messages are clear, professional, and distinguishable. Ideally, you’ll want direct phone numbers for each reference. However, if they can only be contacted through a switchboard, make sure their extension is included and valid. The same goes for email addresses; make sure they’re current. Send a ‘thank you’ email to your references; it’s a good way to ensure the address is current, and they’ll certainly appreciate your gratitude!

Why all this double-checking? Because there’s nothing worse than enduring weeks and sometimes months of grueling interviews, only to be rejected at the last minute due to defunct contact information for one of your references. We’ve seen it happen. Despite all the ‘warm fuzzies’ you created in your interview, a busy hiring manager may penalize you for wasting his or her time.

7. Some people, especially colleagues who are still employed at the company where they worked with you, will tell you that they’re sorry but they can’t give you a reference. They’ll cite company policy about having to refer such inquiries to Human Resource representatives, who in turn will only tell callers the dates during which you worked at the company and what your title was when you left.

If this is the case, your references are telling you one of two things, and it’s important that you guess correctly.

• The first option is that they’re reluctant to be questioned because they hold negative opinions about you or your work. Under these circumstances, accept that this person will be (at best) an ineffective advocate for your cause and drop the matter immediately. No amount of education, persuasion, or bribery will change their minds; it’ll only annoy them. Another reason not to persist: companies are routinely sued for wrongful defamation when aggrieved ex-employees learn that a current employee provided negative information about them.
• The second option is that the person fears being overheard and reprimanded by ‘the authorities’ for breaking the ‘never give a reference for an ex-employee’ rule.

If you believe a person in category ‘b’ would provide a positive and persuasive reference, simply ask if the hiring manager can call him or her at home, after hours. If he or she agrees readily, you’re safe. Express your gratitude and ‘sign them up’ (being sure to get their home number and an idea of when they prefer to be called). If, on the other hand, they continue to express reservations, desist immediately, thank them, and look elsewhere.

8. Avoid supplying ‘character’ references who do not have recent, first-hand knowledge of your effectiveness in the kind of job for which you’re applying. They’ll only make the hiring manager wonder why you didn’t suggest someone with more relevant insight into your work.

9. You may be concerned about ‘burning out’ your references—that is, having them receive too many calls from potential employers or clients. Although this is a nice problem to have, it’s still a problem. To solve it:

• Don’t give your references’ contact information to a hiring manager, Human Resources representative, or recruiter unless they ask and you decide you really want the job. (However, do recognize that if it looks like you’re teasing your prospective employer by withholding this information, they’ll assume you aren’t serious about the position and will focus their efforts elsewhere.) And never include your references with a résumé you post to job boards; recruiters will solicit them for business faster and more persistently than you dreamed possible.
• Place limits on how many of your references may be called, and for how long they should be kept on the phone. However, be reasonable about this—three-minute phone calls are hardly sufficient to assess a professional’s qualifications. Most references are willing to devote 5 to 15 minutes of their time to help a current or former colleague.

Choose wisely.

I’m pleased to read how many executives are put off by the idea that they might be encapsulated on a single piece of paper (or two or three). But couldn’t the same argument be made for the interview: that 2 hours sitting alone with someone in a room just isn’t enough time to truly get to know a person?

But let’s propose that the interview is, in fact, an effective means of getting to know a job candidate.

So many retorts to this thread involve the difficulty with describing intangibles such as “good heart”, “generous manager”, “versatile collaborator”, etc. In the interview–as any career coach, HR manager, or savvy hiring manager will tell you–the best way to answer a question is by telling a story to illustrate (not describe) your skills and talents. For example, if someone asks “What is your greatest strength”, the answer should not stop at “I’m a people person.” Rather, you should seek to describe a particular situation in which your people skills were inarguably evident: “I’ve gained a reputation around the office as a sort of ambassador for our company. At every opportunity, I’ll get out from behind my desk and go meet my clients face to face, even if I’m not involved in the deal. I’ve been told I can really get a handle on a person, even after only a few minutes. And clients definitely appreciate when someone at my level takes the time to get to know them.”

This answer accomplishes several objectives:

1) It shows recognition from colleagues and clients
2) It positions you at the top of your organziation
3) It illustrates (not describes) soft skills such as a personable nature, intuition, modesty, gratitude (towards the clients), and time management (“…only a few minutes”)

So let’s use the same tactic on a resume, this time in bullet-point format.

* Recognized by clients and colleagues for personable nature, modesty, and leadership–as evidenced by a reliable willingness to meet face-to-face with each and every client, large or small.

Of course, you’d complement this statement with other bullet points about your executive-level P&L responsibilities, etc…

Some professional resume writers and hiring folk would say I’m breaking the rules by deviating from the standard “quantifiable accomplishments” paradigm. Maybe so. But my experience is that if you tell a good story and transform the person behind the resume from a plain vanilla executive into a real person, the reader will keep reading.

I break a lot of rules in resume writing, particularly when drafting executives’ resumes. You can read about 11 such tactics in my article “11 Ways Executive Resumes Differ From Other Resumes”.

I hope I’ve helped give an idea as to how to inject your personality into your resume so the screeners and your boss-to-be can get to know the real you sooner rather than later.

Stay on the BrightSide.

I understand your reasoning: let me preemptively answer interview questions on my web profile so I can save my employer (and myself) the hassle of going through these inevitable standard interview questions in the interview. Very noble, but you’re forgetting something.

However much you prepare for the interview, you’re never supposed to appear as though you’ve practiced your answers. Canned responses sound and seem false. Savvy hiring managers have read some of the interview coaching literature that’s out there and most likely they’ve interviewed for jobs themselves. Therefore, they too know how to develop answers to “trick questions”.

Written answers (i.e. explanations posted on your website or via email) can be perceived as canned responses. After all, you could have taken hours to write these bullet points. You could have had someone else write these bullet points. Or, you could have copied these bullet points out of a book.

The whole purpose of the interview–in fact the reason it’s persisted over time–is that nothing compares to a face-to-face meeting. Interviewers want to see you think on your feet. They want to catch you off guard so they can catch a glimpse of the real you, not the overly-well-prepared-you.

There’s a bit of a tap dance here.

While it’s important you seem well prepared, you should not seem well rehearsed. Even if asked a question to which you have an immediate (and pre-prepared) answered, you should pause for moment to think your answer through–or more accurate, let your interviewer believe that you’re thinking through this very tough question.

If it appears as though you’re answering from the gut and not from the notes in your briefcase, you’ll impress your interviewer that much more.

Stay on the BrightSide.