phewardMaya Angelou famously said – “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
This is true in the career transition process as much as in your personal life. Hiring managers want to hire people they like and who they feel they can work with 8+ hours a day.
If you have ever had the opportunity to be part of the hiring process, you know that there is always two levels of an interview going on throughout the questions, answers, and conversations.
Level one – is this candidate qualified for the role, skillsets, technical acumen, business savvy and industry knowledge for the role.
Level 2 – Do I like this person? How will we be communicating and working together. If the answer in their head is “man, why does this person talk so much, or why won’t he/she look me in the eye?” then it won’t matter how many skills match…. they will not hire you.
Harvard Business Review states: You don’t want to seem like a cookie cutter applicant. You want to seem like a real human.
I agree. When creating your story, follow these guidelines to get comfortable with how you present your story and modify it for each interaction:
1. I know you’ve heard it before, Know your audience. Each person and company have a culture, a style, and a way they communicate.
For example, if you are interviewing at a tech start-up, they will often use the language of “disruption” They are disrupting an industry. If, however you are talking to a large corporate-siloed company, they probably would not respond positively to words about disrupting or causing chaos in their organization.
2. Know your story, but do not memorize it word for word. Each time you share your story, it should be modified for the person or people you are talking to. Know the high points and outcomes and share what you believe are relevant.
3. Be brief. No one wants a long dissertation about how amazing you are. Get to the point. Take credit for your contribution, and give credit where credit is due. Your first presentation of your story should be about 1 – 1.5 minutes. If they are interested, they will ask questions and you can expand on the details.
4. Once you have done your homework about the company and the person you will be meeting with, practice your story. Try it out on others. Use a stopwatch and get to know what 1-2 mins feels like.
If you think you don’t have any interesting stories to tell, You are wrong! You do.
Contact me and I will share ideas and suggestions to get you started on this very important tool.
