Archive for the ‘Interviewing tips’ Category

10 Ways to Display Passion

Sep 9th, 10 / 3 Comments

Many years ago I was turned down for a job at a company that I really wanted to work for.  I was surprised when the interviewer told me that he did not think I wanted the job.  He could not have been more wrong about that.  I was puzzled by his conclusion even after he explained that I had not shown enthusiasm for the job during the interview and that is how he came to his decision.  The DISC behavioral assessment helped me to understand his comment.

Some people are naturally passionate about everything they do.  Others have a style that is dispassionate and often unreadable. I’ve learned now that my natural style is often unreadable by others. There is no right or wrong style to be.  Having a very passionate team member can often be annoying to a team trying to view all sides in making a decision.  During a sales presentation or a job interview being passionate is a positive however. Enthusiasm is contagious!  While it is difficult to fake passion it was possible for me to learn to show my feelings more openly.  If expressing passion is hard for you here are some tips on stepping it up a bit.

  1. Prepare mentally and physically.  You want to be well rested and in good shape so that you are energetic and enthusiastic about your topic. Your body posture shows excitement. You stay totally present and give everyone a warm confident greeting.
  2. Use stories to engage your feelings. Tell stories that inspire you and the people you are talking to.  Use the stories to illustrate a point or make something abstract more concrete.  The stories could be about accomplishments that you are proud of or memorable events in your life.  In talking about yourself you will recapture your own passionate feeling and communicate the feeling to the listeners.
  3. Move to display physical energy. Use gestures when you talk.  If appropriate move while you speak.
  4. Connect with what you love.  Passion comes from within you.  Practice accessing it by learning what triggers it for you and then using it appropriately.
  5. Have gleaming eyes.  Hard to fake this one but here are some suggestions.  Put eye drops in your eyes just before the meeting. Avoid anything that would make your eyes red such as allergies or lack of sleep.  Maintain eye contact with person or audience.  Stay aware of the passion within (#4).  The glow of passion does come from inside.
  6. Smile as you speak.  Look for joy in whatever you are doing or talking about. Then show the pleasure and happiness you feel by smiling. Sometimes initiating the smile brings the joy with it.
  7. Find a topic that intrigues you. Get absorbed in what you are speaking about so that delivering your message really consumes you.  This demonstrates your passion to the listeners
  8. Use variety in pace and an overall upbeat tempo. Keep your speech pace upbeat speaking slower for emphasis and then faster with energy and excitement.
  9. Keep the volume of your voice up. You want everyone to hear you. This also helps you to realize the importance of what you are saying.
  10. Vary the pitch of your voice.  It is important to avoid being a monotone.  Passionate people are excited and so their voice naturally goes up and down.

Managers should remember that not all jobs require a person who is noticeably enthusiastic .  It is important to know the behavioral style the job requires and then look for a person who has that style.  I recommend all hiring managers use the DISC and Workplace Motivators for candidates and the Job Benchmarking tool for the job itself.  Remember no one style is “the best”.  For a flyer about these assessments please send me an email asparker@asparker.com.

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Interview Tips, Interviewing tips

10 Ways for Managers to Prepare for Interviewing a Job Candidate

Aug 16th, 10 / 0 Comments

Many attorneys and other business owners start interviewing people for a job without clearly understanding what kind of person would best fit into the organization.  Hiring is often done out of desperation.  The attorney or business owner has a large amount of work to complete and knows he/she can’t get it done on time alone so he/she looks for someone to help.  Good hiring decisions are made with planning.  Here are some ways you will want to prepare before the interview.

  1. Make sure that you are hiring for the right job.  Take an inventory of all the necessary tasks in your office or department.  Ask each person to initial the tasks he/she is responsible for.  Make sure that the attorney is responsible for the tasks that only an attorney can handle all other tasks should be done by the person who is paid the least and is capable of doing the task.   Where are the gaps?  Often times you think you need someone to cover one group of tasks when in fact you need something quite different.
  2. Identify the skills and competencies required for the job you are hiring for.
  3. Rank the order of importance of the skills and competencies from most important to least.
  4. If there are others in the firm that will work with the newly hired person get their input on the skills and competencies required and their rank order.  Come to some sort of consensus on the necessary skills etc and their relative importance.
  5. Write a clear job description based on what you have learned from your research in the first four tips on this list.
  6. Create an interview evaluation form for each candidate.  Use a separate form to rate each candidate on whether he/she has relevant education, necessary experience, the identified skills and competencies as well as communications skills, motivation, initiative and appropriate presentation (dress and appearance).
  7. Prepare some key questions that will allow you to make a fair evaluation.  Be sure to ask each candidate the same questions.
  8. Determine what assessment tool you will use for the candidates you are seriously considering hiring so that you are sure that they will have a behavioral style that fits the job and the team.  (DISC behavioral style is an excellent assessment tool for this.)
  9. Determine the salary range for the position you are hiring.  Think through whether you are willing to take a weaker candidate and train them in exchange for a lower salary.  Do you have time to do a good job of training the employee?  What is the cost of your time to do the training?  Is it worth it?  How are you as a trainer?
  10. Learn to listen carefully.  Give the candidate plenty of time to answer.  Have your questions sheet ready so that you are not thinking about your next question while the candidate is answering the one you just asked.  Take notes. Allow for silence during the interview.  It will give the candidate time to think. Candidates often fill the silence with some worthwhile ideas because they are given the time.

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Interviewing tips, Lawyers