On March 5, I spoke with Lewis Lin who is an interview coach in Seattle. Brushing up on skills is one of those basics we need to revisit periodically. That’s how I first came across him.
In a terrific half-hour consultation, he gave me three great approaches to use in presenting myself:
When the most common question, “Tell me about yourself” is asked, don’t talk about your most recent situation first. Start in the past and work forward. This lets you illustrate how your responsibilities have grown, your experience has expanded, and how you have receiving increasingly higher levels of responsibility. For me, this means starting with when I finished university and briefly describing (in order) my roles since.
Focus on three traits that really define you. This gives you a package that is easy to condense into memorable comments for the interviewer. Tailor these for the job you are interviewing for as well.
When it’s your turn to ask questions, focus on having the interviewer fully divulge how this role integrates with the overall organization, and how the hiring manager sees you contributing in this role. Inevitably, job descriptions omit elements that are less tangible than which software you know how to use. In my experience, it’s smart to ask what personality traits they think the ideal candidate should possess in order to be successful. What you know how to do is only half the equation; how well you get along with others in doing it is the other half.
Lewis is very friendly, easy to talk to, objective without being abrasive. When you’re job searching, it’s easy to feel down about yourself, to feel like you’ve done something wrong that landed you in this predicament. We forget there are over 12 million OTHER people unemployed right now because we sit in front of a computer all day – alone – looking for a job. Nevermind we sometimes forget to network with people in person as much as we should.
I highly recommend contacting Lewis for a consultation and to sign up for his services. His suggestions helped me re-align my focus and delivery so that I feel in control of my interviews once again. We need more services like his to be mandatory with unemployment benefits, in my opinion.