Who You Are Matters

"85% of your workplace success is due to your personal skills." Arden Clise

I ran across this quote this morning in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Since I did over 60 interviews with people earlier this week--this message rang loud and clear for me.

Yes, you need to meet minimum qualifications, but people hire people they like. You need to let your personality shine through in a job interview. Hiding behind a mask of seriousness and no emotion will typically doom your interview (unless of course you are an engineer being interviewed by other engineers).

Maybe who you are does not match the needs or the personality of the organization. So be it!

Southwest Airlines hires for personality as the major component of their interview process. Everything else can be trained. Which is not a bad way to think about the team you are trying to build.

If you have been looking, looking, and looking for work--do not despair. My guess is that things will pick up again later in 2010. Remember that you can't catch any fish if you don't have lines in the water, so keep searching, applying, and fine tuning the resume for each position.

And, smile during your interviews!

Job Interviewing Tips

Today I participated in seven job interviews, and in the next five days I'll do 65 more. Here are a few interview tips:

• Arrive in plenty of time to be prepared and on time for the interview. There is nothing wrong with being 30 minutes early. Park somewhere near the interview location if you want to be sure not to be late.
• Smile during the interview and let your personality show. No one wants to hire a grump.
• Don't cross your arms during the interview--it is bad body language.
• Watch what you do with your hands. Being expressive with them is fine, but don't fidget with your ID card, play with your hair, etc.
• Short concise answers are best. Plan on a one to two minute response per question.
• Practice, practice, practice before the interview. There are common questions you should be prepared to respond to.
• Have a few good questions about the job or the organization to ask at the end of the session.

There are of course hundreds more tips that could be added--but these came off the top of my head for what I experienced today.