What Color Is Your Parachute?

C. That if hired, you’ll take frequent sick days, on one pretext or another.

D. That if hired, you’ll only stay around for a few weeks or at most a few months, until you find a better job that you can go get.

E. That it will take you too long to master the job, and thus it will be too long before you’re profitable to that organization.

F. That you won’t get along with the other workers there, or that you will develop a personality conflict with the boss.

G. That you will only do the minimum that you can get away with, rather than the maximum that the boss is hoping for. Since every boss these days is trying to keep their workforce smaller than it was before the Recession, they are hoping for the maximum productivity from each new hire.

H. That you will always have to be told what to do next, rather than displaying initiative—that you will always be in a responding mode, rather than an initiating mode (and mood).

I. That you will have a disastrous character flaw not evident in the interview, and turn out to be either dishonest, or irresponsible, a spreader of dissension at work, lazy, an embezzler, a gossip, a sexual harasser, a drunk, a drug-user or substance abuser, a liar, incompetent, or—in a word—an employer’s worst nightmare.

J. (If this is a large organization, and your would-be boss is not the top person) that you will bring discredit upon them, and upon their department/section/division, etc., for ever hiring you in the first place—making them lose face, possibly also costing them a raise or a promotion from the boss upstairs.

K. That you will cost a lot of money, if they make a mistake by hiring you. Currently, in the U.S. the cost to an employer of a bad hire can far exceed $50,000, including relocation costs, lost pay for the period for work not done or aborted, and severance pay, if they are the ones who decide to let you go. (Put “cost of a bad hire” into a search engine like Google and you will see figures ranging from fifteen times the hire’s monthly salary to five times the hire’s annual salary.)

No wonder the employer interviewing you is as anxious as you are. In your heart, be as compassionate toward them, as you hope they will be toward you. Forget the title—”employer” or “employee”—both of you are just persons.

TIP #4

During the interview, determine to observe “the 50-50 Rule.” Studies have revealed that, in general, the people who get hired are those who mix speaking and listening fifty-fifty in the interview. That is, half the time they let the employer do the talking, half the time in the interview they do the talking. People who didn’t follow that mix, were the ones who didn’t get hired, according to the study.[28] My hunch as to the reason why this is so, is that if you talk too much about yourself, you come across as one who would ignore the needs of the organization; if you talk too little, you come across as trying to hide something about your background.

TIP #5

In answering the employer’s questions, observe “the twenty-second to two-minute rule.” Studies[29] have revealed that when it is your turn to speak or answer a question, you should plan not to speak any longer than two minutes at a time, if you want to make the best impression. In fact, a good answer to an employer’s question sometimes only takes twenty seconds to give. (But not less than that, else you will be assumed to be “a grunter,” without any communication skills.)

TIP #6

Determine to be seen as a part of the solution, not as a part of the problem. Every organization has two main preoccupations for its day-by-day work: the problems—they generally prefer “challenges”—they are facing, and what solutions to those challenges their employees and management are coming up with. Therefore, the main thing the employer is trying to figure out during the hiring-interview with you, is: will you be part of the solution there, or just another part of the problem.

In trying to answer this concern, you should figure out prior to the interview how a bad employee would “screw up,” in the position you are asking for—such things as come in late, take too much time off, follow his or her own agenda instead of the employer’s, etc. Then plan to emphasize to the employer during the interview how much you are the very opposite: your sole goal “is to increase the organization’s effectiveness, service, and bottom line.”

Be aware of the skills all employers are looking for, these days, regardless of the position you are seeking. They are looking for employees: who are punctual, arriving at work on time or better yet, early; who stay until quitting time, or even leave late; who are dependable; who have a good attitude; who have drive, energy, and enthusiasm; who want more than a paycheck; who are self-disciplined, well-organized, highly motivated, and good at managing their time; who can handle people well; who can use language effectively; who can work on a computer; who are committed to teamwork; who are flexible, and can respond to novel situations, or adapt when circumstances at work change; who are trainable, and love to learn; who are project-oriented, and goal-oriented; who have creativity and are good at problem solving; who have integrity; who are loyal to the organization; who are able to identify opportunities, markets, and coming trends. Above all, they want to hire people who can bring in more money than they are paid. So, plan on claiming all of these that you legitimately can, during the hiring-interview, with evidence (short short stories of your past achievements, such as the skills identification stories you will write in chapter 13).

TIP #7

Realize that the employer thinks the way you are doing your job-hunt is the way you will do the job. So, be sure that you illustrate throughout the interview what you want to claim will be true of you, once hired. For example, if you plan on claiming that you are very thorough in all your work, be sure to be thorough in the way you have researched the company or organization ahead of time. The manner in which you do your job- hunt and the manner in which you would do the job you are seeking, are not assumed by most employers to be two unrelated subjects, but one and the same. They can tell when you are doing a slipshod, half-hearted job-hunt (“Uh, what do you guys do here?”), and this is taken as a clear warning that you will do a slipshod, half-hearted job, were they foolish enough to hire you. Most people job-hunt the same way they live their lives, and do their work.

TIP #8