Introduction
Regardless of whether you are an interviewer or interviewee, a college applicant, first-time job seeker or even well along in your career, this guide can change your life. By following the easy to understand explanations and tips included here, and doing the easy exercises that are models for what you can do on your own, you will set the stage for making positive changes in your life.
Invest in yourself
Your investment of one hour, either going from start to finish in one sitting, or pausing between the sections of this guide at your convenience, will enable you to dramatically improve your résumé and prepare you for the screening process (an interview) that can move you forward in your career.
As an interviewee, the person taking an interview with the hope of being selected to fill a vacancy, you will learn how to prepare for the interview from the comfort of your home. You will learn what to expect during each phase of the interview, and how to behave in each part. You will learn how to organize your thoughts and comments so they are powerful, concise, effective and memorable. Finally, you will learn how to structure your résumé to set it apart from the majority of résumés that are poorly designed and never achieve their objective. The end of this guide will also give you next-steps that you can take to pursue additional refinements to this process and thereby further enhance your opportunities for success.
On the other hand, if you are an interviewer, charged with the important responsibility of selecting the best candidate from a large pool of applicants, this guide can help you zero-in on the right person to meet your needs. You will learn how to not waste time on résumés that convey useless information, and how to analyze the ones that are worth follow-up. You will learn what kinds of questions to ask and not ask during the interview in order to really learn what a person is capable of contributing to your organization. Picking the right person allows you and your company or institution to invest training in those worth keeping, rather than selecting a candidate who later drains resources.
This guide is not just a one-time resource. Although you will learn what to do in only one hour, this guide will serve you time and again through your career. Keep the guide handy and use it when polishing your skills for success.
Is the process difficult to learn and to apply?
No! In fact, in decades of teaching this process to applicants seeking either jobs or college entrance, mentoring mid-career professionals involved with internal or external opportunities, and to my own staffs around the globe to improve their ability to select the best candidates, the results are impressive.
Here are three examples:
1. A college graduate with good grades and a well written résumé had been invited to several interviews but never got a job offer. After a year of unsuccessful job search, he was referred to me for a coaching session similar to this guide. One week later he called to tell me he got the job! Luck? No. He learned the simple process that enabled him to get his points across during the interview and thereby secure the job.
2. My nephew wanted to get into medical school. He had excellent credentials, worked as a volunteer with a community rescue squad, and was passionate about his dream. Unfortunately, his applications were not generating results and his interviews all resulted in rejections. We covered the tips from this guide the day before an important interview, and he got the first acceptance to medical school in over a year of failed attempts. In fact, he was so confident after this new approach, that he turned down that acceptance so that he could apply to better schools. He later received two acceptances enabling him to select his first choice of medical school. At the time of preparing this guide, he is one of the top students in his program.
3. A mid-career professional met with me to refine her interviewing skills, admitting that despite her superior work performance, the interview process scares the heck out of her and thus puts in jeopardy her promotional opportunities. We chatted, she was awarded the job she was seeking and later thanked me for what she described as “the best interview I have ever taken, feeling confident throughout, and answering all the questions with poise and impact.” This same success can be yours.
Let’s get started!
We’ll begin with what you can do at home to prepare for an upcoming interview. You will learn three key concepts and then see how important they are to your pre-interview preparation. This is also the starting point for preparing your résumé, which we will discuss near the end of this guide.
Chapter 2 takes you through each step of a typical interview, from the moment you walk in the door until after you leave the interview. How you behave and how you answer questions can make the difference between rejection or acceptance.
Chapter 3 reviews the purpose of a résumé and how to achieve your objective. Chapter 4 includes additional steps you can take to increase your odds of further success. Finally, the addendum summarizes all the main concepts from each chapter. In each section I also address the key points for those of you approaching the interview from the other side, that is to say as the interviewer, rather than as the interviewee. It will soon become obvious that you both share the same objective: knowing what is needed for success, and seeing how closely a candidate (you) meets the requirements.
I wish you success in your future.
Artie Lynnworth
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