Job Fair Tricks, Tips & Tactics

Andrew Sobel’s new book Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others, is a must read for ANYONE looking for a job.  

I asked Andrew to prepare a piece to educate job hunters on the correct use of questions in an interview after watching a perfectly good execute loose an incredible opportunity because she could not engage the selection board during an interview.

While she was being recruited by my team she asked ALL the appropriate questions but during the face-to-face interview with the client she adopted, what I can only describe as a subservient position, during the interview and failed to engaged the selection committee.

The policy at my executive search firm Perry-Martel International prohibits “preparing” candidates for an interview.  I adopted this policy 23 years ago to insure that our clients interviewed the ‘real’ candidate and not one who had been propped up by a smart recruiter.  The policy has worked well for my clients even though it makes it more difficult for us during the search.

It’s in your best interest – guerrilla – to read and act on the advice that follows from Andrew.  It’s absolutely consistent with everything we teach in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. A sound question strategy will set you apart from other candidates. I have no doubt the interview would have concluded differently had she read this book.

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 Andrew Sobel is coauthor of the newly-released Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others.

If you talk to recruiters and executives who are actively hiring, they will tell you that there are three types of questions they get: None, bad ones, and—very rarely—memorable ones.  And the candidates who ask the memorable ones are often the ones they make offers to. “You’d be surprised,” a recruiter for a fast-growing technology company told me, “how many job candidates have absolutely no questions for me at all, or, they ask dumb or boring questions like ‘so what do you do?’”

You want a recruiter or executive who interviews you to tell a colleague afterwards, “I had a great conversation with that candidate. He had really thought a lot about our business.” That’s what gets you the callback. And good questions are the way you create a thought-provoking, value-added conversation.

First, avoid these types of questions in a job interview:

• Informational questions. Don’t take up a manager’s time asking “How much vacation will I get?” Get the basic information you need before you go in for an interview.
• Closed-ended questions. If someone can give a “yes” or “no” answer, it diminishes your prospects for having a good conversation.
• “Me” questions. An executive is interested in how you will add value to her organization and whether or not you’re a good fit. Skip questions like “I skydive every Saturday—so will I ever be asked to work weekends?”

Here are the kinds of questions you should be asking in a job interview:

1. Credibility-building questions: “As I think back to my experience in managing large sales forces, I’ve found there are typically three barriers to breakthrough sales performance: Coordination of the sales function with marketing and manufacturing; customer selection; and product quality. I’m curious, what would you say are the main factors that have been responsible for your own lack of sales growth?”
2. “Why?” questions: “Why did you close down your parts businesses rather than try to find a buyer for it?” or “Why did you decide to move from a functional to a product-based organization structure?”
3. Personal understanding questions: “I understand you joined the organization five years ago. With all the growth you’ve had, how do you find the experience of working here now compared to when you started?
4. Passion questions: What do you love most about working here?
5. Value-added advice questions: “Have you considered creating an online platform for your top account executives from around the world to share success stories and collaborate around key client opportunities? We implemented such a concept a year ago and it’s been very successful.”
6. Future-oriented questions: “You’ve achieved large increases in productivity over the last three years. Where do you believe future operational improvements will come from?”
7. Aspiration questions: “As you look ahead to the next couple of years, what are the potential growth areas that people are most excited about in the company?”
8. Organizational culture questions: “What are the most common reasons why new hires don’t work out here?”
9. Decision-making questions: If were to arrive at two final candidates with equal experience and skills, how would you choose one over the other?
10. Company strengths-and-weaknesses questions: “Why do people come to work for you rather than a competitor? And then, “why do you think they stay?”

If you want to be noticed by recruiters, don’t talk more—ask better questions.

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Andrew Sobel’s new book is called Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others. It contains over 300 power questions that will help you deepen your relationships and navigate your toughest conversations.

Andrew Sobel helps companies and individuals build clients for life. He is the most widely published author in the world on the topic of business relationships, and his bestselling books include Power Questions, All for One, Making Rain, and Clients for Life.All for One was recently voted one of the top 10 sales and marketing books of the decade. His clients include many of the world’s leading companies such as Citigroup, Hess, Ernst & Young, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cognizant, Deloitte, Experian, Lloyds Banking Group, Bain & Company, and many others. Andrew’s articles and work have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, US Today, strategy+business, and the Harvard Business Review. He spent 15 years at Gemini Consulting where he was a Senior Vice President and Country Chief Executive Officer, and for the last 15 years he has led his own consulting firm, Andrew Sobel Advisors.

He can be reached at http://www.andrewsobel.com

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Power Questions is a No. 1 Amazon Bestseller among New Business and Leadership books