Bob called me in a panic a few months ago.  One of his well meaning friends had suggested his name to a recruiter for a job.  Trouble was – - -  it was Bob’s dream job.

Poor Bob.

The recruiter even liked what he heard during the telephone screening interview.  He asked him to come to  Nevada to meet the CEO and the board of directors.  That’s where the wheels came off the truck.

Bob was ecstatic, until he discovered he was just one of a dozen going for first interviews and he knew he was definitely “the most mature” [read old].

Bob’s a great guy. He’s in super shape and you’d never know he has nine children, a half dozen grandchildren and is just a few years away from a full pension.  He wanted this job in the worst way and needed a strategy to beat out the field of 40 year olds he was up against.

He needed a job search and interview plan and he needed it quickly.  We’ve talked about plans before.  You don’t do anything as a job hunter without a plan.

It was Saturday morning when he called [it was my birthday] and he’d need to leave for Reno in 5 days.  I offered to show him how headhunters source information when they’re starting an assignment.  I explained how to cold-call complete strangers [straight out of Chapter 9, Extreme Networking in my book, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market using Social Media and 999 other Tactics Today

First I showed him how to use ZoomInfo.com to find a list of the members of the board and then I showed him how to use Google to get their home addresses and look up their home phone numbers.  He needed to find a board member to call who would be willing to answer a few questions about the organization’s vision and mission.  he needed an informed insider.

It took him two hours on Sunday morning to find a board member who was willing to answer his questions.  As Bob was wrapping up this phone call the board member told him that he was impressed with his chutzpah as well as the due diligence he was doing.

What this fellow did next literally floored Bob.  he revealed that he was on the selection committee and was looking forward to meeting him next week and offered to send him a copy of the organization’s strategic plan.  Bob accepted.

After reviewing the strategic plan Bob called the lobbyist who had put his name forward and received confirmation on what he believed where going to be the organization’s biggest challenges. He expected he board would have heard about his phone call and would be extra prepared to drill him so he prepared a 45 minute power point to take the board through a discussion on how he would handle the issues he uncovered.

Bob’s 1 hour interview went 3 hours and then he was asked to join the CEO and board members for dinner that evening.  He returned home with an offer that was 40% higher than his current salary, with full benefits, club memberships, car allowance and a signing bonus.

Why did this work?

Bob used the 5 days before his official interview to dig deep into the organization’s issues and map them against his skills and determine how he could best add value.  In an interview nobody cares about you the candidate.  Interviewers care about themselves and solving their problems.  You must show them what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it.  The interview is your time to tell them what you can do for them first AND then drill down on the opportunity to see if it’s right for you.  Here’s yet another guerrilla success story.

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