Chances are she's read your resume, which you or a recruiter sent her. Now a salesman is coming over with the actual product. Get ready. She won't just look at the paint job and kick the tires. She'll take a test drive!
You're the salesman. And you're also the product.
Moreover, because it's an interview...not just a social call...your host has permission to probe deeply. She can ask tougher and more personal questions than she'd ask at any other time. And she can examine your analysis and strategy in solving business problems...yours and hers...far more frankly than she would under any other circumstances.
You've got to be prepared for a really penetrating inquiry, if your interviewer takes that approach. If she doesn't, you've got to reveal yourself to her. And if the interview fails to display your merits, that's your problem, not hers.
Ideally, your potential employer will wind up wanting to buy the car...or at least to drive it again, after she's seen and tried some others. If so, you'll be offered the job...or at least invited back for another round of interviews.
In the end, you may decide that this employer and her opportunity are not for you. But what you and I will work on in this chapter is making sure that she doesn't conclude you're not for her.
Your behavior and appearance will be scrutinized far more critically when you show up for an interview than on any ordinary work day in the next ten years.
The person who's thinking of hiring you wants to be sure that you're someone he'll enjoy working with. And also someone who can walk around inside and outside the organization as a favorable reflection on the company and on him. Only if he's satisfied on these "fine person" points, will he concern himself with whether he thinks you can handle the job, as indicated by your experience and track record. He's hoping to find you:
Intelligent, and also "street smart," with abundant common sense;
Analytical, logical, goal-oriented, and a planner;
A skilled communicator...good at listening, speaking, and writing;
Unmistakably a leader...but also a "team player," cooperative, and congenial;
Healthful, attractive, and well-groomed;
Tasteful in dress and decorum;
Poised, courteous, and cultured;
Sensitive to the feelings of others...not pushy, pigheaded, or obnoxious;
Honest, loyal, and straightforward;
Politically aware, but not a political operator;
Committed, responsible, and diligent;
Cheerful and optimistic, with a "can-do" attitude;
And overall, an interesting person, with curiosity, enthusiasm...and
maybe even a sense of humor!
Virtually all of the attributes listed above will help you to do the job, once you land it. But in interviewing to get the job, don't underestimate the seemingly superficial aspects that are more "image" than "essence." Appearance and behavior are first to be noticed. And if they're deficient, you may flunk the fine person" test, even though you score plenty of "but-he-could-probably- do-the-job" points.
Interviewing is a time of maximum scrutiny. Make sure you arrive feeling and looking your very best. Get a good night's sleep. Have a fresh haircut or hairdo. Get your shoes shined. Tend to your grooming in every way. Don't wear a noticeable amount of fragrance. Dress as you would for any other daytime matter that you take very seriously. Even if you've heard from the grapevine that you're arriving on a "casual Friday," wear your first-class business attire. That is, of course, unless you've been specifically instructed otherwise by the person who invited you.
So much for "good-impression." You've been making one or we wouldn't be discussing a $100,000+ or $400,000+ interview. The bottom line is that you'll never get "points taken off' because you show respect for someone by polishing your appearance to meet him or her. Any danger that you'll be perceived as a "stuffed shirt" (or blouse), if that worries you, is easily dispelled by a warm, open, unpretentious manner...which I hope you always have anyway.
So let's forget "image" and go straight to "essence." You're about to make a sales call. And, like any other salesperson, you've got to deliver enough persuasive information to convince the prospect that your product can do the job.
Ordinarily a customer can take the product...and leave the salesperson. Unfortunately, you're a "package deal." Therefore you must sell with great finesse. Much as you'd like to, you can't just make a well-organized presentation and afterward deal with questions and objections.
The interview is a unique ritual drama, in which a sales call is played as if it's a social call.
Which it's not. One of the two parties is totally in command. He's the buyer. He's the decision-maker at the end. And he's in charge all along the way. By controlling the use of time and the choice of topic in a Q-and-A format, he determines which features are brought up, and in what order, and how thoroughly or superficially each one is discussed.
And the fact that your sociability is part of what's being sold prevents you from saying what a regular salesperson would say:
The first principle of interview salesmanship: forgo the monologue ...at the outset, and all the way to the end.
Because the format of the interview is ritualistically conversational, you can't give a too-long answer to any question. You can't sell yourself as socially- polished, if you monopolize the conversation.
So don't use any question...no matter how broad...as a springboard for a monologue. Instead, give a concise answer that hits the highlights in clear and specific terms, including numbers ("a little under $15 million in sales and about 150 employees") and approximate dates ("as I recall, that was in late '98").
Don't ever talk longer than one or two minutes. Finished or not, wind up your sentence, shut your mouth, and look at your interviewer to see if she wants more on the same topic...or would rather switch to something else. If she wants elaboration, she'll say so. What's more, she'll point you in the right direction:
Interesting, and I certainly agree with your strategy. But when we tried something along those lines, we ran into trouble with the unions. How'd you make out on that score?"
Now you've got her eating out of your hand! How much better than if you'd bored her with a full explanation before "coming up for air."
