How to land the perfect job

Whenever Meg Currie is nervous, her mouth gets dry. Sometimes it helps to chew gum, but that’s not a good idea during a job interview. Currie learned this lesson the hard way.

“I was interviewing with the man who would be my manager, when my lips stuck together at one side of my mouth,” the local resident recalled. “On the side of my mouth where the gum had been, a thick, sticky substance had spread over my teeth and out onto my lips. I completed the interview, attempting to speak without showing my teeth as much as possible.”

After the interview, Currie stopped at the women’s room. In the mirror, she saw what looked like “gray cement” from a dental visit. She got the job, but not without some embarrassment.

If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s this: Hunting for a job and going on interviews can be stressful.

Whether just out of college and looking for a position in your chosen field, or seeking a new job in a different area, there are tips and tricks to achieving success.

Networking is all important in starting your job search. Tailoring your resume for the company and position you’re applying for is another plus. Knowing the right things to say — and not to say — at that all important interview can help you land the job you want.

Julie Landau, a Ridgefield career and life coach with 20 years of experience, has expertise in developing market-focused resumes and helping clients ace job interviews.

Landau said while she’s heard job searchers recently saying they can’t find the jobs, from the recruiters’ standpoint, qualified applicants are hard to find.

“The Internet has made it very easy for people to apply for jobs and for recruiters to find names, but those recruiters still have to assure the applicants meet the qualifications of the position they are applying for,” Landau said. “There’s a new term out there — the graffiti applicant.”

Because of the ease with which people can go on Web sites like Yahoo’s www.hotjobs.com and www.WorkConnecticut.com, a phenomenon has occurred where those sites work like a spider that spreads a person’s resume to any and all associated jobs posted by many possible companies, Landau said.

“That’s the danger. Say the person might have some sales experience. What happens is that individual ends up applying for numerous sales jobs for which he or she is not fully qualified for all the job requirements. Recruiters soon start seeing these names time and time again and a red flag goes up. They weed that person’s resume out.”

The best approach to job searching is to network, said Landau. Find people in the field for whom you want to work, and use them as your passport into companies.

“The key is to express that you’re not looking for a job from these people. Make it clear that you’re looking for information and advice,” Landau said. “If someone knows about a job and gets to know you, they’ll tell you about it.”

How do you find these people? Go to a professional or trade association’s meeting, said Landau. Newspapers often list when such meetings are coming up. The Web site www.weedles.com has bi-weekly newsletters on job searching, with some good links to professional associations and other resources.

“Find a professional association that interests you. Then go to that association’s Web site and find a local chapter,” she added. “Contact that chapter about attending an upcoming meeting. That’s the group you really want to network with.”

Work the room when you get to the meeting, talking to as many people as you can. Have a 30-second speech about yourself prepared and use it. Ask them about what they do and get their business cards. Then do follow-up calls to get together with those people, asking them to meet you for coffee. Continue to show interest in their field at that coffee date.

“Today, because there are so many applicants, you want to exhaust all possible means of visibility,” Landau advised. “Ask your contact at a company to walk your resume to human resources or the department head who is hiring. Many companies offer ‘hiring referral bonuses’ to their employees of up to $3,000 for bringing qualified new hires in.”

If your contact isn’t willing to walk your resume, learn the name of the department head doing the hiring and send a hard copy of your resume and a cover letter to him or her. Also, still apply online to the company.

But the best way to land an interview is to have a personal referral, Landau said.

Once the interview is set, do your homework. Research the company to which you’re applying. Research how people there dress, and dress accordingly. Also, if you can, research the person who will be giving the interview, said Jeanette Henderson, a presentation consultant and author with her own business, Podium Master, based in Tennessee.

“If you can research your interviewer before you go in to the interview, that’s helpful,” said Henderson. “If you’ve got a connection to talk to in human resources or a person in the company, utilize that. Even if word gets back to the interviewer, he or she will just realize that you’re doing your homework.”

Henderson recommends a three-step formula to interviewing. First, try to identify with your interviewer.

“Make a statement that he or she can agree with to indicate that you have something in common,” Henderson said. “It could be as harmless as noticing he has a wet umbrella next to this door and saying ‘I see you got caught in the rain this morning, too,’ indicating a common experience.”

Henderson said it really depends on how well you do this as to how successful this step will be. It can’t be obviously over complimentary or ingratiating. But done successfully, it can put you on the same page.

“The first thing you have to do is get the person you’re presenting to agreeing with you,” she said. “Once a person starts saying ‘yes,’ they tend to continue with the ‘yes’ mode. Any good salesman will tell you that.”

Next, introduce new ideas to your interviewer. Talk about the job, about how having the right person in that job is positive for the company.

“If the company needs a spinoff division, then an experienced manager is what they need,” Henderson said. “If they’re stuck in an advertising rut, then fresh new marketing ideas would fit the bill. Know the needs of the company, then demonstrate you know the importance of that job to satisfying those needs.”

The final step in the interview is to “take the plunge,” Henderson said. Instigate the action and ask for the job. Formulate your closing statement in advance so there’s no hesitation.

Landau has 10 rules for job interviewing. They include keeping your answers brief and concise, including concrete data when discussing your strengths, repeating your key strengths three times during the interview, and preparing five or more success stories that demonstrate your skills.

“Image is often as important as content,” Landau said. “Studies show that as much as 85 percent of the conveyed message is nonverbal — gestures, eye contact, tone of voice, physical posture and your attire are highly influential during job interviews.”

Ask questions, but not about salary and benefits until after the job offer is made, she added. After the interview send a “thank you” letter.

“In it, re-state your key skills, stress what you can do for the company, and re-emphasise your keen interest in the company, the department, the products,” Landau said. “This letter, or note, can be typed and mailed, hand written and mailed or sent as a brief e-mail note.”

George Schmidt, a retired businessman from Newtown, remembers well his early years of job searching as a young graduate with a master’s degree in business administration. The interview routine at his business school was “precisely organized, followed strict format and rules, and was an altogether intense and stressful process,” he said.

Schmidt had learned from attending job interviews while in school not to schedule the interview for his first job choice as his first interview, when a number of interviews were coming up. He found his ability to succeed in an interview improved with practice.

So when it was time to look for a job in his chosen career, he scheduled some “warm up” interviews before he met with the people “who held the keys” to the positions in which he was most interested.

“I signed up in one of the first available interview time slots for a position with a company in which I had a modest interest,” Schmidt said. “I had faithfully done the necessary homework and felt well-prepared for the interview.”

Schmidt met with the recruiter for a 30-minute scheduled interview. The recruiter proceeded to dominate the conversation. He spoke continuously for 15 minutes and then asked Schmidt a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response question.

“I believe I said ‘yes,’” Schmidt recalled, “regrettably, the answer was ‘no.’”

The recruiter explained the answer should have been ‘no,’ then continued to talk for the remaining interview time, with Schmidt not saying one word.

“At that point, he looked at his watch, apologized that our time was up and said, ‘George, it has been a pleasure talking with you. You are exactly the kind of person we are looking for.’”

Schmidt went on to conduct many interviews as a company recruiter over the years, but he never forgot that earlier interview in which he was the applicant. His experience demonstrated that one’s ability to conduct an interview — as well as to succeed in one — both involve skills which can be improved upon with practice.

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