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Hear from one of our clients how
to interview like a professional
In·ter·view: noun - a formal meeting in
which one or more persons question, consult, or evaluate another
person.
Sounds simple, right? Here at
Treeline, Inc, we interview candidates everyday to find out how we
can help them advance in their sales careers. Once we have found
those great opportunities, we send them out to interview with their
prospective employers. This is a chance meeting that can make or
break your destiny. A great interview can land you a dream job! A bad
interview could leave you without an opportunity to redeem yourself.
To find out how to interview like a
professional we went to the source! We took a moment to interview
one of our top clients to find the do's and don'ts on interviewing
and what will get you to the next step. We chose no other than the
Sales Recruiting Manager of one of our Fortune 500 clients to shed
some light on how to perfect the art of interviewing.
C.T.* has been with our client for
over 5 years and started off as a Sales Representative before
receiving an opportunity to work in their sales training and
recruiting department. Since 2005 she has been interviewing an average
of 20+ prospective candidates a week in an effort to staff their ever
growing sales force. She has seen the good, the bad and the ugly and
was more than happy to spend some time with us to tell us how to
score an A+ on an interview. And believe it or not, she told us that
it all comes down to what you do and don't do before you even walk in
the door! So before you print out your resume, shine your shoes, or
shake that hand, READ THIS:
Like a boy scout, "always be
prepared": According
to C.T, the most important part of an interview is your preparedness.
"The first impression is so important. The resume needs to be
appropriate. The objective should reflect what the job entails and
there should be no spelling or grammatical errors on the
resume," says C.T. Believe it or not, your resume can actually
service as a disqualifier on whether or not you're going to be
considered for an interview-and it's not necessarily about what is on
it, it's actually about how it's presented. Spelling errors,
grammatical mistakes and format can make the difference between
scoring an interview and being tossed to the wayside. For resume tips
go to Resume
Example
In addition to a great resume, you
need to prepare yourself mentally for the interview. Presentation is
a key factor in how you will be perceived upon first impression.
Suits and ties are an absolute must when interviewing. Appropriate
attire gets you in the right mindset and the better you look, the
more confident you'll feel. You should also be armed with a padfolio
containing several copies of your resume and a pen and paper for
notes. In addition, do your research! In this case, knowledge
is definitely power. The more you know about the company, the more
confidence you will have in demonstrating what you know about the
organizations and why you're interested. For C.T. it's imperative
that the candidate "check out our website. What do you think?
What did you find out about us? What did you read? If they claim that
there wasn't' much on the website, I know they didn't read it."
She also emphasizes the importance of coming to the interview with
questions and more importantly, excitement: "I look for energy
and excitement in a candidate. Are they really excited or are they
just going through the motions? If they get excited, it gets me
excited."
Another thing that C.T. looks for
is the closing of the interview like a sales call: they need to ask
for the sale! You need to prove that you want the opportunity and
that you're not afraid to ask for the sale." The most important
part of any sales call and any interview is the close. If you do not
ask for the business, chances are that you won't get it!
So to sum it all up, in the wise
words of C.T.: "Show up on time! Be responsible and come
prepared. Get back to the basics. There are so many people who do not
come prepared. If they show up to an interview unprepared, are they
going to come to a sales call unprepared? They need to come with an
application, pen, paper and resume. You want to make it as easy as
possible and you need to have correct information on the application.
It's all about professionalism. It's using appropriate language.
Believe it or not, people use profanities on interviews. It's about
being polite and getting the information across about why they are
interested and why they are a great fit."
So put on that suit, pack up the
old brief case and get ready to meet your destiny. Opportunity is
knocking, how will you answer the door?
*C.T. is a highly successful recruiting manager of a national
publishing company.
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