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Review for TPM - the language of leadership
Hi Transitioned,
That is totally awesome, I am extremely interested in this article.
Thanks Bel
I think the trick with this one is going to be providing that special TPM perspective without sounding too cynical to a casual visitor who Googles the article up.
I m dropping in the cold realities first. And then we can add a few drops of sunshine in. I ve certainly met some good people and had great interviews it's not always a horror show.
Just a quick note that I didn't forget about this and looking forward to going through the draft.
Quote from Transitioned on December 20, 2022, 6:27 am
The realities of the Recruitment Process
Strong Mindsets for Job Hunting
Interview Day(s)
General Do’s and Don’ts
The phone screen
The remote interview
The panel interview
What’s really going on?
Post-interview
Summary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary
The job market is always changing and is in reality a collection of job markets.
You are only one variable in the hiring process. Often why you do or do not get the job is not about you at all. Every interview is a chance to practice your communications skills and gather valuable information.
Strong mindsets help you to manage your interviews, perform and keep growing. Such as:
- Prioritising and Time-boxing
- Fake it to make it
- Learner mindset
- Self-amusement and love of the game
Whatever the interview format, the goal is to make it a back and fourth conversation and have the interview imaging them working alongside you.
Different formats of interview have their own constraints and need you to adjust. For example you may need extra warmth and vocal variation on a phone screen to make up for the lack of visual cues.
On the day you want the interview to become a free flowing conversation where you learn more about the role and frame yourself as already one of their teammates.
Key tools that will help you to be warm and interesting without rambling are indirect questioning, circling back, summarising with catchphrases, collaborative re-framing and power protecting.
The interviewer likely will have agendas beyond the interview process such as:
I need the guy to solve this PROBLEM
Not quite sure who I need in this role - let's see who's out there
I have no idea about this piece of work – let’s ask around and get a bit of free consulting
I want somebody who won’t rock the boat
I need somebody calm who will steady the team under fire
I don’t want anyone too strong who might be a threat
Your job is to sniff out those agendas and play to them.
After the interview there are two schools of thought based on whether you’re using a shotgun or targeted approach. Some treat it as foot traffic, foot traffic, forget and move onto the next one. The main advantage of this is you aren’t over investing and can’t come across as needy. Other people target a particular role or industry and go all out. E.g. write thank you emails re-staring their pitch. Share their thinking on how problems could be solved. The main advantage of this approach is you are stepping into their world which grows that ‘one of us’ vibe.
Interviewing is very subjective from both sides of the process and types of interview and how best to win will vary by job and industry. People hire people. This article has focused on the human side of interviews as human nature applies everywhere.
Follow the tips here and you will be ahead of the pack and well on your way to that dream job.
Ohh right, it's skeleton, sorry for taking so long then, I thought it was the full draft (my bad).
Yes, the skeleton seems great.
I may add some more keywords such as "techniques" or "X techniques to... " and then do some bullets as those tend to get more clicks and reads, but otherwise seems solid.
@Lucio - here it is. This is all I have time for. Have to learn the wealth management business NOW. Article is raw and screaming - still better than anything I've seen elsewhere. I've 90% emptied myself out - 10% I'll keep back for edging out the TPM grads when I need my next contract, lol.
Treat it like ground beef Chef - a quick bolognaise or Giada de Laurentis as your Muse guides you. If you want to attribute please to 'Transitioned' my real name's getting a bit too prominent here. If you'd like to just absorb it into site content somewhere all good too. Content clean-up, cut-off, ignore and override, add your own experience as you see best.
Win win as I like it - I'll use the content for my blog project one day. In the meantime it will help a LOT more people published here on the TPM juggernaught. Sorry my tech stack in Bali is primitive so formatting will probably be a hot mess
The Guerilla Guide to Job Interviews
Most people regard going to a Job interview about as much fun as a visit to the Dentist.
And the reality is that unless you are independently wealthy or a serial entrepreneur most people will need to win at interview multiple times in their career.
Everyone has walked out of an interview thinking they nailed it and then the phone doesn’t ring.
The good news is that with a strong grasp of the realities of the market, strong mindsets and the same techniques you learn here for navigating power dynamics you can be an interview star. And even when things don’t bounce your way you can learn how to systematically use the experience to become stronger and smash the next one.
Job Hunting overall is its own world and many great books and courses cover the basics. To give you simple actionable tips this article focuses on what is going to make you strong once you’ve landed the interview. It also looks at the interview as an interaction where some common power dynamics may play out.
The realities of the Recruitment Process
Strong Mindsets for Job Hunting
Interview Day(s)
General Do’s and Don’ts
The phone screen
The remote interview
The panel interview
What’s really going on?
Post-interview
Summary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The realities of the Recruitment Process
You have to understand a few facts about the process to be an effective job hunter. Some may seem a little harsh or controversial until you understand the game a bit better so read on. Similar dynamics exist in any market and most can be made to work for you. See the sections on Mindsets and What’s really going on for more information.
HR and Recruiters work for the client not you.
People hire people they like first and they like people like ‘them’
People like positivity. Nobody wants to be in the cubicle next to the person who is depressed or grumpy every Monday.
It is what’s in if FOR THEM not for you. People may ask questions that sound like they are trying to help you develop in your career. Normally these are ‘trap’ questions
Some jobs are already allocated to somebody’s connection and you are there to make it look good. The consequence of this is that you don’t know the good interviews from the wastes of your time and so its about generating as many interviews as possible.
If you have disadvantages such as starting out in the field or can’t/won’t relocate this increases the power differential between employer (the demand) and the candidate (the supply)
Technical skills are a given. i.e. they can disqualify you but they won’t get you over the line without the ‘trust factor’.
Unique Selling Points can lift you out of the general ‘wash’ of candidates but ONLY if the interviewer cares about them.
Every interviewer has power of veto – which makes panel interviews the worst bet in terms of your time/effort.
Strong Mindsets for Job Hunting
The key reason people are so scared of the job-hunt is ‘ego protection’ They take the rejections personally so each rejection damages their self-worth. Here are some of key mindsets that can help turn the job-hunt from a bad run at the Casino to a survivable process that will make you ever stronger.
Prioritising and Time-boxing
My Father had some sound advice – ‘follow the money’. Money is an excellent proxy for the value an organisation is placing on the role. So my prioritisation is simple: if best money and job is not a hot mess accept offer. Using the technique of ‘working back from the end’ then I prioritise applications to industries and specialisations that I know pay best. You may have a different criteria, e.g. work life balance decide what it is and then plan the work and work the plan.
Fake it to make it
Every industry and profession has their own language of insider words that cut through with people. You should be looking to casually drop a few in every interview to add them into your working vocabulary. Over time even if you a fresher in the field you can sound like an expert. If you sound like an expert the real experts will talk to you. Even if you don’t do the home work you will develop through osmosis. If you do the homework you will ‘become’ even quicker.
Learner mindset
Learner mindset is one the best ‘anti-fragile’ mindset there is which will give you resilience and stamina through the job-hunt. If you apply boundless curiosity and try and use every interview to get a bit better you will find the ride improved and you may even enjoy the scenery. Every interview should be an experiment where you analyse the results after.
Self-amusement and love of the game
This one is more personal opinion so by all means take with a grain of salt. It is a cliché which is also true you should be vetting as hard as they are. If you can adopt that observer stance where it moves from ‘I can’t believe they asked me that!’ to wow those guys were real clowns thank god I won’t be working for them. And learn that interviewing like many activities in life is a poker game and it can be fun. Then you will easily walk off the bad interviews and rejections and shout ‘next’ with drive and enthusiasm.
Interview Day(s)
General Do’s and Don’ts
There are plenty of good interview checklists a quick google away. So what’s content filler for bloggers and what’s gold IRL.
Allow plenty of time for interviews – TRUE - allows you to be organised, relaxed and remind yourself that you’re vetting them as hard as they’re vetting you.
Research the company – every recruiter in the world seems to have very little idea what the hirer is really looking for and want you to spend hours (unpaid!) memorising the company website. This has helped me precisely zero percent of the time. What has helped me is dropping in a recent industry trend or happening with a couple of the ‘insider words’ as a quick ‘throw-away’ line – keep it punchy. You should know what the company does but at a helicopter level. ‘What I’ve heard is you guys are number 1 in hotel resorts and your big growth is expected in south America. If you could share your thoughts on that would be amazing!’
Dress to impress – interviews are a formal occasion and HR likes pomp and ceremony as much as the Vatican! However since WFH most companies are smart casual. I’d say dress for yourself as a default. If suiting up makes you feel 10 feet tall – go for it. Maybe not a band or meme t-shirt unless you’re going for a tech or creative role. I’d also suggest going more formal for larger or more formal organisations and panel interviews.
Have a strong beginning and end. YES – if you have a good story of who you are and why that helps them that frames the interview. If you summarise and re-pitch at the end that leaves an impression of a ‘makes things happen’ kind of person. Otherwise the interview can tail off and that leaves an overall impress of ‘yea they were OK – maybe look at a few more’. Very few bosses have time for spoon feeding these days so you want to sound action oriented. They need people who can get things done, get along with the zoo and not scare the horses. And tell them you really liked their focus on the team or whatever they pushed in the interview and that you are keen to work for them. Everybody likes people who like them.
Ask questions – YES. This is where you really can stand out. If you can work out what the problems always are in business and apply this to the interview it sells the message you ‘get the business’. E.g. they say they are expanding rapidly in South America. Usual pain points would be: organising lots of hiring remotely, government approvals delaying branch or product launches, cash-flow because you are spending capital before sales ramp up.
Keep answers concise then ask them if that has answered it for them and they are comfortable. You are sneakily cementing those frames that you HAVE answered and they ARE comfortable.
Something I do is give a formal answer then sum up with a catch phrase. Nobody s above the team. You can't communicate too much etc. That way you give the ‘honour the process’ vibe HR will love while keeping it real and giving solid anchor points the audience will remember.
If the interviewer challenges your answer use collaborative re-framing. Agree, bridge from their language to the answer you gave and then tell them they are wonderful again (restore rapport). E.g. you thought they were all about the team and you kept using ‘we’ language then they harpoon you with ‘Yes but what did you do on the project?’
‘Your absolutely right, that was a tight project and everyone had to be accountable.’ I created a pitch deck that gained us 3 new key clients that quarter. And that helped the team targets and secured us more backing from Exec to move on with the next part of the work.’ What I’ve been hearing today is that your teams perform strongly while supporting each other and that’s exactly how I like to work.
Also use indirect questioning or statements to build up a picture of where the pain points and triggers for each interviewer are. If you ask ‘and how would that affect the resourcing in one question’ and ‘what are the key cost controls in another. It sounds like you are asking intelligent questions about the work. You are actually checking for vague answers that tell you they may not have budget approval for all the work which could affect YOUR job security as it is often last on first off when it comes to cutback time. Another way is just to assume ‘of course you guys will have all the budget approvals in place’ if they look uneasy or start looking at each other – there’s your answer.
Agree with the interviewers – YES. Even better if you can can circle back to a point they made earlier while answering another question. That shows you really listened to them and everyone wants to be listened to.
You should let the interviewers do most of the talking. YES – Let them talk as much as they want. You d be amazed how often they want 80% of the airtime to make points to each other. If you are at the interview they already believe you can do the job it's all about the feels
Interview Formats
Here we look at some other tips for specific interview formats you are likely to find out there in the jungle.
The Phone Screen
Most likely conducted by internal HR or a recruiter. You main job here is to avoid being binned. The screener will have been given a likely vague or generic JD, a must have and a deal breaker from the hiring manager. They may also throw in some default HR question such as why are you looking to move on? HR drink deeply of the company Koolaid. You will want to put extra warmth and variation in your voice, use words like exciting and amazing and generally show that you are a team player.
The remote interview
Most of us are comfortable these days with remote meetings. There are a few basics worth reminding on. Put a soft light in front of you. Get on a test zoom and play with lighting and camera angle it does make a difference. Be far enough away from camera you can do basic hand gestures - listing points, reaching out to them as you agree on something they said. LinkedIn has a video interview question feature or you can practice in front of a Zoom test call.
The panel interview
The tricky part of this one we touched on earlier is that you have more chances of being vetoed. Plus if they can’t agree they will just veto you as a group. Unless you know you have a friendly on panel I would strongly advise you to prioritise one or two interviewer formats over panel.
This for me would also apply to extra hoops like say aptitude tests everything else being equal that interview would sink down my priorities. This of course assumes you have multiple interviews lined up. If it is your one and only, jump though with a smile and tell them how much you enjoyed their shiny hoops.
Panel interviews you have to be all things to all people. In one answer you are ‘action’ man/woman in the next you are team den mother. Provide a buffet and let them take away what they want.
What’s really going on?
The honest answer here is that unless you have an inside contact you are likely to never know. Even if you ask for feedback everybody gives the palatable excuse to avoid any blow-back on the interviewers or the organisation. Interviewing is an interruption to people’s busy day jobs. Often they make mistakes. I have been often given feedback that I wasn’t strong enough in answering a question that they never asked me. Either an excuse (e.g. because somebody’s friend got the job) or equally likely they mixed me up with somebody else. Any feedback from HR or Recruiter is not a chance to overturn the decision, that ship’s sailed. But it is a chance to remind them you were a great candidate and you would love to work for them and will reach out once in a while. Recruiters often move around and establishing a relationship will open other doors.
Post Interview
Many job-hunting resources advise you to send a thank you email restating your pitch and if you can answering one of their questions/problems in more depth.
After, trying this a few different times and ways, I personally am less than convinced. This is because of the unknown agendas in the room. If a potential boss has decided you don’t ‘fit the team’ whatever that is in her perception no cleverness or effort on your part is likely to turn the decision. I would say that if you have decided it is an amazing job and its the best pay STILL only invest if you have one decision maker. The more variables the more uncertain the outcomes. The more uncertainty the less likely your investment pays off.
So who can you totally control. Yourself! Don’t over-invest, likely the next interview will be completely different. Grab a quick knowledge snack from the job-interview buffet table. What was their focus? What is their business trying to do? Is there a question that seems to come up often that you feel you need a better answer prepped? Google a couple of terms they used you had never heard. Jot it down in your notes in the cloud. You do have notes right?
Summary
The job market is always changing and is in reality a collection of job markets.
You are only one variable in the hiring process. Often why you do or do not get the job is not about you at all. Every interview is a chance to practice your communications skills and gather valuable information.
Strong mindsets help you to manage your interviews, perform and keep growing. Such as:
Prioritising and Time-boxing
Fake it to make it
Learner mindset
Self-amusement and love of the game
Whatever the interview format, how you want it to roll is as a back and fourth conversation and have the interview imaging them working alongside you.
Different formats of interview have their own constraints and need you to adjust. For example you may need extra warmth and vocal variation on a phone screen to make up for the lack of visual cues.
On the day you want the interview to become a free flowing conversation where you learn more about the role and frame yourself as already one of their teammates.
Key tools that will help you to be warm and interesting without rambling are indirect questioning, circling back, summarising with catchphrases, collaborative re-framing and power protecting.
The interviewer likely will have agendas beyond the interview process such as:
I need the guy to solve this PROBLEM
Not quite sure who I need in this role - let's see who's out there
I have no idea about this piece of work – let’s ask around and get a bit of free consulting
I want somebody who won’t rock the boat
I need somebody calm who will steady the team under fire
I don’t want anyone too strong who might be a threat
Your job is to sniff out those agendas and play to them.
After the interview there are two schools of thought based on whether you’re using a shotgun or targeted approach. Some treat it as foot traffic, foot traffic, forget and move onto the next one. The main advantage of this is you aren’t over investing and can’t come across as needy. Other people target a particular role or industry and go all out. E.g. write thank you emails re-staring their pitch. Share their thinking on how problems could be solved. The main advantage of this approach is you are stepping into their world which grows that ‘one of us’ vibe.
Extra requirements like 3 interview rounds, asessment tasks, psychometric tests etc. increase the risk of over-investment. If you have multiple interviews de-prioritise that one. If not, smash it, take the notes and use it to make it quicker and easier next time this small horror pops up again.
Formal feedback is often of limited value due to liability concerns but always ask for it as it is an excellent chance to re-connect to the recruiter to keep them warm for other jobs that may come-up.
Interviewing is very subjective from both sides of the process and types of interview and how best to win will vary by job and industry. People hire people. This article has focused on the human side of interviews as human nature applies everywhere.
There are of course exception to every rule but the suggested tactics here form a firm foundation. Follow the tips here, tweak for your own style and you will be ahead of the pack and well on your way to that dream job.
typo in summary section
should read:
Whatever the interview format, how you want it to roll is as a back and fourth conversation and have the interviewer imagining themself working alongside you.
Awesome, awesome, thank you Kevin!
Moved it to a post now and started adding H-titles for formatting, then pics and it will soon be ready.
Publishing with your nickname is totally fine and in the future we can also link to your project/blog if you wish.
Is there any signature you'd like with enough info to make it high-authority but general enough to be anonymous?
Done now.
Thank you Transitioned!
I think it's a great article.
It's published under your username and I made some smaller edits here and there, so feel free to check it out and let me know if there's anything you don't like.
Thanks Lucio I guarantee your edits would be better. And sorry to stick you with the large cleanup job. My excuse is I was off my head with Covid fever and had collapsed.
If you think some words would help is this ok?
Transitioned is a senior IT project and product manager with over 20 years industry experience. As a long term contractor and team leader he has spent significant time in hiring and candidate roles.
