Powerful Phrases for Successful Interviews

by Tony Beshara

  This fearful attitude reaches all strata of employees. Traditionally, the least educated are far more economically insecure than their better-educated peers. Workers with less than a high school education are the group most likely to report significant employment and financial anxiety. However, recent studies indicate that college-educated U.S. workers, with perceived “comfortable” earnings, are experiencing the same significant levels of anxiety.

  In addition, the percentage of U.S. managers, mostly degreed, who felt they were doing worse financially in a given year than in the previous one has increased over the last three decades. In fact, the rate of job losses among the most educated, those with a college degree, has increased more steeply than the rate of job loss among the less educated. In one study that included proportionate samples of all education and economic levels, close to 50% of the individuals surveyed reported that they would be very fearful of finding a job with the equivalent pay and benefits to their current job if they lost their current job.

  Rising levels of insecurity, even among those who have traditionally been in the highest and most secure levels of employment, suggests that the U.S. dream is under a lot of pressure. It appears that the most advantaged among us are lying awake at night, thinking about job and economic issues. National disasters like 9/11 and extended war, as well as regional “recessions” caused by things like Hurricane Katrina and the subprime housing bust don’t help. They reinforce economic and job fears.

  Generational DNA

  Know who were the most exciting players of the 2006 Super Bowl were, don’t you? Well, it wasn’t the football players. The high point of the Super Bowl was the four players who entertained everyone at halftime. Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, whose average age is 62.8 years, entertained and transcended generations of workers. Their energy was fantastic. Their product is at least thirty years old, but they give a great original delivery every time they perform. Baby boomers in the work force!

  Soon, there will be four generations of people in the work force and therefore four generations of people competing as job candidates. The “traditionalists” born between 1922 and 1943, the “boomers” born between 1943 and 1960, the “Gen-Xers” born between 1960 and 1980, and the “Millennials” or “Gen-Y” born after 1980. Each generation has a different perspective of a work role.

  It is important to know where you personally fit in the “generational DNA” because you’re going to be competing with different people from different generations as well as interviewing with different hiring authorities of different generations. We’ll look at the need to be aware of this regarding hiring authorities in the next chapter, but here I will discuss how this reality affects you as a candidate regarding your competition—other candidates.

  Traditionally, U.S. business has had to deal with, at most, two working generations at a time. Even then, the values of those generations were not drastically different. Primarily because of technology, there is a much greater difference between all of the generations that are now and will be in the work force. Their differences have come faster and are greater than ever before. These differences are going to be revealed in the interviewing process. They can work for you or against you, depending upon your recognition of them.

  The “traditionalists” are known for their loyalty, hard work, and faith in their institutions, i.e., employment, government, and social (e.g., churches, schools, etc). They remember World War II and, if they didn’t experience it, felt the immediate impact of the Great Depression. They’re fiscally responsible. Work/life balance is very important to them, and if they haven’t retired yet, they’re likely to just “redirect” their careers.

  “Boomers” have a tendency to identify themselves with their career achievements. They invented the 60-hour or more workweek and the getting-ahead-through-hard work ethic. There are 80 million of them in the work force. They have a tendency to be optimistic but see themselves as “change agents.” They are idealistic, but not as trusting in their government as their predecessors as a result of Vietnam and Watergate.

  “Gen-Xers” grew up with the advancement of technology. They are adept and comfortable with change in their resources, hard working but want an individual balance of work and play in their lives. They’re the first generation of latchkey kids and the first generation of techies. They have a tendency to trust themselves more than the group and are independent but flexible with change. Their job security is to be constantly learning. Their attitude is that “If I know enough, and am getting new skills, no matter what happens, I can always find a job.” They have experienced scandals in business as their predecessors experienced scandals in government. The drastic and erratic changes in business don’t bother them at all. They like to be in control and want fast feedback.

  The “Millennials” (Gen-Y) grew up with technology. Everything can or should move fast with them, they’re eager to learn, and they enjoy questioning. They grew up with customized iPods, 24-hour media, 180 TV channels, the Internet, a global marketplace, and September 11th. They have a tendency to be pragmatic, collaborative, and really understand a worldwide global perspective. They like teamwork, are flexible, have a keen sense of time management, and are the ultimate multitaskers.

  So, how does this affect you? Well, if you were 25 years old and had three jobs in three years after you got out of college or five jobs in five years since you entered the work force and you’re interviewing with a 62-year-old traditionalist who has been with the same company for thirty-five years, or started it, for that matter, you’re going to have to interview differently than you think!

  If you are a 60-year-old “boomer” interviewing with a two-year-old company founded by three 25-year-old “Millennials” who are high risk takers, you are going to have to alter your interviewing style.

  These cultural differences also will have an impact on how the hiring authority views his or her company. We will discuss that in the next chapter. Just be ready for the generational DNA differences in today’s economy. This awareness will impact your questions and answers in the interviewing process.

  Your Emotional State

  On top of these new issues in the interviewing and hiring workplace, you, as a candidate, still have to confront the age-old issue that looking for a job is an emotionally difficult thing to do. Having to find a job, whether you have one or you are looking full-time, is an emotional strain. Next to death of a spouse, death of a parent, death of a child, coupled with divorce, looking for a job is the fourth most emotionally stressful thing we do. Today, more so than in any other time in our history, even though the economy is on healthy recovery, research shows that you as an individual are very insecure about keeping your present job. If you have a job, you are scared that if you lost it, you couldn’t replace it at the same level.

  No matter how often a person looks for a job, it is still emotionally stressful. People are usually scared and frightened. I discuss this state in detail in my book The Job Search Solution, but suffice it to say here that when people are frightened, scared, and emotionally distressed, they won’t interview well unless they are prepared for the shock.

  When it comes to answering interview questions in this state, unless a candidate thoroughly prepares and practices, there is a great likelihood that this emotional unease will be revealed and thereby destroy any chance at a good interviewing process. When people are in such an emotional state, they have a tendency to focus on their own needs and forget that their goal in the interviewing process is to sell themselves to a perspective employer. They have to focus on what they can do for the potential employer rather than what the employer can do for them.

  When people are emotionally stressed, they usually want to focus on their own needs, rather than on the needs of someone else. They often forget that, in order to get a job offer, they have to focus on how they can solve the hiring authority’s problem—his or her needs, not those of the candidate.

  I would emphasize that one of the purposes of th
is book is to prepare you for the emotional strain of looking for a job that is reflected in the interviewing process, especially in answering and asking questions. If a candidate answers and asks questions in a nervous, self-centered, fearful manner, he or she simply won’t get hired.

  There are many ways to deal with the emotional strain of interviewing, but one of the most important things that an individual can do will be emphasized in this book and that is to practice for the interviewing process so well that fear is minimized, if not eliminated. If you practice the answers to the questions in this book and understand the real reason that certain questions are being asked, the emotional strain of the interviewing will be minimized.

  Likewise, if you are prepared to ask the right kind of questions about an opportunity, at the right time, the probabilities of making a mistake in taking a job will be minimized. Again, asking these kinds of questions takes practice. Candidates are so often anxious about getting a job offer and possibly losing or taking one that they often forget to ask the right questions, even if they know them. This book will keep that from happening to you.

  Paradox of Interviewing

  There is a great paradox of interviewing that has become even more prominent over the last few years. Just recognizing this paradox is going to put you one step ahead of your competition. The paradox is simply this: You are going to interview and are being interviewed for a position as though the position was one you are going to be at for the rest of your career.

  It is very rare for any hiring authority or hiring organization to admit that it’s going to hire you or anyone else for a two-and-a-half- or three-year period of time. Most organizations would be better off to admit the average tenure of the individuals in the particular groups in their organization—i.e., accounting, engineering, sales, and so on—and interview people with that kind of time span in mind. In other words, they should be asking themselves, “What could this person contribute within the two-and-a-half- to three-year period of time she will be here?” But I’ve run into very few hiring authorities or hiring organizations that will interview in this manner.

  So, you are going to interview for each position as though it is going to be for a “forever” relationship. But you know and I know and your hiring authority knows that’s not very likely. This is one of the illusions to the interviewing process and one of the reasons that it is a staged-contrived event, which I will discuss a little more in another chapter.

  The importance of the transiency of the new position that you might take is this: Since you are probably not going to build a “career” at your next job, you’d better view your next position as a “building block” for your career. In other words, you have to be asking yourself in the interviewing process, to the best of your ability, “Does this job build upon the experience that I have had before? Is it going to enhance the experience that I’ve had before? If I get two and a half years of this kind of experience, can I leverage it in the future?”

  Now, these kinds of questions, especially the one about leveraging the new job in the future, are going to be very hard to answer. The business environment, as I will explain in the next chapter, is more erratic than it is ever been and it isn’t going to change. So, knowing what you can do to leverage the experience of a new job may be very difficult to predict. But you need to be asking yourself that question.

  If you’ve been out of work for the last six months and you manage to get a job offer, this issue may not be as important to you. But, with the expansion of the job market, you will hopefully have more than one or two potential job offers. So one of the questions that you have ask yourself (a question that people have not had to ask in previous generations) is, “Is the job that I have been offered a positive continuation of the experience that I’ve had, and will I be able to leverage it for a better opportunity for to build my career two and a half to three years from now?”

  The answer to this question may make the difference in the job offer that you may take. No one is ever going to be able to predict the future accurately, but you need to get some sense of “where can I go with this experience later on when I change jobs again?” There will be some job opportunities that you may get that will be better for you in this regard.

  So, the paradox of the interviewing has a great implication on your career. Simply take it into account and be mindful of it.

  How These Things Affect You

  What all this means to you is very simple. You need a job or you need to change jobs. But the process and decision making used during your job search and interviewing processes is a lot more complicated than it is ever been.

  Even though the job market is expanding and there are more job opportunities than there have been in the past few years, it is likely that you will change jobs more often than you ever imagined. You are more afraid of losing the job you have, if you have one. You are insecure about being able to replace the one you have if you have to leave it or you lose it. Your competition over the next few years will be people from four different generations of workers. You’re going have to try to build your career on a number of different jobs with a number of different companies. And, on top of all of this, you still have to deal with the emotional distress and dis-ease of finding a job . . . again and more often than you like.

  You need to be better prepared for every interview. Knowing how to deal with the toughest interview questions as well as asking the most important interview questions for your own protection are crucial to your job search success.

  *Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation and The Center for American Progress and author or coauthor of five books. Quotes are from What the Public Really Wants on Jobs and the Economy, Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress, October 2006.

  Bestsellers from AMACOM

  The Job Search Checklist: Everything You Need to Know to Get Back to Work After a Layoff

  ISBN: 9780814432921

  Losing your job can be a crushing setback, but the key is to remember the expression: “When one door closes, another one opens.” With the proven tips and tactics featured in The Job Search Checklist, you’ll learn how to turn your loss into opportunity and find another job fast. This indispensable guide covers everything from dealing with the emotional impact of being laid off to rebuilding your professional identity.

  Unbeatable Resumes; America’s Top Recruiter Reveals What REALLY Gets You Hired

  ISBN: 9780814417638

  Need serious help with your résumé? Turn to the employment expert Dr. Phil calls “the best of the best”! What does Tony Beshara do that most résumé “experts” don’t? While the experts write résumés all day, Tony—the veteran placement specialist featured regularly on the Dr. Phil show—actually uses them to get people jobs. With Unbeatable Résumés, Tony dissects and discusses real-life résumés for jobs in a wide range of industries from healthcare to banking, construction to technology, administration to sales and marketing, and more.

  Who Says It’s a Man’s World: The Girls’ Guide to Corporate Domination

  ISBN: 9780814431887

  Packed with insights from extraordinary women who have climbed the corporate ladder—including McDonald’s president Jan Fields, JetBlue cofounder Ann Rhoades, and fashion pioneer Liz Lange—Who Says It’s a Man’s World helps women navigate the rocky path from cubicle to executive suite. This ultra-practical guide offers an ideal “Success Profile” along with the measurable action steps needed to excel in each of five reputation-enhancing areas: personal development, social skills, effectiveness, team building, and leadership.

  Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire

  ISBN: 9780814420317

  In the world of business, storytelling has emerged as a vital skill for every leader and manager, with major companies encouraging its use as a means to sell ideas, communicate a vision for the future, and inspire commitment. Whether it’s in a speech or a memo, communicated to one person or a th
ousand, using stories to convey your ideas allows you to engage others emotionally and to effortlessly make them remember and “experience” your ideas on a tremendously powerful, personal level.

  About AMACOM

  Who We Are

  AMACOM is the book-publishing division of the American Management Association. AMACOM’s broad range of offerings spans not only the critical business topics and leadership challenges of today and tomorrow, but also the issues that affect our lives, our work, and our world.

  What We Publish

  AMACOM publishes nonfiction books on business, management, leadership, HR, training, communications, career growth, personal development, marketing, sales, customer service, project management, and finance.

  About Our Authors

  AMACOM authors are experts in their fields, world-class educators, successful executives, business owners, trainers, consultants, and journalists—all eager to share their insights and techniques with a broad audience.