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Issue 147 - July 13, 2010
• Non-verbal
Communication
During Your Job
Interview
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|
Successful
"Employment Interview
Coaching" Session |
Dear Readers,
Here
is an actual life story of a successful
"Employment Interview Coaching" session
submitted by Camille Carboneau. Pay particular
attention to her conclusion about practicing
for your interviews. Just like the adage in
real estate is location, location, location,
the adage in interviewing is prepare and
practice, prepare and practice, and prepare and
practice. Remember what the Job Doctor says:
Good Enough, Never Is!
I
prepared a resume for a Registered Nurse who
had been out of the job market for about 10
years while raising her children. Before
those 10 years, she was a nurse for 15 years.
She was very shy and timid and really didn't
give me much to go on for the resume itself
except her work history which was only two
employers. She was unsure that a resume
could even be prepared for her. She was
even unsure she could re-enter her chosen
field. (There is a moral to this story.)
However, she did have a goal in mind.
She wanted to work at the hospital closest to
her home... and that was it. I prepared
the resume and made an appointment with her to
come in and review her draft, choose the
paper, and finalize. She arrived,
reviewed her resume, and looked up at me and
said, "WOW, I can't believe this.
This is wonderful... and it is really
me!" Her attitude was positively
changed once she saw "herself" on
paper. She had a positive outlook and
commented how nice everything looked.
Then she was silent again. I thought
maybe something was wrong. So I said,
"Is everything ok?" She said,
"Now, I'm afraid I'll have to
interview." I said, "That's
the reason for the resume--to get you the
interview." She said, "I
haven't interviewed in years and years.... I
have no idea what to say."
So,
our coaching session started. It lasted
less than 30 minutes. I gave her tips on
how to answer questions, specifically, the one
about what have you been doing since 1990.
She didn't think raising her children was a
very good answer. I assisted her in
re-thinking that idea in a number of ways
including: preparing the family budget
and maintaining within the budget--which
she was very proud of. She also was
a volunteer paramedic which I didn't know
about until during this session. She
really didn't feel it necessary to tell me or
include. After convincing her it was an
asset, we added it to the resume.
There were a number of other questions we
covered then we talked about salary.
Then
we did a short role play. I, being the
Interviewer asked, "what dollar range are
you looking for ?" She stated,
"around $10-12 per hour?????" (Very
timidly and shy).
I
excused myself from being the Interviewer and
said calmly... Do you not realize that nurses
are in high demand? Do you not realize
what the going pay is for someone with your
experience? She said I guess not.
I told her she could get around $22-25 per
hour. She didn't think she could because
it had been too long since she practiced.
I told her they'd probably be more than happy
to get her updated.
To
make this long story short, she went to the
interview and the Interviewer said, "What
would it take to bring you on board?"
She confidently said,"$22-25 per
hour." She started at $24.50...more
than doubling the salary she had in mind.
The
moral of the story: prepare a
professional resume with all relevant
information...know your job market....know the
pay scale...know what your value is...be
confident... practice interviewing...land the
job!
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About the Author: Camiller Carboneau
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