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THIS WEEK
How to Get Hired
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
In my previous life as a HR Manager, I have sat on more than my fair share of interview panels. There have been funny interviews – where the punk rocker, complete with blue Mohawk and enough piercings to set off a metal detector in an airport, fronted for an interview for a trainee manager's role in a highly traditional professional services firm. And there have been fun interviews – hiring Santa one year was awesome. Most of the hundreds of interviews fall into the boring and bland.
So who gets hired?
I will let you into a HR secret. During job interviews, pretty much everyone says they have done the role or roles similar to the one being interviewed for. The ones who stand out don't just say "what" they did; they go on to explain "how they did it" and "how they knew they were good at what they did".
So, they didn't just say, "I filled prescriptions". They said, "I filled prescriptions by first talking with the customer to find out any other medications they may be on, and if they had taken this medication before. I then found out if they would be happy with generic medicines instead of the branded medicine, and explained the active ingredients in generic medicines if they were unsure. As a result, I converted 80% of all branded prescription sales to generic medicines and received employee of the month trophies 4 months running for increasing the sales of XYZ generic medicines".
Can you see the difference? One is richer and gives strong clues of what they did, how they did it and their measures for success.
What Websites & Job Interviews Have in Common
When you are in business, your website is your resume as well as your initial job interview. If your website just says, "I am a house painter", you will not be as successful as if you say, "I am a house painter that loves creating a flawless wall finish. Before I even start the undercoat, I shine a light up the wall to highlight any flaws. I fill, sand and fix these flaws before applying the first coat. I then light the walls again to highlight bumps, rough patches and brush marks. I do this between each of my three coats, which results in perfect wall finishes".
To put it bluntly - your money is in the "how" you do something and not "what" you do.
People love to know exactly how you do something – they crave this information and will listen in rapt attention as you explain in exquisite detail the differences in what you do.
If you are not sure how to articulate "how you do what you do", talk someone through the process you follow, the machines you use, and why you chose them. Explain what you do first, second and third in your process, and how you ensure you get a quality result. Discuss how you close your process off and how you check to ensure client satisfaction at the end of the process.
Find out what you do differently to everyone else (or at least be the first person who explains exactly what the process is so that people outside your industry can understand it).
From these nuggets of information, your uniqueness will be found.
It is not what you do – there are hundreds of people who can do what you can do. It is how you do what you do that gives you the edge and gets you hired – whether for a job or for a sale.
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In this blog post, I look at why changing your name is the same as re-branding your business, and cover some of the things you may need to consider if you choose to change your name when you marry.
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended as only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.
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