Making a Good Impression in an Interview

1
Making a Good Impression in an Interview!

• Roger McCarty
• Dow Chemical

2
What are recruiters looking for?

• Do you have the right degree and good GPA
• This will open the door, not get you the job
• Work experience that highlights your skills
• Relevant work experience to a specific job
• Impact and problem solving capabilities/skills
• Leadership and Service activities
• Impact and problem solving capabilities/skills

3
Look sharp or at least professional

• Always wear a suit/professional outfit unless
  instructed otherwise
• Conservative suits and tie
• No cartoon characters
• Avoid hairstyles out of the norm
• Shine your shoes

4
Communicate Confidently

• Look them in the eye (even if they are making
  notes)
• Speak concisely and articulately
• Dont ramble (never speak more than 3 - 5 minutes
  without checking)
• Dont make them pull information out of you - try
  to be conversational
• Be relaxed but respectful

5
During the Interview

• Shake hands and say name clearly
• Develop a relationship of trust
• Find out something about the interviewer
• Express your interest in the company
• Ask questions about the company
• If you dont have a question ask their opinion
• Know your brand strategy

6
How do they know if youre the REAL THING?

• THEY DONT!
• They look for behavioral indicators in your past
  experiences
• Skills can be taught but behaviors seldom change
• Behaviors are described by stories (CAR)
• Circumstances (Background behind the situation)
• Actions steps you took to resolve the situation
• Results that came about because of your actions

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Impactful Stories

• Description of responsibilities statements - C
• Responsible for batch process optimization
• Impact/Change description statements - B
• Productivity improved 22, costs were reduced
• Comparison or value creation statements - A
• Selected as best, won award, highest score
• My actions made a 250,000 impact
• Try for an average GPA of 3.0 or better across
  your interviews and your resume

8
What should the stories be about?

• Problem Solving Abilities
• Initiative and Tenacity
• Innovation and Creativity
• Organization and Planning
• Interpersonal Effectiveness
• Teamwork and Leadership
• Influencing and Gaining Consensus

9
Create a story matrix to build your interview Plan
President (or VP) of Mens Service organization
responsible for Directing 80 home visits per
month monitoring/assisting physically,
emotionally, financially, etc. Improved visit
consistency by 25 for the highest regularity in
my region Led weekly instruction and monthly
social and service activities for 40 to 80 people
Practice Behavioral Based Interviewing Circumstan
ces 1/2 to 1 minute Actions 2 to 3
minutes Results 1/2 to 1 minute
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Integrating Resume and Interview

• Your resume and interview should support and
  reinforce each other
• Create one line high impact descriptors from your
  stories as Hooks in your resume
• If resume Hooks average 3.0 or better they
  will
• Create interest in you during interview selection
  process
• Provide an outline from which to select interview
  stories
• Remind the recruiter of your stories when they
  review your resume as they select people to be
  invited for further interviews or offers

11
Let your best self come out

• Most importantly be yourself
• You cant hide your real self for a career
• Let your recruiter do their job
• Dont take over the interview
• Look for natural matches with the recruiter
• Share something personal and individual about
  yourself
• Be absolutely honest - you dont lie well

12
Parting Shots

• Start the process early/get your resume out
• Do research on the potential companies
• Where have previous BYU students gone
• Do they enjoy their companies
• Is there a good cultural fit
• Dont make your most important interviews one of
  your first ones if possible
• Have Fun - you may never do this again!
• Or it may be a very useful skill to develop