What another interview book!

There are over 3000 interview books listed on Amazon and 105 million hits on Google for “job interview”, does the world need another interview book; do you? I think you do, but why?

There are two important reasons. The first is good candidates like you are losing jobs they should be landing due to poor interview performance. Many candidates try to prepare for interviews but their preparation is inadequate and they make job losing errors or their interview performance is average or poor- not enough to land a competitive job. Even with all the available information, candidates continue to commit more mistakes in the interview than any other stage of the job search process.

Over the course of a year, I speak with thousands of job seekers about job search and more specifically about his or her interviews. Almost every job seeker I speak with is anxious about interviewing, does not look forward to being interviewed, and once their interview is over don’t think they did their best. This demonstrates that the books available today simply do not have the high-level information and strategies to help candidates prepare for interviews, perform well in their interviews, and win the job over stiff competition.

I am Tired of the Same Old Same Old

The second reason, related to the first, is I am tired of reading the same old interview advice over and over again with no new information to help candidates compete in today’s competitive job market. Over the past four to five years, I have read everything I could find about job interviews. The majority of the information is about how to answer specific interview questions; helpful but totally insufficient to win interviews. The rest of the information is basic, showing up on time, good handshakes, how to dress, eye contact, turn off your cell phone, be enthusiastic, be likeable, don’t talk too much or too little, and so on. This book is based on an entirely new, tested, and dramatically effective approach to interviews; treating the interview as a sales call and developing a sales oriented interview presentation. Using a sales approach and developing an interview presentation, has helped hundreds of candidates win their interviews and land the job. This approach is new, innovative, and targeted towards landing a job in today’s hyper-competitive job marketplace.

It’s Not Job Search its Career Management

This book is not only about job interviews. It is about helping you find a job you love and earning the money you deserve. It is about developing a set of skills that will help you win your next job interview and carry you throughout your career. Job search and interviewing are just one phase of career management. Career management is an ongoing process in which you are engaged every day of your working life. In this book, you will learn about personal branding, identifying problems needing solving, presentation skills, storytelling, your personal success factors, listening, and how to win interviews. These are all important career management skills.

This Book Will Challenge You- Are You up for It?

“When it rains, most birds head for shelter; the Eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the cloud.”- unknown

As I mentioned, this book is not about how to dress and shake hands correctly it is about higher level strategies and tactics that will differentiate you and win job interviews. None of what you will read requires extraordinary levels of expertise in skills like sales and giving presentation. You will learn how to use basic sales skills (which you have) and basic presentation skills (which you have) to vastly improve your interview performance. However, this book will challenge you to approach interviews more assertively with a proactive rather than reactive mindset. It will challenge you to take charge of your interviews and make sure you perform well. And, it will challenge you to take a broken interview process and fix it to your advantage.

This book proposes a bold and audacious approach to job interviews

Success comes from standing out not fitting in.
Don Draper, Mad Men

Taking a sales approach in an interview and using a new and unique approach, an interview presentation, is different “out of the box” thinking. Thus it is bold and audacious and not for everyone. Many candidates are more comfortable staying with the tried and true and are concerned that by straying off the well-worn interview path they risk losing the job opportunity. I agree with these candidates, being uncomfortable using a bold and audacious approach will doom a candidate to failure. However, for those candidates that are comfortable with doing something unique and different, being bold and audacious differentiates them, impresses the interviewer, displays a comfort being innovative, and will vastly improve their odds of winning the interview. So, paraphrasing Dirty Harry, Do you feel bold and audacious candidate, well do you?”

“I am convinced the presentation won the day for me. I so impressed a skeptical hiring manager with my interview presentation that he told me he was recommending me for the job when we completed the last page. He complimented me three times during the presentation as to its value in an interview. The presentation was a road map for me to follow during our discussion. It helped me keep on track and ensure I covered all the points to demonstrate my value and get the job offer.”

Mark, Management Professional

Something For Every Level of Job Seeker

I have written this book so it will be of value regardless of the experience level of the reader. The basic approaches and techniques remain the same for every experience level, only the content changes. For example, the interview presentation template format remains the same for entry level candidates and CEO candidates. The only difference will be the level of experience and the type of job requirements communicated by the presentation. Both entry level candidates and CEO candidates benefit from selling themselves in interviews. After all, if a car salesperson is selling a Ford or a Mercedes the basic sales skills remain the same only the product’s features (and cost) change.

Here is My Guarantee

No career coach, recruiter, training program, or interview book can guarantee you a job. However, using the approach you will learn in this book, I will guarantee four important things:

• You will be fully prepared for your interviews
• You will have an excellent interview presentation to use in your interview
• You will be far more confidant and less anxious going into your interviews
• Once the interview is over you will feel like you did a good job and you will be proud of your performance

An impressive guarantee for an interview book, wouldn’t you agree?