Salesman For a Day
Control the Emotion and the Content, or what to do before you get to the first impression!
Persuasion rarely is about offering what people need. By having a deeper understanding of people's hopes, desires, expectations and so forth, persuasion makes it possible to offer what they truly want, what they dream about. In the professional setting of the job interview persuasion is about solving the hiring manager's set of problems. Typically in regards to these problems the manager has strong feelings. It could be brisk enthusiasm about the prospects of the company or frustration with the low quality of the monthly reports, or deep concern about the future of the strategic function within the division. Each and every new position comes with a job description, but what you will never find in this job description is the higher ranking problem that the manager and the company are looking to solve at the moment. Successfully guessing, or assessing what this problem might be is your first step towards assuming control over the emotion and the content of your job interview.
Fact: Linking Marketing Metrics to financial consequences is the number one issue keeping Chief Marketing Officers up at night! In other words their main concern is trying to justify their expenditures and their existence.
The first step towards a good first impression then is not just to research the company -- you will need to really immerse yourself in all the available information. You need to learn not just what it says on the company's web-site, in the latest press release or how their stock has been doing. You need to find out what is the likely leading business problem the hiring manager is concerned about. Even if your position will not be charged with solving this problem, you need to have an understanding of what is on the mind of the person you will likely be reporting to. It is a tall order and most of the time there will be no direct information to help you with this. You need to do a lot of second guessing and this is why the more educated your guessing -- the better your chances you will guess correctly. Because when you have, then you possess the key to making your best first impression and effectively executing your own agenda i.e. persuading the interviewer that you are the best candidate for the job.
Hiring Director: "So, tell me a little bit about yourself! I see you are coming from a Marketing background."
John Runner: "Yes, indeed I am and in the last 3 years I specialized in linking Marketing Metrics to financial consequences. Further I have a Babson MBA with minor in finance and 5 years of industry experience and this is why I believe I will be a perfect fit for this position."
Persuasion rarely is about offering what people need. By having a deeper understanding of people's hopes, desires, expectations and so forth, persuasion makes it possible to offer what they truly want, what they dream about. In the professional setting of the job interview persuasion is about solving the hiring manager's set of problems. Typically in regards to these problems the manager has strong feelings. It could be brisk enthusiasm about the prospects of the company or frustration with the low quality of the monthly reports, or deep concern about the future of the strategic function within the division. Each and every new position comes with a job description, but what you will never find in this job description is the higher ranking problem that the manager and the company are looking to solve at the moment. Successfully guessing, or assessing what this problem might be is your first step towards assuming control over the emotion and the content of your job interview.
Fact: Linking Marketing Metrics to financial consequences is the number one issue keeping Chief Marketing Officers up at night! In other words their main concern is trying to justify their expenditures and their existence.
The first step towards a good first impression then is not just to research the company -- you will need to really immerse yourself in all the available information. You need to learn not just what it says on the company's web-site, in the latest press release or how their stock has been doing. You need to find out what is the likely leading business problem the hiring manager is concerned about. Even if your position will not be charged with solving this problem, you need to have an understanding of what is on the mind of the person you will likely be reporting to. It is a tall order and most of the time there will be no direct information to help you with this. You need to do a lot of second guessing and this is why the more educated your guessing -- the better your chances you will guess correctly. Because when you have, then you possess the key to making your best first impression and effectively executing your own agenda i.e. persuading the interviewer that you are the best candidate for the job.
Hiring Director: "So, tell me a little bit about yourself! I see you are coming from a Marketing background."
John Runner: "Yes, indeed I am and in the last 3 years I specialized in linking Marketing Metrics to financial consequences. Further I have a Babson MBA with minor in finance and 5 years of industry experience and this is why I believe I will be a perfect fit for this position."
posted by Vlad Zachary at 11:25 AM
1 Comments:
It's really not easy to have a good impression but it takes an effort but good results. Thanks for this post.
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