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Sarah was feeling defeated and she had good reason.
👉 She’d been let go, rehired, and then let go AGAIN.
👉She went through seven rounds of interviews over two months for a job she really wanted…and didn’t get it.
👉 In her last interview, they told her she didn’t have an “executive presence.”
ARGH. I was defeated on her behalf.
The first thing I told her during our coaching session was to look at this interview process like a bootcamp – albeit high stakes – where her goal is to learn as much as possible. Every interview is practicing for the next one. (It’s also an opportunity to network!)
But as you know, I’m not into toxic positivity or silver-lining BS. Sarah needed real tactics to make tangible progress in a taxing job search.
Since she was landing a fair number of interviews and getting pretty far in the process, we focused our coaching session on how to up her interview game and finally get a yes.
We also talked about how to make each interview experience something she could be proud of, regardless of whether she’s offered the role.
Because there’s only so much we can control – in fact, I think the entire job search process is an exercise in pushing forward and letting go. Which is hard AF. We’re simply not wired that way.
If this resonates, I encourage you to watch our session and use the following strategies to be more compelling in an interview, and hey, maybe even enjoy yourself!
- Pretend you already have the job. Think of it as a strategy session to figure out how they can best leverage your strengths to solve their problems. Prompt them to tell you more: what are their biggest challenges? What could be optimized? Then show them how your past experiences can be applied to them.
- Show them how you think. Don’t just talk about what you’ve done, tell them HOW you did it. This way they can see how you solve problems, the way you operate; it’s effectively how your mind functions and how that will benefit them. An exercise to do is to come up with three adjectives you’d want them to use to describe you to someone else when asked, “What will she bring to our bottom line?”
- Turn the interview into a conversation. A way to do that is every time you answer a question, try to then prompt them to give you more information about what they’re working on and problems they’re trying to solve (think of yourself as a business therapist.) Everyone likes hearing themselves speak, plus you’ll get more specific information about them that you can then tailor your next responses to.
- Embrace the challenge. When things are difficult, it’s an invitation to learn, grow, and improve. (And take care of any emotional triggers that might come up for you.) Whatever you’re most shaky about in the interview process or overall job search experience, indicates areas to address that will get you closer to your goals. So in Sarah’s case, she agreed that executive presence was something she’d wanted to work on anyway, the feedback in the interview, while painful, was a reminder of that.
- Remember, they’re praying you’re the one. Time is money and they’ve already invested this much in you.
Speaking of investing, YOU are your greatest investment and I’m here to support you. My program Ladies Get Hired, is designed to get you a better job in 28 days. It kicks off on November 16th and only has 30 spots open. It WILL sell out so if you think you *might* be interested, book a call with me to chat about your situation and how I can help.
