Salary negotiations can be the most stressful part of the entire interview process.
The video below is designed to help you navigate your way through.
One of the biggest questions all jobseekers have is: How do you answer questions in the interviewing process that have to do with your financial situation?
The answer is: You don’t.
The first person who mentions a specific number in the negotiation process is usually considered a loser. Because, if you’re the candidate and you name a figure that’s too low and later realize you could have gone higher, you can’t go back. But, it’s a delicate process. The company has its own agenda and doesn’t want to make a mistake, either. If your interviewer asks you directly how much money you currently make, you can antagonize him or her by refusing to answer, so you have to say something.
One option: answer honestly, but qualify it by saying, “I am not sure that it is relevant because this position requires…x, y and z…”
You can’t just send out resumes anymore and expect to get a call. Life is different, and the job search is different. Get a career coach, get on LinkedIn, find some resume help. Get serious, and play to win.
Let’s say you’re a recruiter, and you’ve just received a resume that includes a paragraph like this:
In my spare time, I am physically active. I run, mountain bike, play tennis, and I teach yoga on weekends. Physical activity keeps my body and mind in shape, and promotes balance and clarity in my life. I belong to a community theater and am active in productions, and I play bass in a band. I am an avid reader. I am a mother of two and gave birth to my second daughter between degrees; taking only 3 months off and continuing to work while taking classes, which shows my drive and tenacity to succeed!
All sales job candidates should create a 30/60/90-day sales plan to use in their job search and interview process.
A 30-60-90-day sales plan is a document that spells out how you will spend your time in the first 30 days, the first 60 days, and the first 90 days on your new job. To do one correctly, you have to research the position and the company, and you have to analyze the job so that you can lay out the steps to success. It takes some effort, but the results are almost always worth it in terms of great job offers. It’s amazingly impressive to hiring managers that you’ve put in this kind of effort before you even get the job, and it demonstrates to them that you understand the job and what it takes to be successful from the start.
But how do you go about introducing your innovative 30/60/90-day plan to the hiring manager?
In an ideal situation, you bring your 30-60-90-day plan to the interview and “wow” the hiring manager when you present it during your conversation–as an answer to “How do you see yourself in this job?” or “Why should we hire you?”. You ask the hiring manager for input during the interview, and in your follow-up thank you note, you should attach your sales plan with the changes that the hiring manager suggested.
Less than ideal, but better than nothing: you don’t get a chance to present your 30-60-90-day plan during the interview, but you realize that thank you notes can be second chances. Either you attach your sales plan to your thank you note (which points out how the information you gained during the interview is included), or you put a shortened version of a 30-60-90-day plan in the body of the note if you think he might not open the attachment.
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” is a quip we have all heard. What does it mean? Well, it is the mirror image of “out of sight is out of mind.” Where am I going with this? It’s all part of your networking/job searching strategy. At your current job, that means you should make sure you squeak and are in sight of your boss and your company. Be sure to contribute in meetings, follow up with positive emails, respond to surveys, pass on competitive information, etc. Be seen.
With a recruiter or a network contact, there are similar ways to squeak:
Everybody knows that you’ve got to send a thank you note after your interview, and yet I continue to be surprised by how many people don’t. They really do make you stand out from the crowd, and they give you another opportunity to point out a key item or two in your favor…it should always be substantial. But do them quickly.
E-mail thank you notes are entirely appropriate. Handwritten thank yous are of the past. They work only if you can get them out on the exact same day, because speed is a strength here. Still, you should send an e-mail one because there are hiring decisions that happen while the post office still has your letter.
(Didn’t get the address? Google the interviewer: *@thecompanyname.com. For instance, *@phcconsulting.com would get you my address and the address of everyone who works here.)
Sometimes companies hire outside recruiters as consultants assigned to conduct candidate interviews. Understandably, these interview situations make candidates a little more nervous….but I have a job interview strategy for you to handle this situation. To successfully navigate a 3rd party interview, you need to uncover the goals of the interviewer. Watch the video for my advice on what questions to ask the interviewer so you can meet those goals, have a fantastic interview, and present yourself as a candidate who’s confident, strategic, and capable.
Competition for sales jobs can be fierce, and sales interviews are difficult. That means that you’re going to have to work a little harder to set yourself apart from the competition and win the job. If your background and experience are up to snuff, all that’s left is the interview. Savvy hiring managers know that all sales reps can talk a good game, and they are looking for the sales rep who can also back it up. Here are six things you can do that absolutely will work to make the most of the time you have in your interview to impress the hiring manager and boost your chances of landing the job:
1. Research the company. In other words, do your homework. There’s no excuse for not knowing what the company does, what its current issues are, what its goals are, where its products fit in the marketplace, and who the competition is. Your job is to take in this information and use it to figure out how you can help them reach their goals….and then frame your answers to interview questions accordingly.
I have a guest author for you today: Rich DeMatteo, from Corn on the Job. This excellent article ties in nicely with what I’ve said before about asking questions in the job interview. Rich adds some valuable advice for you:
Smart applicants spend a great deal of time preparing and practicing for an upcoming interview, hoping to successfully predict the questions that will be asked. However, many times candidates pass on preparing their own questions for the interviewer, which leaves them looking like a deer in headlights when the recruiter or hiring manager asks, “Do you have any questions for me?” In my experiences, even the poorly trained interviewers know they should allow the applicant time to fire off their own questions. Recruiters and hiring managers expect it from the applicant, so why not use this to your advantage and make it as another segment of your interview? Sure, many candidates will breeze through an interview never asking a question and will still get the job, but in today’s painful market, applicants need to fire with everything they have. First off, why is it important to ask questions?
Asking questions shows you’ve been active in your thinking about the position. The interviewer might think you’ve lost interest in the opening if your not coming back at him/her with questions.
Asking intelligent questions can go a long way. Maybe in your head you responded to a previous question unfavorably in both you and the interviewer’s heads. Use a few intelligent questions to possibly redeem yourself. Asking well thought out questions will impress any interviewer.
Interviewers should always do their best to present enough information about the company, culture, and position, but you can use your questions to probe deeper into the company. Don’t forget, you are interviewing the company as well and need to make sure it’s a place that you can see yourself working.
So, which questions do you ask? The list of questions below will not only bring you critical information to your job search, but also help to show your intelligence and interest in the position:
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