How Proper Interview Preparation Finally Got This Ecommerce Professional a Job Offer with The Perks She Was Looking For
Laid off in April Due to COVID-19 and Looking to Get Back Into The Workforce
Shajia had spent the past couple years working for this company in consumer goods that specializes in health care products. She oversaw all aspects of the sales and marketing strategy at the company from brick and mortar to online Ecommerce.
Unfortunately due to the impact of COVID-19 at the company, she was one of the unlucky ones that were let go due to the company needing to move forward in a different direction.
Could Not Get Past The First Round of Interviews
She wasn’t lacking experience and her resume was well written as she was able to land 14 interviews in a span of about 5-6 months. Unfortunately the way she was presenting herself at these interviews or the way she was answering their questions were raising red flags with the recruiters / hiring managers, resulting in her not being invited to move forward to the next round with any of these companies she spoke to. Getting frustrated and not knowing why she was constantly being passed on, she reached out to me for help.
Interview Preparation Work
Shajia booked me for 2 sessions of interview prep. The 1st session was going through a quick mock interview to identify how she was answering the standard interview questions in order for me to find out what she was doing wrong and provide her with tips and guidance on how to improve. The 2nd session would be another mock interview with her improve style of answering as well as talking about how to negotiate when she lands a job offer.
Main Issue We Identified and How To Solve It
After going through a few standard interview questions, we identified the main issue with the way she was answering questions. Her answers were not clear and concise, she rambled at times and sometimes added unnecessary filler words, resulting in her answers being confusing, hard to follow and most importantly, doesn’t make her appear confident.
In order to fix this, these were the main tips I provided:
1) Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
The STAR method will give your answer a proper beginning, middle and end.
In addition if possible, I always advise you to add in some sort of number for the end result as your story and work will be more impactful that way.
2) Use bridge words to let the interviewer know you are moving to your next point to make your story easier to follow.
Bridge words are words such as:
Next Step
Secondly, Thirdly
Last Step
3) Lessons learned and connect the dots
Once you recap the story with the results, try to add in what you’ve learned from that experience and connect it to the job you will be doing at this company. This will always show how what you’ve learned can be transferable and applicable to their role they are looking to hire for.
The 1st interview she went for after our 1st coaching session, resulted in her finally able to get past the first round of interviews and the hiring manager wanted to bring her in for a formal, final interview.
She Got The Job; However Wanted More Money and a Better Title
After about 6 months of looking, she finally landed the job offer with the help of my interview coaching; however we weren’t done yet. She wanted a bit more money and a better job title as the original job title that was advertised was specialist, and she wanted at least the title of manager.
She had a call booked with the hiring manager to go over her contract before the hiring manager finalized it and sent it over to her. These were the tips I provided her.
1) Do not Email the hiring manager your asks prior to the call.
It is always better to bring your asks for the 1st time during the call instead of putting them all in an Email beforehand. There’s no tone with Email; therefore if you list a bunch of asks in an Email, it’s going to seem as if you’re very demanding and you hadn’t even step foot in the company yet.
2) Always start off the conversation with thanking them for the opportunity
You want to show you are grateful for the opportunity. Start off the conversation in a positive tone by thanking them and reiterate why you are excited for this opportunity.
3) 1 ask at a time and no more than 3
You want to discuss each ask, 1 at a time, once a decision has been made on that ask, then you move on to the next one. You don’t want the negotiation process to drag on as it will seem you don’t really want the job, don’t go more than 3 asks.
4) Position it as a collaboration, not an interrogation
Use phrases such as “Is there anything we can do here?” not “I want this.” Hiring managers expect you to negotiate; however you need to do it properly and with respect in order for you to get the hiring manager to go to bat for you as they most likely will need approval from HR or their boss to revamp your job offer.
5) You Wait
Most likely they won’t give you your asks right away and they will say they will get back to you. This could take a few days, maybe up to a week. However you do not follow up at this point, if you follow up it shows weakness and they won’t give you what you initially wanted.
This is the only time where I will ask all my clients to be patient and do not follow up.
New Job With All The Perks She Wanted
After 6 months of applying and failing in the 1st round of the interview process. She not only landed a new job in ECommerce, she got the job title she wanted and the money she was aiming for.
Remember if you are getting interviews but aren’t landing anything. It has nothing to do with your experience, it has to do with how you are presenting your experience and all it takes is a couple interview coaching sessions and you are on your way to success.
