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How To Use Direct Marketing Techniques To Get The Marketing Job You Want - A Guide For College Students By Karl G. Dentino ROLLING DOWN YOUR SLEEVES Selling The Interviewer Once you've secured the interview, you're halfway home. Now you get to show your prospect your value, live and in person, rather than tell the person through the printed word. This is the place where you put everything on the line: You combine twenty-plus years of life experience, hundreds of hours of diligent preparation, and a burning passion to pursue your craft, and you get out there and "sell" yourself. As you go through the interviewing process, it's important to recognize that with each successive interview, things will get easier. After a while a pattern emerges. You will be better able to anticipate questions, and you will gain increasing control over the direction your meetings take. As your comfort level grows, so will your confidence and performance. And at some point in the process, it will eventually dawn on you: The interview is your personal sales presentation, and what you are selling is yourself! Selling, as you'll discover, is neither science nor art; it's simply a matter of understanding human nature. So regardless of whether you're selling lemonade, used cars, sophisticated marketing ideas, or yourself in a job interview--the basic laws of human nature apply every time. Once you get your foot in the door, no matter what the situation or who the prospect, a universal equation prevails:
Successful selling in the job interview does not require a knowledge of persuasive sales tricks or "closing" techniques. What it does require is an understanding of the way people think, and an ability to identify what they need. Most interviewers share the following key traits. The better you can become at recognizing these common traits of human nature, and applying common sense to deal with them, the more successful you'll be. Most people are not good interviewers. Most of the people doing the interviewing will not be professional interviewers. They will be professional marketing managers, account managers, media directors, and the like. Because of the demands of their jobs, they're likely to be too busy managing their programs, clients, accounts, employees, etc., to really develop their interviewing skills. The fact is that they're often uncomfortable in the role of interviewer and are ill-prepared for it. Most people will base their initial opinions of others more on form than on content. It's a simple fact of life. When meeting someone for the first time, several "first impression cues" are conveyed: how we look (our style, mannerisms), how we sound (our vocal expression, volume, conviction), and what we say. The most important? Human nature being what it is, most often it's how we look and speak rather than what we have to say. People like people like themselves. When two people meet for the first time, there's a natural tendency for them to seek common ground--to find things in life they share or agree on. People tend to feel most comfortable with others who are similar to themselves. That's why they look for common interests, common backgrounds, common points of view, and so forth, in new friends and new relationships. Your goal in the job interview is to win the trust and confidence of your interviewer. But before the interviewer can trust you, that person must first like you. Most people like to talk about themselves. Most people would rather talk than listen, a fact that doesn't change whether they're at home, out socially, or at the office. That's why it's not uncommon for interviewers to launch into long stories about themselves--especially if they're not skilled in how to conduct an interview. Unfortunately, the more time your prospect spends talking, the less time she or he will spend listening and learning about you. Most people base hiring decisions more on emotional reasons than on rational ones. One of job hunting's great paradoxes is that it is usually the candidate who thinks rationally in an interview, while the interviewer thinks emotionally. You're concerned about issues like job descriptions, responsibilities, reporting relationships, advancement opportunities, health benefits, salary, and so on--all clearly rational concerns. Your prospect, on the other hand, is thinking about issues such as how you look and dress, whether you'll be compatible with the people you'll need to interact with, whether the client and/or management will like you, etc.--clearly emotional concerns. These traits of human nature suggest several steps you can take to improve your chances for a successful interview. Ways To Win In A Job Interview 1. Look the part. A major New York ad agency used to have a reputation for oxford button-down shirts and red ties. Even the agency's female executives used to favor what was known in the industry as the "red team uniform." If you were going on a job interview there, how would you dress? The point is, because so much of the first impression is visual, and so much of the hiring decision is emotional, you will increase your chances if you look and act as if you belong there. Remember: You want to make it easy for your prospect to envision your fitting in. Nobody wants to hire an oddball. 2. Take charge. The best way to avoid a bad interview with an unprepared interviewer is to assume you are just as responsible as the interviewer for making the meeting run smoothly. A professional salesperson always assumes that responsibility, and in a job interview the situation is no different: It's just as much your meeting as it is your interviewer's. If you sense that your prospect is uncomfortable in his or her role, assert yourself. Don't sit back waiting for questions--start asking them. Engage in a dialogue. Not only will you be making things easier on your interviewer; you'll also be making it easy for the person to imagine you taking charge on the job. Remember, an interview is not a test--it's a sales meeting, and it takes two to make one. 3. Never let 'em see you sweat. You want to come across as enthusiastic and ambitious, yet controlled and relaxed. If you're on edge, your prospect will be, too. If, on the other hand, you come across as comfortable in this situation, you'll succeed in doing two things: You'll make the interviewer more comfortable, and the interviewer will be much more likely to envision you feeling comfortable interacting with other departments, management, and/or clients on the job. Take heart in the golden rule of business presentations: No one ever wants to see you do poorly. If you believe in yourself, they'll believe in you. Stand tall, shake hands firmly, smile often, and look the person squarely in the eye when you speak and listen. The more confidence you can project, the more confidence the interviewer will have in you. 4. Listen with your eyes. Watch your interviewer. Try to subtly mimic the person's style. Chances are good that everyone you interview with will unconsciously be looking for little bits of themselves in you. The more you can match their positive attributes, the more they'll like you, and the better the chances they'll see you as their kind of people. Remember, people like people like themselves. 5. Take an interest. If your interviewer would rather talk than listen, so be it. Just be sure you listen intently with your antennae up for uncovering needs. The more interested you are in what your prospects have to say, the greater the chance they'll like you, and the more chances you'll have to find a need that you can fill. 6. Set objectives for the meeting. Determine the three or four things you want the interviewer to know about you. Look for ways to make those points. 7. Bring something to the party. Be informed about the firms you visit. Know their products, markets, number of employees, current stock quotation, growth record, sales, profits, and general reputation. If you've done your homework, you should be able to initiate conversation that will demonstrate your insight and interest in the company. 8. Be sincere. Avoid being too sketchy or windy in your comments. If you can't quite answer a tough question, it's far better to tell your interviewer that you'll have to give it some thought than to fake your way through an insincere answer. A good standard to strive for: Be able to respond to the phrase, "tell me more about that." 9. If you fall, be sure to pick something up. Go on every interview you can. Like everything else in life, you'll get better with practice. Learn from your mistakes. 10. Know your worth. Have an idea of what a suitable salary range is for the position you're seeking, just in case you must quote a salary requirement. Always preface salary discussions with a comment that opportunity and challenge and salary are equally important. Never accept or reject a job opportunity on the spot. 11. Leave your personal convictions at the door. Avoid taking a stand on controversial issues unrelated to the job. There is a 50 percent chance your prospect will disagree and not like you as a result of the stand you've taken. 12. Prepare questions and answers ahead of time. Just as the professional salesperson has to be able to deal with tough questions and objections, so does the job hunter. This final point about preparation is central to everything you need to do in your role as a job-hunting marketing manager, but it's especially critical in the interview because, unlike your preparatory activities, the interview is the equivalent of live theater: You only get one chance. You can't edit a bad answer, a lame question, or awkward moments of silence. Preparation: Key to Good Results When you're selling, nothing can take the place of preparation; you must know your product and your prospect. In the interview this translates into being able to confidently and concisely answer questions. The secret to knowing the right answers is to know the right questions. And here's how to do it. First, you need to anticipate the kinds of questions you will be asked. Second, you need to internalize your answers to these questions, as well as the types of questions you intend to ask. Notice the deliberate choice of the word "internalize," rather than "memorize"; "internalize" means becoming comfortable with the information and being able to talk about it confidently, without sounding rehearsed. So how do you internalize? The solution involves a bit of work, but if you're disciplined about it, it's practically foolproof: Simply write down each key question you might be asked and then prepare your answers. Placing the questions on index cards is a useful technique, because then you can shuffle the deck and vary the order in which the questions are fired at you. It's best to rehearse your interview answers out loud rather than silently. Speaking them aloud gives you a chance to practice important things like delivery, word choice, and so on. And you're less likely to appear to be responding by rote. Use a tape recorder if you really want to know how you sound. Don't memorize your responses word for word. Your goal is to project poise and confidence, and you can do this by responding to questions thoughtfully and naturally. The key is to demonstrate you can think on your feet. Master this, and your prospect will envision you doing the same on the job. How can you anticipate what questions you will be asked? What follows is a partial list that represents the types of questions you might expect on a first-time job interview if you're seeking a position with an agency or with the marketing department of a company. Supplement this list by examining job-hunting books and manuals, and by thinking of the types of questions that may relate more closely to the specific marketing area in which you hope to work. You'll probably be able to tell when you're making a good impression and are being seriously considered for a position. Here are some of the cues to look for:
A Final Word On Interviewing Like anything else in life, the best way to get better at interviewing is to interview more. So, go on every interview you can--even if you don't think it's going to result in the right job fit. Ask friends and family members to put you through mock interviews. If your college offers interview preparation services, take advantage of them. If they don't, then you should start one. All you need is a group of students, and you can interview each other. If you're still in school, take a public speaking course. It could prove invaluable now and later on--on the job.
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