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Saturday, May 30, 2009
Surviving a Job Interview


I know much as been written in this subject. There are probably millions of books and articles about this out there. So why write another one about it? Hmm... maybe I just want to share what I believe can give anyone an edge in a job interview. While there are millions of books out there about job interviews I realized that there are still a lot of people I know who has not read any of them and my motivation is, as long as there is one person out there who does not know about a topic then it's worth talking and writing about.

I've only been in a job interview thrice in my life so far: two with a printer company and one with a Manila-based software company. So experience-wise I could say I'm probably NOT "that" experienced to talk about this. But one of the skills I know is to determine how and why something work. It's typical of me to study why one experience yields a successful outcome while another fails. From conversations and experience I draw conclusions and find the universal (almost unchanging) truth behind it. I trust that the results of that process will somehow explain why an outcome occurred. So after undergoing three job interviews and one as an interviewer, I realized that we need to define what are the interviewee and interviewers role in the job interview process first and from there draw the "actions" necessary to win an interview.

Let's get started!

Interviewer's Job Description 
1. To find out if the interviewee is a candidate. Meaning if the interviewee has the qualities demanded by the company position needed.
2. To make sure that he/she is the best they will ever see among the candidates.They want to know what the candidate can bring to the company if they hire him/her.

These are two motivations of an interviewer. They are not there to scare the hell out of the interviewee but they are there to clarify and capture what his/her resume' states.


Interviewee's Job Description 
1. Find out if he/she is the man for the position.
2. If he is then the next question is, is he the best candidate there is?
3. Check out if you like the company.

Lesson for the applicants: 
1. Make sure your resume represents you at your very best

Your resume' should contain the correct information about you and what can you can do for the company. It should reflect your core skills and experience. If they need you to submit a handwritten document then make sure you write legibly. Many times the interviewers are turned off in the resume-level and the applicant loses the chance to get the job in that level. Meaning, the applicant will not even have a chance for an interview. So make sure that your resume represents you at your very best.

2. Be assertive of your answers. 

When asked to answer a question, be assertive of your answer. This is not the time to show that you are "very humble" and very shy. Remember that the interviewees want to know if you are the man for the job and if you are the best there is. So being shy about what you can do will not help your cause. You can brag a little about what you can do. Be confident. Sell yourself.

3. What makes you different?

What makes you different from other applicant? If they you are the same with everybody else then you will have very low chance of being hired. Show your uniqueness and relate it why you have what it takes to be hired.

4. What can you do for the company?
Make sure that the moment you leave the interview table that you already presented a vivid picture of what you can bring in the company the moment they hire you. Most of the applicants waits for the interviewee to questions them but I think a more proactive approach is to speak out that you are the man for the job and convince them why.

With this in mind, these are the actions that I think will improve the odds of you getting the job:
1. Read books.

A person of knowledge attracts opportunity. In one interview I had, I was asked what's the last book that I've read. I told them I read the Book of James of the Bible and a book on leadership by John Maxwell. After saying this, I feel that they began to feel interested in what I was gonna say. I then proceeded on the things I've learned in each book. I feel that they were amazed that I have read such books.

2. Memorize quotes.
I'm almost 100% sure about this that a person who memorizes quotes seem to look more intelligent. In one interview I had I said, "In leadership, we have to study how to develop influence. According to John Maxwell, author of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, "Leadership is influence nothing more nothing less." Somehow it wowed my interviewees.

3. Make sure you wear respectable clothing.
First impression is first impression. In a corporate seminar I attended, speaker, Adrian Ding, said it this way, "The moment you walk in any room, within 5 seconds the people inside that room with judge you." So make sure that the moment the 5 seconds is over you already have a "this guys is clean" or "this person is respectable" or "this person has a nice smile" "judgments" from your interviewees.

4. Speak, maintain eye contact, and smile.
Don't be shy. Be conversant. Be interactive. Don't make the interviewees feel uncomfortable by looking all around the room. Instead, maintain eye contact and smile. When you answer a question you can use different answering patterns:
-> SMG (Story Message Gain ) Don't answer the question directly. Use a Story then your Message then your Gain.
-> AREM - (Answer Reason Example Message). Answer directly give your reason why. The add examples (1 or 2) then your message.

These are just two of the many known answering techniques that will enable you to gather your amorphous thoughts and transform it to a awe-inspiring answer.

5. Be honest.
Applying for a job is not lying to the company. It's about selling yourself so be honest with who you are and what you can do. If you like the company tell them you like the company. If there are terms you did not like then tell them (even if it means losing the chance to be admitted to the position). There was a job interview requiring me to transfer to Manila, I was asked if it's OK with me to relocate. I told the interviewer, "yes I think I can." But deep down in my heart I know I could not. The thought of being so far away from my family and my girlfriends is just so much. Maybe the interviewer sensed my lies to I was not admitted to the position but I could have made it easier if I had told the truth.


Maybe the bottom line for all of these is summarized in two words- BE VALUABLE. If you are valuable then it's easy to sell yourself. So I encourage you to read, learn as many crafts as you can, experience as many events as you can. Join clubs with good causes. Host events. Learn another language. Learn new skills. BE VALUABLE.

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Book Review: Death by meeting

DEATH by meeting


Meeting is to a leader as surgery is to a surgeon. Meetings are important but they can be lethargic, unfocused, and passionless. Some leaders often treat meetings as a weekly management ritual that should be done and must be done for the sake of doing it. Which is more exciting watching a movie or attending a meeting? Patrick Lencioni in his book – DEATH by Meeting, argues that a meeting is more exciting than a movie because unlike a movie a meeting can be interactive and is close right at home because the topic impacts our own lives while a movie is just for entertainment. But why are some meetings plagued with feeling of boredom, late attendance, absentee attendees, and look at as a “waste of time” by attendees? Patrick’s answer is found in the story of Casey McDaniel and Will Peterson in the company called Yip.

The Fable
Much of the lessons in proper handling of meetings are woven into the story. The story started with Casey McDaniel, CEO of Yip, and his boring weekly meetings with his executives. It was implied that the meetings that Yip’s executive is having is impacting the performance of the company. After unfortunate turn of events Casey hired Will to initially work as his assistant but ends up helping the executive change the culture of their meeting which inevitably affected their bottom-line. So why are meetings boring? Patrick’s answer – because it lacks drama andcontextual structures.
Lack of drama
He argues that the reason we can sit in a movie for two hours or more and feel uneasy after sitting on a meeting for an hour is because of conflict. We are so glued to the “conflict” we forgot the time. Avoiding conflicts causes frustration. I’ve seated in many meeting when all the people do is to agree with the leader. If this is the case, might as well have the leader send everything through email. Conflicts are important to keep the meeting flowing with ideas for resolution. So it should be presented in the beginning of the meeting, mined in the middle of every issues, and should be expected. So as a leader, it is our job to make sure that there is a healthy flow of conflict a resolution.
Lack of contextual structure
Usually the organization only has one type of meeting to address all types of issues and it is called weekly staff meeting. Patrick theorizes that we need to have a multiple types of meeting in fact he suggested four of them.
Four Types of Meetings
  1. Daily Check-in. This is a five-minute meeting that should be done regularly (daily or every other day). Each member should report what he/she needs to do for the whole day. Any issues bigger than what is for the day will be talked about in the next meeting
  2. Weekly Tactical. This type of meetings runs to 45-90 mins and has three parts.
    1. Lightning Round – 60 seconds priority report of the week.
    2. Progress Review – reviewing the previous action items
    3. Real-time Agenda – The agenda SHOULD NOT be set prior to the meeting but within the meeting. This is a new concept and I will try to comment about this later.
  3. Monthly Strategic. Runs from 2-4 hours. This is a monthly meeting where the team decides what type of project they would like to take for the month.
  4. Quarterly Off-site. Runs from 1-2 days. This is where the company addresses what it will take on for the year and performance reviews are made.
Yupplication!!!
This is one of the few books that I’ve finished in less than 24-hours. You see I am a very slow reader it takes me more than a week to finish a book but this one took me less than a day and I believe it is because of the vehicle that Patrick used to relay a very simple concept.
What I really like about this book is that it stands on the idea that meetings have direct relationship to teams/company’s performance. In the story of Yip, Patrick pointed out that even though Yip achieved a considerable success, the company could have been in a much better standing it has a better leader. Dr. John Maxwell said it this way “everything rises and falls in leadership.” In Yip’s case the executive meetings became an impediment to the company’s higher morale and effectiveness.
Another thing that I like about this book is that even though it that talks about a boring topic (meeting) it’s surprisingly funny. I could not help but bolster out a frequent laughter every now and then. Also, the drama in the story is very interesting to keep me glued on my chair until I finished it.
So how can I apply the principles from this book to my life? Firstly, as a team leader I am not doing formal Daily Check-In meetings so I think I will add this in our routine as a team. Also I can enhance our weekly tactical meetings by following the three parts of the weekly meeting so we can have a more focused meeting. I also realized that as a leader it is my job to take charge not only the content of the meeting but also observing the morale of the people attending the meeting. It is my job to induce conflict to the meeting and to keep it interesting.
One thing I realized while reading this book was that I was asking myself a lot of questions. Like, how are my meetings doing? Am I sure that the attendees are not dying in my meetings? Am I truly addressing realistic problems in my meetings or am I avoiding conflicts? What are the things that I need to improve in my meetings?
I find these questions really helpful because it’s my way of evaluating how am I doing in these meetings.
Surprise Lesson
What surprised me the most is this - I can apply the four meetings in my personal quest for productivity not only as a team leader. I just finished my Monthly Strategic meeting with myself and have decided what type of strategy I can employ for the month. Also I am planning to set weekly meeting with myself discussing what I need to do for the week and review what I did last week. Then I can have daily meeting with myself to talk about what I need to accomplish in a day. Wait!! before you think I have some loose screws let me explain. For awhile now, I’ve been feeling a bit uneasy for lack of planning and review with what I want to accomplish and what I want to concentrate on. When I read this book I realized that I can take this process into my life so let’s see what happens.
Conclusion


Meetings are critical. Just as a general plans to go to war so as a leader should plan in a meeting before employing any action. So it is very critical but it can be frustrating and pointless. However, we can engineer our meeting such that it will be both productive and rewarding. This will result to higher morale, faster and better decision making and greater result.
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Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Seminar

Coming this June another Seminar from Cutting-Edge Fellowship.
The details has not been finalized but it's about grooming.
Word has it that Praise Cathedral will bring in a grooming expert to talk about dressing for success. Let me know if you are interested.

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Another Seminar

Coming this May 27, Cutting Edge Fellowship brings you a seminar that will talk about
how customer commitment can impact your career.
Ms Pucci Turrecha is a sales master heading the multi-million project of Cathedral of Praise Columbarium . She will be talking about branding and then customer satisfaction.

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Thursday, May 07, 2009
This can sky rocket your career.

Do you want to dramatically impact your career? I think you do otherwise you will not be reading this. For about a year now, I’ve been seeing the impact of this habit in my career and I believe that this habit can help anyone who just does it in a regular basis. I did not invent this habit this has been around for a long time now and became very prevalent in the advent of information technology.

I started doing this technique (which eventually turned into a habit) when I heard this from Brian Tracy’s audio-program about getting ahead in your career. When he mentioned this, I began to apply it in leadership, excellence, top performance, and time-management. And true enough, I saw some compelling results in the process. I began to have more ideas about leadership and top performance. Since I am a software engineer, I started applying this concept in my career and again, I saw the wonders it make to my career.

Why does it work? I am not a psychologist but I believe it works because life accumulates. We reap what we sow. And when it’s harvest time what we reap is always greater than what we sow.

What is this habit anyway?
The habit is very simple. As to date, I can truly say that this will work. And the habit is… ARE YOU READY??? The habit is to read everyday about any subject within your field. If you’re a team leader or a manager then read everyday about leadership, time-management, top performance, mentoring, coaching and etc. If you are an accountant then read articles related to accounting every day. If you are a software engineer then read about programming languages and programming design. If you are in quality assurance then read about process improvements, six sigma, and other related literature. Again, the reason that this will work is that life accumulates. Reading everyday will accumulate to more knowledge in your field. If you are reading one article (about 10 mins reading) in your career everyday then after 30 days you are already 30 articles smarter than before. The wonderful thing about this is that it only took you a total of 30 mins to do all of it! If you can read 2-3 books in 30 days then you are already 2-3 books smarter than before. Not only that, you will notice that you will have more ideas to share and your confidence level will increase.

What if I don’t do this?
Then don’t.:) Join the regular Joe’s and Jenny’s. These are the people who barely read anything inside or outside their field. As a result, they feel insecure about what they can do and they are the people who do not generate much idea. They end up not making significant progress in their career. If they do move up in their career it is because they are forced to change due to life’s pressure or what Stephen Covey calls “emergencies” in life.

The Challenge
In one article I’ve read the average Joe reads about less than one book a year. You are not an average person. You are made for a greater purpose. As the author of Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino wonderfully puts it, “your purpose is to grow up into a mountain not to shrink to a grain of sand”.
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Sunday, May 03, 2009
Fear and Taking Action

Have you ever been afraid to take up something new? I have, I had the chance to develop software in the past and I literally walked away from it. And the only reason for it is fear. I was afraid to fail. I thought don't have what it takes. I thought I did not have enough experience to take on the that project. By walking away from that lid-lifting experiences I missed the chance to grow technically.

There is a saying that goes, we regret not because of what we have done but because of what we did not do. And that's exactly what I felt. Looking back, I realized that I could have passionately pursued the project and who knows it might have succeeded. And my confidence and experience could have multiplied. But I did not do anything, instead I walked away inventing an excuse as to why I will not (could not) do it. I regretted not doing that project.

But last week, I meet my client (another client from the one I walked away from) and we already 'inked' the deal. So now I am doing a project that I was very afraid to do in the past. My girlfriend asked me if I am afraid that I could not finish it. "No, I know it will be finished", I answered her. Somehow a new sense of confidence has engulfed me. I now know that what stops me from succeeding are self-limiting beliefs rooted in fear.

So how did my attitude changed from somebody who walks away from a project to somebody who embraces one? Simple. These past two weeks, I attended two 'cutting-edge' services, listened to two sermons, attend one toastmasters meeting, and read one book and these four things just came together and they totally challenged the way I look at my performance. Somewhere, while I was reading a book or listening to my pastor's sermon or listening to someone speak, I realized two things.

Number one: Fear is a constant feeling when we attempt to do something new.
Number two: The important thing is to take action.
These two things made me look at a project as an opportunity and not as a failure-producing entity. It got me excited that I can learn something new in the process. This is a new way of seeing and I can attribute it to the environment I was exposed to
in the past two to three weeks.

So what can I encourage you to do this week? I encourage you to:
1. Attend seminars,lectures, and sermons.

There are many so many seminars and lectures available right now so take advantage of them. In my case, I attend to at least two lectures every week, and I take notes during Sunday sermons. I could not tell you how many times the Sunday sermon's has challenged me to live a better life.

2. Take notes.
Write down ideas that that you just learned. Author and speaker, Jim Rohn says, "Don't trust your memory! Take some notes! Taking down notes multiplies your retention skills. Plus this will give you the chance to review some of the things that has made an impact in your life.

3. Read books.
Read books that can challenge your thoughts and stir up your spirit. Visit your local bookstore!
I will talk more about reading books in later posts.

4. Find people who are good role models. 
Find role models. These are the people you look up to. Learn from them and be inspired by their lives. In my life there are a handful of people who can speak to my life. When I am with them I do not talk because it's my time to listen. These are the people who unknowingly mentor me.

5. Subscribe to e-zine.
I recommend John Maxwell's e-zine and Jim Rohn's e-zine. Subscribing to e-zine will put positive emails to your inbox. Instead of reading jokes or spending your internet time to unimportant things read these mails and learn from the ideas from these e-zines.

6. Listen to audio books
This is one of the greatest invention since books. Take advantage of this technology.
The idea is to put yourself in an environment that encourages personal growth. This way, you can be exposed to life-changing ideas that can dramatically impact your future.
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