Projecting the right image and getting the pick of the jobs.
How's your Lifelong Interview?
Putting on the gloss is something you do every day. Hilton Catt and Patricia Scudamore explain.
Going after the cream of the jobs is no longer just a matter of fluffing your way through a few interviews or being clued-up enough to get past the psychometric tests. You also need a winning image. Which begs the question what, in terms of today's job markets, is a winning image and how do you go about getting one?
Headhunting
Headhunting is the way in as far as many top jobs go. So what do headhunters look for? Image-wise, what magic qualities are they seeking to see in a candidate before they take the gamble of putting him or her in front of one of their clients? Headhunters are notoriously picky and choosy when it comes to people. They are focussed on two hard facts of life, both critical to survival in the highly competitive world of executive search:
· their own reputation is on the line with any candidate they endorse
· a successful placement is the best (and possibly only) guarantee of lucrative repeat business.
For these reasons, headhunters are fully tuned in to picking up negative vibes. Anything in any of their soundings to suggest that a prospective candidate has blots on his/her character and/or work record simply means they give that person the miss (the person is none the wiser of course).
Headhunting is just one method of recruitment. But, as a general observation, it's true to say that a lot of talking behind the scenes goes on when candidates are being considered for key positions – reflecting, perhaps, an increasing wariness of accepting people on face value. Recruiters are more and more inclined to make a few discreet phone calls before putting the job offer in the post.
The object lesson here is to focus your attention on the increasingly important part played by people you know in advancing your career in the directions you want it to go in. This not only means your bosses, peers and subordinates – past and present. It also includes external contacts such as professional advisors, people you know through your work on outside bodies, even your company's customers and suppliers. In fact it could mean anyone who you come into contact with in the course of doing your normal day-to-day job. These are all people who can do you huge favours by a) bringing up your name at the appropriate moment and b) saying the right things about you.
Here it is useful to draw a parallel. Imagine you're going for an interview for a job with a cutting-edge company. You don't need telling to take great pains over your appearance. You go to the trouble of rehearsing a few answers to some of the trickier questions you think you're going to be asked. You psych yourself up for the occasion. And, when you're actually sitting in the hot seat, you're very careful not to say anything that might put you in a bad light. Indeed, if there are any grey areas in your track record, you'll probably be doing your best to draw a veil over them.
You don't act in quite the same way, though, in front of people you're in contact with daily. You are less mindful of the image you project. You don't over concern yourself with minor aspects of your behaviour. You show yourself in your true and natural colours (warts and all).
Part of the problem here of course is that we are talking about projecting an image day in, day out rather than over the 60 to 90 minutes that's par for the course for most job interviews. Harder? Yes, of course it is and this is what we mean by 'the lifelong interview'. The consistency and application called for are not easy to achieve. It means, for example:
- You don't have off days.
- You have to be 100 per cent reliable – you get back to people when you say you will and you complete your work to targets.
- Your appearance is always up to scratch (so don't be the first to dress down!).
- You refrain from running down your colleagues and bosses behind their backs; you keep your opinions on people to yourself.
- You don't whinge and whine; in particular you don't use your colleagues as a sounding board whenever you feel you're being given a hard time.
- You put some of that gloss you normally save up for job interviews into every day.
- Most importantly you do your best to project a person perfect and work perfect image at all times.
With your lifelong interview, one of the more difficult aspects to grasp is learning to keep your flaws to yourself – difficult because there's a natural tendency to form friendships with people you meet through your work. Given any kind of closeness, the odd indiscretion or insight into some darker aspect of your personality can quite easily slip out and the penalty is in years to come when what you have said or done will be remembered vividly. For instance, if you happen to be in the running for a big promotion, or if some headhunter is searching round for names to put in front of a client, the person you were once happy to confide in and treat as a bosom pal could be the one who is asked to pass an opinion on you. The lesson? Always be very careful about what you give out about yourself to professional colleagues. Control the messages and, if you have the need to let your hair down occasionally, make sure you do it well away from people you mix with at work. Remember with this that companies don't take chances with the people they put into top jobs. They always go for what they see as the safe pair of hands and similarly headhunters with their minds sharply focussed on the next billing won't want to be the ones responsible for introducing their clients to someone who could become a liability. As a consequence they go in for positive vetting. Any negative feedback they get on a candidate means they'll likely give that person a miss.
So in summary, what we're seeing here is a need for an increasing awareness of the quality of the image we put across to people we come into contact with in our jobs. 'It's who you know' used to be the catch-phrase to describe the way to success in life. Today perhaps it's truer to say 'It's who you know and what they know about you.'
How's your Lifelong Interview?
Putting on the gloss is something you do every day. Hilton Catt and Patricia Scudamore explain.
Going after the cream of the jobs is no longer just a matter of fluffing your way through a few interviews or being clued-up enough to get past the psychometric tests. You also need a winning image. Which begs the question what, in terms of today's job markets, is a winning image and how do you go about getting one?
Headhunting
Headhunting is the way in as far as many top jobs go. So what do headhunters look for? Image-wise, what magic qualities are they seeking to see in a candidate before they take the gamble of putting him or her in front of one of their clients? Headhunters are notoriously picky and choosy when it comes to people. They are focussed on two hard facts of life, both critical to survival in the highly competitive world of executive search:
· their own reputation is on the line with any candidate they endorse
· a successful placement is the best (and possibly only) guarantee of lucrative repeat business.
For these reasons, headhunters are fully tuned in to picking up negative vibes. Anything in any of their soundings to suggest that a prospective candidate has blots on his/her character and/or work record simply means they give that person the miss (the person is none the wiser of course).
Headhunting is just one method of recruitment. But, as a general observation, it's true to say that a lot of talking behind the scenes goes on when candidates are being considered for key positions – reflecting, perhaps, an increasing wariness of accepting people on face value. Recruiters are more and more inclined to make a few discreet phone calls before putting the job offer in the post.
The object lesson here is to focus your attention on the increasingly important part played by people you know in advancing your career in the directions you want it to go in. This not only means your bosses, peers and subordinates – past and present. It also includes external contacts such as professional advisors, people you know through your work on outside bodies, even your company's customers and suppliers. In fact it could mean anyone who you come into contact with in the course of doing your normal day-to-day job. These are all people who can do you huge favours by a) bringing up your name at the appropriate moment and b) saying the right things about you.
Here it is useful to draw a parallel. Imagine you're going for an interview for a job with a cutting-edge company. You don't need telling to take great pains over your appearance. You go to the trouble of rehearsing a few answers to some of the trickier questions you think you're going to be asked. You psych yourself up for the occasion. And, when you're actually sitting in the hot seat, you're very careful not to say anything that might put you in a bad light. Indeed, if there are any grey areas in your track record, you'll probably be doing your best to draw a veil over them.
You don't act in quite the same way, though, in front of people you're in contact with daily. You are less mindful of the image you project. You don't over concern yourself with minor aspects of your behaviour. You show yourself in your true and natural colours (warts and all).
Part of the problem here of course is that we are talking about projecting an image day in, day out rather than over the 60 to 90 minutes that's par for the course for most job interviews. Harder? Yes, of course it is and this is what we mean by 'the lifelong interview'. The consistency and application called for are not easy to achieve. It means, for example:
- You don't have off days.
- You have to be 100 per cent reliable – you get back to people when you say you will and you complete your work to targets.
- Your appearance is always up to scratch (so don't be the first to dress down!).
- You refrain from running down your colleagues and bosses behind their backs; you keep your opinions on people to yourself.
- You don't whinge and whine; in particular you don't use your colleagues as a sounding board whenever you feel you're being given a hard time.
- You put some of that gloss you normally save up for job interviews into every day.
- Most importantly you do your best to project a person perfect and work perfect image at all times.
With your lifelong interview, one of the more difficult aspects to grasp is learning to keep your flaws to yourself – difficult because there's a natural tendency to form friendships with people you meet through your work. Given any kind of closeness, the odd indiscretion or insight into some darker aspect of your personality can quite easily slip out and the penalty is in years to come when what you have said or done will be remembered vividly. For instance, if you happen to be in the running for a big promotion, or if some headhunter is searching round for names to put in front of a client, the person you were once happy to confide in and treat as a bosom pal could be the one who is asked to pass an opinion on you. The lesson? Always be very careful about what you give out about yourself to professional colleagues. Control the messages and, if you have the need to let your hair down occasionally, make sure you do it well away from people you mix with at work. Remember with this that companies don't take chances with the people they put into top jobs. They always go for what they see as the safe pair of hands and similarly headhunters with their minds sharply focussed on the next billing won't want to be the ones responsible for introducing their clients to someone who could become a liability. As a consequence they go in for positive vetting. Any negative feedback they get on a candidate means they'll likely give that person a miss.
So in summary, what we're seeing here is a need for an increasing awareness of the quality of the image we put across to people we come into contact with in our jobs. 'It's who you know' used to be the catch-phrase to describe the way to success in life. Today perhaps it's truer to say 'It's who you know and what they know about you.'