Hi Friendos,
A lot of financial writing discusses how to save and invest money. There is much less discussion of the income side of things. Sometimes a person has an income problem: they don’t earn enough of it.
Recently I was helping someone prep for a job interview (where they would earn more) and reviewed some old materials from my business school career office and from a job search where I worked with a professional recruiter. I hope these notes will be helpful if you are interviewing for a job that pays more. I recommend a LOT of preparation for interviews. This is boring but it works.
Regarding overall mindset and approach
When you are interviewing, you need a coherent story about why you want that job at that organization and it needs to be more than just “it pays better.” When you are asked “Tell me about yourself,” or “So what brings you here today?” or “Take me through your resume,” that’s when you convey your story (without using the phrase “my story”).
Your story will encompass your own goals, such as how this position is the next stage of your professional development, gives you opportunities to expand your skill set, takes a small part of your current role that you enjoy the most and expands that to be a much larger part of your focus, will let you work on a larger “stage,” etc. A lot of that sounds like how the organization will help you. In the interview, though, you must convey how you will help them. How you will help solve their problems and make their life easier. Why your skills and prior experiences are just the thing to meet their needs, as demonstrated through examples you discuss from your prior experience. That is why they will want to hire you.
This is the same mindset to bring when you want a raise at your current job. Don’t talk to your boss about how you are underpaid and that’s unfair and you’ve worked there for so long. Take it to positive town and talk to your boss about how you’ve helped the organization in these specific ways and you are excited to keep contributing and so Can they tell you specifically what you need to do in the next 3/6/12 months in order to get promoted / get moved into a higher pay scale? Because you are looking to add even more value to the organization and help achieve the team’s goals. Then, after you do those things in the following months, you can go back to them and say, I did the things, can we discuss moving me up? If they don’t move you up after that, you should look for another job (and all of this will be great fodder for interview discussions).
My business school career office said that interviewers generally evaluate you based on:
- Your ability to present your story and communicate your reasons for each decision or transition you made.
- The examples you use to highlight key skills relevant to the job.
- Your ability to incorporate knowledge of the job and company into the conversation as a way to demonstrate interest, commitment and the fact that you have done your homework.
They called the examples we used to highlight key relevant skills “vignettes” – mini stories we developed in advance and could work into an interview. For example, if collaborative teamwork is important in the job, think about times where you successfully worked as part of a team and how the great outcome achieved would not have been possible without everyone’s contributions and collaboration. Practice talking about it so you can be smooth and succinct during the interview. It helps a lot to practice out loud.
Ask your interviewers lots of questions
Probably my best interview ever was a final round for my business school internship. At this company people wore clothes on the fancier end of “business casual” so when I arrived, I was surprised my interviewer wore jeans. I was immediately struck by his down-to-earth tone and straightforward way of speaking, and was so curious about how he ended up there. He somehow seemed different from other people I’d met in the industry and I asked him tons of questions about how he got into the field, what did he think about this firm, what did he see as the direction of the industry, etc. We ended up talking for over an hour even though we only had 30 minutes scheduled and he laughingly commented that I asked him more questions than he asked me. I got the job.
Ask them about themselves and their perspective on the organization/industry
People like talking about themselves. But also, if you really want this job or are trying to figure out if it will truly be a good place for you to work, you will have a genuine interest in the people working there.
- What brought you to [this organization]?
- What do you like about [this organization]?
- Is there anything that surprised you about [this organization] after you started working here?
- What do you think is a misconception people have about [this organization / industry]?
- What is most challenging about your position / this job I am interviewing for?
- Internally, who do you view as your top competitors?
- What are your proudest achievements? (revealing of values)
Ask them questions to confirm you will be a good fit
You want to focus on Can I do this job? In this place, with these people, in this environment, with these expectations? To gauge this, when you answer a question, you ask one back.
- Interviewer: “What’s your experience in __?” You: “I’ve done [XYZ…]. Is that similar to what I’d be doing here?”
During a lull in conversation (or if asked whether you have any questions for them), you can ask:
- You’ve seen my background; how do you think I’d fit in here?
- If I had the opportunity to work here, what is your expectation for me in the first year regarding [bringing in sales / mastering certain skills / any key things for that position]?
- Is there anything you would change about [this organization] if you could?
A lot of these questions require confidence to ask and implicitly assume that you have a lot to offer this organization. A candidate that projects confidence is extremely attractive. It’s not about being arrogant or overstating what you can do. It’s about understanding that no organization has an open job position unless they think hiring someone will bring more value than the compensation offered, and you are simply conveying how you will do that.
Ask closing questions to try and seal the deal
If you want the job, of course at the end of the interview you want to ask:
- What is the next step in the process?
About ten years ago, a recruiter was helping me prepare for a full day of interviews at a company. I would have 4 one-on-one interviews in the morning, make a presentation to the entire office, go to lunch with 2 people, and then have 3 afternoon one-on-one interviews. I spent hours and hours on my presentation materials and practiced delivering it out loud at least 10 times in my living room (to my dog). I was so tired by the end of the day and of course my very last interview was with the most senior person (I later learned that if the early interviews had not gone well, they would have ended my day early). My last interview went ok I thought, but not great. The recruiter had firmly instructed me to close out with this terrifying question:
- “Do you have any concerns or reservations about my ability to do this job?”
I really did not want to ask this but did it anyway, and my interviewer DID have some concerns! My presentation topics were less sophisticated than what he had hoped to see. Well, I said, that’s fair. I knew the entire office was invited to attend, and since there were different levels of experience among the staff, I wanted to make sure the material would be understandable to everyone. But I could see why he had the reaction that he did.
Asking that question gave me an opportunity to satisfy his concerns and also show lack of defensiveness and openness to feedback, and I think my answer flipped him from “no” to “yes.” I got the job.
Send thank you notes
Always send thank you notes that day (or the following morning at the absolute latest) to each person you met with. Thank you notes are short and reiterate your interest in the position and the organization, and thank the person for their time and consideration. Also send thank you notes to anyone that helped coordinate your meetings but is likely not involved in the decision process (e.g., a receptionist) to convey that you appreciate them and hope to work together as colleagues in the future. This is a nice way to begin things with people that are hopefully your future colleagues.
I have interviewed for many jobs I did not get. I had the most success with job offers when I prepared the most.
-Stephanie
Frequently Taxed Questions 