St Jude Catholic Church Allen, Texas lecture - Websites for Dirk https://dirkspencer.com - Dirk’s recruiter experience https://resumepsychology.com – The book preview https://thecandymakerresume.com – The book preview https://theoneinterviewquestion.com – The book preview https://dirksinterviewpsychology.com – The book preview https://resumekeywordsdecoded.com – The book preview http://www.slideshare.net/DirkSpencer - Online presentations by Dirk http://resumekeywordsdecoded.teachable.com - Dirk’s online resume keywords class (free)

1. DIRK SPENCER
RECRUITER
AUTHOR RESUME PSYCHOLOGY
©
2015 ©
Interview Psychology
Preparation Attracts Offers

2. PEOPLE NETWORKING REQUIRING
BABY KISSING,
RUBBER CHICKEN EATING &
WEARING OUT SHOE LEATHER
IS THE FASTEST PATH TO
YOUR NEXT JOB!
Disclaimer

3. WHAT TO EXPRESS
LISTEN CAREFULLY
HOW TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
WHAT YOU MUST MASTER
Interviews
Generally-Speaking

4. What You Must Express in the Interview
Confidence
Competence
Capacity
Where they
need you
to be

5. Listen to Their Questions
Answer what they ask:
Not what you think they asked

6. How to Answer Interview Questions
Be direct
Be concise
Be truthful

7. Stop Doing These Things
Deflecting, defending, demanding
Being too “honest”
Saying “the money is not important”
Dancing around being “fired”

8. Stuff You Must Master – About You
The money
Resume content
Career experience
Past failures

9. Stuff You Must Master – About Them
Industry trends
Regulatory impacts
Best practices and standards

10. WHAT IT IS
WHY IT MATTERS
IT IS A ONE-SIDE AFFAIR
Pre-Screens

11. Interview: The Pre-Screen I
This is a pre-qualifying process

12. Interview: The Pre-Screen II
They are:
Verifying your availability
Checking your interest level

13. Interview: The Pre-Screen III
 This is how they manage their workload
 They may not share much with you
 They might not know much
Regardless – Act Normal

14. Pre-Screen Goal:
Be the Normal Person
…Who is qualified
…Who sounds reasonable
…Who projects self-awareness regarding:
 Skills
 Experience
 Scale
 Market Conditions
 Industry Changes
 Historical Context

15. The Pre-Screen is Expectation Setting
The pre-screen is designed to verify your:
 Rate or salary
 Availability to interview
 Work authorization
 When you can start if an offer is made

16. The Pre-Screen is One Sided
Them asking about your stuff
You telling them about your stuff

17. RULES FOR ANSWERS
DEVELOP ANSWERS BY WORD COUNT
THE BASIC QUESTIONS
TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
CRAZY QUESTIONS
OVER-LEARN YOUR CONTENT
Interviews

18. The Rules to Interview Answers
Rule 1 – There are no wasted questions
Rule 2 – It is always about them
Rule 2.5 – Seriously it is about them
Rule 3 – Every answer must be job related
Rule 4 – Be honest
Rule 5 – Be brief
Rule 6 – Be gone

19. Prepare Interview Answers by Word Count
 Have a 15-17 word introductory answer
 Have a second 20-30 word follow-up answer
 Have a 15-17 word closing answer
 Integrate relevant skills in every answer
 Avoid timed-answers – it encourage faster talking
 Become comfortable with pauses and silence

20. The 6 Basic Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself
2. Tell me about a time you failed
3. Tell me about a time you succeeded
4. Tell me about your greatest weakness
5. Tell me about your greatest strength
6. Tell me how you handle stress

21. Tell Me About Yourself
Doing Great – How About You?
 They are gauging pessimism versus optimism
 They are measuring energy
 They are measuring enthusiasm
 They are calibrating interpersonal norms
 They are evaluating your communication style

22. Tell Me About a Time You Failed
“Let me think…”
Make this work related

23. Failure – What They Want to Know
How you handle failure?
Want you learned from failure?
Are you self-aware regarding failure?

24. Failure – All About Ownership
They want to know:
1. If you own-it
2. If you blame-others
3. IF you blame circumstances
End the example on a “Positive” outcome

25. Tell Me About a Time You Succeeded
“Working with a team allows for…”
They want to know:
 Do you share the credit for success?
 Do you work well with others?
 Do you do the work?
 Do you delegate the work?
 Is there more to you than the resume?

26. Tell Me About Your Greatest Weakness
“Professionally speaking there was a
time…”
They want to know:
Are you self-aware of a short-coming?
Are you recovered from your weakness?
What adaptation did you implement?

27. Tell Me About Your Greatest Strength
“When it comes to this job…”
 They want to see energy – not cheerleading
 Demonstrate “relaxed confidence” about your skill
 This is where you can drill down on “their” needs
 This is when you can demonstrate professional
commitment

28. Tell Me How You Handle Stress
Amateur answers to avoid:
I jog 3 miles, lift weights and do yoga
I have a black belt in karate
I never get stressed out

29. Answering the “Stress” Question
Answer to the best outcome:
Give a work example
Share a business-case
Convey your experience managing
stress using skills they care about

30. Interviews – Summarizing Your Career
What you have to know & know cold:
 Companies – Know the value of a brand
 Job Titles – Translate the jargon
 Dates – Be consistent
 Have 4 or more stories “over-learned”

31. Interviews - Consulting
What you have to share & share well:
You expertise on topical matters
Products, services, methodologies
Industry best practices

32. Interviews - Behavioral
They are gauging your :
Reaction times
Reaction consistency
Comfort level in your own story telling

33. Purpose of the Behavioral Interview
Break through the professional persona
Measure candidate comfort with others
Gauge candidate’s aptitude to adapt
Preview a candidate’s authentic self

34. Behavioral Interview HR Mantra
“Past performance is
the best predictor of
future performance”

35. The Crazy Questions
Realize…
 The answer is irrelevant
 There is no correct answer
 They are watching for “how” you answer

36. The Crazy Questions - What Matters
Consistent delivery:
 “Be Cool Under Fire”
Give interesting answers:
 “Participate Ethically”
Demonstrating logic:
 “…One bite at a time”

37. Purpose of the Crazy Question
Determine how you handle the unexpected?
 This is all they want to know…
&
Are you normal under 2 conditions:
 When things are going well
 When things are not so well

38. The Logic for Crazy Questions
How do you handle fake stress created by a
fake question?
If you crash here you must share
experiences showcasing victories over real-
stress

39. OVER
LEARNING
Interview
Preparation Strategy

40. How to Over-learn Your Material
Stage Right!
Practice your stories like stage actors reciting scripts
 Rehearse, rehearse, rehears, rehearse
 Rehearse a little more
 Rehears a lot more
 Rehearse aloud
 Rehears with others
 Rehearse using audio & video technology

41. Why Rehearse?
Build, train and reinforce
Nero-pathways in the brain
Vocal and facial muscles
Why
Creates a superior level of confidence
Reduces stress hormones

42. The Goal of Over-Learning
It allows for spontaneous responses to new stimuli:
 Cognitive answers to unrehearsed questions
Translation:
 You are able to say something relevant and correct to
new questions even though the response was not
rehearsed

43. Over Learning is Not Memorization
Memorization Fails:
 It does not allow for integration of experience
 Interruptions can break concentration
 Pauses can break story continuity

44. Internet Resources

45. Google “Interview Questions”
 Find samples and variations of interview questions
 Find sample and variations of interview answers

46. Jeanine Rickson Blog
Chief Talent Officer (CTO) at Genesis10 -
 http://careerpointe.wordpress.com/interview-preparation/

47. Lastly
 Do not get bogged down in rate discussions
 Showcase how you adapt to change
The proof is in the offer
- not the interview!

49. Dirk Spencer - Corporate Recruiter
Author Resume Psychology
©
Resume Hacks & Traps Revealed
Beat the Machine. Be Seen. Get Hired!
http://www.amazon.com/-/dp/0692525602/ - Paperback
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0169AR34A - Kindle
www.resumepsychologythebook.com
DirkPMP@Yahoo.Com
214-295-8687
@DirkInDallas
WWW.Slideshare.Net/Dirk Spencer
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkindallas

50. Paperback on Amazon
Resume Psychology ©
Resume Hacks & Traps Revealed
Beat the Machine. Be Seen. Get Hired!
By Dirk Spencer
http://www.amazon.com/-/dp/0692525602/
ISBN-10: 0692525602 / ISBN-13: 978-0692525609

51. Kindle on Amazon
Resume Psychology ©
Resume Hacks & Traps Revealed
Beat the Machine. Be Seen. Get Hired!
By Dirk Spencer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0169AR34A

52. Legal Stuff
Reference Material: Courtesy of Google
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PeopleAnswers, iCims, Amazon, Kindle.
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