LET'S-BEGIN

Interviews live - Behaviours and personalities

I want to discuss the impact of behaviours and personalities, specifically how although when you go to a job interview you are probably slightly nervous that it is just as likely the interviewer has some stress or pressure as well. For example all the time they spend interviewing people they know their other work is piling up and may be late.  Also keep in mind very few interviewers have been trained to interview people, and it's not easy either!

So with this knowledge try and prepare yourself for the interview and be ready to handle a bit of pressure or sometimes abrupt behaviour, or lack of attention from the interviewer.

Some job interviews can deliberately put you under stress to see how you react; this is understandable if the job you are applying for demands someone able to work calmly under pressure perhaps in emergency situations or dealing with customer complaints in a service department.  The effective way to handle this kind of interview question is to ignore any provocative remarks, deal with the underlying question and answer it factually.

People often employ people who appear to be similar to them in their comments, looks and behaviors.  It is worth studying the interviewer to try and figure out what they are like and if you add this to asking what are the top 3 criteria needed in a successful applicant you should get a good picture about what the interviewer is looking for.

Remember also that everyone you meet from the moment you step onto the employer's premises could directly or indirectly have an influence on who gets the job so it pays to be polite and friendly - but not over friendly -to everyone.

Let us now explore six different personalities of interviewers

1. The professional interviewer, often from the human resources department, is used to asking some very searching questions.  But in return, you can ask back your own questions for example about training programmes and career paths.
   
   
2. The talker, some interviewers love the sound of their own voice, ask a question and you may find you get a full life and organisational history.  The problem here is to make sure you do get time in the interview to sell yourself into the job.  Be sure to show interest in what the interviewer is saying and try and keep mentioning your skills and how they fit into what the interviewer is saying.  
   
   
3. The ‘I'm great' person is constantly saying how excellent they are at their job.  Listen, acknowledge them and their achievements and try and find small ways to comment that you have the same outlook as they do, not in a competitive way but in a way that seems similar to their outlook.
   
   
4. Bullies or aggressive interviewers are more difficult to deal with, but fortunately it's unusual to experience this kind of person today.  First you must decide if this is a stress interview designed to test you, if it is deal with it as we already discussed.  If is not a stress interview and you feel the interviewer is being unpleasant or rude -and they would be your future manager -maybe this is not the job for you.  You are perfectly entitled to withdraw from the interview if you are being subject to unreasonable behaviour.
   
   
5. Quiet interviewers should be approached in the same way, quietly. If you're a loud person yourself, quieten your voice.  You need to ask your open questions, probe around, and find out what's going on, what they think, and what's important to them.  When you've identified what this person is thinking, then go through the process of matching yourself to their needs, but do it quietly. 
   
   
6. Open, assertive interviewers are similar to the professional interviewer. They may not be professional interviewers but will be easy to get along with, be aware that you be drawn into being very open about yourself and you may give away more than you planned to say.  The open, assertive type is also in all probability a very good judge of character.  As with all aspects of the interview, using your eyes and ears will assist you greatly.  You have two ears and one mouth.  Use them in that ratio.

Check out our online learning course Get that Job (buy now 50% discount blog offer) which covers the whole process of how to get a job.

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

How to build a customer business case to increase sales success

Being able to explain the value proposition of what you sell in terms of the business benefits to the customer is a vital skill in any market conditions.  In a tough market, when many organisations have dramatically reduced their spending, every decision to purchase products or services must be justified with a strong and compelling business case.  This must prove how much money will be saved or generated as a result of using the product or service.

Tough markets force changes on customer's purchasing criteria and for that reason suppliers must have a clear definition of their "ideal customer".  Precisely what are the characteristics of the ideal customer?  For example their size, location, type of business, pressures they face and the problems they will spend money to solve.  Data should be gathered from the sales force, the customer base, marketing, and business partners.  Competitors also need monitoring to detect early signs of a change to buying priorities in the market.

A generic business case for the product or service is only a starting point; this must then be tailored to appeal to different decision makers in the customer who will each have their own criteria that need addressing if they are to approve a decision to buy.  For example finance managers may consider cost reduction aspects of the decision; operational people will evaluate the ease of using the product and the efficiencies it can deliver whereas service managers will be concerned with improvements to their own customer service.

Detailed examination of existing customers is essential:

• their decision to buy,
• who was involved,
• the criteria they evaluated the product against
• what triggered the decision to be taken

Business cases to buy products or services may come from a variety of different reasons.  Some organisations will be motivated by reducing costs and efficiencies.  In the commercial sector companies may be motivated by being able to launch a new service to their customers and generate revenues.  The need to comply with government regulations can drive others to buy

Building a business is a consultative process and needs to engage the customer's people in order to obtain the data on which the case is built.  Simply sending a spreadsheet projecting potential savings or gains is not effective and is almost certain to be dismissed by the customer. 

There are some steps and tools that can be used to construct a business and these are discussed in our online course How to protect your topline in a downturn (buy now at 50% off)

One very powerful tool to use is a set of questions that are designed to uncover the amount of savings and gains that the customer should be able to achieve by buying your product or service.  For this to be credible the question list - and the likely range of answers - needs to be built from data obtained from existing customers.

Without a compelling business case customers will, in the current economic conditions, delay buying decisions and probably decide to do nothing!  By direct contrast suppliers who adopt business case selling achieve higher value sales, increase their win rates and by definition lock out the competition more often. 

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

How to boost the sales pipeline & shorten the sales cycle

In normal markets a few leading companies understand the dramatic boost to their business that an effective and sustained lead generation campaign can bring.  Three main benefits are: shorter sales cycles, higher win rates and more effective use of sales people's time.  Most businesses, for reasons unknown, don't give proper attention to this subject and in a downturn or a tough market an effective lead generation campaign can make the difference between survival and failure.

The stakes then are high; the question is will more companies take steps to implement effective lead generation?  A tough market should be a catalyst for doing this immediately and a core requirement is that both sales and marketing co-operate in every respect of the campaign.  Any resistance from sales about quality of leads and quick follow up or unwillingness of marketing to modify the campaign based on constructive sales feedback will doom the campaign to failure.

3 steps to implementing an effective lead generation and management campaign

1. Understanding the market
   Once objectives for the campaign are defined sales and marketing must agree a definition of the ideal customer -in part by looking at existing customers.  What are their needs, what is their pain (what problem are they trying to solve) what is the job role of the buyer (or buyers), what benefits did they see in the product (or service) that caused them to buy, and what triggered the decision to buy - as opposed to delaying a decision, what they replaced with your product, how did they get to hear about your company.  This will help you shape the value proposition of your product for use in the lead generation campaign. 
   
   Current performance statistics should be agreed prior to the campaign starting including: the number of enquiries to leads, leads to qualified sales opportunities and to orders.  Length of sales cycle should also be understood.
   
   It is a good idea at this stage that the sales and marketing team understand the challenges to success of the campaign which can include: poorly qualified leads which are in reality only enquiries, lack of sales follow up - either at all or quickly, no feedback mechanism either way between sales and marketing, no rating, scoring or common agreement of lead categories and a lack of leadership support
   
   
2. Lead management
   A shared database between sales and marketing is the building block of all campaigns with jointly defined fields of data that need to be held on each customer and potential customer.  Many companies "lose" leads when trying to operate two separate databases and give up synchronizing them which makes effective measurement, reporting and improvement of the campaign impossible.
   
   Marketing and Sales must agree on how to score and categorise leads to ensure that for example early stage enquires are not miss-described as leads and that equally sales ignore a "hot" qualified lead.
   
   
3. Planning & executing a lead generation campaign
   Clear objectives and a "unity of purpose" between sales and marketing are the building blocks of an effective campaign.  Assuming the value proposition is already defined then a set of proof and interest points of it need listing for use in the campaign, not least by inside sales people.  Lead generation operates in today's "noisy" market where we all suffer from too much communication of all types.  This means it must focus in on exciting and interesting benefits to arouse the attention and interest of potential customers.  Next a list of questions can be created which will gather the information from the prospective customer to correctly identify their position in the sales cycle (cold warm or hot).
   
   A wide choice of mediums exist for use in lead generation ranging from the internet, to events, phone calls, PR & Advertising.  Good campaigns often include combinations of several types of medium in order to engage potential customer's attention and eventually cause them to want contact from a sales person.
   
   When customers buy is probably the most neglected aspect of lead generation and is responsible for a lot of wasted time created from premature leads being given to sales.  Leads must be "nurtured" by the campaign until they meet the pre-agreed criteria which dictate they are ready to be passed to sales.  At this point if existing customers are likely to buy more products then care must be taken to address them in a specific way in the campaign.
   
   Finally measurement of the campaign's results with regular and public attention to the campaign by both sales and marketing leaders and a willingness to "performance tune" it based on factual feedback will send a signal to everyone about the importance and value of the lead generation campaign.

For a fuller discussion of this and other best practices of sales leadership our online course called How to protect your topline in a downturn (buy now at 50% off).

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

Interviews live - Questions to ask and answer

The subject of how to answer tough interview questions is covered in many books and articles along with examples of tough questions, however, what is a tough question to one person is easy for another so it is difficult to generalize about the “right" answers.  Here I plan to take a slightly different but nevertheless I hope valuable viewpoint.

1. How to prepare yourself to answer tough interview questions
   This can best be summarized as: practice, practice, practice!  Start by making a list of any tough questions that, based on your CV and working record, could apply to you.  Examples could range from why you had so many jobs, to why you left your last job, why you had 3 months off work, why you feel you are the best candidate for the job, why your academic results were not better or why your last appraisal was poor.
   
   When you have your list of tough questions write down some short, truthful but acceptable answers for each question.  Always remember even if the question is about something that for you was a big issue the interviewer may not see it as a major issue.  In any case you definitely should not ramble on for hours about it.  Give a short, honest answer, if need be explaining how you have learnt from the issue and changed and then restate your enthusiasm for the job you are being interviewed for.
   
   Next find someone you trust to give you honest feedback and get them to look at your CV and the advert for the job you are applying for and see if they can think of any tough questions you have missed.  Then get them to ask you some of the questions and try out your answers.  Listen to the feedback and make changes to your answers where needed.  Remember you should be short, honest and positive with your answers.
   
   During the interview if you have any doubt about what the interviewer has asked you, repeat what you heard as the question back to the interviewer and ask if you understood the question correctly.  Make sure you don't answer the wrong question.
   
   Quite often you will get asked a tough question and your answer may not really help you, in these cases it is better to accept that no one is perfect (just as no job is perfect) and having given your answer go onto to summarise 3 areas where your achievements, skills, experience are a match for the job and restate your interest in the job.  Honest, open enthusiasm backed up by knowledge and research about the employer and the job are very powerful positive factors that can counter balance negative issues.
   
   
2. Asking questions in interviews
   This is a less well covered subject and most people don't realise that good interviewers will not only judge you on the type of questions you ask but also the order you ask the questions in.  Based on the fact that people tend to ask first what most interests them.  Equally not to ask any questions at all can suggest that you have not really prepared for the interview or are not interested in the job.
   
   Allow me to use an obvious example: if the first question you ask is about the amount of holidays you get the interviewer could reasonably assume your enthusiasm was for time off and not the job.  Let this serve as a warning to you about the need to spend some time thinking about questions to ask that reinforce your interest, suitability and skills for the job and write them down.
   
   Look at the job advert, read what is said about the job content, any reference to tasks and duties and write down some questions related to them.  On the same basis if there are details of the skills, background and experience of the ideal candidate in the advert try and think of some questions around these areas too.  Good questions are around such areas as “if I am successful in the job over the next 3-6 months what will I have achieved?" and “I am interested in developing myself, what kind of training is available?"

Check out our online learning course Get that Job (buy now 50% discount blog offer) which covers the whole process of how to get a job.

Sales Leadership in a Tough Market – 7 ways to analyse the impact of a downturn

We already discussed some of the factors and warning signs of a downturn and so the next step is to examine the potential impact on your business and, of equal importance, how to maintain the morale of your sales team.  Far reaching changes can be very unsettling to sales teams, poor performers regard them as an excuse and others can have their motivation and focus distracted and potentially "drained away".

As sales leader then you have the task to correctly understand and analyse the impact of changes on your team, take decisions on how to respond to them and explain both the rationale and impact of changes to your team members!  Phew big job then, oh and keep revenues flowing as well.

It makes sense therefore to have some kind of systematic, or checklist type approach and that is what we will discuss now. 

1. First your own company may make organizational changes that alter the structure of the company, products and services, headcount and other areas.  Discuss with your manager how any of these changes affects your team and when you will need to implement any changes
2. Reporting and forecasting will increase as your company"s executives need more current and detailed information about the sales pipeline.  Explain to your sales team that this is a reasonable and necessary request in order that the company manages its costs and income more closely
3. New overall priorities may mean certain existing activities are delayed or cancelled; companies often focus on their core activities in a downturn.  You need to be ready for this which could involve some products being withdrawn from sale or the need for higher margins affecting bids and tenders.  Again a key demand on you is to reassure your team by explaining the company strategy
4. Expect approvals for budgets and hiring to take a lot longer or even get cancelled, be ready to achieve your objectives with fewer resources which may mean re-organising your own team and the way it deals with customers and / or resellers.  Even in such times attention should be given to competitive opportunities as a downturn usually affects everyone.  Unify your team in a plan to identify weaker competitors and target winning business from them, this will also provide a pro-active and positive aspect of a downturn
5. Headcount changes could mean any of the following: removal of contractors, acceleration of exits for serious non-performers and cancellation of any new hiring.  On a positive side if you do have the ability to hire the likelihood is that you can choose from much higher quality people who, under normal market conditions, would not be looking for a new job.
6. Cash becomes a very high focus area and you can expect your team –if not already engaged - to play a bigger role in making sure customers pay their invoices on time.  On the other side you may find certain suppliers, who are not regarded as essential, do not get paid by your company as quickly as before.  If you depend on certain suppliers you will need to make sure your finance department pay their invoices
7. Travel costs are likely to be restricted and therefore you should discuss with your team how to use telephone and video conference calls to maintain customer contact to compensate for fewer face to face meetings.

Get a clear understanding yourself, as the sales leader, of these impact areas and then explain to your sales team what is changing and why.  You need to maintain their focus on winning business and keep morale high.  If there are changes that you disagree with then these must be discussed with your own manager on the basis of "change what you can and accept what you can"t".
For a comprehensive discussion of all these points and 14 other sessions check out the online sales leadership course How to protect your topline in a downturn (buy now at 50% off).

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

Sales Leadership in a Tough Market – Situation Snapshot

Understanding precisely how a tough market or downturn is affecting your business can be quite difficult.  Maybe everything looks fine, the last quarter was ok, but in reality underneath the surface the threats are gathering.  On the other hand if results are already falling short of plan and you take corrective action but only have incomplete data and do not verify it you could make the situation worse not better.  The picture can be further confused by your sales team who, only used to easier markets, throw out requests for more support without analysing precisely what they want or need.

So there is a need for a quick, lightweight but comprehensive snapshot of your sales situation.  With this snapshot you can take informed decisions to protect your sales now and prepare for growth in the future.

The magnificent 7 ways to give you an accurate situation snapshot:

1. First and most important gather accurate intelligence.  Make sure you have verifiable facts and not assumptions.  Keep of record of who provides the intelligence since the source always places some interpretation on the facts and try to get people with differing viewpoints on issues for a balanced summary
2. Intelligence and data sources should include: customers, business partners, and competitors, professional bodies for your industry and those for your customers, industry sector and financial analysts.  Your own staff in sales, marketing, company executives and other key managers should all be contributing intelligence such that you get the full picture.  Internal mail lists such competition@xxx make it easier to contribute
3. External data points that help you assess where your business is include: is the average time to win a new order lengthening, are customers taking longer to pay, is the volume of new enquiries reducing, is competitive activity changing, are suppliers in difficulty and are government regulations changing quickly?
4. Internal data points include: the projection of sales revenues and/or P&L, the status of sales force morale, are marketing campaigns continuing to generate new leads, does your current go to market plan still make sense, do you need to reduce costs /headcount, is each member of the sales team resilient and generating business and are sales and marketing working very closely together?
5. For each of the subjects listed at 3 & 4 here ask yourself, how does that affect: your customers, your suppliers, your team, you and your results over the next 12 months
6. Test questions to use are: what has stopped, what has started and what has changed in the last few months
7. Finally with this analysis done you can evaluate potential solutions by considering what happens if you do nothing (you may need to wait for a clearer picture to form) or what happens if you decide on some new initiatives/ changes?  Informed decisions that are taken calmly, based on verified intelligence are an effective response to tough market conditions, should protect your business and in parallel reassure the sales team about your leadership.

For a comprehensive discussion of all these points and 15 other sessions check out the online sales leadership course How to protect your topline in a downturn.

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

Interviews live - 9 silver bullets to slay the demons that cause bad interviews

Job interviews are always a stressful time; it's natural to want to give your best performance and therefore to be anxious about it, even haunted.  There are powerful demons at work to cause bad interviews: Arriving late, appearance inappropriate, not getting a good start with the interviewer, rambling on about how unfair it is you weren't successful in your last job, only asking questions about pay and holidays, not getting across your key strengths, running out of time and no follow up.

There are some practical things, however, that you can do to protect against a bad interview and we are going to examine some of them here. See our online course Get that job for a complete approach

9 Silver bullets to make interviews successful (slay those demons):

1. Before you start your journey to the interview:
   1. Write down why you want the job and 3 skills / achievements that qualify you for it.
   2. Make sure you have all the information about the job, two copies of your CV and some relevant questions to ask
   3. Have clear address details, a contact phone number handy in case you get delayed and need to call the interviewer + of course a fully charged mobile phone AND SET OFF EARLY!
   4. Have you got the look - your appearance and clothes - is it right for the interview?
2. First impressions count, a welcome smile and thanking the interviewer for the clear directions from them or their assistant to find the location is safe and polite to start an interview
3. Timing - ask how long the interview will last for, it's easy to run out of time and not get across all your key points
4. Ask permission to make a few short notes, important points you can refer to later
5. "Tell me about yourself" - A very common opening interview question which can be used by interviewers in two ways.  The first, obviously, being for the interviewer to hear about your experience, skills and knowledge.  The second, not so obvious, to see how well you communicate.  In both cases after a few short words about you personally a good approach is to use your CV as a guide when describing your achievements and capabilities.  Using your CV in this way will ensure you talk about major points that are relevant for the job and give structure to your answer.  Be sure to emphasise why you want the job, interviewers like applicants who are enthusiastic and have the right skills / experience
6. Key criteria - as soon as you can do so in the interview it is good to confirm the key requirements for the job, as this will allow you to keep relating your own capabilities back to them
7. Answering questions - make sure you understand the questions you are asked, if you are unsure repeat the question back to the interviewer.  We will deal with tough questions in a separate blog.  The interviewer is trying to find the best person who: fits the interviewer, fits the job requirements and fits in with the organisation or team. Make your answers informative, positive and short. 
8. Asking questions - good interviewers pay attention to the questions you ask as these indicate what you are really interested in
9. Feedback & summarizing - at the end of the interview ask for some feedback from the interviewer, this is an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings and learn about your chances.  Finish by summarising your interest in the job and your top 3 achievements / skills that qualify you for the job. 

Finally ask permission to contact the interviewer in case you think of any questions later, this is an important tool to allow you to ask about aspects of the job and re-sell yourself.  Also, timescales for decisions on jobs can change and you need to know after you leave the interview what is happening and when.

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

Sales Leadership in a Tough Market – How to spot a downturn

How to identify when your business is going into a downturn might seem blindingly obvious - sales reduce.  As smart and experienced as we all are, however, sometimes being busy with the quarterly number can cause us to overlook danger looming ahead.  Added to which some of those signs of a downturn may not be so obvious or may need analyzing as a cluster of signals to uncover what is happening around you.

So here are 11 warning signs:

1. Late or non paying customers -especially those that have changed their normal payment patterns
2. Pipeline freeze - its not just cold weather that freezes things up, budget cancellations and cuts can result in prospects getting stuck or simply fading out of a pipeline - checks to see if prospects are moving in your sales process can help detect this danger
3. Competitive panic - keep an eye on competitors, if they are really suffering you may see them in bids to customers you are trying to win offer price reductions, some dramatic, or bundling of services for free.  Any of which could threaten your win probability.
4. Suppliers, on who you depend, can also come under pressure.  Pay particular attention to the availability of products and services that are critical to your sales
5. Governments, in severe downturns, can make changes to regulations without the usual consultation of affected businesses.  Of course such changes may have a positive impact on your business but they could equally present a severe threat
6. Large organisations can impose restrictions on subsidiaries limiting their capabilities -ignoring the viability or success of the subsidiary.  Look out for trouble from above!
7. Money in all spending budgets starts being delayed, reduced or cancelled.  This affects not only customers and their ability to place orders but also internal sales budgets for events, promotions and hiring
8. Reporting starts to become more regular and more detailed as business leaders demand to know what is happening to orders you expect to win.  Are they on time or late, are they at the forecast value or lower?  Monthly updates move to weekly and in some cases daily as executives try and balance likely sales revenue with costs to protect the company’s viability
9. Morale of the sales force drops as the trading environment becomes harder.  Salespeople used to regular success can become deterred and defeatist when faced with customers who delay, or need much more compelling reasons to place orders.  Maintaining high morale with an emphasis on training to present quantified business value, planning and activity is vital to win business in a downturn
10. Changing plans, even those involving a major strategic direction, at very short notice can be a sign that a downturn has been identified at a senior corporate level
11. Stopping non core activities indicates a “tightening down” of an organisation, in your customers this may be a forerunner of orders being delayed or cancelled.

Do you know any other warning signs that we can add to these 11?

For a comprehensive discussion of all these points and 15 other sessions check out the online sales leadership course How to protect your topline in a downturn.

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

5 ways to keep motivated when searching for a job

Keeping motivated and positive during the search for a job is a challenge for everyone. It is not uncommon, especially if the search takes a long time, to feel a bit down about chances to get the job you want. There are, however, a few simple actions you can take to maintain your motivation; here are 5:

1. Focus on your strengths and achievements. Clearly it is good to be self aware and know what you need to improve but start by reminding yourself what you are good at, what have you achieved or won and done well at. It helps to see visible evidence of previous success so whichever room or part of your home you do your job hunting from, display your certificates, awards and any other evidence of success
   
2. Have a plan. Print it out, and keep it visible, set goals that stretch you but are not impossible and make sure you have actions with a target date to complete them by. Track each action and make sure you follow up on the agreed date. Success happens most often when preparation and planning meet opportunity, in this case the opportunity is the job you want
   
3. Keep learning new skills and knowledge; employers are impressed by job applicants that show they have a willingness to learn new skills – which a new job will involve - and also that you are committed to improving yourself. This can range from attending an online training course, reading business books to asking a colleague to coach and mentor you in areas where you want to improve yourself. In parallel practice of interview skills will sharpen up your performance ready for when you do enter a job selection process
   
4. Keep physically fit, it helps to set yourself goals to keep or get fit
   
5. Keep busy, be honest with yourself and measure your activity, number of phone calls, emails, letters, interviews, recruitment agents/search firms, job applications. The more activity you start the more likely you are to be successful and get a job.

Finally if we can assume that most employers prefer to hire people who are motivated and positive it makes sense to examine one interesting aspect about moods and facial expressions. You might feel that if you get into a bad mood your (unhappy) facial expression reflects your mood and equally if you are in a good mood your smiley face reflects that as well. But what if it was the other way round, in other words your facial expression affects your mood, and so if you smile you can actually put yourself into a good and positive mood. Since neither theory is scientifically proven maybe it's worth a trial smile or two?

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com

The next worst thing after not getting a job, is not knowing if you got it or lost it

A 4 step plan to keep control of your job applications

How many times after an interview do you wonder what is happening to your chances of getting the job? It's a really ugly experience when you don't get any news or update, almost everyone starts to chew and stress and worry: did you lose the job to someone else, is the interviewer trying to decide between you and someone else, are you on a short list for a second interview or is the whole selection process delayed for some reason?

So clearly you want to be in control of knowing the status of your application or, in the case of multiple applications, the status of each of them. Also and of equal importance what the next step is and when. So how do you take control of the situation? This starts at the interview and here are 4 steps to put you in the driving seat.

Step 1

At the interview try and “leave the door open" for you to follow up with the interviewer in case you have any further questions, this is covered in Get that Job (buy now 50% discount blog offer). At the end of the interview re-confirm (and write down) the next steps in the selection process and the timing of each step.

Step 2

After the interview within 24 hours write a follow up email to the interviewer thanking them for their time, re-confirming your interest in the job and repeating their top 3 key requirements and how you fit them – we call this “the fitness test". If you have been interviewed by several different people, more common when applying for senior jobs, you can consider doing this to more than one interviewer. This is covered in Get that Executive Job (buy now 50% discount blog offer).

Step 3

If you used a recruitment agent or search firm ask them to get feedback for you and agree a date by which they will come back to you, and use your diary or calendar system to remind you of those dates

Step 4

If you don't get feedback on the agreed date make a phone call or send an email repeating your interest in the job and enquiring about progress

This should remove most of the uncertainty – and hence stress - that affects your job applications and there is an added bonus. If you are in the happy situation of having several job applications in process at the same time this will give you clarity over which one is most likely to succeed and when.

Richard Lowe
www.lets-begin.com