Because it's very different from the traditional way to get job interviews it would have to be in order to assure that you get no turn downs it must be explained so that it makes sense to you. First we'll give you a scenario, then an explanation, then the process details so you can do it yourself.
As with all systems in this book, if you work it out with a small group and practice the interview strategies you will find it easier to do consistently. And you will also find it easier to overcome mistakes you might make from time to time.
Here is the scenario, one application of the new job interview system:
Suppose a relative of yours has given your friend Mary an introduction to the manager of an organization where she would like to work. Mary has been told the supervisor probably does not have a job opening, but she has learned to apply all the systems given throughout these pages. After making an appointment she calls on the supervisor, and is shown into her office.
Mary: Good morning Ms. Dixon. I appreciate your taking this time to see me at the suggestion of Mr. Brown.
Supervisor: He said you would be a good person to talk to, Mary. Now how can I help you?
Mary: First let me say I don't expect you to have a job for me, Ms. Dixon, although I am looking for one.
Supervisor: That's fortunate. I'd hate to disappoint you. But what are you here for?
Mary: I have several beginning talents, but because of my inex-perience I don't know what kind of job would best use and develop them. I'd like your advice about that. For in-stance, I can prove I'm very observant, I'm good at organizing things and papers, I can write clearly and effectively, and I get along well with people, among other things. This Job Power Report (hands executive her report) tells what my motivated skills are.
Supervisor: (Look at report and quickly reads it) Well, that's quite a group of beginning skills. How can you prove them without work experience? I see you're about to graduate from commercial high school.
Mary: Where would you like me to start, Ms. Dixon, with my ability to organize papers, my writing skills, or my relationships with people?
Supervisor: Suppose you tell me about organizing papers.
Mary: I think two examples will show that. First is that I'm known as 'lost and found' in my family—there are eight of us. Whenever someone loses anything and can't find it quickly, she turns to me. I ask a couple of questions, then I can usually go right to where it is. I've been finding things for the family for more than eight years, mainly be-cause I have a sense of where everything is. so out-of-place items quickly show up. My second example is that I've been entrusted with taking care of the Principal's office files at high school and this is my second year of that. I set up the filing system after listening to her instructions, and I know where everything is. She depends on me to find and give her what she needs. Do you think these examples show beginning skill in organizing papers and things?
Supervisor: Yes they do, Mary. And they also show people trust you and that you have a good memory. Can you give me good examples to prove your other beginning skills? I'm asking you this because I have another appointment soon. But I would like to spend some more time with you. I wish I did have a job for someone with your skills, because you're just the kind of person we'd like to employ.
Mary: I can prove my other skills with different examples. And I would appreciate a little more time so I could get your ad-vice. But since you do have to see someone soon, would you be able to suggest another executive I could see in the meantime who might be interested to know about my be-ginning skills, and also give me some advice on how to go about looking for a job? I wouldn't expect her to have a job for me, either.
Supervisor: You've made a very good impression on me, Mary. I'd like to keep your Job Power Report, if you'll let me, and show it to some department heads in this organization.
Mary: Yes of course, and thank you very much, (pauses care-fully, to give executive time to respond more)
Supervisor: (speaks carefully, slowly at first) Yes, I think I will give you an introduction. I'll call and make an appointment for you. But first let's make an appointment for ourselves when I'll be able to give you more time
That's the scenario. Mary didn't ask for a job. She didn't fill out an application form. She didn't get turned down. She got Ms. Dixon interested in her skills and involved in her job-finding effort. She got referred to another supervisor and she also got a second appointment with Ms. Dixon. Between the appointments it is possible that Ms. Dixon would circulate her Job Power Report among her organization's department heads. And who knows what might happen between those two dates? One thing is sure: If Mary takes the same approach at her next interview the one arranged by Ms. Dixon she'll make it clear that she doesn't expect a job offer and again she won't be turned down.
This scenario makes it seem easier than it is. A lot of practice is needed in order to have an interview move this smoothly. It's a very different scenario from the traditional one, where you get turned down almost every time you ask for a job. Just imagine, briefly, what usually happens.
If you've ever spent more than four weeks searching for a job (thirty million men and women in this country did that in 1979), you were turned down many times. After you've been turned down a few times you're likely to experience an identity crisis and get somewhat depressed, maybe very depressed. You might even stop looking for a while, as most people do. The conventional procedure for getting interviews is usually a matter of filling out application forms; asking friends, relatives and neighbors to let you know where there might be job openings; knocking on employment or personnel office doors and waiting for inter¬views; sitting in waiting rooms while employment agency and public service placement specialists get around to telling you there are no openings except occasionally the dead-end ones. Job hunting can be discouraging when you follow the beaten path, the traditional roads to job finding.
What a parent is likely to do to help a child get employment is to call a neighbor or friend and say, "Would you know of a job for my Mary (or my Jack)?" When asked what she can do, the parent might reply, "She doesn't have experience. What she needs is a start, an opportunity." Perhaps the parent would add, "She's a good student," or "a good athlete," or "keeps her room in order," or some-thing else the parent especially likes.
It's a rare parent who will mention your skills, and be right about the ones you want to use in your job.
Most of the time the friend will respond, "Sure I'll be glad to help. If I hear of anything I'll let you know." But the silence is likely to be long, very long.
The parent wants to do what is best for you in the parent's opinion. But that might not be what you feel is best for you. A parent's judgment about what is best for you is likely to be based on the conditions that existed at the time she was your age. That's traditional, but it's not necessarily right.
Here are more key items in today's job market, which economists say are likely to prevail through the rest of the 1980's, with some ups and downs. (Just remember as you read these that this new system you are studying is not traditional, and increases job opportunities for young adults.) Most teen-age men and women entering the work¬ing world will change jobs 12 to 15 times during their work¬ing lives, and change careers three to five times. Another fact is revealed by a classified ad that appeared in The New York Times in the 1960's. It read, "DO YOU HATE PEOPLE? Here is an opportunity to turn down nine out of ten people you see. Job interviewer wanted "
Another fact: a year-long study in a city of 400,000 people revealed that not one job in five is filled by the combination of personnel and employment departments, public and private employment agencies, newspaper ads, search firms. And just last year, a study in Illinois showed that about two-thirds of the jobs filled by public (free) employment services involved delivering telephone books, all of them dead end jobs.
These facts make it clear that the biggest part of the job market, 80 percent of it where the best jobs are is hidden. Our own and other studies show that these best job opportunities are reached through recommendations from one person to another. You'll soon see how to manufacture those contacts.
When you want to be recommended, you must be remembered. Mary, in the scenario at the start of this, demonstrated what to do in order to be remembered and recommended. That's the "R & R Interview," one which gets you remembered and recommended to someone else.
Think of what happens when you take the traditional approach and ask someone for a job, or if she knows where you can get one. In normal conditions asking for a job can be compared with asking for a special kind of help.
To illustrate, look at an extreme situation: Let's say you cannot swim and you are near the end of a pier. You hear someone shouting for help. You look around but nobody is near and you cannot see a lifebelt. You see the person being washed out to sea, but you can do nothing. You will feel very badly about that situation, you'll wish you hadn't been walking along the pier, and you will try to forget all about that experience.
With job hunting, the person who is asked for help is generally in a similar situation and you as a job seeker are likely to get one kind of literal response, and sense another reaction. The response from the friend or neighbor asked for job help is, "I'll do the best I can to help you, but you know the job market is tough. I'll let you know if I hear of anything." And the one you'll probably sense is, "I was hoping she wouldn't ask me that, because there isn't much I can do and I don't know of any job openings." That second reaction, the one you sense, is very dangerous.
No matter how consoling the words of your friend or neighbor, that reaction really says, "get off my back." The normal person doesn't like to be asked to give help unless it is immediately possible to provide that help. When you ask for job finding help you want it now. But almost always the person you ask is unable to provide the "lifebelt" of a job lead. So she feels badly about it.
You can expect most of the friends, neighbors and relatives you ask for job leads to feel badly about not being able to help you immediately. And also that the great majority of them will try to forget about you, since you caused that bad feeling. Tough, isn't it? But very real, and probably true to your experience and those of your friends.
Never Ask For A Job
Since most jobs 80 percent of them are obtained through recommendations, it is unwise to do and say things that will cause you to be forgotten by friends, neighbors, and potential employers. The other jobs, the ordinary ones obtained through employment agencies, etc., are filled by means of job application forms. You can't easily turn off agency staff because they're experienced in turning people down hour after hour.
So your problem really is what to do about the friends, acquaintances, neighbors and others whose help you want, how to avoid making them feel bad and forget you.
Our advice, based on highly successful experience with tens of thousands of men and women of all ages is, "Never ask them for a job." Never ask for a job unless you have been told for certain that a job is open.
The advantages of not asking for a job include: You can't get turned down (you saw that in the scenario). You have not asked others to give help in a situation where they cannot immediately throw a lifeline. You have not caused them to feel badly about not being able to do something. And you have not started a process that will cause them to forget you and your interests.
On the positive side, if you speak in tune with reality and say at interviews, "I don't expect you to have a job or even to know of one," you decompress the tension that is always present at job interviews. You also enable the person to look you over, and listen to you, without feeling pressured either to hire you or to turn you down.
Employers like to "window shop" for employees. They more examples of my record keeping if you want more proof, Mr. Willis. Willisx I'd like to ask you about another beginning skill you say you have.
Let's pause to examine what's been happening: Jim has given Mr. Willis a very short statement of his beginning skills, and has asked his advice on whether his Report will help him to get a job. At the same time he took the pressure off Mr. Willis by saying he didn't expect a job offer. So Mr. Willis looked at the Job Power Report and started to ask questions. In other words, Mr. Willis became involved in Jim's job finding campaign, listened to him, became much more familiar with what he had to offer an employer.
Mr. Willis is virtually sure to remember some things about Jim. So the first "R," the Remember one, has been accomplished. Also, Jim didn't have to fill out an application form, and he wasn't turned down. Later in this interview, Jim handles the second "R," the Referral part. Here it is:
Willis: It seems like you can prove you have more than beginning skills there, Jim. So I'd say that this Job Power Report will help you get a job. I wish I knew someone who could use you. I'd be glad to recommend you myself.
Jim: Will you keep me in mind for the next three or four weeks, in case you do hear of a job opening for me?
Willis: I'll be glad to do that.
Jim: And I wonder if you know someone else, I wouldn't expect them to have a job for me, who might like to know about my beginning skills and keep me in mind in case she hears of a job opportunity for me?
Willis: Let me think, (pauses) I do know a couple of people who would like to talk to an ambitious young man like you, Jim.
They wouldn't have jobs, but they know a lot of people. I'll write down their names and addresses, with their telephone numbers. Better call them first to make sure they're in, and that bad feeling. Tough, isn't it? But very real, and probably true to your experience and those of your friends.
Never Ask For A Job
Since most jobs80 percent of them are obtained through recommendations, it is unwise to do and say things that will cause you to be forgotten by friends, neighbors, and potential employers. The other jobs, the ordinary ones obtained through employment agencies, etc., are filled by means of job application forms. You can't easily turn off agency staff because they're experienced in turning people down hour after hour.
So your problem really is what to do about the friends, acquaintances, neighbors and others whose help you want, how to avoid making them feel bad and forget you.
Our advice, based on highly successful experience with tens of thousands of men and women of all ages is, "Never ask them for a job." Never ask for a job unless you have been told for certain that a job is open.
The advantages of not asking for a job include: You can't get turned down (you saw that in the scenario). You have not asked others to give help in a situation where they cannot immediately throw a lifeline. You have not caused them to feel badly about not being able to do something. And you have not started a process that will cause them to forget you and your interests.
On the positive side, if you speak in tune with reality and say at interviews, "I don't expect you to have a job or even to know of one," you decompress the tension that is always present at job interviews. You also enable the person to look you over, and listen to you, without feeling pressured either to hire you or to turn you down.
Employers like to "window shop" for employees. They like to look people over without having any obligation to buy, or to hire. Further, employers almost bate turning people down, and nearly all of them have made serious mistakes when hiring employees. They don't like to be put under pressure to hire a person at an interview, or to feel they are being pressed by someone else's needs. That's a major reason why they have personnel and employment departments, and sometimes use employment agencies. These departments and organizations shield them from pressures, involvements, and the unpleasant task of turning people away. But executives haven't given away their hiring authority.
The R&R Interview
You can only be hired by a person who has the power to say "Yes." Executives and most supervisors have that power; personnel and employment managers have it only occasionally. Traditional job hunting methods have you register with the employment office, where the power to turn you down is strongest. The door there is always open, but you don't have to go through that door. You can get into the offices of supervisors and executives quite easily, especially if you have been recommended or given an introduction the way Mary was at the end of Scenario No. 1.
The R&R Interview is designed to get you those recommendations and introductions. It requires you to get a number of persons involved in your job campaign. You need to get them to listen to your skills and talents, remember what you have to offer, and refer you to others, some of whom might employ you.
If you feel you don't know anyone who could refer you to possible employers, look at it this way: A grocery or drug store clerk could refer you to the assistant manager, and she could refer you to a salesman who could refer you to her boss, who could refer you to her associates. Or, your friend's mother could refer you to her friend who happens to be a supervisor. A clergyman or a dentist could refer you to a parishioner or a patient. One of your teachers might refer you to another professional person who would pass you along to an executive or supervisor. Even a policeman you barely know has contacts that could lead to a job for you.
Here's how you get your interview contacts. First make a list of three or four starting contacts, ones you know you can reach without difficulty. Then make a second list of about ten you would like to reach, even if you know some of them only by their positions but not the people themselves.
At this point you have studied your achievements (s One and Two) and written your Job Power Re¬port ( Three). You should have 100 copies of your Job Power Report.
If you have done those things, preferably with the help of a small group or Job Cooperative, you are ready for Scenario No. 2, which follows: Jim Jones is a young person and Barry Willis is his first contact.
Jim: Good morning Mr. Willis. Will you please look at this and ask me some questions? (hands him Job Power Report)
Wfflfa:(Looks at JPR) You looking for a job?
Jim: I don't expect you to have one for me, Mr. Willis. But you could tell me if you think this Job Power Report will help me to find one.
Willis: It says here you can prove you have certain beginning skills. How can you prove you keep good records?
Jim: I'm business manager for the football team. I've arranged ten field trips this season, made arrangements for travel, meals, motel accommodations and other expenses foreach of the team members, bought uniforms and equipment, kept records on all these items for each player, and the accountant checked everything as exactly right. In addition I maintain records on cards for each of the plays, and the players, and these are checked by each member of the team. I can give you some more examples of my record keeping if you want more proof, Mr. Willis. Willis: Fd like to ask you about another beginning skill you say you have.
Let's pause to examine what's been happening: Jim has given Mr. Willis a very short statement of his beginning skills, and has asked his advice on whether his Report will help him to get a job. At the same time he took the pressure off Mr. Willis by saying he didn't expect a job offer. So Mr. Willis looked at the Job Power Report and started to ask questions. In other words, Mr. Willis became involved in Jim's job finding campaign, listened to him, became much more familiar with what he had to offer an employer.
Mr. Willis is virtually sure to remember some things about Jim. So the first "R," the Remember one, has been accomplished. Also, Jim didn't have to fill out an application form, and he wasn't turned down. Later in this interview, Jim handles the second "R," the Referral part. Here it is:
Willis: It seems like you can prove you have more than beginning skills there, Jim. So I'd say that this Job Power Report will help you get a job. I wish I knew someone who could use you. Fd be glad to recommend you myself.
Jim: Will you keep me in mind for the next three or four weeks, in case you do hear of a job opening for me?
Willis: I'll be glad to do that.
Jim: And I wonder if you know someone else, I wouldn't expect them to have a job for me, who might like to know about my
beginning skills and keep me in mind in case she hears of a job opportunity for me?
Willis: Let me think, (pauses) I do know a couple of people who would like to talk to an ambitious young man like you, Jim. They wouldn't have jobs, but they know a lot of people. I'll write down their names and addresses, with their telephone numbers. Better call them first to make sure they're in, and use my name. (Writes down their names, etc., and hands to Jim)
Jim: Thank you, Mr. Willis. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how I'm doing.
WflUs: You do that. Good luck. Let me have a couple of your Job Power Reports for other friends of mine, and I'll call you as soon as I hear of a job for you.
Jim: Thank you again for your time and your introductions.
Let's examine what has happened in this part of the scenario. Mr. Willis gave Jim two interview contacts. He also agreed to keep Jim in his mind for several weeks, while job applicants usually are remembered for just a few moments after closing the door behind them. Willis also asked for extra copies of the Job Power Report to pass on to several of his friends.
When you use the R & R interview strategy it won't work this way all the time, but it will most of the time. Here's why:
- It saves employers time when trying to find out what you can do, and lets them "window shop."
- It saves contacts the embarrassment of turning you away when you ask for job help.
- It shows you have taken the trouble to find out the skills you have to offer. This earns the respect of executive and professional persons and makes it unnecessary for them to guess at your skills.
- It helps to maintain your morale during the job hunt, because you continue to get introductions and are meeting interested people.
- It insures that you avoid job turn downs, and avoid filling out application forms unless jobs are avail¬able. This saves you a lot of time, stops you from becoming deeply depressed, supports your energy.
All interviews have their stresses, tensions, anxieties. The way to reduce these pressures substantially is by practicing what you might say at your interviews. Your skills and talents are the subject of the interview. You need to present them clearly, but you probably are inexperienced in doing that. Because you now have studied your Achievements, your Motivated skills and written your Job Power Report, you certainly know what you want to say to employers. Practice will help you to say the right things, and also reduce your tensions and anxieties at interviews.
In order to practice you need a person to take the part of an interviewer. Your best practice companion is an acquaintance, someone who has job-finding concerns like yours. Close friends or relatives will do if you have nobody else, but they are likely to be too easy with you. It is possible but difficult to practice by yourself, although this can be made easier when you use a tape recorder. From what we have said you can understand why we recommend as your best practice resource the Job Cooperative ( 5). A group of about ten is ideal, but a smaller group of four or five is better than none.
Employers have their tensions, too; they don't know what to expect at a job interview. In their anxiety they could easily talk to fill-up time, and ask you questions about your home town, tell you about their own job hunting experience and early jobs, inquire about your birth, schooling, the careers of your parents. We call these "red herring trails" which take you away from the main subject of the skills you have to offer. Here is a practice-type scenario which shows how Wendy Watson handled a red herring trail question and brought the interview back on the track. Please assume that Mr. Hobbit and Wendy are already into the interview.
Hobbit: This Report gives a good presentation of your skills, Wendy, but you don't say where you were born.
Wendy: I left it out because I thought you'd want to concentrate on examining my skills and my potential, Mr. Hobbit. But I was bora in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hobbit: That's a beautiful city, and growing fast into the most important center of the South. I spent a very happy four years there as manager of our Atlanta branch office. How long did you live there and how do you like it?
Wendy: Actually I lived there for the first twelve years of my life. I loved it. And while I was in school there I got my start as a leader, a problem solver with people, and as a writer. Of course I have developed since then, as you can see in my Job Power Report. Would you want to ask me about some more of the beginning skills mentioned in that Report?
Wendy had to practice a lot before she could be that smooth. But the scenario could just as easily have taken an¬other turn, along these lines:
Hobbit: I see you're a freshman in Junior College. I'm always curious about the kind of work a person is looking for and the parents' occupations. There's a lot to heredity, you know. Please tell me what's your father's line of work?
Wendy: I may have inherited his skill with words, except I write more and talk less. He's a clergyman, and does a lot of counseling. Come to think of it, I'm very neat and a good organizer but his desk is always piled high with books and papers. He often asks me to help him organize it. I'd much rather tell you about my skills, Mr. Hobbit. I can prove I have the beginning skills in my Job Power Report. It's a little embarrassing to talk about my parents. Could you ask me about the skills I listed? I would appreciate your advice on how to improve my Report or use it better.
Wendy has now talked for almost a minute; that's usually long enough to answer any question and then ask another question which gets the interview back on the track. But it takes practice to be brief in your answers, and also to make almost all of your statements into a comment on one or more of your skills.
Your purpose at an R & R interview and they're all that kind unless you've been invited in to apply for a job-is to get the interviewer involved in helping you. This means first you must get him to read your Job Power Report and ask questions about your skills, and then get him to give you some advice on the kind of job your skills fit as well as how to go about getting such a job. You also want him to remember you and recommend you to others.
If you ask for a twenty-minute interview, you can't afford to have much time wasted talking about things other than your skills. It really takes practice, and that's where the Job Co-op is especially helpful, to work out how to take end runs around those questions that stop you from having good interviews. Here's another traditional block that is used, and a suggestion for an end run you can take.
You could be asked, "What were your best subjects, and where did you stand in your class?"
Your end run could be, "Some of my best subjects helped me to develop the skills shown in this Job Power Re¬port (give it to him). Do you mind if I talk about them when I give you proof of my skills? (And then you wait for a minute or so while the interviewer reads your Report.)
You get the general idea of what you do at practice sessions? One person takes the part of the interviewer who does his best to guess at and do what he thinks an interviewer would say and do. The other is the job seeker. The job seeker should always act himself, and state in advance who he wants to be interviewed by (the President of General Motors, the Office Manager at the Supermarket, the Fore-man in the machine shop, the Head Nurse at the hospital, the Office Supervisor at the bank, etc.). Then the interviewer should act that part, say the kinds of things and ask the questions he feels the person he is supposed to be would is not in order of importance, and other questions could be asked on occasion.
- Why do you want to work here?
- How did you happen to come to us?
- Why did you leave your last job? (Be sure you say nothing against any employer. If you had a personal difference, you could say "We agreed to dis¬agree." If you were fired for incompetence, say, "We agreed I should do some other kind of work, just like I indicate in my Job Power Report." What¬ever you do say, make it truthful, and as much in your favor as possible. Wherever you can, turn it back to your skills and Report.)
- How long have you been out of work?
- How did you like working with your former employer?
- Tell me about yourself? (Make sure you refer the interviewer to your Job Power Report. You could say, "I'd like to tell you about my dependable skills which have begun to develop. Will you please take a minute to read them in my Job Power Report?" Then, when he looks up, say "Which one would you like me to start with?" This question is expected to get you confused, and say something like, "I was born at an early age.")
- What did you like least in your last job?
- Tell me about the hardest job you ever did?
- What do you do in your spare time? Last week?
- Tell me about your health?
- Suppose you get hired. What do you see as your fu¬ture here? (If you expect to stay, talk about oppor¬tunity to develop your skills, learn how to be more useful, do things that will earn promotions, make friends with some other employees.)ask. You, as the job seeker, reply as you feel you would at a real interview with that person. It's almost like making up a real life play, and acting it out. You'll get the hang of it after you try it a few times; it will get easier. Other members observe what happens. There should be a strict time limit of about fifteen minutes. After the interview ends the observers comment on what they saw and what was said, some might give suggestions for improving the practice interview, and the applicant and the inter¬viewer then say how they feel about what they said and did. Then two other members practice an interview while the others observe. Comments, feelings and exchanges of ideas go on as before. Each time there is a practice session each member learns something new. Part of the time he gets into how the employer feels and acts, at other times he feels with a particular situation presented by the applicant, at other times he gets feelings about what he himself might do and say. An interview is a very complex situation, where neither party knows for sure what will be said or happen next. If you have a good idea of what you want to say about yourself, if you practice saying it and getting around pos¬sible obstacles raised by the interviewer, you are more likely to feel only reasonably anxious at your interviews instead of very anxious.You should do most of your practicing with questions that are most likely to be asked. You'll find many of these in the following pages. You will also find there some questions you should ask when you are offered a job.You will very likely be asked several of these questions at both R & R and at job interviews. You should get prac¬tice in answering them with a friend or with your Job Coop¬erative; sometimes, when answers could be dangerous (*), you will need to practice how to turn them around. This list
- What else do you think I should know about you? (Never say anything against yourself. You could say, "because I travel a long way, and traffic condi¬tions sometimes get very tough, I might get in late. But I put in extra time when it's needed to finish my work.")
- What are some of your weaknesses? (Again, turn this around. If you are going for a writing job, you might say, "I'm really not mechanical, and if I got a flat I might not be able to change tires. But that won't affect my writing work." What this ploy does is get things back to where both you and the employer get the benefits—using your best skills.)
- How much money do you expect?
Now there are some questions you should ask at interviews where you are being considered for a job. You do. want to have a description of your duties and responsibilities, because that lets you know when you're doing what's expected. And it also enables you to know, when you are doing things right, that you can ask for more responsibilities.
You should also get the name of the department you'll work in, the name of your immediate supervisor and the name of the department head; and write them down so you won't forget. The regular working hours must be known.It is also helpful to inquire about what kind of training you will be given. And you will want to know what your starting salary is.
During the ten-to-thirty interviews you could have be¬fore getting the job you want you will notice a couple more questions that you seem to attract. Be sure to practice answers to them as soon as possible.
In most medium-size companies, and all larger ones, there is a manual for employees which tells about Social Security, Federal Income Tax and other payroll deductions, as well as pension plans and the general rules and regulations of the organization. It often is called an Employee Handbook, and you should ask for it. You should also ask for something that describes the activities of the organization or company, and become familiar with what generally goes on and the purposes of your organization and your department. This knowledge will be very useful when the time comes for you to seek a promotion perhaps into another department. Most new jobs are in small companies. That means you will need many interviews.
Attitudes, Appearance
There will come a time when you are required to have an R & R interview with a personnel manager. Before the interview you will be asked to complete a job application form. We suggest you handle the situation as we did before, in this way:
Put your name, address and telephone number on the form, attach a copy of your Job Power Report (with a paperclip or pin), and turn it back in with the statement, "If you have a job that will use the skills shown on my Job Power Report, I'll be glad to fill in the rest of the form." Say that quietly and with confidence, and your interview will be better than if you simply do as you're told and complete the form before the interview. You will maintain your self respect and probably gain more attention from the personnel officer.
Remember that you must feel comfortable in your dress and in your speech at interviews. What you look and sound like can help you to get the job you want. You do need to dress appropriately, just as you would if you were a bridesmaid at a wedding. You might fix your eyes for that, wise not clear in what you say. Practice what you want to say, and you will find it easier to speak more clearly. One of the special advantages of the R & R interview strategy is that by giving the contact your Job Power Report, and asking him or her to question you about it, you can be reason¬ably well prepared in your answers. The facts you need for your answers were developed when you worked on identifying your skills pattern ( 2), and while working out your Job Power Report. If you are working with a group you can take turns at practicing what you will say when you are asked questions about your background.
Keep in mind that every contact you make, every interview you have, should be considered as an R & R interview unless and until it is a job interview where you have been told there is an opening for your skills.
Money Matters
You are being interviewed for an available job when an interviewer says something like, "I have a job that could use your skills," or "I'd like to get you into our beginners' training program." Your concern then is not how to be remembered and referred, but how to get a firm job offer with a starting date and rate of pay.
So you change tactics, and you start asking the questions to get job facts. First of all you say something like this: "I'd like to work in your organization. I think there will be opportunity to develop my skills, and get ahead. Can you tell me just what this job requires?"
Then you listen carefully, and you should make some notes (in a notebook that should be with you at all kinds of interviews). Remember that you can't write and listen completely at the same time, so check the correctness of your notes with your interviewer. 6 will tell you how to handle the interview where you know there's a job, and the but the same style of eye makeup would not necessarily be appropriate for a job interview. It might be if you were after a cosmetics salesperson job, but not if you wanted a steel factory job. In a department store job you might be able to wear sandals. But in a factory where there are heavy materials moving around on cranes, conveyors and fork trucks, you must wear safety shoes, so for a job in that kind of fac-tory, go for an interview with regular shoes on (the com¬pany usually provides safety shoes).
Different kinds of jobs have different safety regulations which influence the kinds of dress that are appropriate. In a bank job, for instance, very loose hair could prevent you from quickly seeing a holdup or preventing an accident, and stylish blue jeans could suggest to an employer that your integrity might be over strained by your poverty. You don't have to go completely square or conservative in order to have good job interviews, but you do need to be appropriately dressed. You can find out what appropriate dress is by asking people, especially those who have professional or supervisory positions. You need not take their exact word for what is appropriate, but you should consider their suggestions. It is in this area, again, that the small group or Job Cooperative can be especially helpful. There, people your own age can help you to make up your mind on what is appropriate.
A couple of things are standard. Bathe or shower every day you have interviews. Your clothes should be reasonably neat and clean. If you use perfume or after-shave, the scent should not be conspicuous. As a general rule, it is better to wear shoes than sandals, and your dress, pants or suit should be more on the conservative than on the casual style. All makeup and hair styling should be in harmony with your clothes.
Because there always is stress at interviews, you may be so nervous that you speak too fast, stutter, or are other Even if it's only 10c an hour higher, that's about $4 a week more. Maybe they'll give it to you, maybe they won't give it. Unless you do it in an aggressive way, there's no¬thing lost by trying; and if it's 25c an hour more, that comes out to $10 a week. What's likely to happen, at worst, is that your Ms. Dixon will say, "We have a policy that starts all beginners at the same rate, and I'm afraid we can't break that rule just for you."
If that happens you do have another ploy available. You can respond, "I wouldn't want you to change the policy, Ms. Dixon. But I think my supervisor will find that my work improves very quickly. If he does find out that I learn quickly and am highly productive, would I be considered for a raise in a month or two?" An approach like that should really bring you a positive response.
Now when it comes to some activity in the job that you don't like, you can always ask for more of some parts of it that you do like and less of what you don't want. Unless you ask, you don't know what's possible. But don't think that because you ask you will get what you want. Sometimes, fairly often, an unpleasant task is a necessary part of a very good job much like chopping onions and a good dinner. One thing is certain: most employers will change elements of a job in order to get an employee who will do dependable work.
When you have the pay question settled, you must be clear about when you get started. Suppose you are offered the job on Tuesday, and you are asked to start the following Monday, there's nothing to prevent you from asking if it is possible for you to start the next day, Wednesday. It could mean three extra days of pay in your pocket, and those extra days of service for the organization. If you want to start earlier, or later within reason, if you ask you can probably have your way.
Employment is a kind of contract. You agree to join a various situations and choices it presents.On the matter of money, there is something special we have to suggest.
First the bad news! If the employer suggests the mini¬mum wage as your starting rate of pay, and especially if you feel you are worth more than that, don't turn down the job. We advise that you never turn down a job when it is first offered to you, even if it's shoveling manure in a pig pen (one of your authors has done just that as part of a job). Each job offer, and you will receive many during your working life, is a compliment that says someone thinks well of you or cares for you. An abrupt turn down ("I don't want that kind of work") is like spitting in the wind.
Our experience shows that every kind of job offer can be turned into something better, and every starting pay can be raised. Sometimes you cannot make the change happen immediately, but you can feel sure that every sincere job offer leads to something better even if you eventually must turn down the job offer.
You are different from most beginners. Hardly any of the others have studied themselves the way you have. They have not given proof of their skills; the employer has guessed at their skills and hopes he is somewhere close to right. With you, he knows your skills and there is no guessing. That makes you worth more than most of the other beginners.
So the good news is that you should ask for higher pay, regardless of what you are offered. You may not get it at once, but you might if you go about it in the right way.
You could say if you have enough courage some¬thing like this: "Ms. Dixon, you say I would start at the regular beginner's rate of pay. But because I have proved what my skills are, and you probably have had to guess at the skills of most other beginners, don't you think it would be fair to start me at a slightly higher pay level?" small or large organization and handle certain responsibilities in return for a sum of money you both have agreed on. If you do better than the organization expected, you are likely to get a pay increase, sometimes together with a higher-level job. If you don't do as well as was expected of you, your pay and job can be terminated. If you do better, but fail to get a pay increase, you are free either to complain and negotiate for what you feel you deserve, or you can look for another job which does reward you in a more satisfying way.
As a young adult entering the job market you are moving into a life-zone that constantly hammers at your identity. Some experts say you can expect to be job hunting again within a year, and again about each 18 months for another 20 years. Each time that happens your identity is threatened. But you have already developed a dependable means for maintaining the integrity of who you are. Know¬ledge of your skills pattern, and your motivated skills stated in your Job Power Report, will be with you for the rest of your life. You will be able to use those skills, honed by experience, training and education, to meet the demands of changing job titles and changing economic needs. Your dependable skills and talents, your motivated skills, are strong threads of continuity that run through the changes that are coming at an ever faster pace.
You can use your motivated skills knowledge either to get ahead and change your job with a single employer, a process that can be repeated many times, or you can use it to change jobs and careers as you move from one employer to another. If you are to stay with one employer for any length of time you will need to establish good relationships with your co-workers and your supervisors. You will also need to bring your Job Power Report up to date each year, by keeping monthly or quarterly records of your on-the-job and other achievements. What you find out about your growing skills will need to be communicated to your super¬visor, tactfully. Then she will be able to check your facts, and occasionally change your job and your financial re¬wards for doing work of greater value to the organization.
Summary
The interview without turn downs is the R & R inter¬view. It helps you to be remembered and get referred, it enables you to create contacts of many kinds, and it gets you around obstacles of job application forms and personnel departments. After you have identified your dependable pattern of skills or talents (s 1 and 2), and after you write your Job Power Report ( 3), you have a handle on how to prove and improve your motivated skills, how to combine them in different ways to meet the requirements of changing job conditions. In this , you learned how to talk about this expanded self-knowledge at an interview that leads to the creation of more contacts and interviews soon leading to job offers. You also learned about practicing what to say at these interviews and how to ask for better starting pay and a pay raise.
