After you've incorporated those ten words into your vocabulary, try ten more. Then another ten. Repeat until you have internalized this entire list. You-and others-will be amazed at the change in your speech and attitude. And at how quickly you get offers.
Now that you know the winner's vocabulary, you can develop your own "success phrases." They score major points in inter views. Here are some of my favorites:
- Work is not only the way to make a living, it's the way to make a life.
- We become not what we think, but what we do.
- We must be self-made, or never made.
- As long as you stand in your own way, everything seems to be in your way.
- You never fail, you just give up.
- Procrastination is a roadblock in the path of success.
- When you try hard, you are almost there.
- The hardest work in life is resisting laziness.
- A glimpse of an opportunity is an opportunity wasted.
- The best investment you can make is in yourself.
- The people who succeed are the people who look for the opportunities they want; and if they don't find them, they make them.
Repeat them in front of your mirror in the morning. Re hearse them in your mind before each interview. Consciously say a few where appropriate, and watch the interviewer sit up and take notice. When it happens, you're psychologically being signed for the part.
Don't use trite phrases and tired cliches.
As I observed in Finding the Right Job at Midhfe, this is often a midlifer's trap, but almost any jobseeker can fall into it. Be careful to avoid the following dusty, tired, condescending lines, as well as any sexist or discriminatory language.
"At my age ..." "Back in the days when ..." "Back then ..."
"In the good old days ..." "It used to be that. . ."
"Listen, son ..."
"Nowadays ..." "Old timers like me ..." "... over the hill."
"The girls in the office." ". . . up in years." "Way back when ..." "We used to . . ."
"When I was younger. . . " "When I was your age ..." "When you get to be my age ..." "Years ago. . ."
Don't call the interviewer "honey" or "dear." Don't refer to grown women as "gals" or "girls" and men as "guys" or "boys." Don't bring out any prejudices or dislikes the interviewer may have.
It has already served its purpose, unless you got to the interview without submitting one. If that's the case, come prepared with copies of your super-resume (perfected with the techniques discussed in Jeff Allen's Best: The Resume).
Plan to say success phrases that will help elaborate what's in it. If your resume has already been used, avoid referring to it. It's a direct-mail marketing device that gets interviews, not jobs.
Use the "tie-down" technique to move the interview along.
Listening and questioning properly is the way to win the interview and get the job. For the first few minutes of the interview, you're observing and determining how to proceed. You've been asked impossible questions and have delivered inspirational answers.
Now, you must ask questions-carefully. In the recruiter's rulebook. Closing on Objections, Paul Hawkinson wrote:
Constant questioning can be grating, and if overused, can work against you. No one wants to feel that they are on the receiving end of the prosecutor's interrogatory and questions must be used sparingly to be really effective. But they are necessary because selling is the art of asking the right questions to get to the minor yes's that allow you to lead ... to the major decision and major yes. The final placement is nothing more than the sum total of all your yes's throughout the process. Your job, then, is to nurse the process along. [Emphasis added]*
Moving the process along is done through the use of "tie-down" phrases in questions designed to eUcit an affirmative response. The most common ones are:
There are four kinds of "tie-downs” and you should vary your dialogue with them so you won't appear obvious or over bearing. With each agreement you obtain from the interviewer, you have scored one more "minor yes" leading up to that "major yes"-the offer.
These are used at the end of the question:
"My qualifications appear to fit the position you have open, don't they?” "Diversified Investments really has a lot to offer someone with my experience, doesn't it?"
"It looks like we'll be able to eliminate the problem, don't you agree?”
These are used at the beginning of a question:
"Isn't it an excellent position for someone with my background?"
"Don't you think we'll work together well?" "Wouldn't you like to see how I can be of assistance?"
These are used in the middle of a compound question:
"Since the entire data processing staff agrees, shouldn't we discuss when I can start work?"
"When the budget is approved, won't it expedite production to have someone who knows the project?" "Now that we've had the opportunity to meet, wouldn't it be great to work together?"
The final kind of tie-down is used after a statement of fact. A slight pause, then emphasis on the tie-down, improves its effect.
"My experience will benefit Allied Products, won't itV "You've really spent a lot of time and money to get the right person, haven't you?” "This problem can be corrected easily, can't it?”
