Impactful Interviewing

Workshop Objectives

This is a workshop. You will be asked to “get things done” and share.

• Gain an brief overview of the work landscape which now exists…and in which we must all find our way.

• Introduce the major bricks of work that must be accomplished in “interviewing.”

• Assess our readiness for interviewing.

• Discover the four principles for demonstrating leadership…and being the “obvious choice” for opportunities that fit.

• Complete some hands-on work regarding our tools—60-second intro, resume, testimonials, references, etc.—and interviewing behavior.

The Corporate Ladder

• The rungs are rotted and broken. The ladder is lying on the ground.

• The structures we once operated in are dramatically transforming, even in the ever-plodding insurance industry.

• The rise to the top looks a lot different. The so-called top itself looks (is) different

• Today’s career path is likely to be dramatically different from the career expectations someone may have had even 10 years ago.

• We are in the midst of a radically different workplace—we have to think differently

What is Worrying Employers?

What do you think employers most pressing talent concerns might be?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It may surprise you to know how much they covet talent!

What Do Employees and Employers Want?

Source: Salary.com 2009 Employee Job Satisfaction and Retention Survey

Adequate recognition and appreciationAttractive compensation

Attractive benefitsGood relationships with managers

Sufficient mental stimulationWork/life balance

Desirable working hoursDesirable commute

Job securityGood relationships with co-workers

20%23%

27%27%

30%32%

33%34%

35%

Reducing employee headcount and costsRecruiting hard-to-find skill sets

Managing a globally diverse workforceProviding competitive compensation and benefit packages

Creating career paths and challenging job opportunitiesSustaining employee engagement and morale

Managing and delivering training programsRetaining employees at all levels

Developing leaders and succession planningCompeting for talent globally and in emerging markets

21%28%28%

29%34%34%

35%37%

38%41%

38%

Organizations’ Most Pressing Talent Concerns Today

Top Reasons Employees Stay In Jobs

Summarizing the Landscape

Since the recession began in December of 2007…

• P&C industry employment is down by 8 percent.

• Life insurance industry employment is up by 8.4 percent.

• Health insurance industry employment is down 1.5 percent.

P&C employment figures are the lowest they’ve been

in 20 years.

Source: Insurance Information Institute

A Snapshot of Projected Hiring Plans

Source: The Jacobson Group/Ward Group 2012 Mid-Year Insurance Labor Market Study

Increase Revenue

77%

Flat Growth

19%

Decrease Revenue

4%

12-Month Revenue Plan

Increase Staff54%

Maintain Staff31%

Decrease Staff15%

12-Month Staffing Plan

56%

28%

17%

45% 44%

12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Increase Staff Maintain Decrease Staff

July 2012 Plan July 2011 Plan57%

36%

7%

42%

33%

25%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Increase Staff Maintain Decrease Staff

July 2012 Plan July 2011 Plan

Property and Casualty Hiring Projections Life and Health Hiring Projections

Factors at Work in the Workplace

Workers older than 40 currently make up half of the workforce, a 33 percent increase since 1980.

Workers older than 55 are anticipated to make up 13 percent of workforce by 2020.

Millennials are anticipated to account for 47 percent of the workforce as early as 2014.

Millennials 24.7%GenXers 32.1%Baby Boomers 38.6%Traditionalists 4.7%

Source: BLS and Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today

The “Creative Class”

They adore their work… and do it until they are finally carried out in a box.

“Retirement” is viewed as a concept meaningful only to hired personnel or wage slaves who despise their work .

Creative class adds economic value though its creativity, ingenuity and consciousness.

They value individuality, meritocracy, diversity and openness.

The Multi-Generational Workforce

A Multi-Generational Workplace

• Making history

• Achieving personal wealth

• Launching a career

• Change and impermanence

• Working hard so you can write your own rules

• Wondering if your elders got it wrong

• Deciding where loyalty should lie

• Achieving work/life balance

Source: Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and KeepTomorrow’s Employees Today

• Making a living

• Earning a good salary

• Starting and supporting a family

• Stability and security

• Working hard and getting rewarded by the system

• Listening to your elders

• Paying dues to the organization

• Using retirement to enjoy life

Please circle the statements that most fit you

A Multi-Generational Workplace

Geeks’ Concerns

• Making history

• Achieving personal wealth

• Launching a career

• Change and impermanence

• Working hard so they can write their own rules

• Wondering if their elders got it wrong

• Deciding where loyalty should lie

• Achieving work/life balance

Source: Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and KeepTomorrow’s Employees Today

Geezers’ Concerns

• Making a living

• Earning a good salary

• Starting and supporting a family

• Stability and security

• Working hard and getting rewarded by the system

• Listening to their elders

• Paying dues to the organization

• Using retirement to enjoy life

Factors at Work in the Workplace

Source: Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today

There is a preponderance of dis-engaged workers. Let’s hope this doesn’t include us.

Tenure does not equal “engagement.” Many times it means just the contrary.

Overall engagement in the U.S. workforce is 50-60 percent. “ I quit, but forgot to tell you.”

Attracting the so-called creative class worker is challenging for many insurance organizations and we are experiencing an aging workforce.

Factors at Work in the Workplace

Source: Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today

Economic realities prevent mature workers from retiring when eligible…so some of us are “retiring in place.”

Many otherwise knowledgeable and competent workers cannot keep up with today’s technology demands.

The economic impact of disengaged workers is staggering.

What Does it All Mean For Us?

Talented, relevant, professionals that get things done are in demand.

About half of the industry’s workforce will retire within the next 15 years.

There is a scarcity of employees between 30 to 40 years of age.

The competition for the best opportunities is very keen.

Being able to clearly differentiate and bring value to a situation is critical to landing assignments.

Source: Jeanne C. Meister, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and KeepTomorrow’s Employees Today

Major Bricks for Interviewing

There are four major segments (bricks) in the interview process.

Failure to perform in any of these bricks can cost us the opportunity.

Preparation for the Opportunity

Preparation for the Interview

The Interview

Interview Follow up

Preparation for the Opportunity: Reviewing Your Assets, Must Haves and Preferences

Like any business entity, you have certain assets that are deployed in the business to create a good or service.

Assets can be grouped into three groups: experiences, skills and talents.

Deployment of these assets produces Relationship Capital and Reputation Capital: two sources of capital essential in today’s work world.

“You do have good ideas, Philips, but around here we don’t rush wildly ahead and do any

damned thing just because it happens to be a good idea.”

Assets

Experience Skills Talents

What you’ve done, seen and heard_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Competencies, behaviors, learned activity________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Natural strengths, attributes –things that are not learned________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please take a minute to consider (and list) your assets.

Are they the right fit for the work? Let’s not fool ourselves for the sake of running to (or away from) a job.

Must Haves and Preferences

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More questions to ask in assessing the fit of the subject work opportunity. Have a clear picture of what you want to do and where you want to do it.

• What do you want to do?

• Where you want to do it?

• Who do you want to do it for?

• And with whom do you want to do it?

• When do you want to do it?

• What is are compensation requirements?

Know your internal deal breakers!

Preparation for the Interview

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It’s a sales call. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. You are conducting a consultative sales call on a prospective client. So how do you prepare?

• Customer wants and needs: why is he/she in the market for a new employee?

• Customers buying habits and decision making process.

• How do you get favorable access to the customer (hiring decision maker)?

• Be clear on your personal mission, vision, description of services, value proposition and pricing (compensation).

• How are you going to dislodge the competition? (Hint: it’s with your competitive advantages. So what are they?)

Preparation for the Interview

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Dislodging the Competition through Competitive Advantages-it’s critical but hard to accomplish!

First ,make sure your capability is an advantage. And if so, how much? Here’s a indicator.

Description of Capability:Assessment Response Indicator

Is the capability an important source of the value proposition I bring to a workplace  opportunity?1= "yes"; 2= "no"

1

Is the capability relatively unique among my close competitors for the position‐ or unique within my current organization? 1= "yes"; 2= "no"

2

Assuming our competitors rely on a capability similar to ours, how much better are we in the execution of the capability?1 = We are "Head and Shoulders"  above the competition" 2 = We are "Substantially"  better3 = "Not so much"  better

1

Again, assuming similar capabilities, am I executing on par with industry expectations or best practices?1 = I am consistently "On Par" with industry standards2 = I am  mostly  "On Par"3 = Not regularly "On Par"

3

Competing in essentially the same way as our competitors, but we're better at 

executing our capability; limited strategic value

Not strategic; further, we must immediately improve this core 

capability to survive in our chosen  market segment

An important source of value

The capability may have a level of strategic value, but it is likely limited

Dos and Don’ts in Preparation

• In any business situation, who likes to make cold calls? Why would you make a call cold for a job?

• The most important phase in the interview process is getting someone of influence—we call them thought leaders—to sponsor your candidacy! Period!

Dos and Don’ts in Preparation

• Do not send un-sponsored resumes. Save our trees (and ink).

• Do not junk up your resume (discussed in detail later). Look up the definition of resume.

• Have a clear objective for measuring success of the interview.

• Don’t ever forget why you are being interviewed: the hiring manager needs help!

Arm Your Tool Box

Resume

Experiences, Skills, Talents

Competitive Advantages

Value Proposition

Evidence of work product

Network connections

References and Testimonials

60 introduction

Resumes

Mission or purpose is to provide a brief summary of your:

• Personal contact information

• Education, experience and skill qualifications

• Historical successes

• Strengths. These are more behavioral indicators or character attributes developed from your experiences, skills and talents.

Resumes

• Every resume should be a tailored piece of work. And it has to be your best work the first time.

• Fit the resume to the opportunity, just as you would a client solution.

• Remember, no fanatical statements for which you have little evidence.

• Avoid fanatic statements regarding results, especially short-term results.

• No colored paper or fancy fonts.

• A resume won’t get you a job, but it can eliminate you in a hurry.

Other Stuff: Might Seem Obvious, But It’s Not

What to wear?• Dress for the organization and its culture (and for the season).

• Its always better to over-dress than under dress.

• If you are uncertain, ask!

When to arrive?• 15 minutes ahead and then prepare to wait.

Being well prepared. Practice significantly increases your performance in interviews.

Practice > Consistency > Confidence > Trust > Speed and Quality

The Interview: Getting Started

• Remember—you are interviewing them and they are interviewing you.

• Observe your surroundings, but be focused.

• Know your interviewers’ role.

• Get them out from behind the desk if at all possible.

• Take a deep breath, relax…and set out to accomplish your objectives.

• Don’t ever forget why you are being interviewed. The hiring manager needs help!

The Interview: Responding to Questions

• Listen carefully to the interviewers question!

• Be crisp, clear and concise in your responses.

• Don’t look at your notes.

• If asked about leadership, don’t answer with a management example.

• Its not just what you did, but when, where, why and how you did it. Who else was involved?

• Be ready for “why.” A good interviewer will want to know why.

The Interview: Responding to Questions

• Avoid fanatical statements of accomplishment. Be confident, but humble.

• Be certain your responses are relevant and respond to the inquiry.

If asked about weaknesses consider this…

• “We all have non-talents, which only become weaknesses when they are critical to success in a particular role or situation. I try to avoid having to use my non-talents in my current role, however, I would describe them as…”

Focus on demonstrating these four principles of leadership

• You are effective at bringing clarity to a complex or unchartered situation.

• You are a caring person. You care for others.

• You continuously learn, not so you’ll have all the answers, but so you can teach others.

• You are accountable and can effectively hold others accountable!

Be The Obvious Choice

Be Accountable … and Hold Others Accountable

In the book, The Oz Principle, it is described as “working above the line.”

Source: Connors, Roger, Tom Smith, and Craig R. Hickman. The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

It is absolutely essential to avoid any behavior references that would to suggest to an interviewer that you might work “below the line.”

What You Should Look Out for in a Workplace Opportunity

We Don’t Want to Have Shortcuts or Gaps in Our Understanding of the Opportunity

Remember the importance of clarity! Are the following clear?

• What the organization cares about

• The business strategy

• Expectations regarding performance

• What the performance consequences look like

• Our primary focus (priorities)

• How performance is managed

• The end game: What does success mean for the organization?

Interview Follow-Up Principles

• Unfortunately, follow up will not save an ineffective interview.

• Very shortly after the interview, send a note of thanks.

• Don’t sell at this point, it’s an expression of appreciation, not a sales letter.

• Understand next steps before ending the interview and adhere to them, especially if there is additional work to be done on your part.

• Be patient. This should be their most important priority, hiring leadership talent, but it’s not.

• Follow up with the sponsor. First to thank them, then to possibly leverage their insight and influence.

Interview Follow-Up Principles

• Don’t wait for good news… or bad news. Get back to work.

• Do have a job to do TO GET A NEW JOB!

• Conduct a Post Activity Review.

Post Activity Review Worksheet

What went well on the interview? Think not only of outcomes, lessons learned, and of execution.

What could be improved?

What ideas to you have to improve….

Sample Resume

Sample Resume

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Sample Resume

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Assess Individual Situation at Work

Complete Engagement Survey.

Review Gaps Tool for missing essentials in Values, Vision, Strategy, Priorities and Metrics.

Complete the Personal Work Situation Quiz.

Personal Transformation Model Checklist

• Interviewing is a relatively short, although critically important, task in gaining a new opportunity.

• Preparation and practice should consume most of our time when seeking new work.

Preferences

Describe the attributes you desire in a work situation.

Describe what you want to do.

Describe where you want to do it (geographic location).

Describe with whom you want to work.

Describe when you want to work.

Describe how much time you want to work.

Assets

Experience

Skills

Talents

Personal Transformation Model Checklist-Preparing for an Interview

Capture, Clarify and Confirm Strengths

Make notes during the week. “I love it when…”

Complete the Strengths Indicator survey.

Fine tune strengths with “Does it matter?” tool.

Capture, Clarify and Confirm Weaknesses

Make notes during the week. “I love it when…”

Complete the Strengths Indicator survey.

Fine tune strengths with “Does it matter?” tool.

Assess Readiness

Review Readiness Tool for both personal (and organization) “readiness.”

Document what (if anything) is missing.

Personal Transformation Model Checklist:Preparing for a New Opportunity

Arm the Tool Box

Personal Mission

Vision

Description of what you do

Personal value proposition

The price of your services- compensation requirements

Competitive Advantages

Evidence, such as testimonials, referrals, management information

60 Second Introduction

Resume

Target List

Personal Transformation Model ChecklistPreparing for a new opportunity

Thank You

We appreciate your attendance and participation.

Best wishes for continued success!

The Jacobson Group

+1 (800) 466-1578

www.jacobsononline.com