Is your office as tidy as this?

I’ve been having a tidy up this weekend. In fact ‘tidy up’ doesn’t really do it justice, given that I’ve relocated my office office back into my home office, stripped the home office shelves bare, thrown away old documents and mobile phone cables, sorted out my archive in the loft, thrown away more old bits of tat and then re-populated the office shelves, so that they look clean and organised and purposeful.

There’s a bit of fine tuning to do, but I have to say that a Spring clean and general change around was well overdue. Ratty and Moley would be proud, and no doubt would whip up a sumptuous picnic to celebrate.

Out of all this dusty, yet rewarding, activity three lessons emerge…lessons which I’ve been reminding myself of this weekend. They are:

1. Nothing is forever. I’ve really enjoyed having a shared office space and now, having written two books there and sorted out my ILM accreditation, it’s time to move on. Change is good – I’m on the road a lot more again and don’t need to have two desks!

2. Build income streams before expenditure streams. I was debating whether to find another office space, when a colleague of mine pointed out that it’s easy to accumulate costs and that good business requires you to make money before you spend it. (How many people do you know who run their business the other way round?) So, I’ve moved my office rent budget for the year ahead into my marketing budget, which is a better use of resouces and frees me up to boost the spend on book four.

3. Be decisive. When you move: move. When you’re throwing things away: throw stuff away. It’s amazing how tempting it’s been to dither, or to hang on to bits of paper….yet if I’ve not touched it in 6 years, do I really need it? So, I’ve been decisive and have moved everything home, have been ruthless with the waste and have kept asking myself: ‘What am I keeping this for?’

It’s been a great weekend. And leaves me with three questions for you to think about this week:

1) Where could you make a big change to your business expenditure and reinvest the money into something more useful to you?

2) What do you need to be decisive about this week?

3) What are you keeping all that clutter for exactly…???

Have a good week. I’m off to nick some of Ratty’s potted ham, potted shrimp, jellied lobster, farmhouse cheese, cold chicken, cold tongue, cold pork, pickles, crusty loaf, biscuits, apple juice, scones, butter, strawberry jam and thick cream. He may be a fictional rat, but he does whip up dastardly delicious comestibles.

This photo is called 'The Sound of Silence' - which is what happens when people don't prepare any answers!

Imagine that you’re going to an interview next week and you’re trying to get prepared.You’ve read your CV, you’ve polished your shoes and you have a banana to hand (we’ll come back to that later). In my experience that’s often as much as people do to prepare for an interview, on the basis that you can’t guess what you’re going to be asked about. However, many interviews use the same questions, because once you step away from the technicalities of the role, you’re left with basic ‘people information’ that has to be gathered in. Here are my Top 10 Classic Questions, to get us all thinking:

1. Tell me about yourself…
2. Give me 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses…
3. Tell me about your proudest achievement at work…
4. Why do you want to work here?
5. What have you been doing whilst looking for a job?
6. Who else have you applied to?
7. How have you changed in the last 5 years?
8. What challenges would you face if you did this job?
9. What questions do you have for me?
10. Why should we take a risk on you?

How To Answer Classic Questions

The key here is to have your answers prepared in advance, which often means working through them with a trusted friend, to hammer out succinct and informative answers. Questions that begin ‘Tell me about..’ are looking for a short one minute story that showcases your skills and talents. If you get asked about weaknesses, the trick is to talk about things that are ‘everyday’ issues such as having an untidy desk. Some people fall into the trap of revealing genuine weaknesses, such as really poor time keeping, which could cost them the chance of a job.

Whilst you’re looking for work it pays to do something which is work-like, such as managing a sports team, or working in a charity shop. This shows initiative and energy and makes us look better than the next candidate who has been living on his sofa for six months.

Always have a couple of prepared questions, such as ‘What would be my priorities in the first month?’ or ‘Do you have any concerns about my application?’ Both of these questions produce useful information for us and if the interviewer does have any concerns we might as well face them now and explain them away when we have the chance.

Finally, the risk question. A great way to trip up over-confident candidates. The way to answer it is to acknowledge that all new hires are a risk and that in your case your ability to do ‘x’ andyour skill in ‘y’ and your experience with ‘z’ demonstrates that you are a low risk candidate. Easy, when you know how.

Minute To Win It

This is one of the best networking and interview tools, which can help us to answer the dreaded question: Tell me about yourself (or your business)… In fact, it’s so useful that next week’s post is going to be all about it, so catch it here next Monday.

Helpful Answers

There are more questions and detailed sample answers in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which now has a confirmed publication date of 21st June 2010. Please click on the link to visit the Amazon page.

And Remember…. Bananas

Bananas contain slow release sugars which can sustain our energy levels throughout the stress of an interview. This is more useful than the energy spike we get after munching a chocolate bar, which needs to be topped up again a few minutes later. So, before you go into reception, go bananas….it might help you to do really well!

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was all about 5 Ways to Build Rapport which can make a big diference when we have to do any kind of selling.

Thank you for reading to the end. Do have great interviews!

Classic interview sign-posting: Ask your questions here...!

You’re doing well at an interview, it’s drawing to a close and the person firing the questions at you pauses and asks:

‘Do you have any questions for me?’

How do you reply:

a) Um, I don’t have any,

b) You’ve answered all my questions already,

c) Thank you and I do have a couple to ask you….

Of course the correct answer is c), but the others pop up with depressing regularity, which is a pity because asking great questions is a great way to sell yourself. There are points to be had from asking smart questions and here are three of my favourites, to get you thinking:

Q1) Can you tell me what my priorities will be on day one (or for the first three months)?

Q2) Have I answered all our questions, or is there an area you would like me to expand on?

Q3) Do you have any concerns about my application?

The first question is a sneaky one because it looks into the future and invites the interviewer to see us in the job. As they do so, they begin to see what we would be like in action and this can help to confirm in their mind that we are indeed a great candidate. This is a future pacing question and it’s always worth asking, because it gives us useful information and can lead us into a job.

The second question gives us an opportunity to make good any poor answers. If we’ve waffled, or missed a question, we can hand the interviewer a better answer and can score more points. There’s no harm in having a second attempt to get things right, because the interview is our one chance to make a good impression.

Finally, the third question is one that we are often more nervous about asking, because we fear the answer…particularly if we think the interview has gone badly. However, once we’ve left the room and are heading home it can help us to know how realistic are chances are. If the interviewer does have a concern then we might as well hear it when we’re sitting in front of him and can answer it directly. Sorting out concerns is assertive and useful and can only help us out.

As a tip I always suggest people write their choice of questions at the bottom of their notepad so that they don’t have to remember them at the end of a draining hour. Life and interviews don’t have to be a memory.

Our Task For This Week

Have fun asking questions to find out useful information, whether we are at an interview or having a sales meeting. There are more questions in the book Job Hunting 3.0 which is out on 15th June. Click here order your copy from Amazon.

Next Monday – How to build rapport

The difference that makes a difference is our ability to make contact with people and to assert our character. If we can do this well, then it’s amazing how much a interviewer will warm to us and will overlook gaps in our CV. Read the blog next week for some top tips.

Pass It On

If you know someone who would be interested in this blog post please forward it to them, or ReTweet it, or let them know they can subscribe to regular emails via the box on the homepage.

Missed Last Week’s Post?

Last week was all about where to look for work. Click here if you would like to know 20 places.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end! Good luck with your job hunting and see you next Monday. If you need help please feel free to contact me here.

Real blue sky thinking.

What’s the difference between leadership and management? A question that surfaced again last week when I was coaching a client. In my experience, people need leading, whereas detail needs managing. My client had increased on-time delivery from 24% to 94% in the space of a couple of months. We were chatting about this success and I realised that what he had done really well was to give his team clear direction and encouragement to solve the problems they had. He had also set up regular morning meetings, focused on simple capacity planning issues and doggedly kept his team aimed squarely at the problem. Curiously, he didn’t think that he had done anything himself, which surprised me, as he had done a great deal. A great deal of leading that is. Leading is work too and it was great to hear how his clear leadership, as opposed to detail management, had brought success for them all.

I tried to pin down the root of what made him effective and the answer was very simple. He tended to ask questions. Questions engage us, they force us to think and to confront issues that we have been ignoring. I wrote down three of his favourite questions and here they are, reproduced in all their splendour:

Q1. How can you make your life easier?

Q2. How can you get around this problem?

Q3. What do you think?

I like these. They remind us that great leadership is often about asking great questions. Simple really.

A Free Offer For You

If you would like to send me a top tip relating to soft skills then I will add it to a future blog post with a link to your website. The link remains on the post forever, so you never know who may find it in the future. Send me your tip and the website address and I will do the rest. You can contact me via the blog here and I look forward to hearing from you.