Business Leader Practices and Commonsense Recap
“Common sense in an uncommon degree
is what the world calls wisdom.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
When all else fails, use common sense. Make sure your business practices are current, awakened, and productive. It’s important to integrate this commonsense recap into your knowledge base the same way you’ve assimilated the REAPRICH process. Believe me, a misstep here can be a disaster.
First and foremost, always arrive at your interview location at least ten minutes early. After you arrive, find a restroom and check your appearance in the mirror. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people who’ve prepped at home, but arrive at the interview looking odd. They walk in and one side of their hair is sticking straight up. Or they’ve had something to eat beforehand and now they’ve got mustard on their cheek or a crumb in their eyebrow. I’ve seen people sit on something in their car—maybe a child left candy on the driver’s seat—and then walk into an interview with chocolate melted to the side of their suit jacket. This type of mistake is completely avoidable. Look in the bathroom mirror, turn around, and make sure that your appearance is in order.
You want your appearance to be at its most polished. And speaking of polish, no matter who you are, what type of job you’re applying for, or what type of company, your shoes should be polished and looking great when you’re interviewing. In fact, even after you get the job you should always have your shoes polished. If someone is considering you for a promotion and looks down to see that your shoes are a mess, he or she is going to think, “Gee, I don’t know. He didn’t take the time to be thorough.” People are looking for the little extras. They want you to look good whenever and wherever you’re representing the company.
Outside of corporate America, there are many jobs and careers where polished shoes aren’t as big a concern. But as someone who has risen through the ranks to become a top manager, I can assure you that many people have strong feelings about this. Grooming, polished shoes, all of these things are critically important. That first impression is a key one. Even if you’re going in for your fifth interview, double-check these things.
Make sure your attire is business appropriate. Don’t come in dressed in something loud. Wear something conservative and of good quality, but look sharp. A nice red tie or a colorful dress is fine, but stick to business suits when possible.
Don’t try to express your uniqueness via your choice of clothing. I’ve seen a woman come into an interview dressed well but carrying a pocketbook that was given to her by her great-grandmother and is now falling apart. Grandma would want you to get this job; she’d be okay with it if you left the purse at home during your interview.
Have nice, clean-looking materials. Carry your résumé in a simple, tasteful folder when you come to your interview. Bring a nice pen. You don’t want to walk in the door looking disorganized, or pull your résumé out of a laptop case and risk a ton of papers falling on the floor. Don’t fold your résumé and put it inside your pocketbook or coat pocket. It gets wrinkled and sloppy.
People want to get to know you, so during the interview, you may be asked questions about your interests, hobbies, and family. Make sure you’re prepared to answer such questions. I’ve witnessed people, when such questions arise, become absolutely too casual and relaxed. They go off on a tangent, talking about things that are not pertinent to the interview. So have a statement ready.
Some of the top managers in the world have varied interests outside of work. They’re accomplished in areas such as music or sports. Some managers I’ve known have been expert violinists and great guitarists. You want to be able to talk about what you’re great at and what you enjoy in a way that’s clear, concise, professional, and focused. And if the manager continues the conversation, go with it. If not, just return to the point you were at in the REAPRICH process.
Managers are really looking to see if you have excellence in other areas of your life. Those are the questions behind the questions. For example, they may ask, “What would your best friend say about you? What three words would he or she use to describe you?” That’s a question I often use, because it catches people off guard. But not you: you’ll be ready.
Sometimes I’ll ask, “Tell me about integrity. What does that word mean to you?” Or I’ll look at people and say, “Who are you?” Even though the questions are intensely personal, never drop your professional demeanor. Mine your REAPRICH preparation for answers that will put your attributes in the best possible light.
One thing that happens all too often is that people with great backgrounds, people who should be shoo-in candidates for a position, lose out because they were negative about a prior job or bad-mouthed their current employer. You should never say something like, “The reason I’m looking for a new job is I can’t stand the company I’m with now.” Or, “My boss is an idiot.”
You can ruin your chances with a negative statement. After all, if you’ll speak badly about your current employer, it makes hiring managers suspect you’ll do the same about their company. If they sense that negativity, they’ll probe for it, so make sure nothing you say puts a negative focus on a company you’ve been with or the one you’re currently working for. And understand: truth is no defense here. If you’re asked about a job where you had a truly awful experience, you simply say, “The company was going through some changes and I saw that their success probably wouldn’t be as robust as I had initially hoped. I have some very strong goals for my career. I’d like to be able to carry them out at your company. I’ve done some research; I feel it’s a great company and here’s why …”
Insider Secret #10:
Many hiring managers like to disqualify candidates based on commonsense errors because it gives them a definitive reason for saying no and not taking a risk. Managers also think that a candidate who’s lacking common sense is not detail-oriented or intelligent, or that they simply don’t care.
Likewise, if a manager asks, “Why do you want to be with our company?” he or she wants you to give an intelligent response. You can’t just say, “Oh, it’s the best in the world,” and hope to impress anyone. Managers may want to know that you’ve interviewed at other places, which indicates you’re in demand and discerning. But leave this to them. Only address other companies if they ask where else you’re interviewing. They may also ask why you like that company, why you don’t, or how it stacks up to their own. They want to know that you’ve done some research, that you’re not just someone who settles for the first thing that comes along. Discussing other firms you’ve interviewed with is another area where you want to keep it positive, even if the manager seems to be prompting you to say something negative about the competition. You can never go wrong taking the high road.
Being on time is another way to show you have respect for the company, the position, and the hiring manager’s time. Remember that being “on time” for an interview really means “at least ten minutes early,” so that you have time to relax, focus, and check your appearance in a mirror.
Some executive positions have a rather lengthy, multistage interview process. By the time you’re on your fourth or fifth interview, you will have built great rapport with the manager or vice president. Don’t let that sense of familiarity lead you to drop your professional demeanor. By all means, smile and always be engaged, energetic, and positive, but don’t let down your professionalism—ever. You can open up a bit more than you might on a first or second interview, to create a deeper connection, but always remember you are in the leader’s office.
Commonsense Recap Worksheet