Most recent appearence on Connecticut's Fox 61 Morning Show -

Helping the long term unemployed get back to work

The Five ingridents to delivering an effective impact interview -

1.      Do your research: In addition to reading up on the company's products and services as well as reading about any recent changes in structure or organization, be sure to read up on the company's mission and values. Determine if the organization's values align with your own; be sure it espouses some of the same ideals as you do.

2.      Sell yourself, don't just tell about yourself: Organizations are more interested in your skills and the impact you can make rather than simply hearing about the tasks and duties you have performed. You should not discount former responsibilities, but frame them in the context of accomplishments and value add. Communicate your value during the interview; you want the organization to think about what you can do for them.

3.      Illustrate responses using PAR (Problem/Action/Results): Stories, examples and anecdotes can illustrate your responses and paint a picture for the interviewer, however be sure to stick to the PAR formula. To avoid rambling or taking too much to  time in your responses illustrations that start with describing the problem, than go on to detail the actions steps you took to resolve the problem and finally share the results from your intervention, will make your responses both focused and timely.

4.      Be true to yourself: It is important to avoid conforming so much to the culture of the organization that you are no longer being true to yourself. If you are hired under false pretense in order to maintain the position for which you were hired, you will have to continue to work under the false pretense you created, which can only add to the stress and strain of your position. Be honest with yourself as well as your new employer, there may be a degree of assimilation required in order to “fit-in” with the organization, but not the degree that you cease to be true to yourself.

5.      Ask good questions: An interview is as much as about you getting to know the organization as it is the organization getting to know you. Ask questions that help you to determine if the organization shares your passions, whatever they may be. Ask about the role and its impact on other parts of the organization. You may even want to ask about the company’s strategic outlook for the position and what you can expect in the short, intermediate and long term. Depending on where you are in the hiring process you will want to avoid questions pertaining to salary and benefits. There will be ample time for negotiations and ideally this is a conversation that the organization will initiate, however if you have had several rounds of interviews and it still hasn’t come up, consider gently raising the question.