Interview Doctor

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Are you memorable?

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I was thinking about an article on LinkedIn that I read a while ago, “Six Ways to be Genuinely Unforgettable”, that really made me think. What makes me different from the next guy? How do I stand out from the crowd?

get noticed and get the interviewIf you are one of many people at work, what makes you stand out? If you are one of many job seekers, why should the hiring manager remember you? If you are trying to get promoted, what have you done lately that makes you different?

It is a great question.

We all think we are unique and unforgettable, just like we all think our kids are above average. But they are not all above average, are they?

We all have mostly the same stuff and do about the same things every day. We eat regular meals, go to work or school, spend time with the kids, and sleep. Maybe we have an activity or two that we do during the week to break up the typical tedium.

How memorable does that make you?

Do something outrageous to be different. Exercise muscles you seldom use – walk home from work, go to a different grocery store, climb a mountain, use a different piece of equipment at the gym, go tobogganing, work from a different spot in your office just to get a different perspective,

As the author says, the goal is not to accomplish something worthwhile.

Your goal is to collect experiences. Experiences, especially unusual experiences, make your life a lot richer and way more interesting – to you and to other people.

When you have unique experiences you have something different to talk about. You are suddenly memorable!

When I tell people I am from Chicago I immediately become memorable in Cleveland. When I tell people I just returned from a 13 month trip on my boat I am unforgettable because I’ve done something the average person has not done. I’ve done the BridgeClimb in Sydney Harbor and scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef. All cool stuff! Sometimes I take side roads instead of the highway – just for a different experience!

I can talk about these things for hours to someone who wants to hear something different. I am memorable. I am not bragging. My experiences make me different which makes me memorable.

Another way to be different is to create a signature look. One friend loves to knit. She almost always wears something she created. It is her thing. When I think of Judith I remember the beautiful knitted accessories. When I think of Diane I think of the funky yet tasteful jewelry she wears. It is her thing.

Men can do this too. Matt only wears shorts to social events year round. It is his thing. You can say, “You know, Matt, the guy with the beard who wears shorts in the winter?” and people nod and say, “Sure, I know Matt”.

In this day and age of mass uniformity and widespread social media, what are you doing to be memorable? How will I remember who you are in the big wide world?

While you ponder away some other creative person is getting noticed and taking the spot you could have. Get out there and be memorable!

Dream big, Set goals, Take action

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Consider the squirrel.

One day as I was driving to work a squirrel ran out in front of me. He was quite a ways ahead of me but I could see him clearly. He was about halfway across the street when he stopped and stood up on his back legs and looked at me. As I got closer he got down on his back legs and did that stutter step they do, going back and forth in the middle of the street. You know what happened next. He didn’t move and I clipped him. I saw his little body lying in the street in the rear view mirror.

be more successful by setting goalsI muttered under my breath, stupid squirrel. Does this story from “Consider the Squirrel” by Bobby Coleman and John Carter sound familiar?

But what if we turn the story upside down? Consider the squirrel. He set out with a goal, boldly and quickly. He was excited. But when he came across an obstacle like a car coming at him down the road he stopped. He questioned himself. He second guessed himself. He turned back to the comfort and safety of the familiar side of the road. It was a dangerous decision.

How many times have we done that? We set out boldly to achieve some goal. We have plans and ideas. But when faced with obstacles we second guess ourselves and retreat to the safe side of the street. Our retreats do not always have such fatal results. But every time we retreat we get further and further from our goal.

This is not uncommon. Even the smartest, best prepared people find themselves a squirrel now and again.

In the book, What they Don’t teach you in the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack describes a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. Students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans, 13 percent had goals but not in writing and 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

What do you think happened ten years later? These are really smart people, right? You would think their background and education would prepare them to be solid leaders. They could certainly get across the road safely without getting hit like that squirrel. The 13 percent of the class that had goals earned on average twice as much as the 84 percent had no specific goals at the 84% without specific goals. The three percent with written goals earned on average ten times as much as the other 97%!

Consider the squirrel. Without specific, written goals you will most likely find yourself vacillating in the middle of the street opting to retreat in face of obstacles.

Let us choose not to be a squirrel. I challenge everyone today to write down one thing we would like to accomplish or change but quit before finishing. Then write down what you plan to do to finally finish that goal.

Let’s not be squirrels. Let’s be brave, strong, achievers who make things happen.

A 3-D Job Search: Separate yourself from other Job Seekers

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I had a fascinating networking meeting the other day with Tracy who is seeking an HR position. She didn’t contact me to network for names or ask if I knew of any companies with open HR positions. She wanted to talk about how to demonstrate to her target company that she could work strategically.

dream job interviewing tipsWhat a concept!

It was refreshing to talk with a job seeker interested in doing something different to separate herself from other candidates, demonstrate her strategic thinking, and build a relationship with a target employer based on problem solving and ideas.

We had a fascinating discussion about the problems and issues keeping the CEO up at night at this small firm. We synthesized the information she gathered during a series of interviews to understand the problems. You have to figure this out. No one lays this out at your feet. Tracy knew that so she sought my help to pull the information together. In this case, we saw a relationship between interest in going global and concerns over managers’ ability to delegate. These issues are related. We brainstormed how to lay out the problem in a new way while suggesting a path forward. We even worked on how these ideas could translate graphically to capture the CEOs typical short attention span.

I found the conversation invigorating. I think Tracy got some new ideas. She will work on the graphic display over the weekend. She wants my input when she is done. Then she will arrange a time to meet with the recruiter and the CEO to share her thoughts about the issues and path forward.

Think about Tracy’s approach for a minute. Her unique approach works well for job seekers and those who want to move their career path forward in their current company. But most people don’t think this way.

Tracy is not satisfied with the normal job search / promotion process. She wants to set herself apart from other job seekers. By creating a plan and presenting it in a way that will appeal to the CEO she demonstrates what it will be like to have her on the team. She reveals how she thinks and works. The Frequently Asked Questions are out the window. She is pushing the interview into a discussion about real issues using experience and knowledge from many sources. She is conducting a strategic job search!

You can do this too. All you have to do is think about your search or your career path as more than a series of resumes sent to advertisements. Make it three dimensional. Incorporate knowledge, past experience, and current information to generate new ideas that will help your target company or boss. Act like you already have the job. I can guarantee you that you will separate yourself from 99% of your peers. This approach works!

By the way, I am willing to have this kind of conversation with any job seeker. I just want to help.

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