This Action Will Get You The Job Offer During The Interview

If you’re thinking about starting a job hunt, Harvey Mackay said it best: “Dig your well before you’re thirsty”. It’s also a title for one of his books. I’ll let Harvey and many other good authors provide the guidance and prep you for a productive job hunt.
Before that, get your profile on LinkedIn, no exception, first and foremost. See my earlier post on my take on LinkedIn.
For now, I’m going to jump right to parts of the interview and provide you an exceptional tool that will help you gather your thoughts and prepare you more effectively than any other candidate you are competing against. Preparation and how you handle yourself during the interview will differentiate you from the pool of candidates they bring in to fill a job.
The first tool will require some homework that will be fulfilled during your research and preparation for the company.

The 30/60/90 plan is a tool that demonstrates what you will focus on and accomplish during the first 90 days in the position for which you are interviewing.  It should be prepared before interviews once you’ve completed your research on the company products and position. The purpose of this is to demonstrate that you have a plan during the first three months on the job and what specific steps that you will take to assimilate into the new role. It covers everything from learning about the company products/services, and org structure through to your development during the first 90 days on the job.

When should you pull out this sheet? It depends on how the interview is going. It works very well when the interviewer asks if you have any questions and yes, you should have some questions. Here are some questions to ask to get you started:

1. Is this a new position or a replacement? (Use active listening. They may have mentioned this during the interview.)
2. What are the goals and deliverables for this department?
3. How are these goals and deliverables measured?
4. What is the time frame to have this position filled?
5. Please tell me about your onboarding procedure for new hires.

After they respond to this question, you can mention that you developed the basis of a 30/60/90 action plan for the first three months on the job. Pull out the sheet. (Like your resume, have multiple copies ready to distribute.) Hand the sheet to the interviewer. They will need about 15 seconds to get their bearings on the sheet, so count them off in your head before you break the silence and say:
“Based on my research before this interview, this is an idea of some areas that I would focus on during the first 30/60/90 days in the position. May I walk you through this sheet?”  Most times they will be so delighted and speechless, that they will not want you to walk through the sheet.  They will be impressed with your preparation and planning. However, be prepared to field a question that they might have.
I used this tool during my second interview for the current position that I have.  The President and VP of Marketing “nearly fell off their chairs” with delight when I pulled this sheet out and asked them if I had time to walk them through it.  They commented that they had never seen a plan like this presented during the interview process.  Quite memorable and a killer differentiation tool.

Ask them if they have any other questions. If they don’t, ask for the job in the following way:
“I’m interested in the position and based on what we discussed, I believe there is a good fit for both of us. What are the next steps?”
Once they respond, you’re done, so thank them for their time. Be friendly and professional. Time your smile (Damian’s Rules).

Follow up with thank you emails to all the people who interviewed you. It’s perfectly fine to ask for business cards. If they don’t have any, write down their names and email addresses.

When you get home, send the thank you emails and make your notes.
Get ready for your next interviews.

Download the Excel Action Plan Sheet and customize for the job you are interviewing for.  The link will take you to Google Docs. 
 Generic 30/60/90 Day Action plan.

If you are bold, have a look at my 30/60/90 Day Action Plan that I used to secure my most recent sales position.

Author: Francis

Started out in science and somehow ended up in sales & marketing. Grew into a results oriented sales professional with extensive experience selling and positioning scientific solutions in the pharma/biotech, life sciences and medical diagnostics markets. In 1998 I created an excel sheet to track spending and cash flow to learn personal finance on my own. They don't teach this in school and by the time one figures it out, most of let all these resources slip through our fingers. It's time to pay it forward to this next gen so that they can shave 15-20 years off for working for "the man" with insights, a library of tools, and motivation from me and plenty of other FI bloggers that I follow.