Career Tips Tuesday: Interview Success – Give Them Something to Remember
We can all relate to this story. You attend an event or party, you spoke to several people, but only remembered a few. Why did you remember those people? Generally, it’s something they did or said that stood out in your mind.
Isn’t that what you want after an interview? You want to stand out, to be remembered and to leave a strong impression.
That’s where interview leave-behind documents come into play. The executive resume and networking tactics got you the interview, you “wowed” them with your great career stories, but because the competition is tight, you need to push the envelope.
I created a powerful, technology leadership initiatives document that helped him negotiate a $150K compensation increase and secure a $30K signing bonus.
Now do you believe that leave-behind, career marketing documents work? Good…well, they do…they help to reinforce your strengths and show your fit for the position, they help distinguish you from the stiff competition and make it easy for interviewers to remember you.
So here are 5 career marketing documents you can leverage during your executive job search:
- Accomplishment statements – Create a list with your top, career-defining accomplishments in a Challenge-Action-Results formant.
- Industry profile – Provide a more detailed summary of specific industry experience and expertise and pair your knowledge, skills and abilities with examples of impressive accomplishments.
- Project summary – Give short, but compelling examples of critical projects you led, include key facts like budget size, number of team members, project timeline and deliverables. An excellent choice for consultants and project managers.
- Mini career portfolio – Pull together a showcase of your best work, industry accolades, media appearances and client testimonials. Ideal for marketing, media and advertising executives.
- Performance/Testimonial highlights – Compile extracts from performance appraisals, management reviews, team commentaries, customer feedback and vendor praises that give specific detail about your performance and leadership strengths.
What new leave-behind document can you use in your next executive interview?
(Photo credit: stockimages)
