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Interview Training Chapters

• Interview Logistics
   
• The Exciting Hiring Authority’s Company Story*
   
• The Hiring Authority’s Background And Hot Button Interview Points*
   
• Preparing For And Implementing The Best Interview Of The Candidate’s Life
   

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• RC Search will schedule a face-to-face interview with the candidate and hiring authority for a specific day & time.
  
   
• If the candidate does not hear from the hiring authority by 5 minutes after the specified time, the candidate should immediately call RC Search:
            US: 800-256-0654
                
  
   
• RC Search will then contact the hiring authority to determine how long the interview call will be delayed and will update the candidate.
   

Interview Candidate Feedback

After the interview call or face to face meeting, RC Search requests that the candidate call or email RC Search at 800-256-0654 or ml@rcsearch.com and answer the following 4 questions:

1. How long did the interview last?
   
    
2. What is the candidate’s level of interest in the opportunity on a scale of 1-10 (10 being high)?
   
    
3. What is the candidate’s best guess as to the level of interest the hiring authority has in his/her candidacy on a scale of 1-10 (10 being high)?
   
    
4. What did the hiring authority and candidate decide would be the next step in the interview process?

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1.  An interview is a reciprocal sales call.
2. The candidate sells his/her experience and skill sets to the hiring authority.
3. When the hiring authority is convinced that the candidate is viable, the hiring authority sells the opportunity to the candidate.

Who sells first – the candidate or the hiring authority?

• The candidate must sell first 
• The client will not answer the candidate’s due diligence questions or sell the opportunity to the candidate if the client is not convinced:
  • that the candidate has the experience and skill sets required for the position
  • that the candidate is sincerely interested in exploring the position

RC Search’s Three-Step Sales Process

RC Search’s three-step sales process is designed to sell the candidate’s experience and skill sets to the hiring authority:

1. The beautiful baby opening statement
2. Qualifying and closing the hiring authority
3. Candidate’s due diligence questions

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The beautiful baby concept

If i praise my neighbor’s baby - “oh how precocious! Only six months old and already writing classical music” - my neighbor likes me and thinks I am very intelligent for I share his/her vision that their baby is special.

The hiring authority:

• Wants to know why the candidate is considering joining the hiring authority’s company
• Is more interested in learning about the candidate’s reasons for exploring the hiring authority’s company than hearing about why the candidate is unhappy in his/her current position

The candidate’s beautiful baby opening statement ammunition

The candidate must develop beautiful baby ammunition addressing:

•  The company with which he/she is interviewing
•  The software the candidate will be selling
•  The role the candidate will fill

Delivering the beautiful baby ammunition

Deliver all of the beautiful baby ammunition at the very beginning of the call

---or---

Deliver some of the beautiful baby ammunition at the beginning of the call and the remaining ammunition during the remainder of the call.

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Qualifying the hiring authority with a series of open ended questions as the candidate would qualify a prospective software client

Since interviewing is a sales process it is incumbent on the candidate to:

A. Qualify the hiring authority to determine his/her experience and skill sets requirements
      and then
show the hiring authority how the candidate’s experience and skill sets match the hiring authority’s selection criteria

B. Qualify the hiring authority as to his/her questions or concerns about the candidate’s ability to “hit the ground running” in the role for which the candidate  is interviewing,
      and then
respond to the hiring authority’s questions and concerns

C. Close the hiring authority to the next step in the interview sales process

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1st open ended qualifying question to the hiring authority: “What experience and skill sets are you seeking for this role?”

Allow the hiring authority as much time as he/she wants to answer this question (every word is golden).

The candidate responds to each hiring authority experience and skill set selection criteria by

• indicating the number of years the candidate has in each specific experience and skill set
• describing briefly a sale that the candidate closed that illustrates each specific experience and skill set

2nd open ended qualifying question to the hiring authority: “Do you have any questions or concerns about my ability to hit the ground running in the position we are discussing?”

The hiring authority will indicate either invalid or valid concerns

A hiring authority’s concern is invalid if the candidate has the specific experience or skill set sought by the hiring authority, but that experience or skill set has not yet been addressed in the interview or the hiring authority did not hear it when it was discussed

Responding to a hiring authority’s invalid concern is easy. The candidate should simply indicate the number of years experience he/she has in that specific experience or skill set and provide a specific sales example reflecting the experience or skill set.

A hiring authority’s concern is valid when the candidate does not have the specific experience or skill set sought by the hiring authority. Responding to a hiring authority’s valid concern requires a 2 step response

First, the candidate describes the experience he/she has that is similar to the experience or skill set being sought. This closes the gap between the experience or skill set the candidate is lacking and the experience or skill set he/she has.

Secondly, the candidate provides examples of his/her proven ability and desire to come up to speed in new applications, new ROIs, new market verticals, etc.

3rd open ended qualifying question to the hiring authority: “What is the next step in the interview process?”

This 3rd open ended question accomplishes three objectives:

• It demonstrates that the candidate is interested in pursuing the hiring authority’s opportunity. The more interested the candidate is in the opportunity, the more interested the hiring authority is in the candidate.
•  It demonstrates that the candidate is an accomplished sales person who is closing the hiring authority to the next step in the interview sales process.
• It allows the candidate to learn what the next interview step is.

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Up to this point in the interview process the candidate has

1. Attempted to learn what experience and skill sets the
    hiring authority is seeking
2. Has attempted to prove to the hiring authority that the candidate has the required experience & skill sets

At the appropriate time in the interview process the candidate must ask his/her due diligence questions seeking answers to questions that would lead the candidate to accept or decline the hiring authority’s offer

When should the candidate’s due diligence questions be asked?

Candidate due diligence questions should only be asked after the candidate has successfully sold his/her candidacy to the hiring authority. Thus candidate due diligence questions should only be asked when the hiring authority requests such questions. This typically happens at the end of the first or second interview.

How should the candidate’s due diligence questions be asked?

Candidates should categorize their due diligence questions – i.e., all software solution questions in one category, all questions about the sales territory in one category, all questions about the hiring authority’s management style in one category (any question can be asked with the exception of questions addressing compensation. Compensation questions should be addressed at a much later time in the interview process).

Candidates should ask their due diligence questions in a manner that shows:

• That they are optimistic, upbeat, energetic (no hiring authority wants to hire a sad, tired, unhappy candidate).
• That they are senior experienced personnel who ask difficult (“zinger”) questions that reflect the problems they incurred and overcame earlier in their careers.
• In order not to appear “negative” the candidate should preface “zinger” questions with positive statements.

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Prepare beautiful baby statements for:

• The hiring authority’s company
• The type of software solution being sold by the company
• The specific role the hiring authority wishes to fill

These sales examples are proof statements confirming the candidate has the experience and skill sets sought by the hiring authority. Brief sales examples should include client name, type of software sold, and dollar amount of software sold

Prepare questions the answers to which would truly lead to a candidate accepting or declining the hiring authority’s offer.

• Categorize the questions
• Preface zinger questions with positive statements
• Ask due diligence questions only when asked to do so by the hiring authority

4. Learn as much as possible about the hiring authority’s company, software solution and clients before the interview

• Study the hiring authority’s company web site
• Google the hiring authority’s company