Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door (22 page)

One of the options is labeled “Timeline.” Click on the Timeline link and you’ll see a graphic timeline by decade, with certain time periods blocked out. Click on one of the blocked-out periods and you’ll see a graphic timeline by year during that decade, with the search results only showing information about the company from that year. Click a blocked-out year and you’ll see a graphic timeline by month, with the search results showing information that is related to that specific month in that specific year.

How can you use this information? Imagine prior to a job interview you conduct this sort of search. You click on the current month and pull up press releases and articles. You reference this information during your job interview. For example, you might say, “I saw in your company press release from last week that you are . . .” or “I thought that article from last month where you were quoted was . . .”

As you’re looking at the timeline, notice if some years or months are more blocked out than others. This means Google has a lot of information related to that time period. Click on that time period and see what you can find. Then, in the job interview, you’re able to say things like, “I see that in 2003, your firm introduced . . .” or “I know that over the past few years, you’ve . . .”

Find out what was going on at the company in the past, and what it’s doing today, and you can ask pertinent questions. Read the information carefully and relate what you find to experiences in your career. Then tell great stories about how you’ve handled similar situations.

LinkedIn.com
:
This social networking site helps you create connections at companies, learn about people, and ask for referrals. Once you’re registered, invite people into your network. Your online network can grow quickly because as people accept your invitations, and as you accept theirs, everyone’s network is shared. Once you’ve built up a good-sized network, you can use LinkedIn’s advanced search to start searching for people by name, company, job title, and more.

“Each person creates his or her own online profile, so you can learn a lot about someone’s background and interests. If you find someone you’d like to meet, you can request a referral from one of your contacts,” Sam says. For example, Sam has more than fifteen million people in his network. Don’t we all wish we could say that! “I can type in just about any company in the United States and if I don’t know someone there, I probably know someone who knows someone there and I can use LinkedIn to facilitate an introduction,” he added.

“If I was going on a job interview, I would absolutely search for the interviewee in LinkedIn prior to my meeting and I would learn about the person’s career and educational history, his/her interests, etc.” Sam elaborates, “I would also see if we have any shared connections, and I would either ask for a recommendation or referral before or after the job interview, and I might even reference our shared connection during our meeting.”

Pipl.com
:
Pipl is a meta-search engine, meaning that it searches other search engines. Pipl also mines the “deep Web,” meaning it looks for information that other search engines might not find. What makes Pipl special is that it limits its search results to people information.

“I use Pipl prior to any sales call, and it’s the perfect tool for researching a person prior to a job interview,” Sam says. “For just about anyone at the executive level, I can find some good information and use it to establish a connection.” During a job interview, you can start out by saying that you’ve done a little bit of homework because you wanted to learn more about the interviewer prior to the meeting (this will impress the other person and it will help alleviate the fear that you’re some sort of stalker). Then you can reference what you’ve found.

Be careful, because Pipl will find everything from a person’s home address to political donations and even court records. But you’ll also find Web sites where the person is referenced and even articles and documents where the person was quoted. Praise the other person for something he or she did that impressed you. Remember, the sweetest sounds a person can hear is his own name, and a way to endear yourself to anyone is to compliment her on her work and the recognition she’s received.

Your Local Library:
In his book, Sam notes we now all have greater access to more information than at any time in history. Even so, the average candidate is penalized by an information disparity. Big companies with big budgets pay for expensive databases, where with a mouse click, they can instantly access company data, sort through hundreds of millions of industry journal articles, and locate current and archived newspaper articles from just about any paper in the country. Small companies and individuals who can’t afford premium access are left out. Unless they have a local library card.

Most libraries pay for premium subscription databases that you can use for free. Want Dun & Bradstreet or InfoUSA (known as ReferenceUSA at most libraries) to research companies, their competitors, executive biographies, and more? There’s a good chance your library subscribes to one or both of the databases. Want to see if the company where your next job interview is has been featured in a local newspaper, or see if the person you’re interviewing with has been cited as an expert in an industry trade journal? Your library most likely has the information.

“Your library is an incredible source of business content,” Sam says. “What’s better is you can access most of these databases at no charge via your home or office computer, as long as you have a library card. Find your library’s Web site (for a listing, visit the ‘Warm Call Center’ at
www.warmcallcenter.com
), choose a database from the online resource area, enter your library card number, and you’re accessing many of the same high-end information resources that would normally cost you tens of thousands of dollars to use.”

Another helpful hint from Sam: “If you have a job interview and don’t know much about the company, use a newspaper database to see if an article has been written about the firm. In a newspaper article, you’ll find information that is not necessarily on the company’s Web site, including revenue and employee figures, and oftentimes an executive is interviewed where they talk about the company’s direction, future products, and more. Also make sure to research the company’s industry. Read a recent trade journal article discussing industry trends. Reference this information in your interview, share data, and discuss how you have helped companies facing similar business challenges.”

With the amount of information available online today, there is absolutely no excuse for not knowing something about the company and person you’re interviewing with before you meet or call. Remember that the person interviewing you—regardless of how nice—is not rewarded for caring about you. What he or she does care about is if you can help him achieve his goals. Do your homework and you’ll establish your credibility, you’ll differentiate yourself from most other candidates, you’ll be able to ask intelligent questions that solicit meaningful dialogue, and you’ll be able to share relevant stories.

 

 

 

Gregory F. Packer is a regular joe. Nonetheless, he’s been photographed in countless publications and media reports because he shows up first in line for celebrity event after event. “He is credited as being the first in line to purchase an iPhone at the Apple Store at Fifth Avenue in New York. He began camping in front of the store at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, June 25, 2007, 110 hours before the iPhone went on sale,” says Wikipedia. For all his ingenuity in getting publicity, I don’t recommend Mr. Packer as a role model, unless your job goal is to be a unique media icon.

From the time we were kids, we’ve been force-fed the idea that
first
is best. We seldom realize that it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes
last
is best.

The conventional wisdom is to be first across the finish line, first in our class in grades, first in line for chow, first for tickets to the Beyoncé concert, and first to be interviewed by a prospective employer. You never want to be the first candidate to be interviewed.

Advertising genius Pat Fallon taught me long ago that ad agencies that pitched new business first or early in competitive reviews almost never won the account. Those who were positioned sixth or seventh in a typical review had far better chances. Give any savvy ad agency an opportunity to select a time slot for a client pitch and it’ll always take the last one, the one closest to the moment when the choice of agency is made. These people make their living understanding human nature. They know what makes people tick psychologically.

Clients tend to dismiss the first pitches they hear as they would preliminary fights on a boxing card—not to be taken terribly seriously. They’re on the card to give them an opportunity to see what’s out there, to try out their questions, and sharpen their reactions in preparation for the main event.

The same kind of buildup is used in assembling a concert program. You start with the aptly named “warm-up” acts. They’re the appetizers. The headliner is the main course.

Want to see true creative ingenuity in action? Watch what happens when a prospective client tries to schedule an agency pitch.

“We wish we could take the Monday 8:00 a.m. slot, but all our account people will be having open heart surgery that day. They should be up and around by Wednesday afternoon, though.”

With most openings, the company’s job specs are likely to be vague at first, becoming clearer only after the employers have had the opportunity to interview (and argue about) a couple of candidates. You don’t want to be the test dummy, smashed into a wall, so the company can design a better set of wheels for someone else.

My son, David, is a film director in Hollywood. He has pointed out a similar pattern in the selection of films and stars for Oscars. Those that win rarely make their box office debut at the beginning of a given year. The strongest contenders are those appearing at year-end. They end up with far better recognition and recall value in the eyes of academy members.

If you are going for a job interview, try to learn how many candidates have already been seen. If you ask, and the recruiter dodges the question, consider yourself to be among the first or second entrants, and be prepared with a good, believable reason why a later time would be better. Don’t be above a little white lie that a conflicting business trip or prior engagement prevents you from doing an early interview. Particularly in this economy, people are so anxious about getting a job that they sacrifice this principle often to their own great disadvantage.

If you can’t avoid being first, try to leave the interviewer with something to think about: “I know you’ll be talking with other candidates, and it’s hard to remember the first person you talked to, but I’m committed to doing everything I can to work for your company, and I’d like to be asked back for a second interview. These are challenging times, and I believe I can make an immediate impact in strengthening this business. When you bring me back in, I will give you a detailed plan as to exactly how.”

I’m proud to have known the late Norman Vincent Peale, who told the story about the eager job applicant who sees a help-wanted ad and rushes down to apply. By the time he arrives, there are at least two hundred people lined up waiting to be interviewed. After waiting in line for some time, he bolts out, runs to the front, where a woman is ushering them in one at a time, and says, “My name is Bruce Madison, and you tell the people who are doing the hiring in there that I’m fifty-third in line and don’t hire anyone until they’ve talked to me.” He got the job, of course.

During recent years, no firm came to symbolize the laid-back opulence of the economic boom better than Google. With some “workplaces that feature pool tables and volleyball courts,” this Internet giant has bent over backward to woo top performers.