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Part 2 of How To Sell Yourself On An Interview - 5 Tips on Selling Yourself in a job interview. We previously gave a list of preparation tips to help you package and present you background in a winsome way to potential employers. Here are some quick tips that are easy to implement but often overlooked or neglected. 1)  Features tell, benefits sell.  A feature is a factual item of information such as “I know Honeywell Experion.” A benefit is the value that the feature carries with it. “I can optimize your plant by using my process control skills. In the past, I have been able to document increased throughputs between 3 – 5% annually with very little capital invested.”  Try not to give features without giving benefits. Engineers get hired for benefits, not features.   2)  Satisfied needs do not motivate.  Find out where they need help and talk about how your background could help them with their needs. Most jobs are created to solve a specific set of problems. Find out what the problems are: ·   “What are the first three projects that you would like to have completed?”  ·   “What are your most pressing needs in the unit?” 3)  Tell them. Give them the necessary information to know you are the right person for the opportunity. Do not wait for them to say you are the right person – you need to tell them why you are right by sharing pertinent examples of your prior work experiences (per Part 1). Be sure to tell the company how you can help them. 4)  Attitude - "I am here to help". Two shoe salesmen go overseas to an island location and then report back to the home office. Salesman 1 - "no one here wears shoes, I'm coming home." Salesman 2 - "no one here wears shoes, send all the inventory you can, we can corner the market!" Keeping an open mind and taking an "I'm here to help" attitude is more attractive than a "What's in it for me?" attitude. ·   What problems do you need help solving? . How would you describe excellent performance in this role? . In your assessment, what outcomes would define success in this role? . In what ways could this role have a real impact on the site? . What "keeps you up at night" regarding this role not being filled? 5) Ask questions. You can sell yourself by asking good, well thought out questions! Companies respect candidates that are prepared and interested. Asking questions shows interest, and being interested is attractive. I hope you find some of these tips helpful in improving your interviewing and presentation skills! Robert Ambs CPC

How to "sell yourself" on a job interview - Part 1 You often hear the phrase "you have to sell yourself" regarding a job interview. Here are some ideas on how to do that. I'm big on packaging. By packaging I mean organizing information in way that it is clear and easily understood and attractive. As an Engineer, if you package your prior work experience properly, it will market your skillset. This is more effective than trying to remember canned responses to certain questions. Here are practical steps to help package your background. Individual Job Summary: Write a one-page maximum handwritten summary about each position held since college. Itemize your main achievements and accomplishments. Try to develop a list that reflects individual (I) and team (we) accomplishments. It may help to use the PSRV formula, which stands for: Problem -- What was the problem? Solution -- How did you do to solve the problem? Result -- What was the outcome? Value -- Why was it worth doing? Value is best expressed in a quantified way such as: Dollars and cents (E.g., saved $1 million by optimizing acid consumption), % improvements (reduced downtime 5%), rank order (best environmental compliance record in last 5 years), and finally a general value statement (obtained a more flexible air permit allowing us to process a greater variety of feedstock and thereby improve our margins). It is helpful to periodically evaluate your money making/saving contributions while they are fresh on your mind so that you can be accurate in your statements. The job summaries prepare you to "sell yourself" to the company on the interview. The burden is on you to communicate your PSRV statements during the interview, at appropriate times. Bragging is using adjectives (subjective data) to describe your work. Conversely, good self-promotion uses accurate facts (objective data) to describe your work. Be sure to give examples to elaborate and expand upon your answers to their interview questions. The best examples will come from your PSRV list. This is one of the single best things you can do to interview well. By giving brief, specific, pertinent examples to support your answers, you put your best foot forward. If you don't write out these statements ahead of time you may find yourself rambling while trying to articulate them on an interview! Vocabulary In your job summaries it is helpful to use past tense verbs to convey a sense of action, leadership, and results. Use these words in your PSRV statements. Action Words -- planned, created, initiated, developed, conceived. Leadership Words -- organized, directed, managed, coordinated. Results Words -- prevented, reduced, increased, achieved. Keep a mix of individual and team accomplishments, so be aware of "I" and "we" statements and don't take sole credit for team effort. If you package your background in this manner, you will be able to "sell yourself" and interview your best. Part 2 coming soon.

Based on client feedback on interviews over the last 30 years, here are some of the common reasons why companies decided NOT to hire a job seeker. Sometimes it's just not the right fit and sometimes it comes down to behavior on the interview. As the job market gets tighter in many areas, I felt it would be helpful to share these tips so that you are aware of ways that you can potentially hurt your chances of getting an offer. These are all factors which are in your control. Interview Behavior Pitfalls: Get discouraged by certain items you see or hear early in the interview and failing to hear the whole story. Criticizing or complaining about current or past co-workers and/or bosses. Asking for too much money/vacation. Acting uninterested or playing it too cool. Failing to ask questions. Failing to give specific examples of success, abilities, and accomplishments. Talking too much about “I” and not enough about “we” when you share your accomplishments or talking too much about "we" and not enough about "I". Cutting off your interviewer before they finish asking a question. Letting your guard down when you develop a good rapport with someone.

Happy 4th Quarter! The job market remains tight. The number of jobs openings has slowed but engineers are more reluctant to move currently so the overall demand for hiring still feels consistent. Our clients are not canceling jobs, but they are selective and allowing jobs to remain open until they find a good fit. Due to a lack of candidates on the market, jobs are remaining open for longer, especially outside of the metro areas. We expect that engineers are going to be reluctant to sell their house and face a higher mortgage rate.  Local candidates get top priority from clients. The real estate market could affect the job market. There was a great flurry of job change activity as the markets opening back up fully post COVID so many people have already made their move. Finally, the predictions of the economy falling into a recession is creating fear and hesitation in would be job seekers. For these reasons, good candidates are hard to find.    There is a positive to changing jobs in a slowing economy. You have a good indication that the role you are interviewing for is very important. If the role was not essential, the company would decide not to fill it.  Let us know if you have any thoughts or questions on the job market.    Robert Ambs CPC | Ambs Chemical Search LLC  A trusted and timely source of talent for 30 years