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Probing for Pain Points in an Interview [Updated]

November 27, 2017 by Marc Miller 2 Comments

Probing for Pain Points?

Probing for pain points should be one of your first steps in an interview. Every business has problems. Your first job is to ask probing questions to uncover those pain points.

You do this by asking big open-ended questions to the other party to get them to open up and spill the beans.

Initial Phone Screen

Most of the time in the interview process, there will be an initial phone screen with either a recruiter or HR professional. Your first questions should include:

Why is this a position open?
What are the responsibilities of the position?
Which of these responsibilities are new to the department, organization, or company?
What are the old and new business requirements that are causing you to fill this position?
If this is an old position, where did the previous employee go?

You are looking for insight into whether this is a newly created or existing position and whether these are new responsibilities. If it is new, then they are likely working on solving an existing problem. If it an existing position, why is the position currently vacant? Did the person leave the company, move to a different position or were they promoted?

The recruiter or HR professional may not be able to answer many of these questions but you may impress them by asking deep probing questions. If they are able to answer your questions, however, keep asking probing questions until you have them stumped.

You want to be a detective. Ask probing questions to look for problems. You are looking for problems that you know how to solve!

More: 5 Simple Steps to a Successful Telephone Interview

Post Phone Screen

Put on your detective hat and do your research.

Check on LinkedIn to see who currently or in the near past had the title for this job. Did this person leave the company or move to a different department? You may have to connect with several people on LinkedIn and ask for 15 minutes on the phone to ask for AIR, advice, insights, and recommendations.

You want to ask each of them what they know about the open position.

If you find the person who previously held the position left the company, ask them why. You may find that you do not want to work there! People who have left will often give you a more authentic view of the position and corporate culture.

If they moved to a new department, ask them whether it was a lateral move or a promotion. If it was a promotion, make sure to congratulate them. If it was a lateral move, ask about the business reasons for the move.

Carefully read anything and everything about the company, looking for pain points. It may be that the company is growing fast or moving into new markets or even that sales have stalled. What are the potential problems?

More: Asking for AIR – Advice, Insights, and Recommendations

Interview Questions

Bring a minimum of five pain point questions with you to the interview. They should be open-ended questions to uncover problems that you have already thought about—know how you would solve them!

Are you satisfied with the current growth of the business?
Are you meeting service level agreement targets with all of you important clients?
What are the areas where you are having problems meeting deadlines?
My favorite — What keeps you up at night?

It was the last question that a client of mine used with the hiring manager’s boss. Their response was amazing in that the interviewer just talked on and on about all of the major problems the organization was having.

Notice that all of these are open-ended questions. Your goal is to get the interviewer to give you insight into the pain points that you know how to solve. She did exactly what my client wanted her to do, spill the beans.

Now my client had all the information she needed to position herself to get the job. After the interview, my client emailed the hiring manager with everything she had learned and how she would address each problem.

More: Art of Questions – Nurturing and Reversing

Pain Points Uncovered

Once the pain points have been uncovered or you have gotten them to spill the beans, you can explain how you have solved these problems in the past.

The best way to do this is to tell stories about how you previously solved the same or similar problems for your employer.

Let me tell you about the time when I encountered …..

This demonstrates that you have the skills to do the job. It is not about convincing the hiring manager that you can do the job but demonstrating that you have done the job. Do not TELL them but SHOW them.

So plan on being a detective. By asking good, probing questions looking for pain points shows that you have done your homework about their business. The more you uncover the better you can demonstrate that you are the best candidate for the job!

Probing for pain points starts at the very beginning with the initial encounter with a recruiter. Do not wait to ask probing question until later in the process.

Waiting is not a job search strategy.

Marc Miller

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What I Learned About My Career from Selling a Vintage Fiat

November 8, 2017 by Marc Miller 2 Comments

Selling a Vintage Fiat?

When I was a young man in late 1970s, I wanted a convertible. I was also cheap! The first car I bought was a 1972 Triumph Spitfire from a woman I worked with at IBM. It needed a clutch and a throw out bearing.

I had just received my engineering degree from Northwestern University and I wanted to teach myself auto mechanics. The Triumph was a good challenge to fix. I drove it around for six months and then sold it. Now I wanted a bigger challenge.

I bought a wrecked 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder. I was told that Fiat stood for “Fix It Again Tony.” The car had been in a front end collision but was still drivable. I spent the next 18 months replacing fenders, the hood, a bulkhead, pulled the heads and valves, and much more.

The challenge was when I went to sell it.

Rebuilding and Selling Hondas

Around the time, I was working on that Fiat 124 Spyder, I started rebuilding Hondas. I bought several Honda Accords and Civics which I would fix up, drive for a while and then sell at a profit.

This was the mid-1980s when Honda’s were still fairly new on the scene and were in high demand because of the quality and the gas mileage.

When I was ready to sell, I would put an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper for three consecutive weekends. Remember the classified sections where you looked for jobs, garage sales, and other things that people wanted to sell? The key was to be in the Sunday classifieds.

Because of the high demand for Hondas, I would get four or five people come out each weekend and finally I would get a single buyer.

Many would try to negotiate the price and those 3 weekends were pretty busy.

Selling Fiats

When I went to sell my Fiat is was very different. This was somewhat of a cult car.

I would put an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper for three consecutive weekends. That first weekend I had only 1 person looking at the car. They test drove it and said they would think about it.

The second weekend came and the same thing happened. Only one person came out to look at the car but they did not even want to test drive it.

The third weekend I got several calls but no one came out to look at the car.

The following Monday, I got a call from the original prospect from the first weekend asking if the car was still available. I told him yes, we did some minor negotiating and I offered to throw in an extra 5-speed transmission I had. We had a deal.

Only two people came out to look at the car and only 1 of those test drove the car.

You Only Need One Buyer!

Only one person test drove the car and he bought it. I later rebuilt several more Fiats and I rarely had more than two or three people test drive the cars, but one of them always bought it.

Applying for More Jobs is not Better

Do you apply for many jobs hoping to get an interview?

Or, do you carefully investigate each company by strategically networking to meet the right individuals? When a position becomes available, you find someone internal to the company to submit your resume. You submit your application when the time is right. You end up submitting very few applications.

This is called the Targeted Job Search.

What I learned from selling the Fiat is that it is not how many people who come out to test drive the car. If I prepared the car properly and priced it fairly, the car would sell. I only needed one buyer.

Similarly, when you are managing your career, you want to be selective. Preparation is key. You want to approach a prospective employer when the time is right. You only need to apply and interview with one company to get that next gig.

Proper Targeting

Long before I started Career Pivot, I started counseling individuals who had been laid off. There is one employer in Austin who is quite large and layoffs people at the drop of a hat. I would ask these individuals what they were looking for and what they commonly say is ” I can do product marketing, product management, project management, sales, program management,…….”. What they were telling me is they were good at such wide range of disciplines that my only assumption was they were not good at any of them.

They were feeding me a line of BS. I would immediately tell them to pick one and only one discipline to target. They would often complain that was too limiting. I would go okay pick two but no more.

Quantity Versus Quality

Just like when I sold that Fiat—it was not quantity but quality. Only people who knew about Fiats and truly admired the Italian engineering would come out to look at the car. (By the way, Fiat was at least 10 years ahead of the rest of the industry with many features like four-wheel disc brakes and dual overhead cam engines.)

You need to determine what to target. Most of us grew up when generalists were king. We live in an age where specialists are king.

What is your specialty? What companies are in need your specialty? Do your homework. Pick the companies that are a good fit for you.

You only need one company to hire you for that next gig! More is not better!

Marc Miller

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Employee Referrals – Your Ticket to Your Next Job (Updated)

October 25, 2017 by Marc Miller Leave a Comment

Employee Referrals

Did you know that employee referrals have become the most valued tool in hiring?

When I wrote this post in 2014, I had just returned from speaking at the Career Thought Leaders Conference in Baltimore. The theme of the conference was “Framing the Future”. A common theme throughout many of the presentations was that employee referrals are golden.

I wrote extensively about the value of employee referrals in my Targeted Job Search series on this blog. I wrote about continuously building your referral network so that you stay employed at companies where you want to work.

Employee Referrals – The numbers don’t lie!

Gerry Crispin co-founded a nonprofit, TalentBoard, to better define and measure the Candidate Experience. In his presentation, he presented some startling numbers on hiring and the effect of employee referrals that came from the Candidate Experience Award.

The Cande Awards process is a competition, but it is also designed to provide every organization that chooses to participate some confidential and specific feedback on how they can improve their candidate experience.

Gerry gave the following typical example:

180 applications for every open position
4 employee referrals will be submitted

Approximately, half of all candidates are screened out or deemed unqualified for the position which leaves:

90 applications
2 employee referrals

5 candidates will be interviewed including the 2 employee referrals.

The numbers do not lie. If you apply and an employee referred you for the position, 50% chance of getting an interview and you have a 20% chance of getting hired.

If you do not have an employee referral, you have a 3% chance of getting an interview and only 1.2% chance of getting hired.

What this should tell you is that employee referrals are invaluable!

Note: These numbers are 4 years old. The numbers of applicants have increased every year so if you do not have an employee referral your odds have decreased.

The Employee Referrals Bonus

Employee referral bonuses have become common in a lot of corporations. Bonuses are paid if the employee refers the candidate before the candidate applies and the candidate is hired. Therefore, before you apply for a job online seek out a referral!

In 2009, in the depth of the recession, I was working for a sexy tech startup…and we were hiring. I had more candidates from the Launch Pad Job Club, where I serve on the board of directors, asking me to submit their resume. My first question was always:

Have you applied online?

The answer almost every time was:

Yes

My response every time was:

Next time, please send me your resume first and only apply when I tell you.

When to Apply

Due to the fact that they already applied, I was not eligible for the bonus and their application would not be seen as an employee referral. Not every employee referral program works this way, but most do.

I was more than willing to work for these candidates because of my position with the job club. Money was not what motivated me to help. Of the almost 100 resumes I received that year, and only one sent it to me first. As you could imagine, I received a $2500 bonus for that position but none of the other 99 were hired.

Whenever you find a position, work diligently to find a connection. If you are not sure how go back and read the following posts:

After you have found someone who is willing to make a referral, ask how you should proceed. They may tell you:

To apply online and fill in the field for the employee referral on the application. Many major employers now have a field on the application for referrals.
Send them your resume and they will take it directly to the hiring manager. Customize your resume using JobScan to compare your resume to the job description. If this is the case DO NOT apply until they tell you to apply.

When you do apply online, only apply to one job that you are the best fit for.

Risk Mitigation in the Hiring Process

The employee referral has become the most reliable method for hiring. It is all about risk mitigation in the hiring process. The two safest hires are:

An internal candidate
An external candidate with an employee referral

These two types of hires make up a huge percentage of all hiring. My guess is it is over 90% because internal hires are often never publicized.

When I entered the job market in the 1970’s the average person stayed with a company for 10 or more years. In 2016, the average employment tenure for men in the U.S. is 4.3 years. There is a lot more hiring today than ever before.

If you want to boost your chance to get hired, work diligently on building your referral network.

To read the rest of the Targeted Job Search series click here.

Marc Miller

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Find a Problem to Solve. That Will Lead to a Job.

October 18, 2017 by Marc Miller 1 Comment

Find a Problem to Solve?

I have had a number of discussions with clients and client prospects in the past year about finding a problem to solve rather than looking for that next job.

As many of us reach the end of a career, we start looking for what is next. Our natural instinct is to look for that next job but what many of us need to do is find that next problem to solve.

Are you mission driven?

I was having a discussion with a gentleman the other day. He is very mission-driven! Every career move he has made was to go solve a problem that had a purpose. It was obvious to me that he needed to find the next problem to solve.

He does not just need another problem to solve but a problem that has meaning or that will affect the world for the better.

Does this sound like you? Are you mission driven?

Multipotentialite

He is also probably a multipotentialite. A multipotentialite is someone who has many interests and is not driven by any single interest. They are also referred to as scanners, slashers or generalists because they are always looking for that next thing. I am a multipotentialite as I have changed jobs frequently and heck I am on my 7th career.

Does this sound like you? Are you a multipotentialite?

Multipotentialite and Mission Driven

This gentleman is reaching the end of his current job in that he is getting fed up with the politics and personalities. He is not going to be let go, laid off or fired but the job is really wearing on him. He is also about 3 years into the job, which is typically when he has either solved the problem and started to get bored or it is apparent that management would not let him solve the problems the way he wants to solve them.

This combination is an issue that I completely recognize because I have encountered it multiple times in my career.

What is the solution?

Step #1 is an unusual step that is abhorrent to mission-driven people: stop caring about your current job.

WHAT??

It is not about stopping doing a good job. Do the best job you can. Just stop caring whether it is good enough for your superiors and others. If your best is not good enough for them, then let them go &*^%* themselves.

It is about letting the politics roll off your back. When people start to gossip, just leave. It is all about improving your frame of mind to get to step #2.

Generate a List of Problems

What are the world problems that you would like to work on?

Maybe it is not having enough clean water in the developing world? Could it be the lack of education of women around the world? (By the way, the more education women attain, the fewer children are born.)

What are the national problems that you would like to work on?

Would you like to work on educational reform nationwide? A hot topic is immigration reform. How about sustainable food chain?

What are the local problems you would like to work on?

How could you change policy as it relates to affordable housing or the economic impact of drought or flooding on the local economy? How about the accessibility and impact of the high-speed Internet on impoverished communities?

Think big and do not filter based on the size, scope or perceived difficulty to solve the problem.

Prioritize and Research the Problems

Make a prioritized list of the problems based on what gets you excited. The order does not need to have any logic other than what excites you.

Start researching the top 3 problems that you want to solve.

Stay away from how to solve the problem but understand what the real issues are and who is affected. I have worked with a few people on this and the problems they identified were problems to them but not to anyone else or were in areas that they did not understand the history or background.

I have particularly found this to be true with problems in public education and state/local tax policies. You really need to do your research and get out to talk to people who are involved in these issues. This will not happen overnight and you have to stay focused on what gets you excited.

Identify Organizations

Next step is to identify organizations that address the problems you would like to solve.

From 2004-2006, I taught high school math in an inner-city high school in Austin, TX. When I left the teaching profession, I was in my very late 40s and I really wanted to affect the path of public education. I interviewed every non-profit that was involved in education in the central Texas region. Notice, I said I interviewed them as I wanted to understand how they worked.

I learned the following:

All were grant funded and the funding dictated precisely how the money could be spent
Each had a very narrow focus
The organizations did not cooperate because of #1 and #2
Most were almost exclusively looking for people with traditional higher education credentials (MEd)

I found a couple of organizations that impressed me out the list of a dozen but neither was addressing problems that I wanted to focus on. I had no interest in going back to school to get a Masters degree. Throughout my career, every time I got excited about getting a higher level degree, I would go home, get a beer and forgot about it. I hated my college experience and going back would have been excruciating.

One possibility was to create an organization by myself or partner with someone with the proper credentials. I decided to move to the next problem. I have kept the idea of running for the local school board at some time in the future.

Rinse and Repeat

Once you have exhausted your ability to research a problem, and then identify target organizations to find potential solutions, you will want to move down your list.

When I was doing this, I was unemployed and that stress was a major inhibitor to being able to properly work this process.

This why step #1 is so crucial to this process. This takes time and you need to stay on top of your emotions.

Are you ready to find the next problem to solve?

Marc Miller

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You’re Hired! Now What? – Targeted Job Search (Updated)

October 16, 2017 by Marc Miller 2 Comments

You’re Hired! Now What?

You have just been hired for your dream job! Well, maybe not your dream job, but the next step in your career. You have followed all of the steps in the targeted job search.

Before you read on, this is the sixth in this series on the Targeted Job Search. If you have not read the series, this is a good time to go back to the beginning and read the entire series.

You’re done — right??

I grew up in the day when we expected jobs to last 10, 15, 20 or more years. Today, a job may last three years. Let me lay out a timeline and strategy for you.

The First 90 Days Book

I recommend all of my clients get the book The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded by Michael Watkins. (affiliate link)

I coach my clients through the first 90 days of their new job using the methodologies presented in this book. It is intended for C-level executives (CEO, COO, CFO, …) but the methods work for just about everyone at just about every level.

Six Weeks

It typically takes six weeks into a new job to understand what you are doing and start setting goals. I commonly joke it takes six weeks to just find the bathroom on a regular basis.

Create a calendar entry on the six-month anniversary date of your hire. In that calendar entry, document some realistic goals for the first six months on the job. As you will find this is a repeating theme.

Six Months

You are now six months into your new job. You have been drinking from a firehose for the last six months. It is very difficult to appreciate how much you have learned and accomplished when you are drinking from a fire hose.

Review the goals you set. Did you accomplish everything?

Reflect back on the previous six months. What did you learn and what new skills have you acquired? You really need to take the time and reflect back on what you learned and accomplished.

I really want you to let all of this sink in and appreciate how difficult the first six months on the job can be. Typically, you have a new boss, team, and responsibilities which is a lot to absorb.

Now is the time to update your LinkedIn profile and resume. Do it NOW!

You must get in the habit of regularly updating your LinkedIn profile and resume because you can become a turkey at any moment. If you are not sure what I mean by becoming a turkey please read my post Looking at Your Career from a Turkey’s Perspective.

Create a calendar entry on your one-year anniversary date of your hire. In that calendar entry, document some realistic goals for the next six months on the job.

One Year

You have now been in your new job for one year. Hopefully, you are no longer drinking from a fire hose and have gotten yourself into a groove.

Review the goals you set. Did you accomplish everything? Did you set realistic goals?

Reflect back on the previous six months. What did you learn, what new skills have you acquired and what did you accomplish?

Just like at the six month anniversary, I want you to let this sink in. I want you to be able to appreciate what have learned and accomplished and feel good about yourself. Take time to smell the roses.

Update your LinkedIn profile and resume. Do not wait and do it NOW!

Create a calendar entry on your eighteen-month anniversary date of your hire. In that calendar entry, document some realistic goals for the next six months on the job.

Update your target list!

Eighteen Months

You have now been in your new job for eighteen months.

Review the goals you set. Did you accomplish everything?

Reflect back on the previous six months. What did you learn, what new skills have you acquired and what did you accomplish?

Update your LinkedIn profile and resume.

Create a calendar entry on the two-year anniversary date of your hire. In that calendar entry, document some realistic goals for the next six months on the job.

Update your target list!

Start strategically networking for your next job

I know you are probably saying to yourself what about loyalty to the company. Let me ask you whether when hard times come will the company be loyal to you? I bet not!

The idea is to establish a pattern. Even though you start working your target list at eighteen months, it does not mean you will leave. What you are doing is making yourself a good passive candidate. I want you to be prepared to leave whenever you need to leave.

When a position does become available, you want to know about it.

If your company is acquired, you want to be prepared to move on if the culture changes.

You think that your job search has ended. Well, it really never ends. You should stay in permanent job search mode. That is the only way you can protect yourself from creative destruction.

If you think your job is safe from AI, Automation or Robots you are smoking something and you are probably inhaling.

Are you ready for a targeted job search?

To read the rest of the Targeted Job Search series click here.

Marc Miller

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Job Search	Career Pivot/Change	Career Success	Careers in the 2nd Half of Life
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Probing for Pain Points?

Initial Phone Screen

Post Phone Screen

Interview Questions

Pain Points Uncovered

Do You Need Help With ...

Selling a Vintage Fiat?

Rebuilding and Selling Hondas

Selling Fiats

You Only Need One Buyer!

Applying for More Jobs is not Better

Proper Targeting

Quantity Versus Quality

Do You Need Help With ...

Employee Referrals

Employee Referrals – The numbers don’t lie!

The Employee Referrals Bonus

When to Apply

Risk Mitigation in the Hiring Process

Do You Need Help With ...

Find a Problem to Solve?

Are you mission driven?

Multipotentialite

Multipotentialite and Mission Driven

What is the solution?

Generate a List of Problems

Prioritize and Research the Problems

Identify Organizations

Rinse and Repeat

Do You Need Help With ...

You’re Hired! Now What?

The First 90 Days Book

Six Weeks

Six Months

One Year

Eighteen Months

Start strategically networking for your next job

Do You Need Help With ...

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