If you've done even an ounce of reading on the subject of interviewing, you've probably come across a frequently recommended approach called the STAR method which encourages job hunters to break down their interview "example" stories into a series of four logical parts: 1) The Situation you faced; 2) the Task you had to complete; 3) the Actions you took; and 4) the Results you achieved. On the whole, this formula makes a lot of [...]
Recently, I've had the good fortune to become acquainted with communications coach Keith Ferrin, of True Success Coaching, who was kind enough to come in and share some thoughts with a group of my clients on how to supercharge their effectiveness as communicators. The #1 point Keith emphasized to the audience? It was that when you communicate without purpose, and fail to clarify the specific reason/purpose/agenda of your message ahead of time, you're merely engaging [...]
When coaching people on the interviewing process, I usually start by asking them a riddle: “If I were waiting for you out on the curb, after your next interview, what one question do you think I would ask you to determine how well things went?” Over the years, people have offered many different responses to this query. One common guess is “did they offer you the job?” Alas, the puzzle is not quite that easy [...]