Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Assessments

Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Assessments

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Today I’m gonna talk to you about assessments. I do assessments for people who are in a career transition and/or who would like to improve their leadership skills. If you’re a leader, you have probably done many assessments. It is a good way to get to know yourself and to be self-aware of your strengths and challenge areas.

For career transitions, the most popular assessments are the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs. And today, I am going to talk to you about the Strong Interest Inventory. It’s definitely one of the most popular ones that I do. And I do it in the process of a five-session series, and we usually do an assessment around the second or third session.

The main reason why we do it is for self-awareness.  The assessment is not the end-all, be-all. I would be a billionaire if I could give people assessments and they would tell them what career they should be doing, and they would be very happy in this career. And gosh, we would all be so happy and successful. We don’t have that tool, but the Strong Interest Inventory along with the Myers-Briggs helps you become more aware of what you do like and what you do want to go forward with, and what you do want to work towards.

The Strong Interest Inventory is based on Holland’s Theory, John Holland, and he has a whole book on it. In a nutshell, if you find your people, you’ll find your work. Then the opposite is true as well. If you find your work, you’ll find your people. He identified six types of work environments and types of people that work in those environments. The assessment assesses you within that pool of people that are your gender and that are in your age group with similar interests.  The six types are realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. The assessment gives you a three theme code.  It could be realistic, investigative, artistic, those are your three, so you can research just realistically. you could research realistic and investigative, and then you could research about all three of them. And the Strong Interest Inventory does that for you, but there are other research tools too, once you know your theme.

In addition to the Strong Interest Inventory, after you know the theme, it’s very interesting, they also tell you your interests, work activities, potential skills, and values. You get to assess, “Okay, is that really me, or is that not me?” And in most clients it is them, and they think it’s really cool ’cause it’s like them. “Oh yes, I do like cooperation, generosity, service to others, that is my value. Those are my values, so I want to be around people that have those values.” For enterprising, the values are risk-taking, status, competition, and influence. People that have those values go to similar careers. That’s what the Strong Interest Inventory tells you, and then it gives you your top five interest areas, so you can research those.

Then it gives you ten titles, which everyone loves to see. Those ten titles you can research. They also give you dissimilar interests, which is always fun. They give you lots of information for the ten titles, and then it zones out again and gives you even more careers that you might be interested in. I’m social, helping, instructing, caregiving. I could look into all of these careers, and then I could look at enterprising alone. My third one is artistic so I could look at artistic. It is a fun assessment to get to know yourself.

I do recommend it if you are in a career transition, however, you do not have to use it. It is up to you and I can give you more information. Just call me, send me an email and we can set up a free consultation. My email is, JaneMcKeenBCS@gmail.com, and we can go over what this assessment can do and/or with the Myers-Briggs as well. The main focus of why to do an assessment is for your own reflection and the ability to process it with a coach. Processing with a coach is where the learning comes in. I am going to be asking you questions to widen your self-awareness about yourself. There might be something that we can uncover that you didn’t know about yourself and that you do want to work towards.

The other reason why assessments are so powerful is that it confirms what you’re already thinking about yourself. For instance, from the first session which is a background, I’m asking you some questions about your background and I’m pulling out information from you, things that you loved to do.  You create some themes and ideas from that session. The assessment confirms it, or it might shed light on a new area that you just did not think of. I highly recommend looking into it if you’re interested. I’m gonna send a sample report attached to this video, and if you are watching this and it’s not attached, just reach out to me and I can send you a sample assessment.

Ask for a Raise with Proof

Ask for a Raise with Proof

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Hi everybody, it’s Jane McKean at janecoaching.com. I do career and leadership coaching. I wanted to share today a tip about asking for a raise. This can happen when you are going for a promotion for example a new title or when you have your yearly review.

The point I would like to share with you is to collect your value statements. These value statements help you with your confidence in asking for a raise. For example, “How did I make the company money this year? How did I save the company money this year?” And/or, “Did I make a positive difference for the company this year?”

Document these times and put it in a file on your computer or in an actual physical file, for example, a kudos file.  This is your proof which gives you the confidence in asking for a raise.

The value statements about a positive impact could be, “I worked on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team this year, and that brings value to our company.” This is a great example however, there are many ways you can state how you make a positive difference to the company.

If you need help, please reach out. I want to stress that when you do ask for a raise, ask with your value statements which give you the confidence and proof that you do deserve a raise in your yearly review or promotion time. Also, you can check in with your boss, the person you report to on a monthly and quarterly basis to make sure you are tracking for a raise, for an increase this year.

Many people do it at the yearly review, however, if you start planting the seed six months beforehand, a year beforehand, then there are no surprises.  The person you are reporting to is expecting this conversation.

Alright, everybody. That’s my tip for the day. Thank you for signing on and listening to me. I’ll see you next month. janecoaching.com

Salary Negotiation

Salary Negotiation

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This month I thought I would share with you my top three tips for salary negotiation.

First

The first one is to read this book, Ask For It. It is by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, they are economists at Carnegie Mellon University. It has lots of information, and I think this is a huge tip for anyone who is about to negotiate their salary.

Second

The second tip is to know your title’s market value. You obtain your market value by research, research, and research. There are two parts to this process. First, gather salary information online. The title that you’re interviewing for and how many years you’ve been in the business. You can look at salary.com, glassdoor.com, and ONET.org. There are many other websites to gather this information. Unfortunately, there is not one go-to site for accurate salary information. This is where you need to be a detective and gather this information on your own.

The second part, after you gather what’s out there online, is to ask people. If you can ask somebody who works at the company you could say, “I’m interviewing for this position, and I’m curious what would be the salary range for somebody in this role?” By asking for a range gives them a better opportunity to answer your question. “I’m curious, what is the salary range for this position at your company?” The more people you ask, the better. Ask men and women to gather this information. When your research is done then you have your own range. Write it down for your own records a low, a medium, and a high range for yourself. That is the second tip. Gather information to know your market value.

Third

The last tip, number three, is to pause. When you are in the negotiation process and they ask you what you would like to make you tell them a number, and then after you tell the number, you pause. Don’t say a word. Let the other person respond. If you continue speaking then they don’t have a chance to say, “Okay, let me look into it”. By pausing you actually put them in the spot of answering that question, by saying, “Okay, I would like X,” and with that pause, they can follow up with what they can do next. Either they will say, “Okay, let me look into it,” or maybe, “I can give you that, I’ll meet you at this amount”. This is the beginning of the negotiation. Let them come back to you with an answer. The pause is a powerful tip.

The three tips; read Ask For It, know your market value, and pause. Thanks, everyone. See you next time.

I am declaring February as Radical Compassion Month.

I am declaring February as Radical Compassion Month.

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Hi everyone, it’s Jane McKean at Jane Coaching!

It’s February, and I would like to welcome everyone to February. I

‘ve decided to call February the radical compassion month, from Tara Brach. She is awesome, she has this book, Radical Compassion.

I am reading it, and I absolutely love it! She gives us instructions, an acronym, RAIN, to show us how to be with our feelings. To be with uncomfortable feelings and to help us move through them. I thought this was apropos for COVID. There are a lot of feelings, everyone’s been feeling, and we need to learn how to move through them so we can get to the other side.

I wanted to share this with you. It is a tangent off of the positivity book that I talked about in last year’s video, about tapping into our positivity, which is Love. I think radical compassion goes along with loving ourselves, loving other people, having compassion for ourselves, having compassion for other people. At this trying time during COVID, I think it’s really important that we focus on this. RAIN is the acronym and what Tara Brach says is we need to recognize what is going on, we need to allow this experience to happen – that it just is, and to Investigate with interest and care. Where do I feel it in my body? Then we need to Nurture ourselves, give us self-compassion.

For instance, I’ll use myself as an example. I do not like doing these videos. I feel very overwhelmed when I do them. I feel there is some sort of impostor syndrome. Who am I to be doing these videos? And I wanted to share that with you because I am committed to do them once a month this year. I’m going to continue to do them, and I have to sit with these uncomfortable feelings and walk through this experience, and do these videos.

To take care of myself and give myself, self-compassion so it is not so hard each time. I need to sit with myself with these feelings, and so I’ll use myself as an example. I have to recognize what’s going on inside me and in my body, I need to allow these feelings, that it’s okay. I am human. That I have these feelings, “Who am I to be doing a video? Am I worthy of doing this video? Will people respond?” So I need to allow these feelings coming in and allowing opens up other feelings to come in too, that this is the human experience. It’s okay to have doubts. It’s okay to have these feelings. And then I investigate. Tara Brach says. I investigate where is it happening in my body, and I feel it in my heart, my heart races a little bit, I feel it in my throat, I feel stiff, but that’s okay. The more I do the videos the less stiff I probably will feel.

Feeling it in my body and being curious about it. That is where the N comes in and nurturing it. Nurturing these feelings in my body, and I can put my hand on my heart and I say, “It’s okay. I am here for you. You’re going to get through this. And you are worthy, you do have something valuable to say.” To sit there with those emotions and just move through those feelings.

I do this every day, and it’s new for me, this is something that a lot of people do struggle with. My clients in the sense of there are lots of feelings out there right now of trying to get a new job, wanting to take that next step in their current job, getting a new promotion, how will I do it? What can I say? What can I do? And there are uncomfortable feelings, so I want you to have a resource. Tara Brach is a huge resource. This book is a huge resource, and we can talk about it in your sessions, and if you want to have a consult, sign up on my website, janecoaching.com, and we could talk about it in a consultation.

I also have another great resource for us, it’s Donna Danielle, she does this work in her office. She is going to do a mindfulness day of nurturing ourselves. And I signed up, so if you want to join me and have more tools on how to nurture ourselves, please check her out on her website. I will put it in my blog attached to this video, which will be on my website, janecoaching.com. I also will include it in my newsletter information. My CRM that I send out to all of you. I just want you all to have a great February. Hopefully, these tools will help you. And I will see you in March with my next video.

Thanks, everyone. Enjoy your day. Bye.

https://women-in-transformation.com/product/a-day-of-mindfulness-saturday-may-9th/

https://www.tarabrach.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/RAIN-of-SelfCompassion2.pdf

Make 2021 Count for Yourself

Make 2021 Count for Yourself

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Happy New Year! It’s January, thank goodness. I think we’re also excited to have a new year. Even though it’s troubling out there in the nation, we can concentrate on ourselves in this moment. And that’s what I wanted to share with you guys. I do this with my clients and I wanted to give it to everybody else.  So we can get centered for this year.  The document helps us pay attention to our year, and who we are. It is the beginning of a vision board, it can be your vision board. I fill out one for myself and I do this every year just to center myself. So, it’s not about resolutions that are kind of in the door, out the door, it’s more about what are my priorities, what is my purpose, and what are my values. From this worksheet, you can make goals for yourself for this year. You can have long-term goals, you can have short-term goals, however, you can come back and just be centered.

I know these are hard things to come up with, however, it doesn’t have to be perfect, be brave, and not perfect, as Reshma Saujani said. And just to give you an example of my purpose, which I took away from positive psychology, Marty Seligman, is my purpose is to inspire, grow and challenge myself and others in spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, and emotional areas. This grounds me because I really like to feel the growth and progress. Then I have my values which are love, community, and act. Community equals connection for me. Love is about having unconditional positive regard to everyone I meet. Act is action, because I can stay idle sometimes and just think too long about things, and if I act I feel better.  For example, exercise in the morning.  If I think too hard about it I will not do it.  If I live out my values to act then I just do it.

Values

After my values, then I can list my priorities in these circles and what I want to pay attention to this year. For instance, continuing education is a huge priority of mine, so what am I gonna focus on this year? And just for an example, I really wanna focus on my writing this year so a goal of mine this year is to sign up and attend a writing class.  The other priority of mine is health. I wrote down all the things that I like to do health-wise, running, play golf, workout. In this category, that’s where I’m going to spend my time.  Putting it as a priority helps me stay physically and emotionally well.

Spiritual Growth

Another priority is spiritual growth. I have a therapist, I try to meditate, I have a program that I’m involved in. I have a team of people that I go to when I need to talk things through. I also have a coach. If I’m stuck in a certain area of my company, I will call my coach. If I’m wanting to talk about something in my past or process something that’s going on, if I’m feeling really overwhelmed, I will call my therapist. So, it’s your road map of your priorities, purpose, and values.  “Okay, so this is what I’m gonna do this year.”

From my purpose and from values, I form my priorities and then I form my goals. I do this with all of my clients. The worksheet might look different because I just designed this one with my new logo, as you can see, which has more petals and more complexity. We are complex human beings. The inner part of the flower, of the lotus flower, is our foundation and when we know ourselves truly, then we can grow from our foundation.  Every year, you can reflect on this piece of paper and say, “Okay, how did I do?” You could also reflect once a month. I like to put it up on my vision board and remind myself because I can get scattered. There are a lot of distractions in the world, there’s a lot of distractions in our own families, but if we focus on ourselves and just take care of ourselves, that helps the world.

Leaders

We’re all leaders in our own right, we’re all leaders of our own lives, and so I wanted to share this with you because I think this is instrumental for all of my clients to do. I would love for all of you to do it, too, if you feel like you want to. And if you need help doing it, of course, let’s do a consultation. Contact me today, I’m here for you, I’m on your team like I’ve said. We will get through this together, and let’s make 2021 count for all of us.

Make 2021 Count with a Career Coach

Make 2021 Count with a Career Coach

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“The pandemic has only heightened the need for skilled coaching. The outside perspective of an experienced executive coach can be really useful in the current climate, as many companies are restructuring their long-term plans. Coaching — and the support structures that make coaching effective — is more important now than ever.” Harvard Business Review 

The year 2020 will go down in history for many reasons, not the least of which as being the global pandemic. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in America and around the world, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and costing multi-millions of jobs in the US, alone.

As of December 12 th , the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment reported, “Since mid-March, a total of 682,362 regular initial unemployment claims have been filed and a grand total of 916,915 claims, including federal (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) benefits.”

That is a lot of anxious people out of work from many companies – large and small – who are all reevaluating their business models.

As an experienced career coach in Boulder, CO, I felt compelled to share some vital information to help guide confounded business leaders and displaced professionals to re-discover their professional purposes and chart new journeys to make 2021 count!

Harvard Business Review published a compilation of data from a survey of corporate executives, managers, human resources professionals, and others, to explore the benefits of hiring an executive coach, a consultant or a psychotherapist to provide guidance for their leadership team and employees. This “Buyers Guide” explains the differences and how best practices in career coaching include aspects of counseling and therapy.

Consultants

Consultants are paid by companies to find solutions to specific issues. They focus on an employee’s organizational performance and objectively share their quantitative analysis of problems discovered to employers.

Consultants are hired to advise business leaders on relevant matters, while practicing under the company’s standard rule of ethics. Members of management are always included in goal-setting with consultants they hire.

Therapists

Therapists operate subjectively under standard medical ethics practices and generally focus on their clients’ pasts. Individuals hire therapists to diagnose and treat psychological trauma and focus on behavioral issues. They are paid to ask tough questions to get to the root of the trauma, as well as find ways for the client to conquer difficult situations at home and at work.

Coaches

Unlike therapists, coaches have their sights set on the future! Coaches encourage individuals in their professional performances and help executives discover their own paths through goal- setting while keeping them apprised of any important business matters.

Executive coaches are hired by companies to operate under a clear standard of ethics, ask difficult questions and explore behaviors that may be positively or negatively impact an employee’s job or home life.

How an Experienced Career Coach Can Help You in 2021

As a career, leadership and executive coach in Boulder, my emphasis is geared toward helping all professionals in their phases of exploration, transition, promotion, and salary negotiation. By tapping into my years of education and experience, I can help improve the clarity of your business acumen and increase your level of self-confidence by highlighting your values and strengths.

Once you set your sights on the future and confidently embark on an exciting, employment journey, time will be the only thing standing between you and the achievement of your professional goals and desires in 2021! Contact me today for your FREE initial consultation. 202.491.5487

Jane McCoy McKean is a certified career, leadership and executive coach with a Master’s in Counseling. Jane combines empathy, positive energy and business acumen with positive psychology, cognitive-behavioral theory, and constructivist theory and the latest, sound coaching techniques from The College of Executive Coaching.

Sources:
1 John Behr, Harvard Business Review
2 Diane Coutu and Carol Kauffman, Harvard Business Review

I want to thank these six women who ran for President in 2020.

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I help adults uncover their possibilities in their careers.  Whether you are designing the next chapter in your life or you are a leader at a company, I can help you clarify your vision and with your hard work turn it into a reality.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude that this year we had 6 women run for the Presidency of the United States of America.  They had a vision for themselves and decided to be brave and compete for the highest position in our land.

I want to thank these six women who ran for President in 2020.

Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Tulsi Gabbard, Mary Anne Williamson, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Kamala Harris, who is now the Vice President-elect of the United States of America.

As a coach helping women and men achieve their own possibilities. I would like us to pause and take in this moment. Breathe.  Breathe in your possibilities.  Breathe out your possibilities.  Breathe in the world’s possibilities.  Breathe out the world’s possibilities.

The world needs to know that this moment matters for all of us.

As Kamala said on Sat night:

“And to the children of our country (which is all of us), regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.  And we will applaud you every step of the way.”

So real quick – To all the CEOs and Leaders out there:

  • We want diversity and inclusion
  • We want to keep this momentum going
  • We want to make a positive difference
  • We do it every day.

Now we can see our possibilities turn into a reality with Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris who is on the world stage.

This matters!

It gives all women and men hope that we can believe in ourselves and work hard toward our own vision.  That we are all human beings deserving equal opportunity to our goals.  When we hit obstacles which is inevitable that we overcome them with help from our brothers and sisters.

Thank you to the men and women who made this Vice Presidency a possibility turn into a reality!

If you have a vision for yourself and you need a partner to help you overcome your obstacles, I can help.  Please call or email for a free 30-minute consultation.

Power Over Fear: How To Handle Your Job Interview With Confidence

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“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” — Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Fear of consequences. Fear of judgment and unmet expectations. Fear of communicating poorly, of forgetting or overlooking something important. Fear of the unknown.

And yes, fear of shining so brightly that we seem arrogant.

No wonder a job interview can feel stressful: it packs a lot of emotion. However, knowledge and perspective will take you beyond the fear, equipping you with confidence that is powerful rather than overpowering.

It helps to recognize that an interview isn’t a one-sided sales pitch or even a discussion about an employment opportunity. It’s a conversation about joining a team, a give-and-take of mutual exploration. As in a dance or a tennis match, the focus is on back-and-forth movement.

And as in any interaction, you must understand the rules, the rhythms, and the reasons of what you’re trying to accomplish. Let’s examine the specific steps for a successful job-interview experience.

Your Power Comes from Preparation:

Research, Practice, and Mindset

Preparation is key. The greatest confidence-builder you can bring to an interview is preparation. This requires work you may wish you could avoid; however, skimping on effort before the interview will not create inner power and self-assurance. Accept that the work is necessary for your sense of confidence, and allow the time to get ready.

Research yourself. You were offered the interview based on your application materials, so make sure you know their contents. Then thoroughly review the job description and match your experience and strengths to the position requirements. You’ll use this information as a blueprint for demonstrating your value and preparing for interview questions.

Any focused discussion of your job-specific strengths will also require concrete evidence. For this, construct stories showing how you can solve the types of problems that concern your prospective employers. Job-interview storytelling is always pinpointed toward the interviewing organization’s needs and follows a specific format, often called the STAR technique:

  1. Quick overview of a situation or task you’ve previously faced.
  1. Details of the action you took to resolve the situation or task.
  1. Measurable result of your initiative.

In addition, plan to weave your character strengths into a conversation about your team fit, relating the job description to some of your key individual strengths, such as leadership or humor. The VIA Institute on Character offers a free survey and helpful clarification.

Research the organization and interviewers. Head to the internet, and note your findings. You’ll use this information in your upcoming exchange of relevant answers and targeted questions.

Search the organization’s website, Facebook page, and LinkedIn and Twitter profiles. Those are likewise good resources to learn about your interviewers. If you don’t know their names, call or email the person who set up your interview and ask. Google the organization, and check its listing on Glassdoor company reviews.

What do you want to know about the organization and interviewers?

Contact and leadership information.

Organizational background or work history, including dates.

Product, service, or role, along with branding and slogans.

Size of organization and department, specifically number of employees and available financials.

Competition, professional affiliations, or benchmark organizations.

Practice telling your story. Once you feel comfortable discussing your background, can connect the job description to your accomplishments and strengths, and have collected relevant details about your prospective employer, start practicing your part of the conversation.

Rehearse (1) showing evidence of relevant experience, (2) smoothly delivering your STAR stories, and (3) answering and asking questions that indicate you’ve done your research. Rehearse aloud, and repeat.

Book an appointment with a career counselor or coach for a mock interview as well. This can be extremely helpful for practicing and processing potential answers.

Remember, the more ingrained your research becomes, the more natural and relaxed you’ll feel during the conversation. There are other important ways to build interview confidence too.

Develop your mindset. Anxious feelings and thoughts are not facts. They are ever changing, and you choose how much strength to give them.

As you approach the interview, ground yourself with a commitment to being fully present in the moment and in solid, productive thoughts. Differentiate those grounded thoughts from fleeting mental chatter.

Trust yourself, the interviewers, and the process. See yourself confidently walking into your interview and engaging in congenial, back-and-forth conversation.

Finally, smile. You have done the work, and you are ready.

Process: Genuine Conversation and Mutual Exploration

Now you can settle into an authentic conversation with a specific purpose: gathering data to explore the possibility of your joining the team.

Information sharing begins the moment you arrive, whether in person or online. Make sure your appearance is professional. Have copies of your application materials, a notepad and pen, and any physical evidence you can use to showcase your previous work accomplishments.

Being on time is crucial, so give yourself a cushion and show up early. Behave graciously toward everyone you encounter throughout the process.

While your prospective employer gathers data about you, learn the information you need from them too.

What are they asking? In Powerful Phrases for Successful Interviews, Tony Beshara says that interviewers want to know four things:

“Can you do the job?”

“Do we like you?”

“Are you a risk?”

“Can we work out the money?”

How do you respond? Jeff Taylor and Doug Hardy, authors of Monster Careers: How to Land the Job of Your Life, provide these recommendations:

Prove you can do the job. This speaks to your preparation for demonstrating value. What problems and pain points can you alleviate? How will you use your previous experience to benefit this organization?

Build rapport. Your research of the organization and interviewers will help here.

Communicate clearly. Be sure to listen carefully, clarify as needed, repeat the most significant ways you can meet their needs, and pay attention to your body language.

Gather feedback to address their impressions, asking, for example, “What strengths do you feel I bring to this position?” and “What concerns do you have about my background?”

Four types of questions supply information. Traditionally, you’ll be asked straightforward questions about your background. Recognize that even if a question such as “Tell me about yourself” seems broad, interviewers expect you to direct every answer toward your fit on their team.

You’ll apply the STAR technique to behavioral questions. This is when you can prove your value through relevant achievement stories.

Situational questions may appear behavioral but are hypothetical and elicit problem-solving abilities and emotional reactions: “If you were faced with a particular situation in this job role, what would you do?” Handle any unexpected scenario with professionalism and with the STAR system you’ve already mastered.

Equally informative, throughout the interview you’ll ask probing, open-ended questions—not only for feedback but also to advance the conversation, to demonstrate your familiarity with the organization and your interest in the position, and to gather your own data.

Your inquiries will help you assess how you compare to their ideal hire, what you’ll need to do in the job, and even whether you want to join the team. Always ask questions!

However, don’t ask about compensation, anything personal or sensitive, or something you can learn online.

Further, you might offer to show post-interview evidence of your skills. Propose a trial experience—anything from a research project to a marketing plan—that establishes your job confidence and motivation to be hired.

As the conversation winds down, express your continued interest in the position and ask about next steps, the hiring timeline, and when you can follow up.

Finish by expressing appreciation and gathering contact information for all your interviewers.

Postscript: Follow-Up and Moving Forward

The same day of your interview, send thank-you emails that continue the conversation. This is not the time for generic, perfunctory notes. Use your thank-you as an opportunity for meaningful follow-up. You can add a point you forgot, expand an explanation, emphasize something important, or clarify any possible confusion.

At the very least, restate your qualifications and the value you will add, including how you can make or save money for the organization.

And keep in mind that moving forward may not involve this position. If you are not invited back—or choose not to pursue the opportunity—view this experience as invaluable learning and practice. From research to follow-up, you have completed the steps, which is all you can control. Diving into the work for your next interview can be the best way forward; and now that you know the process, it will be easier.

Also, remember the contact information you gathered at this interview? Add those contacts to your network. You can circle back to them in a couple of months and check whether there are more openings at their company, or whether they can suggest someone to speak to at another organization.

Power over Fear

You won’t build interview confidence with shortcuts. Instead, take seriously the title of Steven Pressfield’s manifesto: Do the Work. You need not be one of the fearful job seekers “who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” Simply work the process that creates genuine confidence. Prepare. Research. Practice. Rinse and repeat.

By taking purposeful, structured action, you will be ready for an interview conversation that highlights your potential fit on an employer’s team. And you will be primed to comfortably move beyond fear and into your own power.

If you would like personal guidance, Boulder Career Services provides professional support for handling your job interview with confidence. We can schedule a mock interview, help with follow-up and salary discussions, and keep you moving forward. Please email janemckeanbcs@gmail.com, or call 202-491-5487.

About the Authors: Ranee Boyd Tomlin, MDiv, PhD, GCDF, writes about work and transition at Words for Stories. Jane McKean, LPC, is a Career Counselor and Leadership Coach at her company, Boulder Career Services.

 

 

Additional Resources Used:

Boldt, A. G. (2008). No-Nonsense Job Interviews: How to Impress Prospective Employers and Ace Any Interview. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press.

MacDougall, D. A., & Sanders-Park, E. H. (2010). The 6 Reasons You’ll Get the Job: What Employers Look for—-Whether They Know It or Not. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

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