'Trial Close' at Your Next Interview

Computerworld ^ | August 30, 2004 | Jay Litton

[Mini-14]

Advice by Jay Litton, The LittonGroup

AUGUST 30, 2004 -  This past month I had the opportunity to spend an hour with 17 professionals who are looking for their next job. I asked them how many months they'd been unemployed, how many job interviews they'd had during that time and how many job offers they'd received.

The totals were 86 months of unemployment, 34 job interviews and zero job offers. How much time and effort do you think went into those 34 interviews? Obviously, something wasn't working.

As a hiring manager, I get to ask a number of questions to find out how good a candidate might be for a job opening. Most candidates are eager to tell me how great they are, but I always try to ask questions to avoid getting standard answers. Hiring managers must ask smarter questions to peel away the layers to reduce the risk of making a bad decision.

It's just too risky for hiring managers to take you at your word. Companies now deploy panel interviews, peer interviews, background checks, assessment tests and behavioral interview techniques. Companies are trying to reduce their risk -- mistakes are just too costly.

My work experience includes selling both products and services. I remember one competitor that made things difficult for me. We both sold similar products. We both could do the job well. We both had good name brands. The question was, how do you differentiate yourself to close the business?

My competitor came up with an idea that made me work much harder than ever before. It took me a couple months to neutralize its strategy because I didn't want to make the same offer. I now believe that if you use this same approach in your job search, you could close your next interview in your favor, all things being equal.

What my competitor did was offer a 90-day paid trial. If the equipment didn't perform to the customer's satisfaction at any time during this 90-day period, it could be returned. The client still paid for everything, but it reduced its risk of making a bad decision.

This strategy was very successful for our competitor. By the time our corporate office decided to make the same offer, we had lost a few months' worth of business, including some of our best prospects. Once we'd made the same offer, we were able to focus the attention on why we were better again.

So, how can this help you in your job search?

Come up with ways to make it easy for hiring managers to hire you. Reduce their risk by letting them know in your interview (not before) that you come with a 90-day trial. Many states, like Georgia, are "right to work" states, where your employer already has the legal right to dismiss you for any reason anyway. The difference is the confidence you will project by providing a guarantee for your work.

Have you ever purchased an item at a retail store because you knew you could return it? If you're like most people, you buy the product and end up keeping it anyway.

What's your return policy? With no job offers after 34 interviews, you need to get creative! In your next interview, consider letting the hiring manager know that you come with a 90-day trial. Give him your guarantee midway through the interview so it's unexpected and convincing. If you wait until the very end of the interview, it will look like a desperate attempt to win him over. Simply ask, "Did you know I come with a guarantee?"

I'm sure that once the hiring manager hires you, he'll want to keep you, too! He'll take notice because you're helping him reduce his company's risk.

Now go wow them!

[oceanview]

managers and executives at american companies, especially technology ones, have developed a "don't hire anyone" mentality. yet, when given an opportunity to sign a contract with an offshore shop; they do so in the blink of an eye, even though they know nothing about who they are hiring, their qualifications, nothing.

[Gorzaloon]

I tried a "60 Day Trial" offer years ago in interviews and was suspected of being an industrial spy.

[gcruse]

That's a simplistic approach, but easy to do. What's hard is making yourself be under fifty years old. Anything over that, and you don't even get interviewed, much less considered.