Job Interview Lessons from a Paperboy

By Tom Musbach, Yahoo! HotJobs

Just about everything you need to know about building career success you could learn as a paperboy or papergirl.

That's the suggestion of Jeffrey J. Fox, author of Rain: What a Paperboy Learned About Business. The book is a "business fable" that chronicles the adventures of a paperboy named Rain, and the simple tale has applications for job seekers at all levels.

A successful businessman and former paperboy himself, Fox participated in a brief email interview with me recently.

One of the lessons in the book is to treat a job interview as a sales call, as Rain did to get his paper route. How might that approach help a job seeker today?

A job interview is always a sales call -- always! The candidate is both the product and the salesperson. About 95 percent of job seekers do not know this reality, and too often are inadequately prepared.

For example, how many times have you interviewed someone looking for a job who says, "So Mr. Musbach, what does your company do?" or "Do you offer dental insurance?" Job seekers of all ages and experience have to first understand that a job exists, directly or indirectly, to get and keep profitable customers -- readers, listeners, viewers, patients, parishioners, members. Job seekers must have some idea as to how they can help the hiring company get and keep customers, reduce costs, boost innovation.

What specific steps should job seekers consider taking to make their interviews more like successful sales meetings?

Job seekers MUST do at least the following:

1. Do in-depth research on the hiring company and on the hiring managers if possible. One prime objective of the research is to answer this question: "If I were the hiring manager, why would I hire myself?" A second objective is to be "surprisingly knowledgeable" about a problematic part of the employer's business. Read all ads and literature, buy or use the products if possible, talk to customers, retailers, suppliers, competitors and so on.

2. After the research, the job seeker must plan and practice the interview, the sales call. Craft questions to ask. Anticipate questions to answer. Plan how to dress.

3. During the interview ask preplanned, practiced questions. Listen to the answers. Take notes (and not with a laptop). The quality of the questions should demonstrate your homework, empathy, listening skills. Good questions are:

• How does your company make money?
• What is your company's competitive advantage?
• What does it take to succeed in this company?
• I talked to three of your competitors. Are you interested in what they are doing?
• I visited five of your locations and have some ideas on how to boost sell-through. Are you interested in my ideas?

4. Ask for the job. "Miss Hiring Manager, based on what you have told me I know I can do this job, and do it to exceed your expectations. I am prepared to start contributing today, tomorrow. Will you give me a try?"

What about your experience as a paperboy has helped you most in your career?

A paperboy's job is to deliver to a deadline, every day. No excuses. You do what you promise and give the customer what he expects. Such workplace discipline is often a point of difference. 

Resource: monster.com