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Neslihan’s Story: Seeking Guidance for a Job Interview

Neslihan, a consultant from Germany, called me one day for advice on a job interview that she was going to take place. She was quite stressed and needed guidance. To understand how I could help her, I asked her to tell me first about her current job, how she started, the problems she faced, and what exactly she wanted. She had started working six months ago in a position that was below her qualifications, but she accepted it after being told that she could apply for a suitable position if it opened up. After six months, a suitable position opened up, and she was concerned about whether it was too early to apply and how to approach the situation.

Before our call, I asked her to think about two things before our meeting: “What is your must get in that job?” and “Why should they hire you for this position?” She planned to have the first meeting with her manager before applying for the position. Since she had only one chance to do this, it was crucial to make the most of it. The job advertisement was an excellent opportunity for them to evaluate every issue together. It was important for her to be able to express her requests clearly, to know what she wanted and did not want.

How to Prepare for a Job Interview: Working with Neslihan

As planned, we organized an online meeting, and we started working on the preparation form with Neslihan. In our training, we always ask participants, “Do you prepare for a meeting before?” Most of the participants say they don’t have time for that. Even if you are an expert on the subject, a meeting requires a specific preparation. Unprepared meetings can cause loss of time and/or disagreements.

The Benefits of Proper Job Interview Preparation

Is your opening statement ready for the meeting? How will you express your strengths? Which questions will you ask, which information will you share? Where are your flexibilities, what are your requests, what are the agenda items for that day, and have you set your limits? We started filling out the form with Neslihan by first identifying where her strengths came from. This created awareness for Neslihan. After that, we determined the topics she wanted to discuss in the meeting, her intentions on these topics, and most importantly, her non-negotiables. We turned her curiosity into questions and added them to the question list. In addition, we thought about which information to share during the meeting that would turn the situation in her favor and took notes. We prepared the opening statement, power elements, and expectations. We practiced how to make offers and how to use which elements.

Neslihan’s Feedback: The Productivity of Job Interview Preparation

After her meeting, Nilüfer called me for feedback. I asked her, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your meeting?” She said, “9 out of 10,” and when I asked her to write me some feedback, she wrote the following:

“Before this consultancy, I realized that I never prepared for meetings, and I never thought about it to be honest. I thought I could handle it on the spot, but I realized that it requires a specific preparation. This consultancy helped me to think about my strengths and weaknesses, I realized that it is crucial to think beforehand what I want and don’t want, and how to express them clearly. During the meeting, I was more confident because I knew what to say and how to say it. Overall, it was a very productive experience for me.”

N.A – Bio-log

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