I spent some time this week listening to the sage advice of marketing gurus who share the mission to teach small business owners and operators how to attract more clients.  As I listened, I realized that what they were talking about is applicable, with some tweaking, to people in a job search.

One applicable concept is The Art of “Enrollment”, which is the ability to persuade or influence others that what you have to offer is the answer to their problems. So, instead of you selling your virtues, you simply find the language to align what you bring to the table with their fundamental need. What results of this in a job search situation is that the hiring manager winds up persuading himself or herself of your merits and selecting you over any other candidate.  How convenient to learn to do this well!

Since most of us hate self-promotion, it is comforting to hear that doing so is no longer necessary.  Give up the old-fashioned ideas about “selling yourself”, they tell us.  It is simply not persuasive enough to list all features and benefits of your product or service (and, in this case, that product is you).  No one wants to be coerced or even convinced to do something they don’t want to do. Yes, you still have to craft your resume, write killer cover letters and network your heart out, but, when you are sitting in the interview, face to face with your prospective employer, that is when the rubber hits the road, and you need to be masterful at “Enrollment”.

According to my sources, there are four steps in this “Enrollment” process.  As I am trying to translate these to be relevant to the Job Search Interview, please bear with me, and send me any improvements you’d like to suggest.

Step 1 is having “The Ideal State” defined.

Perhaps you could ask your interviewer questions like:

–       What characteristics would your ideal candidate have?

–       Which are the most important qualities for success in this position?

–       If you had someone outstandingly perform in this position, how would that impact you/the department/the organization?

–       What sort of pressures will be relieved once you have filled this position?  What impact will that have?

Perhaps you could then shift the conversation to a discussion about what the ideal team would look like, or you can make a suggestion about an innovation that might create something closer to the ideal for them.  Of course, you have to be subtle about it, since you, as the interviewee, are probably not driving the script. But, you can still keep the focus on the positive image of what they want and for what they are ideally looking.

Step 2 is having “The Current Situation” described.

Since hiring is happening, you know there is a deficit state.  Something is missing or something is wrong.  Through your questions, spelled out what that is.  You could ask something like:

–       How are those tasks currently accomplished?  Does that work well?  What are you looking to improve?

–       How many widgets do you process/people do you serve? What kinds of widgets/people are they? What would you change if you could?

–       How are you currently organized? What is the current structure?

Of course, customize your questions to your particular situation, and be sensitive to overstepping boundaries. But, the point here is for the interviewer to make explicit the gap between where they are currently and where they would like to be.

Step 3 is “Exploring Obstacles”.

Here, you can ask what has already been tried, how successful or unsuccessful attempts were, and what they think were the reasons for the outcomes.  You could ask for a mini SWOT analysis: what do they see are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and, most important of all in this context, the threats and barriers to success?

Step 4 is “Demonstrating How You Could Close the Gap”.

At this point, you are hoping you have enough data to position yourself to be recognized as the obvious and natural solution to overcome described barriers, solve the outlined problems, and help them move from their current state to the state in which they would ideally like to be.  You will have prepared a couple of stories that you can now share to illustrate how you have performed well in comparable situations.  You can point to your qualifications which so aptly match the needs of their current situation.  And, you can demonstrate how you possess those qualities and skills that seem most important to them.  Of course, you can’t invent anything that is not true, but, as long as you are able to think on your feet a little, you should be able to edit and select those aspects of your resume that make you seem the ideal candidate.

After all this “Enrolling”, my experts tell me you will be in perfect shape to land your job.  Please write and tell me what happens.

Fredia Woolf, founder of Woolf Consulting, blogs to help people improve their workplace effectiveness and optimize their careers.  As an organizational consultant and leadership coach, she works with clients to increase insight, inspiration and impact. She can be reached at fwoolf@woolfconsulting.com.

Last updated on November 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm