Use This For Your Next Interview!

Everyone submits a resume when applying for work, but my USC music students learned a new way to get the interview and eventually the job.

It’s a one-sheet that will put your qualifications ahead of the best looking, most powerful resume because yours is focused on the hiring needs of the company.

1. Write 7 sentences and number them in order.  Each one has both a qualification or skill that you possess and one that your research shows the hiring company most desires.
2. Bold each of the 7 sentences.
3. Next to each bolded skill, write a second sentence (unbolded) that factually states the real experience you have to justify your claim.
4. Put your name at the top of the sheet somewhat like this “How Jerry Del Colliano Can Help Ferrari of North America”.   Email, phone number under your name.  Nothing else.

Here’s an example of 1 of the 7 items:

1. Works well with creative people and task groups. I am a Dale Carnegie instructor in human relations.

One of my students called in a panic saying that his interview was the next afternoon and he was having trouble coming up with 7 qualifications that fit the company’s perceived needs.

I said, cancel the interview.  If you don’t have the skills, you’ll know it before you get to #7.  If you do, you’ll kill at the interview.

One more thing.  Never carry more than one copy of this sheet into a face-to-face interview.  If the interviewer asks for a copy (the one you’re using to refer to), tell her/him that you were planning to leave your copy for her/him.

Most job seekers who are super qualified for a position often put themselves in with many people who are not and then it’s a crapshoot.

But if you were hiring and someone handed you an easy to read sheet with everything you’re looking for in a job candidate backed up with proof, which person would your hire?

Good luck.