You Majored in What? (34 page)

If you received the reader’s name from a mutual friend or contact, mention it. Mention where you heard or read about the job opening.

• “Your advertisement in the
New York Times
captured my attention for two reasons . . .”

• “My sociology professor, Dr. Sara Jenkins, suggested I contact you regarding . . .”

• “While preparing an economic analysis for the United Way program in San Francisco, I . . .”

• “The
Washington Post
recently reported that Apple is opening a new facility in . . .”

One source of inspiration could be your favorite author. Think about your favorite writers and stories and how their opening lines hooked you. Here are the opening lines of some of my favorite books and writers It may just be that their opening lines kept me reading and taught me something about writing.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

—JANE AUSTEN,
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.

—PAT CONROY,
THE PRINCE OF TIDES

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

—F. SCOTT FITZGERALD,
THE GREAT GATSBY

I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice—not
because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I
ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a
Christian because of Owen Meany.

—JOHN IRVING,
A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY

The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little.

—
ANNE LAMOTT
, BIRD BY BIRD

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

—J. D. SALINGER,
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

3. FOUR HOT TIPS FOR CREATING THE BEST RESPONSE TO A JOB POSTING

1. READ THE AD CAREFULLY, UNDERLINING KEYWORDS, SKILLS, OR POINTS

Immediately Google the organization to learn as much as you can before you respond. A ten-minute Internet search should give you the information you need to write your letter. Note how the position is described, not just its title. Assume that the duties mentioned first are the most important and focus your letter accordingly, linking your strengths to them.

2. NOTE THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE POSITION

Create a SWOT Map to analyze your relationship to the position. If your qualifications don’t match exactly, explain why you might still be qualified for the position. Be positive and don’t lead with “Although I’m not a business major, . . .” but rather with “Through my_major I acquired many of the skills you are seeking, including . . .”

3. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTACTING THE ORGANIZATION CAREFULLY

If the advertisement requests three letters of recommendation, send three letters. If it says “no phone calls,” don’t call. Failure to follow directions could cost you the interview. Spell all names correctly, including the name of the organization.

4. INCLUDE ALL REQUESTED INFORMATION

Sometimes employers will ask for more than your résumé. They may want a writing sample, letters of reference, or more specific information, such as your salary requirements. Always include all requested items, including a salary requirement. The salary requirement is always a challenge: shoot too high and they won’t interview you; shoot too low and you might not earn what you deserve. Because it is likely that this is your first or second professional job, and you don’t have a long track record of professional compensation, simply state that fact in your letter, and if you want, indicate the general range of salary for the field. You will need to research this (try the Occupational Outlook Handbook at
http://www.bls.gov/OCO/
). For example: “Salary is not my prime consideration for this position and I am willing to consider a reasonable offer. My understanding is that salaries in this field tend to range from_to_, which seems to be an appropriate compensation range.”

4. RESOURCES TO DEVELOP YOUR WRITING SKILLS

Here are some of my favorite books on writing. While they are not specifically related to the job search, their ideas and exercises will help you improve your writing for all purposes. They will also help you deal with writer’s block and learn to think like a writer.

The Artist’s Way
by Julia Cameron

The Right to Write
by Julia Cameron

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Steven King

Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamont

Write Mind
by Eric Maisel

Writing from the Inside Out
by Dennis Palumbo

One Continuous Mistake
by Gail Sher

The Elements of Style
by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White

A FINAL QUESTION

What could you do in the next twenty-four hours to begin crafting your best possible cover letter?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

INTERVIEWING AND IMPRESSING

Once upon a time there was a liberal arts student named Emily. She was a French major and wanted to interview for a marketing position with IBM. IBM came to campus, and she signed up for the interview. The recruiter expressed some surprise when he looked at his schedule: he had a day full of business and economics majors and then this one French major. When Emily arrived for her interview, the recruiter tackled his concern head-on. “You’re a French major,” he said, “What can you do for IBM?” Emily calmly looked at him and said, “You know, when I came to college I wanted to take a Spanish class, but they were full. My adviser suggested I take French instead. It’s four years later: I’ve majored in French, I studied abroad in France, I lived with a French family who spoke no English, I worked for a French corporation, and I speak French fluently. I know and understand a language, a culture, and a country. I’ve already started researching your product line and customers, and I’m excited about learning how to best reach your market.”

Take a look at the story above. If Emily had said: “Well I think a French major is valuable for many reasons” or “I’ve developed a lot of skills with my French major” or even “Well, aside from my French major . . . ,” would her response have been as compelling?

What makes Emily’s response so memorable and powerful is the story—the “frame” she created that
demonstrated
her knowledge, confidence, and quite frankly, her sales ability. She didn’t avoid the question. She answered it head-on, weaving a thread between what she had already done with her French major (answering
THE QUESTION
the recruiter was really asking) and then pulling the thread directly into the new position she was seeking. (I don’t know if she lived happily ever after, but she got the job and within a year was promoted to a marketing management position.) This chapter is about weaving threads into stories: connecting those threads you discovered in your Wandering Map to your future employment by managing the interviews, meetings, and other encounters you will have with people who can help you move forward in your job search. Like Emily, you will now confront
THE QUESTION
on a regular basis. It will be worded in a variety of ways (have you seen those monstrously long lists of “typical questions” asked at job interviews? Just Google “typical interview questions” and be prepared to be overwhelmed instantly), but the bottom line for most employers is “Will this person fit in our environment? Does he or she already possess the skills or have the potential to learn quickly so that he or she will be an asset to our organization and not a liability?” Through storytelling you will be able to demonstrate convincingly to an employer just how well you are prepared for the workplace.

Before we get into shaping your stories to impress future employers, let’s take a look at the interview itself. Like most job seekers, you probably haven’t given much thought to the employer’s perspective. You’ve been focusing on answering questions correctly, assembling the right interview outfit and reading up on etiquette and table manners (you have done all that, right?!?), but you haven’t stopped to consider what the employer is thinking. And, as you saw in the previous chapter, one of the keys to marketing yourself is to make a connection, to get out of your mindset and into your audience’s. So, just what is that employer thinking?

THE INTERVIEWER AND THE INTERVIEW

What is a date, really, but a job interview that lasts all night? The only difference between a date and a job interview is that in not many job interviews is there a chance you’ll end up naked at the end of it.

—
JERRY SEINFELD,
THE SEINFIELD CHRONICLES

Let’s start by examining your interviewer, with the caveat that there’s no one type of interviewer out there. Some organizations have professional human resources staff who devote most of their time to interviewing candidates for positions. They travel all over the United States to find the best talent for their organization and they pretty much have interviewing down to a science. They know exactly what questions they’re going to ask, what replies you will likely give, and they have honed their ability to separate the sheep from the goats, so to speak. You will often encounter this type of interviewer in a typical college recruiting program or at large corporations.

It’s just as likely, however, that you’ll get Bob, the guy who actually works in the field and has just been told by his manager to “go interview some college kids” for an upcoming opening. Bob is usually well meaning and sincere, and is probably very good at selling widgets or whatever he does, but he’s no expert in interviewing and his questions may be odd or seemingly haphazard. Some might even be illegal, technically, because Bob hasn’t been given any formal training in interviewing. Bob will ask weird questions, such as “Where’s a good place to get a drink around here?” (Yes, that question has been asked at interviews.) And of course, there are all shades of interviewers in between with varying skills in interviewing and assessing candidates. Regardless of their training or experience, interviewers have one thing in common: they want to hire the best person for the job. They want individuals who demonstrate skills such as problem solving, communicate well verbally and in writing, have an understanding of the industry, common sense, and a strong work ethic. Ultimately, they are seeking fit: that indefinable and vague quality that says others will enjoy working with you and you’ll enjoy and be productive in the work setting. Their worst nightmare is that they hire the wrong person and then are stuck with a bad employee whom they have to fire and start all over again. And no one wants to do that. In some organizations, professional recruiters are reviewed annually for their hiring record, not unlike a football coach who is judged on the ratio of wins to losses. So they are under pressure, just like you. (And here you thought that you were the nervous one during the interview!) The last thing they want are surprises, particularly bad surprises. They don’t want to hire a person who can’t do the job, has a bad attitude, or leaves the company within a year. Hence, all those odd questions designed to trip you up or weed you out. But no matter what type of interviewer you get, or what type of questions you’re asked, your smart and well-chosen stories will tell them what they need to know and in a way they will remember. You will present them with responses that will break through their fears or concerns about your suitability as a candidate.

Let’s add one more element of pressure to the interview: a typical one-day college interview schedule will likely involve about twelve interviews. Odds are, the recruiter will select two people, at best, to move to the next stage of the interview process. And that doesn’t include all the other schools the recruiter may visit. (And outside of a college recruiting program, the sky’s the limit. There’s virtually no way to know for sure how many people are being interviewed.) In general, though, you can assume that at least five (and potentially a lot more) individuals have made it to a final interview stage for each available position, no matter what position you’re seeking. So your interviewer is listening to your responses at a deeper level than you might expect and you are being directly compared to the other people the recruiter is seeing. If you need an image, think of those long lines at the
American Idol
auditions versus the number who actually make it to the Hollywood tryouts. Fortunately, your odds of getting the job are better than most
American Idol
candidates, but it doesn’t hurt to remember you’re not the only candidate.