Sunday, May 8, 2011

A Job Interview Transformed Into a Sale

A Dear Colleague of mine went on an employment interview last week, in response to a job posting for which they were imminently, if not a bit, over-qualified.

They are clearly the lead candidate for the advertised job.  While the salary rate is below what they made in their last position, it would be a logical career move, given the economy, to take the position and gain the resume' experience. 

And then something magical happened.  During the interview, the Decision-Maker identified three projects for which Dear Colleague was also imminently qualified, which were also a bit out of the scope of the advertised job but clearly a priority for the Decision-Maker. 

Dear Colleague, as a result of their recent experience in building a consulting / contract client base, was able to on the spot hear the needs of a potential Customer through the artifice of an employment interview.  Dear Colleague nimbly then asked some key intake questions to confirm the needs of the Employer-Turned-Potential-Customer.  Then, Dear Colleague proposed potential and viable solutions to the Decision-Maker in a consulting role.

Long story short:  Dear Colleague is putting together a project proposal for the Decision-Maker.  And Dear Colleague is still in the running for the advertised job, which for bureaucratic reasons, will take longer for Decision-Maker's organization to process than Dear Colleague's consulting project proposal.

The supplicant candidate transformed the discussion - and themselves - into a Vendor (read:  Entrepreneur) meeting the needs of the Customer; building the product (read: Dear Colleague's skills and abilities to meet / exceed the Decision-Maker's needs) just-in-time, on the spot; asking for the order; and closing the sale.

Supplicant transformed into Entrepreneur:  now that's an economic turnaround I can get behind.

How - and in what direction - will you transform your Decision-Maker meetings this week?

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