How to sell yourself in interviews with a 30/60/90 day plan
In today’s highly competitive job market, you have to face the fact that you have to sell, whether you like it or not. Unless you have experience selling, you won’t like it. People who have never sold for a living rarely do so.
However, you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to equate selling with begging when preparing for interviews using a 30/60/90 day plan that I’ll describe in a moment.
Why Selling Matters in Interviews
Your job search, especially the interview piece, is a sales process and always has been. It is a product that must be marketed and sold to a hiring manager. What are you selling? They are your skills, abilities and knowledge. Who are you selling to? Hiring managers and HR representatives who are your clients. They are looking for someone like you to perform the tasks required for the job for which you are being interviewed.
But in this highly competitive job market, interviews are a rare commodity. This is why you need to stand out from the rest of the competition for the job you are looking for. Like sheep, all applicants for the same job look alike. Your backgrounds and experiences will be similar. So will your resumes. And they will give similar answers to the interview questions.
Understandably, there is more need than ever to sell yourself as the prime candidate to differentiate yourself from the rest of the sheep.
The best way to sell yourself in interviews.
Put yourself in the hiring manager’s mind as your best choice for the position. Positioning is done with a 30/60/90 day plan – a brief description of what you plan to accomplish during the first three months on the job.
Begin by outlining your strategy for the first, second, and third months of your employment at the new job. Your plan will include schedules for each monthly task.
A successful 30/60/90 day plan has several elements. Start with defining goals that you think will meet the needs of a business. Below, describe how you will do this by providing a set of tasks that must be completed by certain dates. Then ask your listeners questions about what you just presented. Questions should be asked during your presentation and especially afterwards.
Examples of questions you can ask:
“Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?”“Do you think my suggestion for Article X can help you?”
How to present your 30/60/90 day plan
During an interview, bring up the fact that you have developed a plan for the success of the position. You must show and tell in person by guiding the interviewers through the plan you have prepared. It is not leaving behind.
When to submit your 30/6090 / day plan
You do it twice. First, during the final stages of an interview situation. And again at the beginning of your new job to show your goals for the first thirty days, for the following month, and the following month. This is the first step to getting your next promotion.
Your 30/60/90 day plan will offer you offers at interviews.
Your interview becomes different from everyone else’s. Because you are putting your head together with management to discuss solutions, you have differentiated yourself from other candidates. You will stand out because presenting 30/60/90 day plans is something your competitors are not doing. But you’re. And you’re showing potential employers that you know how to strategize to help solve business problems. Who wouldn’t want to hire an entrepreneurial candidate like you?
I introduced this article saying that you need to sell yourself whether you like it or not. You will like it better because in the process of submitting a 30/60/90 day plan, you will not come across as a pushy salesperson. On the contrary, you will never feel like you are walking into an interviewer’s office with hat in hand asking for something. You are showing a potential employer how you would handle the job if they offered it to you.
By submitting a 30/60/90 day plan, you give your prospective employer a preview of upcoming attractions, a show, and tell you how well you would do the job.