Landing the Executive Job:
How To Prepare for Employment
By Bonnie J. Roeder, RN, and Susan D. Oglesby, RN
As seen in "Caring Magazine"
Growth, mergers, and acquisitions in home care have left many talented executives feeling as if they want or need to change directions in their careers. Executives and the recruiters who represent them revealed in a survey some surprising results on how job changes - voluntary and mandatory - can have favorable outcomes in turbulent times. How did they make the transition and land these exciting jobs? By preparing for their interviews and brushing up on their presentation. Here is the advice they offer:
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Do Your HomeworkStart out with a professionally finished résumé. Everyone today needs a résumé – yet some people do not always realize their importance. Today, home care is big business and in the vast arena of employers, the focus is more than technical – executives and managers face stiff competition. In larger companies, it is common for the employment department to receive as many as 50,000 résumés a year, while the annual hiring volume may be only 300.
When sending a résumé to a potential employer, do not forget to include a personal cover letter, which is just as important as the résumé. And don’t be modest.
Second, before pursuing a position with a particular company, a wise candidate will obtain information about the prospective employer, its culture and its competitors. This kind of information will help candidates develop an intelligent list of questions to ask during the interview.
Find the information needed by networking with other industry executives, consulting state associations, talking with current and former employees, and checking the company website. For publicly held companies, a stockbroker and the company’s annual report can provide vital business data. But a word of caution: annual reports usually present the image the company wants to portray to its stockholders and may not reveal much about the actual corporate climate.
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The Résumé: Do It Right And Keep It Short.The résumé is a professional marketing tool. It sells a potential employee and makes a first impression. Assume your résumé will be given 90 seconds of attention. A good résumé is the front line of attack in the job hunt. It can land a candidate the interview, structure the interview, remind the interviewer about him or her, and justify the hiring decision for others.
A résumé’s style, organization, and content can make or break the job search. Generally, the guidelines for preparing résumés call for a conservative and professional approach. Refer to books on résumé preparations (The Résumé Kit, by Richard Beatty, is one) for more detail; for those in the home care business it is best to avoid unusual or “far out” résumé styles and to stick with a reverse-chronological format. Don't split your job history and accomplishments into separate sections. Many employers don’t like functional résumés, which group skills or accomplishments under headings such as “management” then list all the positions and employers at the bottom. Employers sometimes suspect candidates may be trying to hide something.
The five essential components of a professional résumé are:
- A clearly stated professional summary, with everything on the résumé relating to it
- A work history with most recent experience at the top
- A presentation of directly relevant skills and experience
- The highlight of accomplishments
- A listing of relevant education and training
A number of mistakes lead to rejected résumés. These “bad” résumés most commonly do one or more of the following:
- Are not visually easy to read
- Contain dishonest information
- Aren’t accompanied by a cover letter
- Go on too long (it should be two pages or shorter)
- Are poorly written, with misspellings, typos, or poor grammar (use active, direct verbage)
- Look homemade (have it professionally prepared if you are not proficient on your computer)
- Fail to illustrate accomplishments/reads like a job description
- Include irrelevant information, such as hobbies, health or marital status
- Use the functional format
- Don’t contain concise information on each job. Do not include lengthy job descriptions, but list highlight in a two or three sentence overview. Use less space on less current or relevant jobs.
- Don't take the jargon of your industry for granted
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Holly Homecare
663 Monroe Avenue
San Diego, CA 00000
555/555-5555 |
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| Summary:
Senior home care executive with 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and operations. Excellent analytical, motivational, and interpersonal skills. Successful in developing and implementing new programs for increasing revenues and profits.
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Education:
Master of Business Administration Degree, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Bachelor of Science Degree, Biology, University of Georgia, Gainesville, GA
Associate of Arts Degree, Nursing, St. Mary's College, Austin, TX
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| Experience: |
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| National
Homecare Corporation, San Diego, CA |
1989
— present |
President/COO
- Recruited to direct $28 million full-service home care corporation through turnaround. Formulated and implemented strategic plan, including operationally restructuring all departments to ensure profitability.
- Increased revenue 30% within 3 years.
- Reduced losses from $300,000 to a profit of
$500,000 within 3 years.
- Negotiated six major joint ventures.
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| IGA
Homecare
Corporation, Boston, MA |
1980
— 1989 |
Vice
President of Operations
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General management of a $60 million Midwest division of a national
nursing service home care company with sales, marketing, operations,
and fiscal management for 23 branch locations.
- Achieved 100% of corporate objectives, making
division the
most profitable in the corporation.
- Received the Presidential Award for divisional
performance,
1985, 1987, and 1988.
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| National
Sales Manager |
1980
— 1985 |
- Total sales
responsibility for $130 million in revenues from 78
locations providing private-duty and certified home care
services. Management responsibility for a field staff of
eight regional managers and 57 sales representatives.
- Developed successful national accounts program.
- Increased revenues by 34%.
- Improved margins 6.5% by changing business mix.
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| Medical
Care
at Home, San Antonio, TX |
1978
— 1980 |
General Manager
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| Physicians
Products Unlimited, Nashville, TN |
1975
— 1978 |
| Sales Representative |
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Tap into a Search FirmAnother valuable step in the job search is connecting with a reputable search firm and a recruiter who specializes in home care industry placements. There are success stories and war stories about using search firms, but the bottom line is that their industry knowledge and networking capabilities facilitate introductions to positions and people you don’t see advertised in the paper. Good recruiters know which organizations are stable, growing and financially secure. That, coupled with the search firm’s networking capability, usually produces quicker and better results.
To an employer, the recruiter is an extra pair of hands to weed out the list of candidates, verify their credentials, interview references, and offer insight about salaries, benefits, and position responsibilities. To candidates, recruiters offer access to the hidden job market, as well as ideas for improving their interviewing skills, negotiation techniques, and résumés. They can also help evaluate position requirements, relocation costs, and salary and benefit packages.
So why don’t all candidates and companies use recruiters? The biggest hurdle for employers is money – the placement fee a company must pay if they hire a candidate represented by a recruiter. But usually by the time a company lists a position with a search firm it has exhausted its own search efforts and is prepared to pay a fee. The biggest hurdle for candidates is feeling confident that the recruiter will represent them with discretion and in a professional manner.
Finding a good search firm means again doing some homework. It begins with identifying search firms that specialize in the industry. Professional colleagues can provide sources in this area.
The job seeker should ask how long a firm has been in the home care executive search business and look for enthusiasm, knowledge of the industry, interest in the candidate and his or her credentials, and whether they ask pertinent questions. Communication, especially via telephone communication, is a good recruiter’s key to success, so listen for diplomacy and the ability to give positive and negative feedback, and to answer questions realistically and honestly.
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Prime for the InterviewIt doesn’t matter how educated, qualified or talented a candidate is; if he or she does not know what to say or how to act during the personal interview, he or she won’t get the job. After researching the prospective employer, perfecting the résumé, and reading all the books on job searching, the candidate now needs to take that last important step: prepare for the interview.
Employers look for candidates with expertise, potential, the ability to think on their feet, and the ability to get along well with others. The candidate’s job is to effectively communicate this during the interview. To prepare, candidates must asses their strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge prior to the interview. Then they should examine the responsibilities of the job to determine how their skills match those needs. Last, they should determine how they will be an organizational fit within the company. This kind of forethought will prepare them for the interview, but they should also be prepared to field tough questions (see sidebar below).
The executives and recruiters surveyed listed some components of winning interviews, the kind that result in job offers. The following characteristics came up over and over again.
- They LISTEN!
- They arrive early to the interview.
- Winning candidates dress professionally, leaning toward the conservative.
- They maintain eye contact and poise throughout the interview, covering nervousness and insecurity. Be aware of body language.
- They convey energy, enthusiasm and a “can-do” attitude, along with flexibility and willingness to be a team player.
- They answer questions directly and have the self-confidence to say, “I don’t know,” if necessary.
- They do not make derogatory comments about present or former employers.
- They ask questions that convey intelligence, sincerity and honesty.
- They LISTEN!
Other, less obvious information is exchanged during the interview: communication skills, an orientation to customer service, high energy, a sense of dedication and open-mindedness to new ideas, a sense of humor, a positive attitude towards themselves and their lives, and enjoyment of and enthusiasm for joining the company’s team.
Regardless of how well or how often a candidate interviews, the process always presents challenges. Executives shared some of their best and worse moments during interviews so that others may anticipate them. The big challenges are to establish a level of trust in the short time of a job interview, assess what is important to the interviewer, and accurately read the interviewer’s reactions and body language, especially when meeting them for the first time. Executives found the most difficult interviews are those done with no specific focus or direction; in those, the challenge is to keep the interviewer’s attention. They found it difficult to sell themselves while learning about the position and said that day-long interviews that include six to seven interviews are the most difficult, challenging and exhausting. Thankfully, this format is usually only used when the candidate is from out of town. They also said they all had butterflies in their stomachs. Their message: If you can relate to any of the above, you are not alone.
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Sample Interview QuestionsQuestions to Answer
- Why are you interested in this position/company?
- What do you know about the company?
- What can you do for the company? What contributions can you make?
- What are your weaknesses? What are your strengths?
- How do you deal with problem employees?
- Is the customer always right?
- If you could change the management style of your last manager, what would you change?
- What was the worst part of your last job?
- If I asked your last boss about you, what would he or she say?
- Tell me about yourself. (Keep your answer in the professional realm only.)
- What have been your primary accomplishments?
- Are you a team player? Give an example.
- What do you expect this company to do for you?
- What are your goals for the next year? In three years? In five years?
- Describe a situation in which you could not please a customer.
- In a difficult management situation you resolved, how would you do it differently in the future if it occurred again?
- Why should we hire you?
Questions to Ask
- What is the management philosophy of the company?
- What are the company?s strategic plan and growth plan?
- How will the products and services the company currently offer change in the future?
- What is the culture of the company?
- What is the organizational structure of the company, and how will this position interface with it?
- What are the goals of the position? What are the challenges?
- Where are the career path opportunities?
- Why did the last person leave the position/Why is the position open?
- What brought you (the interviewer) to the organization?
- How is performance measured, and how quickly do you expect results?
- What have you liked the best about the company? Least?
- Who owns the company?
- How much has the company grown in the last five years in terms of employees, number of offices, and revenue?
In Closing
Don't forget to "close the interview". At the end of the interview, if you are interested and would like to take the next step, be assertive and express your interest and enthusiasm. Tell the interviewer that you are interested in the job and qualified for it. Ask for the job! Take it one step further and ask if there are any issues or concerns they may have about you. Always thank the interviewer for their time and consideration.
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One Final TouchWhen the interview is over, don’t forget the thank-you note. The candidate should send a personal note or a business letter to those with whom he or she met, thanking them for their time and reminding them how the candidate’s talents, coupled with their needs, will be the perfect match. They should use plain stationary, a steady hand, impeccable grammar and punctuation, and brief, meaningful sentences. Then, while they’re waiting for their offer, they can polish those negotiating skills!
These tips for preparing for an interview will help the home care executive get past the formalities to showcase for prospective employers what the real message is: that he or she is the right person for the job. |
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