Page 13 - Oscar Adler - Sell Yourself in Any Interview_ Use Proven Sales Techniques to Land Your Dream Job (2008)

INTRODUCTION

WHAT THIS BOOK WILL DO FOR YOU

I wrote this book for you—the job hunter—not for academics
or human resources professionals. You won’t find heavy-
handed explanations, boring statistics, or thousands of for-
mulaic answers for you to memorize. Most job-hunting
guides either provide advice that is too general, telling you to
“feel confident” and “sell yourself” without giving you the
specifics of how to achieve these vagaries, or are too specific,
presenting hundreds of questions and answers and expecting
you somehow to memorize all of them.
In contrast, this book will teach you the skills to learn,
practice, and use in your very next interview. Each chapter
will briefly discuss the general concepts you need to know,
offer a variety of real-life examples, and take you through
practical exercises that show you specifically how to apply the
lessons in job-hunting situations. It will serve as your work-
book, not some long lecture about job hunting. Each chapter
is devoted to a specific skill, and you are encouraged to move
at your own pace. Along the way, you will be challenged to
complete ability-strengthening worksheets, practicing each
new skill and, finally, rating yourself before moving on to the
next step. These self-assessments will reassure you that you
have achieved a level of competency, while building your con-
fidence as you go. For example, in Chapter 8, the “Interview
Review Form” provides you with a consistent method for
evaluating your performance after each interview, helping
you to hone the skills that work best and develop strategies
for making improvements where you falter.
Many interview guides expect you to memorize hundreds
of answers, claiming that they will guarantee success when,
in fact, trying to sound like someone else dooms you to fail-
ure. You don’t need to memorize other people’s words to suc-

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