THE ACCELERATED INTERVIEW METHOD

Created by Don Georgevich

The Accelerated Interview Method is a framework I created that shows you how to understand and interpret the Attraction Pyramid so you can gain a solid understanding of the interviewing process and what employers and interviewers want from you.

First, we need to cover why employers are not hiring you. If an employer has never told you “NO” before, then you can skip this section.

5 Reasons why hiring managers will tell you “no”

1.) Most people write their resume like a job description.

Their resume is simply a description of all their daily duties from their current and past jobs. And they leave it up to employers to assess this information and figure out if they are qualified.

This doesn’t work.

If you are sending out tons of resumes and hardly ever hearing back, then you are probably falling prey to one of the biggest resume mistakes.

The reason this approach will fail you is because most people who write their resume based on their current job description end up either getting the same type of job they just had, or nothing at all.

Think about it, if you are writing your resume based on your current job description, then all you are really qualified to get is the same job you have right now.

2.) You failed to relate your past experience to the requirements for the job.

If you don’t do an effective job of connecting the dots, as I like to call it, of showing them why you are qualified, then you have really missed the mark.

This is also the part of the interview where you need to educate them about you, your skills, and why you are qualified for the job.

Failing here pretty much puts you out of the running for the job.

3.) You weren't able to articulate why you were the best person for the job:

This can happen if you are nervous, or you don’t understand what qualities they are looking for in a candidate.

You might have even done a good job on selling yourself, but no better than anyone else. So what differentiates you from everyone else?

Why pick you?

4.) You weren't a culture fit:

All companies have their own culture. From strict cultures like IBM to as laid back as it gets at Apple.

For whatever reason, you did not fit in, even though you were qualified.

They might be thinking… “You don’t look like us, you don’t dress like us, and you don’t talk like us. You’re smart, there’s no doubt about it, but ...you’re a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.”

This isn’t your fault – you are who you are, but it’s sure to generate a “no” from the hiring manager.

5.) You didn't seem enthusiastic about the job.

Let’s face it, some jobs are no fun and the only reason we even interview for them is because we need the money – we’re desperate and we’ll take anything.

Interviewers can smell desperation a mile away and that type of attitude shows through in every job candidate.

Some jobs you just can’t get excited about and employers don’t want to hire someone who is not interested in the job.

You had better be clicking your heels and jumping for joy or they’ll pass on you and look for someone else who really wants it.

This is how most people interview for jobs:

1.) First, they write their resume like a job description based on the job they have.

2.) Then they apply for hundreds of jobs only to receive a meager response.

3.) If they get the interview, they fail to connect with the hiring manager.

4.) They most always miss the boat, which is a failure to understand what the employer is looking for.

5.) They become befuddled. Wonder what happened and feel like they’ve been blindsided.

6.) Then they repeat steps 2-5 until someone hires them. Sometimes the wait is 6 months, a year, or two or even more. It gets very depressing.

This strategy does not work. And it makes for a long up-hill road to employment.

If you keep doing the same thing while hoping for a different result, then in the words of Albert Einstein, you’re insane.

But all is not lost…

The real secret in landing the job is attraction. Attraction is such a vital piece of job hunting and it should be at the root of your entire job search strategy. But no one talks about it like I do. No one has ever articulated and detailed these steps before.

I created a method of attraction that worked well for me and followed it for years. I’ve selfishly kept it to myself, well that’s not entirely true, I figured everyone else had their own method.

When I employed these methods during my job search, they were just strategies, but now I’ve transformed them into what I like to call the Attraction Pyramid.

The Attraction Pyramid shows why employers are attracted to certain kinds of candidates.

It shows why job candidates get the jobs that they get or settle for. It shows why two people with the same exact education can be at opposite ends of the org chart – one being the CEO and the other a worker-bee.

The Attraction Pyramid

There are four different levels of the Attraction Pyramid and each level shows how your value of skills appeals to an employer. Everyone can fit in this pyramid because it’s all inclusive.

First Level of the Attraction Pyramid is: ME

This level includes a wide variety of people who are really missing the boat. They just don’t get it and need life to slap them around a little longer.

Everyone, I think, has been at this level and quickly moves out of it. A common response they might give to an employer is:

"I can do [blank] for you because I did something similar at the last place I worked and I want to work here because it will be a healthy move for advancing my career."

They say things like, "Please give me the job. Please give me a chance because I know I can do it and it will be good for my career."

This is what I like to call the “me me me” syndrome.

These people often forget they are here to serve the employer, and one of the benefits of working for this employer is that your skills will be enhanced.

But skill enhancement can’t be your leading reason for wanting to work there.

You’ll have a hard time convincing an employer to hire you when you tell them how great it will be for you.

Do you see what I mean?

Imagine if you went to buy a new car and the salesman said, “If you buy this car from me, I’ll make my quota for the month.” From your perspective, what do you care if he make his quota or not? You’re in it for you, for a new car? Just as a business is in it for themselves.

If you can’t work your way out of Level 1, then you’ll struggle to secure jobs, and you'll likely be stuck in low paying jobs forever.

Second Level of the Attraction Pyramid is: Theory or Logic

This is generally where college grads are and book smart people, or anyone else with a limited vision.

They go to college, read lots of books, get good grades and then their only appeal to an employer is: I think I’m qualified to get paid for this – I went to college, studied [blank] and now I would like a job with your company doing [blank].

You see, they are using logic on their interviewer. Logic is good. I like logic.

But it’s all they know and they are forgetting about the value they need to bring to an employer, so their only style of interviewing is logic based.

[Went to college, read books, got great grades, now give me a job.]

Maybe that strategy works for university or government jobs, but not in the corporate world.

Here’s how this works in the interview:

Guy goes on a job interview, fresh out of college, says to the employer, I went to college for Accounting, took lots of accounting classes, got all A’s and did very well. Now I think I’m qualified to be your CFO – what do you think – do I have the job?

Though slightly exaggerated, people really feel that way. And they wonder why employers keep saying ...“We’ll get back to you on that…”

Have you ever heard that before?

Maybe in a university or certain government jobs you’ll find some traction with the second level, but overall it makes for a weak candidacy.

Like I said, this level of the attraction pyramid generally applies to college grads but it doesn’t have to. It can be anyone. I’ve seen job seekers with 20 years’ experience use a logic based approach in their interview.

At the logic and theory level you are limiting yourself and you're only going to go so far in your career.

Third Level of the Attraction Pyramid is: Tactical

This is the “I know how to do this” type of person.

I’ve done something similar before and I can do this for you.

A lot of job hunters operate in this space, but they are always changing jobs, never quite happy for long and never get settled in.

I used to be in this space, but I didn’t know it. And I didn’t know I was out of it, until I had moved on from it.

It can be a dangerous space.

You can make a decent living here, but there is a certain instability about being in this space because you’re not getting the complete picture, but that’s okay, not everyone is cut out to move beyond this space.

This level encompasses a wide variety of people and it’s somewhat of a natural place to be. Everyone I think tends to gravitate towards this space. Generally they are professionals of some sort, can be college grads. Anyone can use this style from a Cashier at Walmart to an executive manager at Google.

The tactical style of interviewing goes like this: the candidate goes into the interview with a certain confidence about them knowing they can do the job.

First, they play theory card and tell the employer they went to school for this.

It’s the logical thing to do.

This level combines logic and tactics.

In an interview they might say:

"I can do [blank] for you because I did something similar at the last place I worked and here is how I did it."

This is a noble approach and it does work with certain employers. When the employer has 10 top candidates like this, it still makes their job hard to find the right person when all 10 of them are operating in the tactical space.

So how does the employer make a decision?

What they do is look for the closest person who is operating at the next level.

The fourth level.

Fourth Level of the Attraction Pyramid is: Transformation

When you are operating in this space, you are in the top 1-2% of everyone who is looking for a job. When you’re at this level, you’re demonstrating your value to an employer and what that means for them.

You’re giving them the benefits you bring to the table. Things like, what you can do for them and how that will help them grow.

You’re not just looking for a job.

Sure you need to get paid, but it’s more deeply rooted than that. You genuinely love what you do and you want to do that for them. Whatever it is. Take care of customers, sell product, develop products, manage other people who develop products, etc.

It does not matter…

But what does matter is that you are going to bring in new life to this position, department, or entire company. There is something attractive about you that they want, that they love, that you make them feel good and say to themselves,

“Yeah, I want her. She’ll not only be an awesome fit for the job, but she’ll grow it and take us places we don’t know how to get to or find ourselves.”

Isn’t that what you want employers to think about you?

It took me 10 years to figure all this out, but once I did, and I started operating at the 4th level of the Attraction Pyramid, everything changed for me.

Now, it was not about the money anymore – it was deeper than that. It was about me and what I wanted to do and the types of people I wanted to surround myself with, and the corporate culture that I wanted to be a part of.

But lets get grounded for a minute - It’s always about you, it has to be, but in the interview, at the 4th level, you make it about them.

It’s about what you can do for them, what you can bring to them, how you can help them grow, how you can help them be better, and how you can help them turn things around.

It’s about how you help them identify problems they may not even know they have so they want you and feel they need you.

It’s not easy, if it was, everyone would do it.

You have to be your own person at the 4th level. You have to do what you believe is right for you.

You must stand your ground.

First, you are selling yourself on them, and they must sell you on coming to work for them. If they can’t do this, then this is red flag for you, and regardless of how much money is on the table, you need to look at this job objectively.

But most importantly, you must be a solution to their problems and clearly demonstrate you can bring in positive change.

You need to prove you are going to make things better for them. You must show that you understand them and they must have no doubt you can solve their problems. You are the missing link they have been searching for.

Like I said, it’s not easy, but it’s not an act either – this is who you really are or need to become. You must be genuinely interested in helping them make things better at their company.

Your goals must also be aligned with their goals and you need to be going in the same direction they are.

This all starts with your job search strategy – you have one, don’t you? That’s what the Interview Success Blueprint will help you to develop.

A big part of your strategy includes a resume that reflects who you are and where you want to go, as this will be an employers first glimpse of you.

So what does your resume say you can do?

If it’s filled with daily job tasks, then you are missing the boat – because nobody cares about that.

Does your resume give them a vision of what you can do for them?

This is why some resumes are magnetic and get read, and others end up in the trash. If you’re still writing old-school resumes, you’re probably struggling with getting interviews.

When you have a resume that is aligned at the 4th level of the Attraction Pyramid, you’re half way there.

That part is the talk. Next, you get the interview and walk the talk.

And I guarantee you, when you’re truly at the 4th level, you should be getting offers more than half the time. Ten interviews should get you at least 5 offers.

And your age does not matter.

If you are 50, 60, or more, years of age and align yourself at the fourth level, you’ll have no problem beating out the younger and less expensive competition.

Some of my students who get this, come to me and say, "I have three job offers, what should I do?

I simply tell them “Isn’t that a nice problem to have?”

That’s what it’s like at the 4th level.

Accelerated Interview Method

When I first created these techniques, I only used them for myself as I moved from job to job, and it made that process about 200X easier for me. But I never dreamed that I would be teaching this method to thousands of professionals and college graduates all over the world.

But after hundreds of failed job interviews, I started getting better and better at educating employers about what I could do for them. So good in fact, that I could practically get hired for any job that I set my sights on. At the time, these were my private techniques that I used for my own personal gain.

Fast forward to today…and now I’ve documented everything that worked for me and my clients. Now I teach this method – it’s the Accelerated Interview Method, and I’ve been teaching it since 2007 and it has literally helped thousands of my students and clients from all over the world get hired for their dream jobs.

The Accelerated Interview Method worked for all jobs, for all candidates, no matter how little or how much experience they had, and it worked equally as well for people who had no college experience vs. others with Masters Degrees.

Many of my students use it because they were fired from their last job and have not interviewed for a while. College graduates use it to jump start their career and begin working right after graduation. Moms use it who are ready to get back into the workforce after raising children for 20 years.

All types of professionals use it, while they are still working because they want to advance their career, or they see the writing is on the wall and realize the need to get out before their company downsizes.

ACCELERATED INTERVIEW METHOD FRAMEWORK

Now that you know about the Attraction Pyramid and where the sweet spots are, you probably have a pretty good idea of where you want to be to get the best results from your interviews.

There are 5 elements of the framework and the cool thing is, you don’t need to do them all to become successful, but they all build on each other, so the more you do, the better off you’ll be.

I’m sure you’ll agree that being at the 4th level is where you want to be.

So how do you get there, or at least get closer to it? Because it’s not an all or nothing deal. You can be at the higher end of the third level and still get great results from your interviews. But you need be edging closer to the 4th level and your entire interview presentation should have some nuances from the 4th level.

If you’re at the tactical level right now, you can easily make a few tweaks to your style and presentation and get closer to the Transformation level.

That’s the cool thing about the Attraction Pyramid, it’s not an all or nothing deal, if you are working towards it…. that will go a long way in your candidacy.

First element of the Accelerated Interview Method:

Effective Targeting. This is where you want to hook and reel in an employer and it all starts with your resume - a laser targeted resume.

You must develop and create a conversation with a prospective employer. Demonstrating, delivering and creating real value, while educating them about you and your abilities. You simply build a relationship with them and then ask for the job.

And when you put it all together like that, you become the clear choice for the job. It’s a no brainer. You don’t even have to ask for the job, because they will be asking you.

Second element of the Accelerated Interview Method:

Interview Stacking. This is about layering your interviews and it’s a really phenomenal technique. Though I bet you have never heard of it before – most people don’t realize how to harness the power from it, but I’m going to show you how.

By accident one day I had no choice but to go on one interview in the morning and then another one early in the afternoon, with only a 2 hour break in between.

It was just the way it worked out and I had to do two interviews in one day. But I quickly realized in my second interview, I was on fire! I was giving the best interview performance of my life.

What I found out was that if I scheduled multiple interviews on the same day, I gave a better performance in the second interview because I was so psyched up from the first one, and all those interview jitters I had in the first interview were gone in the second. So now my I’m giving and unbelievable performance in the second interview, and Interview Stacking was born.

My second interviews were by far my very best because I was always at my best, I was even better than my best if that makes any sense. I was just on fire. You can’t always line up two interviews on the same day, but I did my best to make sure it worked out that way because I realized I could articulate myself so much better.

I was always more relaxed and there was that extra something that I had – like a shot of adrenalin that propelled me through the interview. Sometimes after the second interview, they liked me so much, they offered me the job on the spot.

This technique is not for everyone, so if you are not comfortable with the idea of interview stacking, then don’t do it.

Third element of the Accelerated Interview Method (AIM):

Positioning – this is the core foundation of AIM and this is where the Attraction Pyramid gets tied into AIM.

Positioning is all about using AIM. I learned this the hard way and it took me years to figure out and get it right, but I found it very beneficial to align my career goals with the job description and the direction of my industry.

I found that I made a stronger connection with employers when I was relating and connecting with them on a technical level, a more sincere and focused level. It was almost a personal level – so they treated me differently and some of their filters would come off, and it becomes a more in-depth, personal interview that was more of a mutual exchange of information, and education. I educated them about me, and they educated me about them.

It was like a real meeting instead of a job interview.

But still, for me, from the minute they called me for the interview, it was game on. I put on my game hat and went full force.

I researched them, I studied them, I planned out what I would say to them, and all along I was actively positioning myself to fit into their organization. This all started from the very beginning when I made my resume a mirror image of the job description.

In the job interview, I told them what they wanted to hear. Anyone can write a resume and talk the talk, but the interview is where you show them you can walk the talk and where you show them the real person behind the resume. You show them you are the real deal.

This is where I would talk about my past experiences and relate them to their requirements for the job.

I would even throw in some extra related goodies – so if they hired me, it was like buy one get one free. I positioned myself with multiple, but related skills and basically sold them on something they didn’t even know they needed.

For example, my background was in Information Technology. I was an engineer, consultant, trainer, project manager, and pre-sales engineer. When I interviewed for engineering jobs, I also told them I was an excellent pre-sales engineer, too. Their eyes lit up because most engineers can’t do both. So my second skill really whet their appetite, and they quickly realized that if they hired me, they could basically hire one person and fill two positions.

So now, I just basically rewrote their job description.

So what does that do to the rest of all the other candidates they brought in for interviews? It wipes them out like a tsunami and I’m only clear choice standing.

That technique alone – if you can do just that – you’ll be miles ahead of your competition and can easily land any job anytime, anywhere for the rest of your life.

What I did was crucial to making it to the second interview, third, and eventually getting the offer.

I maintained an interactive conversation with them and educated them about my skills, abilities, and achievements. When they would ask me a question about how I would solve this problem, I not only would tell how I would do it, but take it one step further and tell them how I solved a similar problem at the last place I worked.

Everyone; job coaches, recruiters, friends -- anyone who is offering up advice on how to interview for a job – they will all tell you that you need to sell yourself in the interview. Personally, that made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I realized what I was doing was more than selling, I was educating them about me. And there is a subtle difference between selling and educating.

Instead of selling yourself, think of it as educating them about you and your abilities, and what you can do for them.

I would even go one step farther. Each interview I went on, I learned something about the problems they’re facing, and then I would ask other employers on subsequent interviews if they had this problem, too.

Since I already had time to think about solutions to these problems -- when they said, yes, we have that problem, too. I would give them my pre-thought out advice, and I look amazing to them.

They would be thinking, “Who is this guy?”

And now they see me as someone who was genuinely trying to help them and that’s beautiful thing because those are the types of people they are looking for.

And that’s what the interview process is all about – it’s an exchange of information to determine compatibility. They might want to hire you, but you might decide they are not right for you.

So that’s positioning using AIM.

Fourth element of the Accelerated Interview Method:

I discovered that when my resume matched the job description and all my employment experience was related to the job, when my volunteerism was related to my career, and everything I said in the interview was consistent with everything they knew about me -- a high level of trust was formed.

When you show consistency, it brings your entire candidacy full-circle. It demonstrates that you are the real deal and that you are serious about your career goals and what you want to do in life, vs the person who is only halfway there, with a spattering of non-relevant work experience – that is what I call a disconnect.

Companies will shy away from hiring people like this because they are highly unlikely to stick around. You will rarely get interviews if you are not consistent.

So when I added consistency to everything else I was already doing, it made me much a stronger candidate and a lot easier to get jobs.

You also want to make your social profile consistent as well. And I’m going to use LinkedIn in this example.

You need to have a LinkedIn account for this to work. In your LinkedIn account you want to ask people you have worked for to recommend you. Then this glowing recommendation of your knowledge, dedication, and problem solving ability will show up on your LinkedIn profile for everyone to see, even prospective employers – and they will certainly look at your LinkedIn profile. Even if you have only a few people recommending you, that’s enough for some hiring managers to make up their mind about you on the spot.

And let’s say you were fired from that company. The good recommendations will far outweigh the ugliness of getting fired. So right there, creating social proof of your excellence in your industry solves two problems.

When you wrap all this up, when you are consistent with what you want to do, where you want to work, where you want to be in your career, etc.

It all adds up and says: HIRE ME

Fifth element of the Accelerated Interview Method:

Following-UP: This is where you keep the ball moving and contact the employer after your interview to remind them of your continued interest in the position.

Whenever I had an interview, I made it a point to get their contact information before the interview, like when they first called me. That way I would have it in advance and would not have to ask for it during my interview.

Then, at the end of the interview, I might ask, “When do you expect to make a hiring decision?”

This is an important piece of information for you. This will gauge when I’ll hear back from them, and if they say 2 weeks, now I know exactly when to follow-up, and a good rule of thumb in this case would be a week.

Then I would ask them if they mind if I follow-up with them in a week. This is a simple question they can answer, and they’ll most likely say yes.

Now you have permission to call them. I might even ask them for the best phone number to call them at. And they’ll give me that.

Now that I have all this information on a time line, I will send them a simple thank you letter that expresses my interest in working there and re-emphasize what I can do for them.

In my letter, I will probably mention their 2 week hiring window and that I’ll plan to give them a call to touch base in the next week or two.

This is how I would always follow-up.

But there is a procedure to it and you have to plan to follow-up. You have to know the information you will need to follow-up and get their permission to follow-up.

Once you do all these things, then follow-up is easy and it keeps you fresh in their mind and further cements your chances for getting the job.

When they see how well you follow-up, this becomes a demonstration of your business acumen, which gives them a taste of the way you’ll act if they gave you the job.

It’s a win-win all the way around.

You want to keep the ball rolling – put the icing on the cake and give them a great follow-up in hopes of a second interview, sometimes a job, but probably second interview.

And then again, after the second interview, a similar follow-up process, but don’t ask for redundant information.

When you implement this method, you’ll have done everything humanly possible to get the job and if they feel as good about you as you do about them, then you can probably expect an offer.

That is the very essence of how I learned to position myself for every job I ever went after and following that process put me in a league of my own. It elevated my candidacy to a level that was virtually unmatched. It was like secret formula that no one knew about.

It does take practice to get it all right with all the gears working together, but once it’s done, you become an unstoppable force.

AIM CONCLUSION

It all starts with effective targeting. This has to be right because everything else builds on that. If you miss the target, or mess up this step, then you’ll struggle with all the other steps.

After targeting, you stack your interviews to build a powerful momentum in your job search, then you position yourself with AIM.

Then you tie in consistency.

Add in a solid follow-up strategy to bring it all home to drive that second interview and then the job offer.

This is how I did it. I didn’t start off doing it that way, but I gradually grew into it and developed a solid framework and strategy that was duplicable.

A strategy that was teachable.

A strategy that was adaptable to anyone in any profession.

A strategy that you didn’t have to do everything.

With AIM, there are things you need to do, but with many of the elements, you can pick and choose what you want to do. Some of them might not make sense to you or apply to your situation, so you just leave that part out.

But that’s the beauty of the whole strategy. Its so strong and powerful that implementing a fraction of it puts your job search on the right path.

You must over deliver on everything you do.

That does not mean to keep talking and talking, but over deliver and give them more than they expect from you. Let them realize the benefits and value that you bring to the table. So many job seekers just don’t get this and that’s why they’re not working.

When your interview is over, you can ask them if they think you’d be a good fit into their organization. This is what I like to call the BIG REVEAL …a litmus test, so to speak.

If they act hesitant, then you didn’t do a good enough job of presenting yourself AND YOU NEED TO GET BACK ON YOUR HORSE and fix things and do some damage control.

If they are hesitant, that means they have some hidden objections and doubts about you.

And the beautiful thing is, this instant feedback gives you the opportunity to address their objections right now, instead of later.

But if you did a good job, they’ll be like, oh yeah, I think you’ll fit in real nice around here, which means they have no objections about you and then you can focus on the next steps.

When you put all this together, you’ve done everything you can to set yourself up for success.

This is about as scientific as it gets with a job interview.

By focusing on the elements of AIM, you will have removed all of the guess work and increased your probability of landing the job by 10x, maybe even 50x.