Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Most veterans have probably never had to go through an interview process before.
If you joined the military straight out of high school or college, you probably never had to go through a corporate hiring and interview process. Add in uncertainty about what you want to do after the military, impostor syndrome, and you can quickly be overwhelmed and anxious about the prospect of going through the interview process.
But it really doesn’t have to be that stressful.
It’s important to remember that an interview is not an interrogation. It’s a conversation.
Come in with the mindset of “I’m also trying to figure out if I want to work at this place.” You can only know so much from reading online about a company. And while you should DEFINITELY network and talk to people there to get an idea of the culture, you also need to step inside with an open mind — ready to form your own opinion.
So what can you do to head into an interview ready to succeed?
Get The Soft Intro To Get Into the Door for the Interview
Are you submitting applications online and not hearing anything back? Well, there’s your first problem. Referrals, not anonymous applications, still remain the top way for companies to find new hires. So if you want to work at a certain firm, then find someone who works there and see if you can grab a few minutes of their time to learn more about the company.
Alex Banayan wrote a highly popular book (1,100+ ratings on Amazon, 4.7/5 average) called The Third Door.
What is the third door?
It’s the entrance where you have to jump out of line, run down the alley, bang on the door 100 times, climb over the dumpster, crack open the window, sneak through the kitchen — there’s always a way in. Whether it’s how Bill Gates sold his first piece of software or how Steven Spielberg became the youngest studio director in Hollywood history, they all took the Third Door.
Point is, if you want to do something extraordinary, you can’t take ordinary paths.
Veterans have a few avenues when it comes to networking:
- Veterati
- American Corporate Partners
- Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
For the last one, companies may have veteran-specific ERGs or hiring programs(example: Nike, Google, and Ford). These are obvious ways to learn more, but you can use any of the above tools to do the same.
If you listen to The Veteran (Semi) Professional podcast, you’ll hear people say ALL the time that other veterans are always a great place to reach out to. The bonds of service do not end after you take off the uniform and that shared service can be a way for you to connect with powerful and knowledgeable people who can help your career.
If you are unsure about what to say in a cold email, I HIGHLY recommend checking out these scripts from Ramit Sethi. He is the author of I Will teach You To Be Rich and is fantastic at cutting through B.S. and getting to the best ways to do things in the most impactful way.
Remember, the whole point of this is to get on the phone with someone at that company to learn (at a minimum):
- Company culture
- What are their biggest problems right now
- What is the interview process like
Having this insider knowledge is crucial for getting hired.
Do Your Homework on the Company
An interview is not just about you showing to your future employer that you have the knowledge and skills to perform the tasks necessary for the position, but also that you will be a good fit for the company.
For example, you may have all the marketing knowledge in the world, but if you don’t care about the environment and sustainability, you probably won’t get hired at Patagonia.
You want to show up to an interview ready to show that you have done your homework.
First of all, the research process may highlight why or why not that you would be a good fit for the company. If you go to an interview and are clearly not the right cultural fit, then it shows you likely didn’t really do your research, which sends a bad signal to a hiring manager.
So what should you be looking for in your research?
- Culture: You want to get a feel of how the company treats employees, what they think about personnel development, and what their mission as a business is. This is hard to measure and look at objectively, but you can get a sense of this by networking with people at the company and through sites like Glassdoor, where employees can rate their firm.
- Are they in the news? It’s worth knowing if the firm has been in the news recently as you can use this in the interview to show you’ve done your research. It can also highlight any recent developments or problems with the firm.
- What exactly is their business? This may seem obvious, but it might be so obvious that you overlook it. It’s a good idea to think, “how does this business make money?” If this question causes you to stumble, then you may want to research some more or look elsewhere in your job hunt.
- What is their mission? Different organizations will present this in different ways, but it helps give you a sense of what the emphasis at that company is. Back to our Patagonia example, they have four values:
Build the Best product
Cause no unnecessary harm
Use business to protect nature
Not bound by convention
Compare that to one of the big accounting and consulting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC):
“To provide an unrivalled level of service and to contribute to the sustained growth of the economy through the execution of vigorous, fair, and high-quality audits based on clear leadership and creative teamwork.
You can sense a difference between these two. PWC’s statement says nothing about the environment or thinking unconventionally. That should help indicate to you that these two companies have very different cultures. You can also look at what, if any, organizations to which they donate in order to get a sense of their values.
Do Your Homework on the Interviewer
Look, don’t be a creeper. If you find yourself looking up the person’s vacation home on Zillow after you unearthed their tax records….you’ve gone too far. But taking a look at their LinkedIn and getting a sense of what past roles they’ve had and where they went to school can always create great entry points for connection.
Best rule of thumb here? Just stay on their LinkedIn profile. They put that information out there for networking and professional purpose, so it’s fair game. When you go beyond that…you start showing an overly-keen interest in them and it gets creepy real fast.
Why do your research on your interviewer:
- You may find shared points of interest like the same university, or branch of service, or previous work experience.
- Looking at their past roles compared to their current work can give you a sense of what interests that person has and can help you ask questions (more on this later).
Whatever you do, do NOT treat this like they are a colleague or an intimate friend. Keep your eye on the prize of landing this position.
Practice
Practice makes perfect.
Well, actually, PERFECT practice makes perfect.
You want to go into an interview having prepared for it. Part of the networking process before you get hired is getting a sense of what you may be asked during the interview so that you can use that to prepare.
For example, lots of MBA students go into management consulting after business school. Part of this hiring process is what is called a case interview. You will be given a problem and expected to show how you would approach solving it. The purpose is to get inside how you think.
But it takes practice. If you don’t practice, you will have a REALLY tough time standing out. Most likely you will stand out for failure to prepare.
To learn more about consulting, check out this article on recruiting for consulting while getting an MBA and this interview with a veteran at one of the top 3 most prestigious firms.
The best way to practice an interview is to get some time with someone who can interview you and ask you the questions you think you may get asked.
Veterans should also know about Candorful. This organization is specifically designed around helping veterans ace interviews. It’s free and highly regarded, so no excuse not to check it out.
Prepare Good Questions
I’ll give a snippet of some, but I 10/10 recommend checking out this list from The Muse with a list of 51 Great Questions to Ask in an Interview.
Examples:
What attributes does someone need to have in order to be really successful in this position?
What are the most important things you’d like to see someone accomplish in the first 30, 60, and 90 days on the job?
Can you tell me about my direct reports? What are their strengths and the team’s biggest challenges?
Be Ready for Game Day
There are a few things you can do to set yourself up well for the interview.
- Dress the part.
If you’ve done your research well, you should know what most people are wearing to the work. My take is you should try to dress just a LITTLE bit nicer than everyone else. If it’s a tech company where everyone is in jeans and a t-shirt, then wear slacks and a button-up. If everyone wears business casual, showing up in a suit for an interview is probably the right call. And if they all wear suits….then wear a suit.
If you need some help with styling before an interview, my friend and classmate at Darden, Rachel, runs a styling business. Everyone who knows Rachel knows she has mad style and can surely help you look like you belong at that job. Check out her site here. Tell her Mark from The Veteran Professional sent you and she will take 20% off your order.
2. Do well with the nonverbals.
Shake hands. Sit up straight. Look people in the eye when you speak to them.
You’d be surprised how much this can make you stand out.
Nail the Follow-Through
There are still some places lurking out there that say you need to send a handwritten thank-you note after an interview.
There’s a risk to the handwritten note strategy. You may come across as a weirdo.
Some people may say it helps you stand out. My take is yes….you will stand out.
As a weirdo.
Sending a thank-you email post-interview is totally acceptable in today’s day and age and can still help you stand out because many people will still not do it.
There are a few things this email needs:
- Conciseness- it needs to be short and sweet.
- Appreciation- they need to know you respect their time and effort.
- Specificity- take the time to mention something you directly spoke about with the person. If they talked about the challenges in long-term customer retention, then address that.
- Your value- Provide your thoughts on how you can provide value to their challenges.
“I enjoyed learning about the challenges you all are having with managing a cross-functional marketing team. While serving as a section leader in the Army, I managed personnel across three different functional areas and know that I can use that experience to help address the current management challenges in the marketing department.”
4. Your desire for the position- remember you were applying for a job. It’s OK to say that you are interested and ready to start right away.
5. The “whatever else you need” clause- Be sure to add in a statement like:
“Please let me know if there is any additional information you may need regarding my application and I will happily provide it.”
This just helps leave an opening for them to reach back out and it shows openness on your part.
Small caveat to this: Maybe you are interviewing at a firm that has a business based on very high-touch and deeply personal relationships. They may want to see the effort from a handwritten note that shows you are the kind of person who takes that effort to write a note. My advice would be to ask someone during networking calls how that might look in the firm. That gives you a good sense of their culture.
Conclusion
If I had to break this down into three phases it would be:
- Research
- Preparation
- Execution
Throughout all phases, maintain a sense of focus on what you are trying to accomplish. It’s not just about landing a job. It’s about landing somewhere that will provide you a sense of fulfillment and help you and your family live the life you want.
Go crush it.
Related Articles:
5 Books to Read During Your Military Transition
Battlefield to Banking: Investment Banking Recruitment for Veterans
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