The Strategy Memo

I want to give you one very very specific advanced tip that I believe will help distinguish you from all the other people who get a job interview at this organization.

And here’s the tip.

Don’t simply walk in with an extra copy of your resume.

Of course you do need a copy of the resume even though they should have one on file or how would they have called you for the interview.

You do need another paper.

People still do like to read papers sometimes paper copy of your resume.

But I would also suggest you have another sheet of paper it’s a one page memo.

And in this one page memo I would spend 25 30 percent of the page summarizing what you think are the key strategic strengths of this organization.

What this is doing is it’s showing you’ve done your research that you can write that you can communicate that you can process information and that you value the organization that you see what they’re doing well.

But the bottom two thirds of the page I would come up with suggestions ideas whatever you want to call it on how to improve the organization.

Now there is some risk to this because someone could always be offended.

Well they are criticizing something I’m doing by suggesting we need to do this.

But here’s what I’ve noticed most employers are impressed by anyone who’s given time and thought and energy to how to improve things.

So coming up with just 10 ideas it could be bullet points of very specific things the organization can do perhaps a little differently.

A new market to enter perhaps an e-book on a particular topic to reach certain customers come up with 10 ideas and present that in the interview say Hey I’m so excited about this company what I’ve learned about you I hope you don’t mind but I took it upon myself to do a brief memo on what I think the key strategic assets are of your company and possible areas for improvement.

I realized I certainly don’t know everything at this point but I do want you to have a sense of my general thought process.

I’m willing to bet that 98 percent of the time if you did that an employer would be extraordinarily impressed because even bad ideas are better than no ideas what you’re doing in this memo is you’re talking about them not yourself.

Here’s the little secret about job interviews.

The more you talk about that person that company that organization the less about yourself the better off you are.

People care about themselves.

They care about their organization.

They care about how you are going to help them.

They’re not hiring you just to help the unemployment rate.

They’re hiring you because you can somehow make their life easier.

Help them make more money.

Help them serve more customers clients patients.

So everything you do has to be focused on that.

And that’s why this little secret strategy a one page memo.

I’m not suggesting QUIT YOUR OTHER part time jobs stop job hunting and write some 30 page treatise.

Just a one page memo.

Spend an hour on it and come up brainstorming ideas on how this organization can be better.

Even if you just have one good idea and the others are horrible they’re likely to remember that idea even if they think all of your ideas are horrible.

They’re going to be impressed that you took the initiative to create something to produce something and they can see that you can write clearly that you can write concisely and that you can present a proposal that’s going to go a long way towards distinguishing you in this job interview.

I can tell you I’ve never had anyone do that in a job interview with me.

But if they did pretty good chance I would hire them.