What is the most important factor that stops you from performing at your best at interviews. For the majority of us the answer would be “nerves”. 

Nerves take many different forms. For some it is butterflies in the stomach, for others the mind going blank. For one of my clients it was an overwhelming fear that she would “fall off her chair in the middle of an interview”. 

The first thing I start by telling my clients is that nerves rarely ruin our interviews. It is our reaction to them that causes the problem. To illustrate this we need to have a quick look at what is going on when we are nervous. 

In simplistic terms our bodies are perceiving a threat and are going in to one of two modes: fight or flight. When we were cavemen and a wooly mammoth was bearing down on us these were two perfectly rational response to the situation. Sadly, while we have evolved in many useful and productive ways since caveman times, our response to threats has not come very far. So what happens now? 

When we go into an interview we perceive a threat. This can take a number of forms but most can be summed up with the fear that we will make a fool of ourselves. As a result we may not get the job we are desperate for resulting in unhappiness. How does our body respond to this threat? Yes, it goes into fight/flight mode. 

Engaging our interviewer in hand to hand combat or hotfooting it out of the interview room are singularly unhelpful responses to the threat that is at hand. So, apart from waiting for human evolution to catch up with HR good practice, what can we do? 

The most important point is to understand what is happening to us and realize that it is normal. A combination of some of the following symptoms will be felt in some degree by all interview candidates:

•   Heart rate increases as well as breathing rapidity
•  Blushing or paling of the face or alternating between the two
•  Dry mouth
•  Shaking 

While there are specific exercises that we can do to address each symptom, by far the most important point is to understand in advance what your body does when in this kind of stressful situation. When this happens the next you will recognize that it is normal and that all the other candidates will have some degree of the same reaction (providing they care about the job). What we do not want to do is to fight the symptoms, for example, by trying to hold our breath when it is speeding up. 

The analogy I use here is that the body is like a car. Under stress it is pressing the accelerator to give you more energy. If you try to put on the brake at the same time, the car will go out of control. 

So what are the key points? Think about previous occasions you have felt nerves. Note down precisely what happened to you physically. Be aware that it will happen again next time you are in a similar situation and the best thing you can do is concentrate on answering the question you are asked and not worrying about the normal and expected physical reactions that are happening. The nerves will give you more energy and often more focus. Rather than fighting them, let them work through the system and this will be the quickest way of getting into your stride at interview.

Martyn Barmby is Managing Director of MSB Executive Ltd, a company dedicated to helping us communicate at our best when we are under pressure. MSB Executive helps interview candidates to overcome nerves, become more confident and therefore get the success they deserve at interviews. For a free consultation contact Martyn at martyn@msbexecutive.com or go to www.msbexecutive.com for more information.

Richard Bailey Associates is a leading Supply Chain recruitment company and the primary objective for updating their website was simple – to attract higher quality CVs from prospective candidates. They also asked for a more radical appearance to highlight their services and job opportunities online.

The initial project time was spent liasing with RBA to establish their core offerings before structuring and communicating the details. Researching over thirty competitor and brand aspirant sites then helped define what visitors would expect to see as well as show how our client might stand out in their niche market.

Adapting and extending aspects of the existing branding meant the visual side came together easily as part of a sharper new approach which includes a defining home page graphic and a range of ‘next step’ side panel features.

Taking just over two months to design and build, the new site boasts easier navigation, stronger directions, extra contact options and new blog content. Candidates have a clearer job board with more subscription choices, the client has a bespoke CMS for focused job descriptions and a new social media strategy to connect more widely across the web.

So, how’s it doing? November’s launch saw the site exceed its highest ever total of monthly visits by over 15%, supported by their latest email newsletter also produced here. Head of Practice John Okusi told me this week that they’re already noticing better quality CVs coming through from “a first rate and high quality website” that’s “achieved alot and given us good feedback from clients”.

Moving forward, we’ll continue to offer support, ideas and reporting analysis for the web to play its full part in RBA’s multi channel approach for completing placements. With another phase of updates coming soon, watch this space!

- From the December edition of the Degas Guruve newsletter ’Get ahead on the web‘

Here are some quick pointers to getting yours right -

• Make sure – your CV is concise, chronological and up-to-date
• Be specific – about projects, categories and results you’ve been actively involved with
• Check – any objectives you include will count you in for a role, not out
• Don’t – lie, plagiarise or slip into irrelevance
• Skip – clichés and generic phrases, they won’t impress

We see a lot of CVs and will be happy to advise if you’re looking for some help with yours.

What are your main sources of inspiration?

Curious, smart, and focused people who see the world as a place of unlimited possibility.

Mike Lewis (University of Bath) proclaiming that procurement leaders are highly skilled generalists and a perfect fit for Chief Executive leadership. There should be more of us in the top spots.

What are the biggest challenges you’re facing at the moment?

I see companies that seem completely paralyzed, unable to make important strategic decisions and smart, swift changes which will directly link to their very survival in the following year.

Sustainable procurement can add immediate and sustained value especially in the current economic setting, yet is sometimes seen as an optional effort by many companies. Yes, you heard that right, green and responsible procurement methods can save your company.

What initiatives are you seeing for using green products in the supply chain?

It’s obvious that there seems to be two main emerging product trends. One trend is a wholesale re-positioning of many products to tout their green-ness with sustainability as a way to sell, but some green claims are very thin.

The more wonderful second trend is a genuine move towards sustainable cradle-to-cradle product design and the incorporation of sustainable practices that include all facets of CSR such as good labour practices, recycled content and organic farming. As positive as this effort is, we are still not moving fast enough to confront climate change.

What has President Obama’s election done for green procurement policies?

There’s a lot of general excitement around green business and sustainability. After a reasonable period of patience I think we can expect very strong progress in sustainable and green supply chain.

What makes for good CSR? And bad?

Good CSR must meet both social and organisational goals. Bad CSR is the opposite where strategy and alignment are absent, and CSR efforts looks like burning money through wasting talent and resources. Make sure your strategic initiatives are completely aligned.

What are your favourite business books?

“Good to Great” by Jim Collins – Massive research project identifies rare traits of the very few highest performing companies.

“The Entrepreneurs Manual” by Richard M. White – Silicon Valley’s Old Testament with painstaking strategy and planning blueprint – very entertaining to read as well.

“Self-Help” by Samuel Smiles – Hardscrabble British entrepreneurs during Industrial Revolution celebrates true solid character

“How To Manage a Turnaround” by Stanley J Goodman – Management excellence.

“The Seven Mysteries of Life” by Guy Murchie – Not a business book but a lifelong work of art that connects everything via science. At it’s root business is an organic process.

What might you ask a fellow Supply Chain professional here?

What keeps you from volunteering at least one hour a month to a professional organisation, cause, or charity that you believe in?

Some companies will recruit external managers to implement their change programmes; others will recruit from within. When deciding who to entrust with managing the business change employers always look at track record but I have seen a shift in attitude towards the value placed on soft skills when recruiting.

A year ago advertisements were very clearly highlighting the need for soft skills. The technical skills needed for the job were given, but experience of delivering communications programmes and having excellent stakeholder management skills were desired differentiators for candidates. Now that is changing. Advertisers home in on the ‘doing’ traits, the deliverable, requiring ‘demonstrable experience’ sometimes going so far as stipulating the number of projects, their currency, and requiring similarity of industry/company type.

Perhaps this is because project timescales have shortened, or costs squeezed so the nice to haves are left behind. As Gerald Price of Change Track says ‘Companies are not averse to bringing in new people but they expect them to come equipped with real life experience and the ability to quickly assess how to achieve the required goal and thereafter to provide the skills and determination to actually deliver what they say’.

Perhaps other factors are at work. Everyone is taking a precautionary approach. With a larger pool of candidates, employers are expecting the successful applicant to fulfil over 95% of their requirements in their skills/experience matrix whereas they would have previously expected a 70% match. This means the job requirements become more stringent, to help filter the candidates and reduce the workload through the selection process.

The focus moves to the ‘what’ rather than the ‘how’, and the ‘been there, done it’ experience. Making the candidates tick more boxes to succeed reduces the chances of a wild card succeeding and often leads to a more transactional style of working, but this is already being factored into corporate behaviour before the recruitment process starts. After all when jobs are on the line people are more willing to tolerate a more direct approach and employers welcome candidates who take the hard tack.

Gone are the benign metaphors for business as an orchestra or as a team sport. The new metaphor for business is boxing. Harvard Business Review (Mar 09) reflects the need for employees to be able to absorb blows and matches agility against absorption like the Ali Foreman fight. Quoting Lucy Kellaway of the FT: ‘soft is out, and hard is in’.

Our thanks to Heather Northey of N:management
www.nmanagement.co.uk

But keeping on top of everything isn’t easy. What with time demands and the sheer barrage of information to process, it can be hard to keep a proper perspective on what’s most useful in our working lives.

This new blog gives us the chance to add a focus point for sharing stories and ideas, discussing events and focusing on more of the upsides of working in the Supply Chain sector.

It’s a chance for you to join in with your thoughts and experiences as well as shaping the dialogue by telling us more of what you’d like to see featured here. 

And it’s a chance for us all to connect together a little more.  

We hope to see you back here soon!