Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 39. Developing Your Persona

If you were to ask me the single biggest reason people get interviewed, I'd answer without hesitation—personality. Or persona for short and meaning a little more—the way you carry yourself.

Not qual-i-fi-ca-tions. Not ex-pe-ri-ence. Not cre-den-tials. Those are forethoughts in conventional interviewing, afterthoughts in instant interviewing.

Let me 'splain: In the conventional pretend world, you need certain easily learned, largely unnecessary features to be considered. If you manage to present those features through a printed resume or an online keyword play, you'll get a chance to get hired. You must then have a good per-so-na, or it won't happen.

In the real instant interview world, having a good persona is all you need. (Exceptions are artificially barriered trades or professions that require a specific ticket for entrance.)

You don't get a persona. You get what you got. Psychologists call this a basic personality structure (BPS). Let's look at your persona and see what we can do to make it more marketable.

Do you greet enthusiastically? Do you smile? Do you look people in the eye? Do you shake hands confidently? (Do 1) Do you listen with both ears or do you think about what you're going to say next? Is it next or is it at the same time?

How do you ask questions? Do you embarrass others with personal ones? Do you ask them about imperfections in their personal appearance? The way they walk, talk, wheel?

How do you answer questions? Are you open or ...