The Career Portfolio Workbook

I am very enthusiastic about everything I’ve heard here today. I’d like to

know some of the ways you think Joe Candidate [use your first and last

name here] might be able to help you in this job?

Of course, if you feel awkward talking about yourself in the third per-

son, don’t do it.

Get the interviewer selling the job to you. Here’s a question that

can increase the interviewer’s involvement in your candidacy:

If this position were to be offered to me, what in your view would be the

main reasons for my accepting it?

This gets them telling you why you should take it!

Stage 6: Closing

Finally, the interviewer begins to close the interview. A signal that

the interviewer is thinking of winding down the interview occurs when

the interviewer begins to summarize what has been said, often accom-

panied by an elaboration of certain points that were made.

If you are interested in further pursuing this position, this is the

time to make it known. Just stating that the position is of interest to

you and then quickly reviewing the points that you have made which

qualify you for the position can accomplish this. If there are other ap-

plicable skills or experience that you believe would be helpful in your

being chosen, these points must be made now.

You may be able to show one more entry from your portfolio dur-

ing the closing phase. But as a general rule, this is not the time to show

your portfolio. The emphasis as you leave should not be on your portfo-

lio, which is a sales aid, but on you, the person they might hire.

Here are some things to think about during the closing stage.

Supply the interviewer with a few words that summarize why you

are a strong candidate. Based on what you know about yourself and

what you now know the interviewer is looking for, give the interviewer

a few words that summarize why you believe you are a strong candidate.

In other words, supply the interviewer with the language she can use to

describe you in a positive way to other people in their organization.

Do notleave your entire portfolio behind. You never want to leave

your entire portfolio with an interviewer. By doing so, you lose total

control over how it is used. What you can do is bring extra copies of en-

tries that you think are particularly useful for advancing your candi-

dacy. Then, if the interviewer indicates he or she would like you to leave

the portfolio behind, you can say,“I can’t leave this behind. However, I

do have copies of a few of the key entries that I’d be happy to leave with

you.”

Try not to commit to a salary number. The issue of your salary ex-

pectations may come up now or even earlier in the interview. As a basic

negotiating strategy, you do not want to be the first to commit to a spe-

cific number. Any figure you mention will put a ceiling on what you

92 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio