The Career Portfolio Workbook

the job really requires. In fact, you don’t have to write anything at all,

though keeping some notes is helpful. The important point is that you

understand what the incumbent of the job has to be able to do to be con-

sidered successful.

Step 2: Identifying the P.E.A.K.S. That the Interviewer

Will Consider Desirable

Once you have a clear idea of the various job requirements, the next

step is to identify the particular P.E.A.K.S. that the people who will be

interviewing you are likely to be seeking in candidates.

Begin with the “customer’s” mind in mind.Whenever you present

items from your portfolio, you are engaging in self-marketing. And so,

when preparing your presentation you would do well to heed the effec-

tive marketer’s first rule: Begin with the customer in mind.

The “customer”here, of course, is the person to whom you will be

showing items from your portfolio. And the important point is not what

you think the customer shouldthink is important, but what the cus-

tomer actually doesthink is important. To do this effectively, you must

have the customer’s mindin mind, so to speak. Then consider what’s on

the customer’s mind in terms of the P.E.A.K.S. they think a candidate

for a particular job or promotion should have. The following are some

strategies you can use.

Put yourself in their place.Once you have a clear idea as to what

the job under consideration really requires, put yourself in the place of

the interviewer and make your best guess as to the kinds of P.E.A.K.S.

this person will consider desirable. The problem, of course, is that the

real issue is not what you would think is important if you were doing

the interviewing, but what they think. Putting yourself into someone

else’s position does not eliminate your own personal biases, nor does it

take into account the mental processes of the person doing the inter-

viewing.

Learn as much as you can about the mind-set of the people who will

be interviewing you. The better you understand the mind-set of the

people who will be interviewing you, the easier it will be to identify the

kinds of P.E.A.K.S. they consider most desirable. By mind-set we mean

the key assumptions and biases that shape a person’s thinking on a

particular topic. You might think it is nearly impossible to anticipate an

interviewer’s mind-set, particularly since the assumptions and biases

that influence that person’s thinking are often unspoken.

While it is true that without meeting someone, you cannot know

for sure what this person’s particular mind-set will be, it is also true

that people in a particular field or profession are likely to share what

we might call a professional mind-set. No two people in a field or a pro-

fession will have identical mind-sets, but they are likely to share cer-

tain assumptions about the P.E.A.K.S. that a person who is successful

in their field should have. The fact is that certain kinds of people are

attracted to certain kinds of fields. A person who is very outgoing and

likes to meet and interact with people on a regular basis is more likely

to be attracted to sales than, say, bookkeeping. And subsequent train-

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