PENGUIN BOOKS
60 Seconds & Youre Hired!
With appearances on more than 1,000 TV and radio shows, including Oprah and Dr. Phil , R OBIN R YAN has been called Americas top career coach by America Online, MSN, Working Woman, Career-Builder, HR.com, the Detroit Free Press, the Arizona Republic , and the Boston Globe , among others.
She is the best-selling author of Soaring on Your Strengths, Winning Resumes, Winning Cover Letters , and What to Do With the Rest of Your Life . A frequent contributor to national magazines, shes been featured in Money, Newsweek, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Working Mother , and Womans Day , to name a few. Shes appeared in the pages of most major newspapers, including USA Today , the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times , and the Chicago Tribune . She also writes a nationally syndicated career column that appears in more than 100 newspapers.
A career counselor, Robin Ryan uses her expertise daily, as she helps clients across North America land great jobs, get promotions, change careers, and secure higher salaries. A licensed vocational counselor, she offers telephone consultations to clients worldwide and in-person consultations in the Seattle area, where she resides.
A highly sought-after speaker, she frequently appears at colleges, alumni gatherings, and association conferences and leads numerous employer seminars on various topics, including personal branding and hiring.
Robin holds a masters degree in counseling and education from Suffolk University, a bachelors degree in sociology from Boston College, and is the former director of counseling services at the University of Washington. You may contact her at (425) 226-0414 or visit her website at www.RobinRyan.com.
60 Seconds & Youre Hired!
Robin Ryan
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Impact Publications 1994
Expanded edition published in Penguin Books 2000
This revised edition published 2008
Copyright Robin Ryan, 1994, 2000, 2008
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-1012-0195-4
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Ryan, Robin, 1955
60 seconds & youre hired! / Robin Ryan.Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Employment interviewing. I. Title.
HF5549 . 5 . I6R94 2008
650 . 14dc22
2007037948
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the
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The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.
To my husband, Steven
Whose love and support have been priceless.
To Jack
The greatest blessing God has ever given me is you, my son. May your future be as wonderful as you are.
Preface
Can This Book Help You Get Hired?
You will not land the job unless you excel in the interview. And you are not likely to secure the best possible salary unless you are skilled in salary negotiations. My clients have tried every technique and have successfully used the answers in this book to land terrific jobs. If you find marketing yourself difficult, be comforted to know that it does not come easily to anyone. Yet thousands of job hunters have read this book and quickly learned what to say, what not to say, and how to answer the tough questions. They learned the best ways to sell themselves in interviews. And the results speak for themselvesthey got the job! Thats the reason I think this will be a valuable resource to help you land the position you want.
I spend most of my workdays advising clients or talking to hiring managers. Ive given hundreds of speeches and appeared on many TV and radio shows to share the insights in this book, even discussing it on Oprah . I care about giving you the best possible advice, which is why I have updated this book to make sure you will be ready to wow any employer you talk to. This updated edition contains a new chapter, new facts and research as well as additional hiring strategies and client-proven techniques. It is also concise, so that you can read it in its entirety the night before your interview. This new edition contains 125 answers that have been used in real interviews where my clients faced employers who asked the same difficult questions.
Preparation is the key to your success. Everything you need to know to excel in your next interview is covered in the pages that follow. Read on, and you can be assured youll do the best job possible when youre in the hot seat.
I continually hear success story after success story about how this book has helped job hunters land great jobs. Im convinced it will be as effective for you as it has been for so many othersso do let me know when you get your new job.
To your success
Robin Ryan
Acknowledgments
I am continually grateful for being able to play a small role in helping others improve their lives. I send a big thank-you to every career-counseling client I have worked with and to the numerous job hunters whove attended my seminars. They are why I wrote this book. Every day I get up with the sole mission of helping someone else realize their goals and career dreams.
Over the years, I have created many relationships with terrific hiring managers who freely share their time and expertise. One woman deserves special recognition, Tracy White. She started my seminar business years ago when she first hired me to teach job-hunting skills to CPAs. Her continued support, endorsement, and professional assistance have been an important contribution to my career.
I could not get by without the dedicated efforts of my assistant, Wanda Bartel. Sylvia Coppock also contributes in designing all my e-newsletters. I appreciate all that these ladies do. Dawnelle Thompson, Sandy DeHan, and Bob Holman offered valuable insights.
Im indebted to my original Penguin editor, Jane von Mehren, for believing in and endorsing this book so whole-heartedly. She gave it her utmost support while she was at Penguin. Her departing gift to me was assigning the nicest editor in the world to work with. David Cashion is a rare personsmart, supportive, insightful, he inspires his authors to continually strive for excellence. Hes the best there is, and I am blessed to have him working on my projects.