A Chief Compliance officer whom the job reports to explained what separated the chosen candidate from the rest of the candidate pool.  Here were the keys that enabled the chosen security job candidate to win the job.

Nailing an Interview….  how the top security job candidate won the job.

Asked great questions! Interviewers judge the interviewee by the quality of their questions during the interview   I’ve been suggesting this to candidates for years as I prepare them for interviews. My Chief Compliance Officer client pointed out that the candidate who stood out from the rest of the interview group asked the most compelling, business focused questions.

Approached the interview discussion as if he were a member of the team. The interview process was that of a group interview.  One candidate speaking to a group of six interviewers made for an uncomfortable situation for all candidates. The chosen candidate did a great job of  capturing the group’s attention by engaging everyone in the group   and asking questions of the team so they felt as if he were already collaborating with them just like he would be if he were on the job. In other words, he projected himself into the job and immediately  treated those on the interview team as his teammates .

Knew when to say….”I don’t know but I’m willing to learn”. The chosen candidate knew his weaknesses and strengths   and wasn’t afraid to admit when a topic wasn’t his area of expertise. Other candidates attempted to tackle issues that were not in their areas of expertise. More often than not, you’ll gain more respect from the interview team when you can articulate your strengths, admit your weaknesses and when you don’t stretch to make up answers where you don’t have expertise.

Answered questions directly. The chosen candidate did a great job of answering direct questions with direct answers. Other candidates were vague when they answered questions according to the Chief Compliance Officer.    Every interview process you’ll encounter will be different from the last one in some way.  The best you can do to prepare for an interview is to know yourself, know how to articulate your acomplishments, know what isn’t your expertise, ask great questions and be honest.  The winning candidate in this situation did all of these things well.   So well in fact that he was the only candidate of interst when all interviews had completed.   Hopefully this real feedback that came to me directly  from a hiring official can be helpful to you the next time you have the opportunity to interview for a new security job.

My experience is that people get into financial problems mostly through what they don’t know.  Organizations like this can help.

Irwin Seltzer, in the Weekly Standard blog, gives an excellent analysis. [read more]

Our country will recover!  We can only hope that we’ll learn something from the pain.

John Sullivan, Boomer Market Advisor, comments on David Wessel’s piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. [read more]

Where will it end?  Is there any sign of rational steps from Washington?

More and more are realizing that we are on our own [read more]

Next stop the interview! If you get past the pre-screen.
Here’s some tips

The Wall Street Journal’s “Laid Off and Looking” blog has some more positive thoughts and an important point - if you get hired, keep networking, remember last-hired, first-fired.

I hate to keep chanting the same mantra, but I will – work on you, get better, survive and vow to get control of your future. There’s some good books on our Reading List.

Here’s another video, this one is pure news and raises the question “Will these jobs ever come back?”

I do know we’ll all feel that way again if we don’t take control of our lives. Personal development is the key. Jim Rohn has said for years “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”.

Think about a professional football player, this year he’s starting with the 49ers.  Next year, if he doesn’t do well, he may be with the Rams. But if he works on his skills, if he gets better, he may be playing with the Raiders. You can substitute team names to fit your preferences, but you get the idea.

In today’s business world, nothing is permanent. The days of getting a job and retiring 30 years later are something your grandfather told you about. If you aren’t getting better; if you aren’t engaged in personal development; if you fail to plan; if you fail to stay open to career change, you are very likely to be “looking” again.