How Can You Give Them an “After Photo”?
Curt Skene’s In2Win! Career Coaching Supplement.
Executives who do a great job of painting a brilliant picture of the company’s future with them in it will receive more job offers. Employers are looking to solve their business problems and they want to do it fast, efficiently and with limited hassles. Make sure you take the time to really understand the employer’s business and talk as though you are the consultant who is there to solve their problems.
When answering questions always demonstrate the application of your skills and how they will apply in this opportunity. Create diagrams either in advance or in the meeting that makes it easy to understand your thoughts. Never underestimate the power of drafting a concept before their eyes because no one else will do that and it shows undeniable depth of expertise.
Simply stated, “Employers need to clearly see how their lives will be different with you in it!” Use the word ‘we’ when describing a solution that puts you in the middle of their much-needed resolution. As often as you can draw a parallel to your experience so that they know you have “been there and done that” before.
Use phrases such as “this situation is much like the challenge I faced at …” This will allow them to make the bridge between their world and yours. In the end it’s all about understanding their business and demonstrating how you can step in and immediately help them to succeed.
Use a clear before-and-after story so employers can visualize the improvement you can create for them.
Why I Wrote This Page
Because people are persuaded by vivid, specific imagined scenarios far more than by abstract claims. Painting a concrete “after” picture isn’t just good storytelling, it activates something closer to actually picturing the outcome.
This is why “I improve operational efficiency” lands so much weaker than a specific before-and-after scenario the employer can actually see in their head. Mental simulation makes an outcome feel more real and more likely, and once someone can picture working with you successfully, they’ve partly already experienced it before you’re hired.
This is also why diagrams and rough sketches in an interview work so well. They make the picture literal, not just verbal.
Action Steps
- For your top pitch, build a specific before-and-after scenario the employer can picture, not just a claim about your skills.
- Use “we” language when describing a future solution, placing yourself inside their business, not outside offering services to it.
- Practice sketching a simple diagram of your thinking live in conversation. It makes the picture concrete instead of abstract.
In2Win! Afterthought
Curt’s current observations and updated guidance will be added here.
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