Executive Coach Shares Surprising Ways to Stand Out in a Job Interview

Hello! It’s Kristine here with the Express to Impress podcast. This episode is part two of How to Get a Job While Being Authentic & Vulnerable With Terri Creeden. So, if you haven’t listened to the previous episode, I recommend you check it out before listening to this one. In this episode, my guest Terri Creeden, an Executive Coach, trainer, and facilitator, talks about surprising ways to stand out in a job interview. And of course, you’ll hear some stories!  Terri talks about women who leaned into vulnerability and authenticity and how it helped them in their careers. 

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Job Interview Preparation Checklist

Before we listen to the rest of my conversation with Terri, I want to share a quick reminder that you can subscribe to receive notifications whenever I release a new episode. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other major podcast directories. And if you have a job interview coming up, I invite you to visit my website for my free five-step job interview preparation checklist. This checklist has already helped thousands of people worldwide get jobs they love. To sign up, visit my website at express-to-impress.com.

Let’s jump back into our conversation, where you’ll be getting more tips about being authentic and vulnerable and how it can help you in job interviews and beyond with Terri Creeden.

How to Be Authentic in a Job Interview

Kristine 

Alright. Do you have any tips for how somebody can be authentic in an unnatural setting like a job interview? People complain to me all the time that interviews make them nervous. They feel like the employer just wants to hear them say certain things. They don’t feel like it’s a normal, natural conversation, so they struggle to be themselves and to be honest. Any advice there?

Terri 

It’s not a normal, natural conversation, right? One thing is to remember that it’s going to feel uncomfortable, right? If you go in expecting to feel uncomfortable knowing it’s going to be a little uncomfortable, then when it is uncomfortable, you won’t be shocked or surprised, and that discomfort does not mean something’s wrong. It doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong, and it doesn’t mean that you’re flubbing the interview. It means that you are feeling exactly how you anticipated, and everything is going according to plan. 

Connecting to Your “Why” in a Job Interview

Terri

But the biggest thing to do is to stay connected to your why. Why have you applied for this job in the first place? What was it about that job description that got you excited enough to throw your hat into the ring? Let that enthusiasm come through in how you speak in what you say because enthusiasm is contagious. The number one way to influence another person is to shift them emotionally somehow. It’s not going to be just through the content or the words you say or the boxes you tick off; it’s going to be the emotion that you bring into that room. 

So one of the exercises that I have all my clients do actually when they’re going into any difficult conversation, not just job interviews, is I’ll have them take a piece of paper. In the center of it, make a circle, and in that circle, have them write, what are the emotions you want this person to feel when you are done with this conversation? How do you want to make this person feel? So if you’re going in, you might say, hey, I want him to feel excited, reassured that I can do the job. I want them to feel confident that maybe they found the right candidate and interested, right? So you put some words in that center, then all around the outside, you start writing what you’re messaging is.

How you’re going to answer some key interview questions that will convey those emotions, right? It’s the Maya Angelou quote that we hear that says, you know:

People won’t always remember what you do, what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Kristine

Ah. I love that, and I love that message to show your enthusiasm and to focus on those emotions that you feel. And that is not what a lot of people do, let me tell you. That takes some vulnerability, and many of my clients are doing this in their second language, which is even harder. And I respect them so much for what they’re doing. But yeah, explaining to them that it is not only appropriate in a professional interview setting with Americans to show emotions, but it’s even necessary for them to feel a connection with you and to feel convinced that you really want this job, and you want it more than other jobs out there, and you want to work for the company more than other companies out there. The words are not enough. They need to feel that emotion and connection with you.

Terri

For sure. 

Leadership Success Story 

Kristine 

So glad you brought that up. Alright, and I love sharing stories on the podcast, and you’ve already been great in sharing your story. Can you think of any clients that you’ve worked with where they learn to lean into vulnerability and show more authenticity and maybe how that worked out for them?

Terri

Yeah, absolutely. There’s one female leader that comes to mind where she was elevated to a leadership team, and she was a scientist. But you know, she wasn’t a scientist enough for the other scientists on the leadership team, so they don’t know why she got hired. And she was now leading a team, but she didn’t have a lot of leadership experience for the leaders in the room, right? So she had a non-traditional career path, and I think there was just a lot of doubt coming from others around her, and it started to make her doubt herself. And she really held her own. 

I started working with this team, and she really held her own in that team, and actually, over time, you know, she had some hard conversations, she pushed back, she avoided having to defend herself. Like “I’m not going to defend myself, my qualifications.” She just did her job and let her results speak for themselves. In the end, she outlasted everybody on that leadership team who, eventually, either got let go or moved on themselves because they weren’t fitting, and she went on to reinvent that organization. She had to take over not only her team but some of the other teams for the people who moved on. 

Job Interview Success Story

Terri

And then she recently applied for an even larger role in another part of the organization, and she went in there so confident. And she’s like, “This is who I am.” She just didn’t try to bulk up her scientific CV to be anything more than it was, but it was already impressive. But it’s never going to please everybody because even if you’re a scientist in one domain, you’re not a scientist in this other domain. You know this, but you don’t know this. Well, you have this, but not this. You’re never gonna have it all, right? So she went and said,

This is who I am. This is what I do. You can look at my track record. This is what I’ve done in the past. I love doing it, and I am the right person for this job.

And she got it, right? But she did not go in pretending, performing, pleasing. She’s like, this is me. I can do this job. If you believe it too, then hire me.

Kristine 

Love it. Yes! What a great story! And it sounds like she truly believed she was the best fit for the job, and she could do a really good job. She was proud of what she had to offer and not ashamed or feeling incompetent. And I do believe that’s necessary for anyone else to believe it is the person has to believe it themselves first. And yeah, it sounds like she nailed it, and I’m so happy to hear that she’s achieving her goals because of it.

Terri 

Yea, and helping people. She’s in a leadership role, and really, it’s one of those leaders that you want to see in a leadership position.

How Getting Vulnerable & Authentic Paid Off For Terri

Terri

If we have one more minute, I wanted to share a personal story. When I moved back to Switzerland from China, I had to restart up my business again in Switzerland. And I was thinking maybe I need to redo my website because I really grew as an individual while I was in China. That’s when I leaned into all the vulnerability work. That’s when I got certified in Brené Brown’s work. I looked back at my website and was like, “this is not authentic.” It’s corporate blue and had a sailboat on the front. You know it was very very professional, and it was all very neutral. It was businessy; had business jargon. It spoke to everybody and nobody at the same time. I thought, “okay, I’m gonna redo it.” I took my own pictures and redid my own website. I used softer colors. 

And I even got comments on it like, “Oh, it’s very emotional. Oh, it’s very girly. It’s very soft. You know, maybe you should add in more business language that speaks to the business environment. Leaders will still come to you.” And I was really starting to doubt myself like, “Oh my God, have I moved away from what’s really going to get me clients?” I said you know what? No, this is me. This is me. It spoke about vulnerability. It spoke about authenticity; spoke about emotions; it spoke about mindfulness. And these are the things that I bring into my coaching, and I just thought,

This is the coach I want to be, and if somebody hires the sailboat coach, that you know very kind of generic coach, and then I show up, they’re going to think that it was a bait and switch. That, you know, I lied to them.

So I just left it like that, and I let my profile speak the same way with all those same words. And that was the year that I came back to Switzerland, and I got put forward to be interviewed as one of the coaches for a senior leader at the top of a major organization, and he selected me to work with him. And I asked why he chose me. What was it that he was hoping to get out of our interaction together? And he said,

I picked your profile because it was different from all the others. It wasn’t all about business. I know how to do business. Yours talked about mindfulness and bringing another aspect to my leadership that I don’t have yet. And that’s why I chose you.

Once you get chosen for who you really are, there is nothing more validating in this world.

Kristine

Yeah. I love that and I, yeah I was very impressed when I saw your website. It was refreshing. And I love that you did have to stand your ground and follow your gut when you got negative feedback or just well-meaning suggestions.

Terri

Other opinions.

Kristine 

Yeah, other opinions because it is really tough whenever we turn to people, even that we trust and they see us doing something different, and it worries them, you know?

Terri

They’re nervous for us.

Kristine 

Yeah. But I love that you did it, and it’s brought in the types of clients that you want to work with and that also they know what they’re getting from you. So yeah, I love that.

Terri 

That’s it exactly. And then when I show up, I don’t have to be anybody else but me. There is no facade necessary. And it’s so freeing.

Kristine

Yes! Absolutely! Well, thank you for sharing that for sure.

Terri

You’re welcome.

Kristine

So Terri, any final thoughts? This has been really, really awesome. You’ve been very generous with your time, but any final things before we wrap up for today?

Rethinking Vulnerability

Terri

I think when people hear us talk about vulnerability and being authentic and sharing our true messy selves,  it can sound like, “Why should I?” That’s really what connects us to other people, right? Vulnerability. People think it’s a weakness. It’s not weakness. Leaning into vulnerability is one of the most courageous things we can do, and it is the heart of connection. It’s the heart of leadership. It’s the heart of accountability, also joy, love, belonging, like none of the things, you know, that we really, really want in life. None of those things are accessible to us without vulnerability, so my final word is to just give it a try. Test it out in a safe environment first, wherever you feel most comfortable. Open up little by little, and I guarantee you’ll see the rewards.

Kristine

Thank you, Terri. This has been wonderful. I learned so much from you today, and I loved hearing the stories you shared. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me and with the Express to Impress listeners. And one final thing here. I know you’re in demand, but how can listeners find your website and get in touch with you? Yeah, what would be the best way for that?

Terri

Yeah, absolutely. They go to my website. It’s creedencoaching.com. I don’t know if you have show notes; if you’ll just pop that in there. That’s the best way to do it. Creedencoaching.com. No sailboats. All love. If it sounds right for you, head on over.

Kristine

Love it. All right, well, thank you, and we’ll stay in touch. I really enjoyed having you on the show today.

Terri

Thanks for the invitation. 

English Language Learning

 That brings us to the end of the second and final episode about being authentic & vulnerable with Terri Creeden! I believe many of the pieces of advice she shared will not only allow someone to succeed in job interviews but build healthier and happier relationships with others. Next time, I invite you to tune in to learn definitions for the idioms and phrases covered in these past two episodes. 

Thank you so much for listening to the Express to Impress podcast. If you found this episode helpful, please remember to share it with a friend! See you next time. Bye!