Ernesto Gluecksmann on Interviews

On Wednesday of this week, Ernesto Gluecksmann, a partner consultant for the web design agency Infamia, came into our Oral Communication: Principles and Practice class to talk to us about interviews and the importance of social networking.

When he walked in to the class, he immediately struck me as a interesting guy. His dress was semi-casual but spoke with an authority on his subject, making a comfortable yet informative atmosphere.

Starting with a description of his job, he told us what he would do every week as a partner consultant. His job is, as he said, to find new clients, partners, or resources for the company. He stated that he averages about five different meetings or interviews a week to look for new prospects for the company.

How does he do this? He says its through social networking. Networking is a key skill in all fields and without it Ernesto's job wouldn't even exist and his company wouldn't be able to gain any new clientèle. In his exact words, "Its all about relationships."

A specific example he gave us was when his company revamped the National Peace Core's webpage and was referenced to another company. That alone would be a good way to show connecting with others opens doors to new connections and clients, but when interviewing the company that was a possible client Ernesto learned of another company that was considered first but wasn't able to take on the job. He then got the information of that company and made yet another connection with one of their consultant.

If you are able to make things comfortable during the interviews, Ernesto says that they will open up to you. When they open up that will allow you as the interviewer to really get what it is both you and they need. Even if this fails though it is possible that though your networking you can find someone who can help and that will make them remember your name next time they might need something.

Ernesto told us one of the best ways to put ourselves out there for the business world is technology. Things like Linked In, Twitter, Meet Up, Blogger, Facebook, Flicker, and many others all are useful in developing yourself and ideas, all the while sharing both with the rest of the world, and hopefully even present yourself to someone in need of your talents.

When actually interviewing its good thing not to be to needy. Ernesto suggest two questions that are good starters, "What do you do?" and, "what do you need?" These open ended questions allow the interviewee to answer to their hearts content and give you copious amounts of information without probing. The idea that these questions are open ended is important too because if you ask all yes and no questions you wont get anything out of the person. Also ask to elaborate and allow them to break silence too, anything to keep them talking.

He left us with a few tips on how to start our social networking. He invited to follow him on twitter, his account being @eglue, and he would in return follow us. He also encouraged us to ask big companies for interviews. He says that everyone is open to free publicity and asking things like, "I want to interview you for my blog," go miles with these people.

He also says that always have a bunch of people to interview, just in case some can't or wont accept. His last bit of advice was that we not be intimidated. Ernesto's final words were some of my favorite, "You don't know until you try, so always try."