Don Roulo is the CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Life Quest. He is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.
By DON ROULO
Your heart races, your palms sweat. Inside your mind you are thinking, “Pick me, pick me!” It’s the dreaded interview process. I am not discussing that specific process today, but rather the Reverse Interview. You can use the reverse interview if you are looking for work in the same career, a completely different career, or starting your own business. The process remains virtually the same. Instead of someone asking you a series of questions, you are the one asking the questions.
Let’s say you decide you want to start a landscaping business. You have determined this is a good fit for you because you love to be outdoors and you have a great talent for maintaining lawns, flower beds and yard design. However, you don’t know what it takes to pull all of this together.
Using the reverse interview process, you find a successful landscaping business owner to take to lunch. Remember, you are buying! Make a list of 10-15 questions to ask. These questions should include the obvious subjects such as: marketing, machinery, employees, like and dislikes of the business. The most important questions will focus on their opinion of what skills, attributes, education and personality traits someone entering into this business must have to be successful.
By using this process you will get a great perspective on whether you really want to embark on this new venture. If you reverse interview a business owner never ask a local business owner in the same field to share this information with you. It would be unethical to ask someone who owns a business in your immediate area to share information to help you become their competition.
If you have interest in a new career field, use the same process. However, in this case you should talk with businesses in your local area. Possible people to interview are: CEO’s, Human Resource Directors, or managers. You must make it clear you are not looking to be hired by them. You simply are exploring a possible career change and their industry is of interest to you.
Why does this process work so well? You are asking people to talk about themselves and what they enjoy doing. Everyone loves to talk about themselves and their interests. You will be amazed at what people will share. Since this is not an interview to be hired by their company or you are not a threat to their business as competition, they will be happy to share a wealth of information.
Surprisingly, you may end up with an offer for a position, though this should not be your motivation. The reason you may get an offer is you have shown yourself to be unique, and proactive. What employer isn’t looking for this type of person? What an incredible opportunity to make a great business connection, learn about a new career, business and yourself – the Reverse Interview.
About the Author
Don Roulo is a life, career and business coach as well as a Certified 48 Days Workshop Facilitator. He travels nationally and internationally to conduct business and career training as well as marriage and family workshops.
One of his most requested workshops is called, Master’s Millionheirs, which trains and equips budding entrepreneurs to make sure they follow sound foundational principles to ensure success in life and business. He believes to achieve true success it is vital to “make a life, not just a living.”
As a business consultant, he has written business plans and worked to market products or services as well as organizing financial statements for investors. Because of his success in the sales and business arena, Don has been blessed with the opportunity to train, motivate and inspire others. His passion is to motivate and equip people to find their passion and achieve their goals and God given destiny.