6 tips for interviews for non-natives

A couple of days ago, when I was researching my favourite subject: coaching for foreigners, I bumped into some coaching tips for interviews for non-natives. Against my best judgement, most of the tips were related to improve vocabulary and accent. While I considered improving vocabulary and accent in 3 days a very noble goal, I also realised most of my clients and friends have been foreigners in the country they live in for over 5 years and, surprise, surprise, they still have an accent and learn new words every week. More interestingly, they have a job too and they have gone through interviews with their accents and been successful.

So I started thinking, if you are a non native facing an interview, how can you best prepare yourself?

v  Be aware of the job you want. You possibly already have the interview but sometimes we force ourselves into what seems to be the most logical path or what people expect from us as oppose to what really makes us tick. You can smell passion miles away, and you interviewer will smell lack of passion before you even set a foot in the office. If you make a clear definition of the type of company, job and must have’s, applying will be far less time consuming, less painful and most importantly, you will impress the interviewer with your spark because you really want the job.

v  Present yourself in the way you are expected in your adopting country. Just as an example of the cultural differences in the way you present yourself, in Spain a CV will always include a picture of yourself. If you don’t include it, it is taken you have something to hide (an eye in the forehead most likely) and you won’t get the interview. In the UK, anti-discrimination laws state that you shouldn’t reveal your ethnicity (which a picture does) and therefore if you include your picture you are ruled out of the process. So make sure your CV is written in a way that suits your new country, you approach the interview and the interviewer as you are expected and you lead or follow depending on the local preferences and you dress appropriately. In some countries, even if they email you saying the dress code is smart casual, they might expect you to come in a suit so pay special attention at subtle ways of communication.

Interviews don't need to be tricky for non natives

v  Build your value proposition. What are you bringing to the company? What differentiates you from your competition? Is the relevant experience, qualifications, drive, passion…? If you are able to articulate clearly why you want the job and what you will bring to the company you are already ahead of 90% of the natives.

v  Prepare the answer to all questions, including the tricky ones. Being articulate is one of the most wanted skills interviewers look for. Very few people are happy to work with those who are not sure, doubt, have no opinion, go in circles or over analyse instead of responding. Being articulate sells credibility, trust, clarity of thought and professionalism, with or without an accent. So the best thing to do is to prepare for the TOP 50 interview questions. If you do, you will be able to answer on the spot any unexpected one.

v  Do your homework: find out as much as you can about the company, the position and also the interviewer. If you have the name, you can Google them up and check their LinkedIn profiles. Find something in common with them. Did they go to the same university you did, did they live in a city you have, do they play golf…?  People are more likely to employ you if they connect with you at a personal level so don’t miss the opportunity to create rapport.

v  Don’t worry about your accent, incomplete vocabulary or grammar mistakes. People like employing credible and trust-worthy people. My personal experience and my client’s personal experience is that accent self-consciousness makes you focus on it as oppose to your value proposition and how well you fit into the company. A perfect native accent won’t win you a job but lack of articulation as a result of being concentrate in your grammar mistakes as oppose to the opportunity you have in front of you will make you lose it. So if you don’t feel comfortable about your accent, start working on it months ahead you have any interview and stop any classes a couple of weeks before. These classes tend to focus on what you say wrong and when preparing for an interview you need all your energy in what you do right.

I would tell any non natives interviewees not to forget body language: sit upright, smile, show interest. But honestly, if you love the job you are applying for, you are articulate on your value proposition, have prepared the answers to any questions and are confident in the way you present yourself, you will do it anyway. And guess what? Being a foreigner will never be relevant again!

Nel Rivero

International Corporate & Executive Coach 

@ Sky Ladder Coaching 

The Sky is the limit, getting there is up to you!

5 tips for better communication with your multinational / international team

One of the most interesting things when you work in a multi-national environment in that you normally don’t see the most frequent misunderstandings coming. While we are all very careful about respecting different backgrounds and making comments about any of them, the ‘lost in translation’ misunderstanding is always unexpected and unpredictable. This is the kind of situation where you are the native and you deal with non natives who happen to translate an expression literally. And the literal translation is at the very least offensive. It is only that being a native you never realised before.

A few years ago, when I leaded a multinational team made of people from all over Europe, I asked one of my direct reports to do something for me. He resisted a little and I said very sweetly in a very girlie way, ‘come on, please, do it for me’. To my surprise we came back to me in a very angry way. He asked me why I was treating him so disrespectfully. Obviously I did not mean to treat him disrespectfully but what is worse I did not understand why I was being disrespectful when I requested his help in such a sweet and girlie way. He clarified: you have said ‘walk and do it’. I said that I actually said ‘come one, please, do it for me’. He insisted ‘that is not what you said’. And then I realised! In my native Spanish if you translate literally the girlie way I said ‘come on’ it is definitely ‘walk and do it’. However, for natives, that expression is the softest and less formal way you can get to say ‘come on’ without sounding bossy. So obviously, apart from explaining the expression and apologising, I made a mental note to never ever use it again with a foreigner. And I was grateful for the privilege of being told. In most cases, if you are the manager, people won’t tell you. They will just start showing indifference and lack of rapport.

So when it comes to communicate to your multinational team, how can you reduce the occurrence of  ‘lost in translation’:

v  Speak slowly, the slower you speak the most likely it is for foreigner to understand you. Don’t forget they need more time to process and more time to elaborate questions. Give them their time.

v  Apply an open policy. If you are comfortable with it, acknowledge the richness of the international mixture, the possibility of misunderstandings and let them know if they need you to speak slower, rephrase something or some clarification, they can stop you any time and you will repeat things as many times as needed. Shy people will start talking and you will build respect within your team. Bosses who present themselves as supportive, open and not know_it_all are more respected by their teams.

v  Reduce your use of slang. Some literal translations might be offensive or at the very least confusing. If you want your team to move in the right direction, explain things plainly with standard non street vocabulary. The ‘happy go lucky’ or a ‘big fish in a small pond’ is obvious for you and for Google but might not be for your team.

v  Hold one to one meetings, especially if you are managing a change of procedure, line of work or policy. If you want to make sure everybody understood how to move forward in your last meeting, there is nothing like a 10 minute one-to-one session. Shy people will speak up, objections will appear and any misunderstanding will be easily solved.

v  Celebrate the international mixture and richness. Acknowledge the variety of ideas and points of views and help you team members in improving their language skills if they ask for any clarification. Some subtleties of the language are not in grammar books and they will be grateful forever for your help.

v  And above all, enjoy it! Any misunderstandings are always fun stories to share with your friends at the pub and the experience, the exposure and the openness of mind you get is priceless.

And if you want any help, the ‘Just Diversified’ package at Sky Ladder Coaching, will definitely make a difference in your management of multinational teams. Check out the details at: www.skyladdercoaching.com or alternatively email me at nel.rivero@skyladdercoaching.com

Nel Rivero

International Corporate & Executive Coach 

@ Sky Ladder Coaching 

The Sky is the limit, getting there is up to you!

Join me at http://uk.linkedin.com/in/nelrivero

Expatriates & foreigners: 6 reasons for networking

When moving to another country there is an interesting shift in your identity. From being a pure native, know-it-all person you become the new kid in the neighbourhood and immerse yourself in the dynamics of a 3 year old. Everything is so new, so surprising, so incomprehensive that you spend your day asking why and how. And what do you do then? You mingle with some more people in the same situation: expats transferred to the country by their multinational companies.

While this is a very comforting strategy, especially when you have just arrived and need support even to get it right in the underground, mingling with the natives will provide you with some competitive advantage:

v  Language skills: If you are not a native speaker, you will expose yourself to the real street language. Most expats work in multinationals where at least 50% of the staff is non native. It results on poor language skills improvement. True that your work colleagues will understand you anyway, but outside work the story may be different.

v  Information sharing: They will share with you the knowledge about the system. As you lose most of your knowledge about how the country works, how businesses work, where the opportunities are, etc. when you move countries, it will take you a while to find what you are looking for. Good news, your native networking pals already have that information and they will volunteer it without knowing.

v  Contact Sharing: Their network tends to be larger and more stable. Since they have gone to school, university and postgraduate business school within the country, they have been nurturing those relationships for years. Most of your expats mates will be sent back in 12 to 24 months. Your networking pals will stay though and they will share with you their contacts happily once you have established your trust relationship.

v  Cultural immersion: They will teach you the real culture of the country: what they like doing and what they value most. That is very valuable information to truly connect with them, to build relationships and even to invest in property. As an example, coming from Madrid, which has river with no water, there is no way I would have realised flats in the UK are more expensive the closer they are to any river if I had stated with my multinational network.

v  Finance planning: Your finances will really appreciate it. Because most foreigners and expats  consider their stay in the country as temporal, even if they have been in there for over 10 years, they tend not to have financial goals and live in the most expensive neighbourhoods splashing fortunes in rents. Mingling with people who are stable in the country means they have clear financial goals, they live in very nice and not so pricey areas, they own properties and they do investments which may encourage you to follow that path.

Social networking can help you integrate outside your multinational circle

There are many other advantages I won’t list down on this post in an effort to keep my audience awake.

However, even if you reckon the upsides, some countries may prove themselves as difficult places to network with natives outside work. How can we remove this little barrier?

v  Decide if you want business or leisure networking.

v  Commit a certain amount of time per week or month to meet and follow up.

v  Choose whether you will go for regular meet ups with the same people or one-offs with different people.

v  Define the times of the day when you do your best: all day long networking, breakfast, lunch or evenings.

v  Choose a topic: book club, SME, running club, young entrepreneurs, leisure visits.

v  Do some research: google up topics and talk to other people to find the right groups for you.

v  Brand yourself: how are you going to introduce yourself, what do you want people to remember about you?

v  Be opened: you are supposed to introduce yourself to new people.

v  Carry your contact details: either in business cards or as part of a on the spot email from your iphone you want to keep in touch with (at least some) of the people you have just met.

Smile and enjoy!

And if you want any help, the ‘Newly Arrived’ packaged at Sky Ladder Coaching, will definitely speed up your adaptation to your new country. Check out the details at: www.skyladdercoaching.com