International candidates: 5 tips to sound articulate in job interviews

One of the things that always surprise me when coaching for job interviews is how difficult expressing our knowledge and suitability for a position become. We all know people who are very knowledgeable, very diligent and trustworthy and, for some reason, they don’t get that job which description matched 120% with them. Bad luck? Probably bad articulation.

What can you do to sound more articulate and get the job you want?

·         Show off: there is nothing wrong in selling yourself as long as you tell the truth. At the end of the day, if you don’t do it, the next candidate will and who will get the position? You are warned.



Being articulate is key to stand out of the crowd



·         Make the most of your international background: many people understate their ability to speak several languages, how they can acknowledge and take advantage of cultural differences and their gift to build relationships with people from different backgrounds. If you have international experience, make it work for you. Explain concrete examples in which that kind of experience has helped you in the past and how it can help you in the position you are applying for. If you have done your homework I am sure you already know in which country is done what and how all the functions and locations relate to each other.

·         When using big words, give real examples. Too many people define themselves as ‘proactive people’, ‘real team players’ and ‘innovative’. Too often interviewers find themselves either thinking ‘sure…’ or ‘what do they mean?’ Build your credibility by giving real and concrete examples. Did you go an extra mile so that your colleague could finish his part in time and the project was successfully and timely delivered? Did you propose solution X which helped saving Y million of pounds? Be concrete, it will make you stand out of the crowd.

·         Quantify. Managing big projects, dealing with suppliers and having a team reporting to you don’t really give any kind of information. If you are an architect: did you design one house or the Guggenheim museum? Did you have a budget of £20,000 or £200 Million? Did you have one person reporting to you or a team of 100 with 10 direct reports? The same applies from admin positions (for how many people did you manage the payslips?) to the CEO.

·         Don’t put yourself down: if you are not the right candidate, let the interviewer make the decision themselves. Saying things like ‘I might not have the right qualifications’, ‘I am not very good at that’ or ‘I do not have the relevant experience’ put you already out of competition. Don’t talk yourself down and specially don’t do it with public. You might not have experience that matches 100% with the requirements; very likely most of the candidates don’t have it either but I am sure you have some transferable skills that can be useful in your new position. Your qualifications might not be the ones they asked for in the ad but unless you need a certification like for accountancy, it might not be that critical and as for the ‘I am not very good at that’, who says that?

And the most important thing: reading this article is not enough. List the big words you want to use and the examples for each one; summarise in writing your international experience and how it applies to the new position, quantify everything you have done and write positive answers. Now read it out loud. How does it sound? Odd, doesn’t it? Try again changing the structure, the words. Better now, right? Yes, we have noticed: we do not sound articulate because we are born articulate. We sound articulate because we learn how to do it and we prepare for it. More than that, after having written our answers a couple of times and being satisfied we actually learnt them by heart and how did we sound this time? Brilliant! As if we were born articulate and not prepared for it!

Nel Rivero

International Corporate & Executive Coach 

@ Sky Ladder Coaching 

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

P.S. Please, feel free to email me for some Job Interview Coaching information @ nel.rivero@skyladdercoaching.com and also check my website (www.skyladdercoaching.com) for further details.

International Sales: 5 tips to build relationships in international sales

Too often in international sales, deals are delayed considerably due to cultural differences, misunderstandings or weak trust as the result of the prospect customer being approached by an ‘outsider’, an international sales manager.

While most of us seek for help in books or papers about local customs, they are quite frequently written by the same outsiders, especially when there is a language difference. It means  not only that they might be far from scientific and a lot more related to personal experiences, which are very linked to your social circumstances but also that they are normally seen through ‘outsider’s’ eyes. As an English gentlemen put it: on the night of the 5^th of January, when Spanish children get their Christmas presents, there are parades all over the country with the three magic kings. To his eyes, the tradition was to open an umbrella upside down so that you can catch as many sweets thrown by the kings from their carriages as possible. As Spanish, the tradition is to see the three magic kings before eating some cake and waiting for them while sleeping and the whole ‘umbrella’ thing is kind of an impolite gesture not to be imitated.

Even if you can find a good book from a good and local source you might not have the time to read it or might not know if all things are applicable all the times. You might even have business in too many countries to learn all the customs at the required speed.

How can you build trust in international sales quickly and effectively? Here are some tips:

v  Find some common ground. Rather than establishing conversation through speaking of both countries and the differences, research your contacts (the Internet is full of precious and free information) and get something you share with them: university, degree, hobbies, having a family or not having one… Have you realise how quickly to become the new ‘best friend’ with someone you have just met because you have in common your taste in music? Practice that in business too!

v  Ask questions about their circumstances as a country and as a company. People love talking about themselves and see how people listen with attention. How many times you have felt close to someone just because you felt listened? Ask also personal questions (not too personal though) when possible. Just keep in mind that as well as business objectives, personal objectives need to be contemplated in every single sale. How many times someone advocated for you just because your value proposition suited their personal targets? Many!!

v  Listen, listen and listen. I have been in tons of meetings which start by ‘you don’t understand, we are different’. If you come from overseas, the objection will be even stronger. The ‘we are different’ is not related to the company but to a whole country and as a foreigner you ‘just don’t understand’ or so they think. Listening will give you some hints about how to show you actually understand and are willing to provide innovative solutions. It will strengthen your relationship with your new business partners and also will give you key information to build your value proposition. At the end of the day, your value proposition only adds value if positioned against competition and it is related to relevant facts to your prospects. Let them talk, listen and take notes!

International Sales require not only travelling!

v  Offer some local references if possible or at least as close as possible. Saying things like ‘we did this in Sweden’ when you are Greece won’t help. However, if you did the same in Italy, it might be a completely different story to them. Don’t forget lots of multinational have structures in which some countries report to others.

v  Be happy to show that even though you are not very familiar with local customs, as an international mind you are curious and happy to learn. Most people are happy to teach!

Following these tips to build trust in international sales will take you no more than 30 minutes research before the meeting and will save you not only time but very likely sweat and tears!

Nel Rivero

International Corporate & Executive Coach 

@ Sky Ladder Coaching 

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

P.S. Please, feel free to email me for some International Business Coaching information @ nel.rivero@skyladdercoaching.com and also check my website (www.skyladdercoaching.com) for further details on the coaching package ‘My Best Sale’.