I jumped on LinkedIn this morning only to find another incredible talent, a friend, had been victim of yet another tech layoff. I am not sure why this wave of layoffs has hit me so hard, but it’s been weighing on my heart and mind. I have been in technology sales for close to a quarter of a century - been through reorgs and layoffs but this one seems to have effected many close friends and colleagues. I feel compelled to jump in and help! Those who know me, know my network is always open and I’ll go out of my way to help make connections. But connections aren’t enough if you can’t close the interview, so that’s the focus of this article: I’ve mentored hundreds of people through the interview process and have developed an interviewing strategy that works 99% of the time. It’s time intensive in a good way as it helps qualify if you’re serious about the position. It’s helped me, my family, my friends, and my mentees land our dream jobs. The concept is simple, you create a business plan so you flip the interview to your advantage. You use the business plan to interview the company and flip your interview conversation so you’re in control, not the other way around. Here is how to flip the interview - This will be a multipart series and this is the first installment. In addition to the guide below I’ve also included a template you can use to build your interview business plan. You can find the full instruction set on my LinkedIn at www.linkedin/in/jeffmonday

1. Interviewee Extraordinaire, Present Day
Interview Business Plan
How to flip the interview

2. About me
Use this section to help humanize yourself and your background
Previous Employers
Volunteering - Give back
Hobbies
Family
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⁃ Great to include the logos of your previous employers
⁃ Make sure to key in on the experiences that have
helped you prepare for the current position
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⁃ The key here is to be authentic.
⁃ What do you do for fun away from work?
⁃ Anything unique that would make you stand out
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⁃ How have you or are currently giving back to the
community?
⁃ These don’t always have to be formal volunteering
opportunities, you can call out current/previous
mentoring opportunities
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⁃ The key here is to be authentic.
⁃ What do you do for fun away from work?
⁃ Anything unique that would make you stand out

3. Company Profile
Company is on a strong trajectory but has some great options to grow share
Revenue:
Current Share Price:
Employees:
Top 3 Strategic Initiatives
Insert Logo here
Value Prop of the company/product
Key Competitors

4. S.W.O.T.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
Strengths
Opportunities
Weaknesses
Threats
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⁃ What are the companies strengths?
⁃ What is it its unique value prop?
⁃ How is it stealing market share (or potentially stealing
share)
⁃ Do it products displace something or is it creating an
entirely new market?
⁃ Has it hired world class leaders? Culture?
⁃ Is it taking a unique route to market?
⁃ How does the division your applying for participate in
the company’s growth?
DELETE WHEN DONE: FOR NOTES ONLY
⁃ Note: I have historically struggled with this one for two reasons:
⁃ 1. You are interviewing for the position - are you sure you want to call out the weaknesses of a company? My answer is yes. It
shows a maturity in your business acumen that you can recognize those weaknesses. You can score a lot of bonus points if
you have some creative solutions on how to solve these weaknesses (especially if hiring you is part of that challenge)
⁃ 2. What is the fundamental difference between weaknesses and threats. The most simple and elegant way to think of this:
Weaknesses are internal weaknesses to the company. It could be product challenges, route to market, shareholder pressure,
lack or awareness, etc. Threats are challenges from competition external to the company. This could be a more competitive
product, competition over spending on marketing awareness, strength of competitor brand, etc.
⁃ Here are the questions you can ask yourself for Weaknesses:
⁃ Is the product challenged in anyway?
⁃ Does the company have proper brand awareness in the market (in the right segments?)
⁃ Is the company going through a transition?
⁃ Is there shareholder pressure (activist or otherwise) or lack of recognition of the companies strategies in the market?
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⁃ This portion looks at the overall trends in the
market that you see are favorable for the company.
You can use the section to highlight some of the
strategies you want to put in place to address
threats and weaknesses.
⁃ Is the market changing to favor a certain product?
⁃ Are the companies competitors disadvantaged?
⁃ Are there unexplored routes to market?
⁃ Are there internal processes or tools the company
could adopt to make them more efficient?
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⁃ These are the external threats facing the company
⁃ Is the market changing in a way that is not favorable
for the company or product?
⁃ How are the competitors threatening the market?
⁃ Is customer sentiment changing in a way that will
negatively effect the company or product?

5. Resources, Systems, Processes
What do you need to be successful in the role
Insert
Company/Division
Logo here
Team
Systems
Partners
Custom
ers
Internal
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⁃ Here are some starters for each other topics you
should cover - team, systems, partnerships, customer
relationships, internal partnerships
⁃ Questions
⁃ What’s currently in place?
⁃ Is the company willing to invest/grow in this area?
⁃ Who is bought in (execs, external partners, internal
teams) to help drive this product/part of the business?
⁃ What do the supporting teams look like? What do you
need?

6. 90 Day Plan
Planning for success
First 90 Days: Meet Days 30 - 60: Learn Days 60 - 90: Plan
Tactics
for
success
Leadership
Checkpoints
- 30 Day Management Check in
- Stakeholder introductions
- 60 Day Management Check in
- 90 Day Management Check in
- 90 Day plan shareout with
Stakeholders
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ONLY
⁃ First 30 days: Meet
⁃ Who do you need to meet in the first 30 days?
⁃ Your team: Who is on your team? How is it
structured?
⁃ Your peers: Who are all the peer level
contacts you’ll be working with?
⁃ Your partners: Which external partners are
critical for your business? Will you be
responsible for those relationships?
⁃ Internal stakeholders: Other leaders you
should know outside of your direct reporting
line
⁃ Cross-functional teams: Which other teams do
you need to work with to be successful?
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ONLY
⁃ 30 -60 Days: Learn
⁃ What do you need to learn in the first 90
days?
⁃ Understand the rhythm of the business - when
are the critical meetings? What is the
cadence?
⁃ What are the critical items you’ll be
responsible in the first 90?
⁃ When does the company do its strategic
planning?
⁃ Do you need to submit a financial plan?
⁃ A forecast?
⁃ What systems do you need to know to be
successful?
⁃ ERP? CRM? Financial system?
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ONLY
⁃ 90 days: Plan
⁃ In this section you’ll call out how you’ll use
the information you learned in the first 60
days to refine your plan.
⁃ You’ll be able to assess whether the
business is sustaining, start up, or
turnaround
⁃ What changes do you need to make to the
resources and process (while most
recommendations state you shouldn’t
change anything in the first 6 months, it’s
always a good idea to start building your
plan)

7. Thank you!