What I learned from a headhunter for a managerial job opening

First of all, I am an unofficial student of dr. Robert Cialdini's work, with regard to his published work on influence. Since I read and reread his seminal work, the world started to make sense, I started to understand on a deeper level, why people did certain things in a certain way. Especially people who wanted you to be compliant to their way of thinking or commit to their cause and be consistent about it too.

When dealing with these types of people, for instance this headhunter I met, he started with authority, i.e. "We are among the top three headhunters in the world, we have 600-700 shops around the world". This might not be true, but it's damn impressive nonetheless.

Then he proceeded with scarcity, i.e. "We only handle cases starting from 45k euro per annum otherwise it isn't interesting for us; when we request an interview with someone we mean business, we know who are the best", in my opinion the last is also meant to flatter the interviewee, which is liking and still a hint of authority, e.g. "We only interview the best" or some variation of that.

I think this is standard stuff for headhunters.

Suppose that you botch up the interview, by not being completely awake, because you couldn't sleep, with all the excitement bubbling inside of you because you have an interview the following day for a very special position (read: ka-ching). Anyway, you realize half-way you're not getting the job (right now), because you're not doing too well selling yourself, with buzz-words and short soundbites to describe your professional skills and experience, so you start to actually relax and do quite well, because you start to act as yourself and let your guard down.

In this case, apply active listening (from dr. Thomas Gordon), so the interviewer will tell you more than (s)he is actually allowed to tell you. Like the name of the company, so you can skip over the headhunter and go for the company yourself and negotiate.
I don't recommend screwing over headhunters, because they are also human and fallible, but if they start getting sloppy, they should learn like all human beings, e.g. by error, pain etc.

Get a suit for the interview

Okay, the things I learned actually can be summarized in bullets:

• Watch your body language, give an impression with your body that you're comfortable with talking about yourself and you're enthusiastic about the job prospect;
• Familiarize yourself with real names of positions you would like to attain further on the (cannibalistic corporate canine-trophic) ladder;
• If you come from academia or your family and friends tend to talk on an abstract level, please leave the academic at home, be concrete, do not hide behind abstractions as a protection mechanism (i.e. a way to stay safe from a barrage of prying questions);
• Wear a suit and proportional management shoes for management positions, comb your hair;
• Wrap around stories based on certain keywords that are related to this position, e.g. I worked day and night on blabla, above and beyond..., (so you're dedicated); I negotiated hard on blabla, (so you're assertive...);
• Tell something about yourself with interview power words and emotive stories;
• Apply influence, make the stories believable and compelling, so they end up with the same conclusion or lead them to the same conclusion. Also use the interviewer's name when giving examples;
• Do not be self-deprecative, do not slag off your previous employer(s), just say you reached a certain level of growth in your profession, you want to excel beyond this level (mind you, excel is a power word);
• Oh, don't make shit up, they will find out. (I didn't, because I assume this is common sense and eventually you'll probably end up getting black-mailed.);
• Make sure your references back you up, because don't underestimate the power of social proof.
• Practice your pitch with an unbiased observer!

Good luck with the job hunt.