Foodservice Sales and Marketing - How to step up from your first interview to 2nd interview

Preparing for a 2nd interview can be challenging – after all – if you are conscientious interviewer and have prepared meticulously for your first interview – then what else can you do that is going to make you stand out further 2nd time around?

Look at Interviewing as a competitive environment – think in terms of what you CAN DO to give you an advantage over other candidates at this stage, and also what could hold you back if you don’t do it but other candidates have.

Obviously some 2nd interviews will have a presentation stage, which provides a strong and clear directive to your preparation.

However, what else can you can do aside from this to step up from 1st interview stage, stand out and make an even more positive impression?

The best 2nd interviewers often build on the first interview and use their fact findings from it to step it up a notch - here are some of the areas to consider which enables you to do so.

1) Refer to notes from the 1st interview and prepare questions based from them?

At 2nd interview you will come across strongly if you are asking questions based on the first interview as opposed to more generic question.

“Tell me more” questions are great, especially off the back of something you are referring to from 1st interview or your own research.

They signify a level of depth to your interest in the role and that you have gone away and thought about it subsequently.

“You mentioned in the first interview that you are keen to grow the London area, if possible, can you tell me more about your plans for this”

Or

“I noticed on your website you have a new product range just launched, how is this going and, if possible, can you tell me more about future plans”

In Foodservice most interviewers are really passionate about their products and plans, it’s not only a great way to convey that you have taken 1st interview notes and undertook further research but also can lead to some really engaging two way conversations from which you can implement areas of your background fairly naturally that may be connected to this.

2) If you are meeting a new person at 2nd interview stage don’t make assumptions

Don’t assume that just because you have had a fantastic and detailed 1st interview that the new person has been forwarded and is aware of all this.

Many interviewers do not talk extensively about candidates to each other between interviews, sometimes as they want the 2nd person to make their own unbiased judgements, so it really is a case of focusing on impressing from scratch all over again.

You may find yourself covering off areas you have covered before at 1st interview – don’t feel on the back foot or that you are repeating yourself – ensure that in this case the information that got you then 2nd interview really does come across as strongly again.

3) Prepare and outline exactly what you like about the role (and why) and be prepared to convey this clearly?

“I came away from the first interview really excited, and what I really like about the opportunity/company is…………………….”

Companies want you to be coming across at interview that you want THEIR job not just A job.

Find areas specific to them (USPS) which make them really stand out for yourself.

It could be product, geographical area, style of management, progressive nature, reputation in the sector, someone gave them a glowing reference who worked for them previously.

All of this makes your interest far more bespoke to them.

Again, you’d be surprised how often, when it’s a close call, the candidate who gets offered them one is the one who appeared most enthusiastic and wanted the job more – make sure this person is you.

4) Prepare some aspects that you feel you could implement into the role if you were successful and be prepared to outline them to the interviewers.

This can be particularly key for Foodservice sales (or any sales) interviews.

Whether the role is Account Management or New Business, Area Management or Senior National Account Management, what is common for all is that growing a role (and revenue) is not going to be a massive benefit and plus point.

So ensure that you are able to discuss and outline SOME ideas of how you would implement this

“You mentioned that Education and Healthcare is an area you want to develop – I have experience in this and this is how I feel I could add value and approach business in these areas”

“ You mentioned that growing the numbers of accounts (new business) is important in this area – here are my previous figures to demonstrate how I have grown a ledger both in terms of numbers and revenue and this is how I did it”

“I’ve noticed that most of your business is NPD based or contracted business – here are a couple of case studies of Pub Groups I have won contracted business with through effective NPD and how I went about it”

“In the first interview you mentioned that the role is predominantly Account Management focussed, here are some examples of accounts i have managed and grown year on year and some of the strategies i used to achieve this"

These can often be verbally delivered outlines – but they are 100% a really beneficial tool to use – as they clearly show that you have the required skills, experience and sometimes competencies to deliver on the key aspects of the role.

5) Ensure you understand their plans and timescales before pitching your career aspirations

This is quite a complex one, and ties in with various areas such as success/career development for yourself and success/growth for the company.

It’ really important for both the company and the candidate to have the right level of ambition but also balanced with a focus on the job at hand being hired for.

Great questions would be

“What would be the next step up from this role and how is this achieved?”

“What are the long term growth plans for the future”

“What can you see the long term opportunities being for someone successful in this role?”

It’s really important that you find out how the company sees this role as progressing before you pitch your career aspirations.

Some companies might prefer someone who wants to work hard to progress to the next level – perhaps they have a lot of people comfortable at a certain level and want to see the next level of talent progressing through the company.

Other companies might be more flat structured, or have had instability in the particular role, and in this case a candidate who positions themselves as wanted to do a decent stint at this level/type of role might be more beneficial to them.

This doesn't mean that you have to alter your personal career drivers and aspirations to the employer - but does allow you avoid talking yourself out of a role, by positioning these blindly and appearing out of sync for what they are currently looking for in this area.

Of course, as mentioned, a presentation can often form a core part of 2nd interview stage for Foodservice Sales and Marketing roles – but it won’t by any means be the only area you will be judged on, so ensure that for that you don’t leave anything to chance with the more conversational part of the interview.

I will cover the Presentation side over the next couple of days.