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My first post. I've discovered Manager-Tools in early October, after I was laid off from my last company. I've been soaking up the podcasts as fast as I can and I had to post on a great "Aha" moment and success with the tools Mike and Mark have given me.

Preparing for an interview, I looked up each interviewee on LinkedIn. I had just listened to "Greatings in DISC" and had listened to the four Communicating with DISC casts in the last week. I found myself looking at the interviewee LinkedIn profiles and analyzing them against DISC. I had not yet listened to the "Paying Attention" cast. One genteman had three different profiles, non with more than a handful of connections. There was minimal data and it was all out of date. I tentatively placed him in the "High C" category. Another person, almost the same job role as the last person, had an extremely detailed profile. He had a career bio, played up his management skills and was heavily connected. Based on some of his wording and the style I put him in "High D" with a minor in "High I". At the other end of the scale there was a marketing manager on my list and his profile was also really lacking. Based on his listed experience being all in marketing type rolls I took a guess he was young but didn't put him into any category.

On the way to the interview I put the iPod on 2x speed and speed listened to the core parts of the communicating DISC casts.

At the interview I paid careful attention during the initial greatings. With the tenative "High D" and "High C" I kept my greetings short and declarative, giving more energy to the "High D". With everyone else (I interviewed with six people) I went with the nuetral greeting but watched their reactions.

WOW! It was spot on. I had the "High D" and "High C" pegged right away and matched my communication styles to them. I sat there for almost ten minutes as the D explained everything going on with the business and when I answered one of the C's questions with "I start by asking for input and looking at the data", you should have seen how he sat up and started really engaging.

Oh, the marketing guy? I was right, mid 20's or so and I knew he was a "High I" in the first 30 seconds. The conference room wasn't big enough for his voice. :) 

 

Thanks Mike and Mark, you've turned this Project Manager into a hard core faithful.

ashdenver's picture

I'm glad it worked for you.  I was a little confused during your narrative because "interviewee" means to me "the person being interviewed" whereas "interviewer" would be the hiring manager, supporting cast at the place employment.  At the start, it sounded like you were scoping out potential candidates you were planning to interview for an open position on your own team.  By the end, it sounded like you were facing a panel interview "in the hot seat" with the goal of landing the position yourself.

That said, I would just caution on blanket statements and generalizations. I'm a high-D and my LinkedIn profile is pretty sad & pathetic.  My Facebook is much more robust.  My LiveJournal has been going for years. I'm active on a half-dozen professional discussion boards, including this one.  For me and my high-D with mid-C traits, LinkedIn just fell to the bottom of the priority list amongst everything else, plus the full-time job, part-time school, full-time home life, etc.  Using surface materials to serve as a jumping off point is great; just as long as one is willing to go with the flow as new information becomes available.  ;)

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jbancroftconnors's picture

Oh absolutely! I was using it as a starting point to observe from. The High I with the minimal LinkedIn profile is a great example. There were also three interviewers (great catch on my crossing interviewee and interviewer), that I just used the greeting period to get a feel for their bahavior style.

Thanks,

Joel

Peter.westley's picture
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Well done Joel, you have seen how useful understanding the DISC behavioural preferences can be!

What's really nice is that when you have used, and thought about the DISC styles for a while, the adjustment of your own behaviour for different styles becomes much more automatic. You don't have to think about it or rely on LinkedIn profiles and you can be be just as effective.

After a while you can pick a style quickly from little clues in the few seconds when you first meet someone - from their choice of clothes (behaviour), to their stance (behaviour) to the the way they utter those first few words of greeting (you guessed it - behaviour!).

It's fantastic and powerful stuff. Good luck.

-- Peter

DISC: 2564
@pjwestley