I found these interviews to be enjoyable, if not pleasant. After doing something for that long, you really have to love the work or else you would be doing something else so I enjoyed hearing their passionate stories about how they got promoted, overcame a challenge, or took the next step in their lives.

In interviewing these finance manager candidates, I had a few takeaways:

- Don’t settle. I’ve literally been interviewing for this position for 3 months, on and off, and I haven’t settled on anyone who I wasn’t completely happy with. I think I’ve found that person now, but its taken about 40 interviews to get there. Don’t settle for someone you are not 100% happy with.

- With this position, I got creative with the potential compensation and strayed from pure salary based compensation and into offering amenities such as a company-paid condo. This essential necessity then becomes a tax-free benefit for the employee and as an added benefit for our organization, he or she now lives across the street from the office.

- Big money doesn’t mean big talent. I had this position open for a salary beyond what I eventually offered and the people in the very expensive range just didn’t seem worth it to me. I’ve found someone well within my budget with as many capabilities as these superstar big money financial managers.

I hope to make her a new addition to our company soon.

In the Philippines, to make 250,000 Pesos a month, LEGALLY, by the time you’re 30 years old. Seemingly an impossible task no, unless you are a young entrepreneur who typically has the backing of wealthier parents. The impossible is a lower middle class Filipino 31 year old making 200,000 pesos a month. While working from home.

He’s doing this because he knows how to code. He knows Linux. He knows how the internet works, how voice calls get turned into IP packets and back into voice signals. The terms G729, Asterisk, and Ubuntu don’t scare him. In short, he knows something that everyone can learn for free but few people are very skilled at. He is a computer geek and he is very good at what he does.

And because he is good at what he does and not many people are that good, he gets paid a lot of money for his services. He basically gets paid for his brain, for all the time he’s spent hunkered down in front of his computer fixing some broken line of code. The thousands of hours he’s spent doing that (They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a genius at something and he’s definitely at genius level) have now translated into hundreds of thousands of pesos he collects from clients all over the world.

From the comfort of his own couch. While gets to play with his kids.

The lesson here is if you have the desire to make a really comfortable living for yourself, learn some Java, HTML, to program, code or the ins and outs of VoIP networks. Maybe you’ll make 250,000 Pesos a month too from home.

However, a few months ago, I went on my last date. I say it was my last date because by that point, I was so unhappy with the dates I had (some of which were blind dates), that I was going to go on a self-imposed date break. No dates for a month. I was ready to impose that date break until I went on a date with the girl who would, some 3 months later, become my girlfriend.

She became my girlfriend because we both discovered we had a passion for extreme dating, Manila style. We both discovered we had a passion for finding the new, even if it that meant escaping the comforts of our walled villages. Finding the new often involved treks for Chinese food in Banawe Street in QC, to drinks at the Hobbit House in Ermita, and back to the posh surroundings of the Fort – all in one date. In fact, we didn’t have our first movie date until after we became a couple.

So the whole purpose of this post is to share our experiences (extreme) dating in Manila. There is so much to do, eat, see, drink, and experience in Manila, yet most couples never get out of the endless cycle of “dinner and a movie.” If you’re one of those couples stuck in that rut, go on an extreme date and I guarantee it’ll give you and your partner plenty to talk about.

I suggest starting at Divino’s – the location of our extreme date #7.

A resume because sometimes your printed resume gets lost in the HR shuffle – its a lot quicker if you can just pull a new one out instead of us having to print a new one out.

A notepad and pen because if I ask you a question that you can’t answer, what you should do is right that question down and my email address and tell me that you’re going to find the answer and email it to me.

And a portfolio because it rains in the Philippines and the last thing you want is to hand me a wet, wrinkled resume.

However, take away the glamour, the models, and the designers and the people running the fashion industry are the same ones in mine – hard working, driven, and ultimately, successful business people. In the Philippines, the @Divine Lees, @Rosario Herreras, @Bryanboys are the business and creative minds behind a slew of fashion endeavours that are not only making their names in the Philippines, but also around the world. More importantly, they are all beginning to achieve the pinnacle of fashion – building a brand.

I use them as examples because they possess the ethos that I try to preach in this blog – not only have they been prepared for every interview in their lives, they’ve been prepared for every opportunity presented to them as a result of those interviews. Divine, Rosario, and Bryanboy not only possess amazing creative talents but also the work ethic needed to turn mere opportunities into very successful businesses.

As a partner in my own company, many people I meet envy the fact that I never have to interview for a job. However, most people have it very wrong. The true story is I interview everyday – I’m selling not only myself, but my company, my partners, my staff and ultimately, my brand to people and companies all over the world that I want to work with.

So what do the writer of this blog and our 3 fashioneurs have in common other than our sartorialist tendancies? The fact that we never stop interviewing and neither should you. Every person you meet, whether in an interview, at a dinner, or even casually on the street is your chance to build your brand and reputation in life. I’m not saying that you approach every person you meet like you’re being interviewed or you are interviewing them – instead approach every person you meet as as an opportunity for you to build your brand.

The question then to ask yourself is, what do you want your brand to be known for?

However, you don’t have that choice. In fact the choice has already been made for you if you follow one of the golden rules of interviewing – Always dress better than the person interviewing you.

I’ve had many awkward moments where I’ve walked in a suit and tie and everyone around me is wearing in t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops. It didn’t matter – I hadn’t yet earned the privilege to come to the office dressed like that – I was still interviewing for the job and so my attire had to be the suit. I had no other choice.

So what message does that send to the person interviewing you (who is wearing jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers) when you’re wearing a suit and tie? That you’re dead serious about this job and you took the time to prepare not only your resume and answers, but your physical appearance, before coming into the interview. It doesn’t really matter if your suit is one size too big or your tie hangs below your belt line. What matters is the fact that you are simply wearing a suit and tie.

While that alone won’t get you a job, these are the little factors that come into play when I’m determining who to hire and when you’re one of the candidates on the fence, you want all of these little factors to go your way. With all candidates being equal, I’d be more inclined to hire the person who came in professionally dressed compared to the person who looks like they just came from a game of street basketball. If that person spends an extra 60 minutes getting dressed for their interview, I figure they’ll spend the extra time to make sure they get their job done right.

I asked an especially difficult question earlier today for a managerial candidate, a question that took me about 25 seconds to ask. I wanted to know what were the problems that her old HR department had and how those experiences can help prevent those same problems from appearing within my company. As she was beginning to talk, she seemed flustered and I cut her off and I told her to take a few seconds to think about the question.

She spent about 10 seconds thinking about her answer while I thumbed through her resume and profile. The silence was not awkward as she was clearly deep in thought about her answer.

She came back to me with a, “Okay, to answer your question….” and proceeded with a well-thought answer that nailed the question.

Don’t be afraid of a few seconds of silence during an interview to think about the question you just received. Even if you now the answer already, take a couple moments to gather your thoughts and deliver your answer as fluidly as possible. Not every moment spent in an interview has to be spent talking.

In fact, if you did a little bit more thinking and a little bit less talking, you’d go a long way towards nailing that next interview.

You’ve got about 45 seconds to impress me before I start zoning out because I frankly, I don’t care about anyone in your family but you. In fact, don’t even mention them at all during the interview unless I ask.

Focus your answers on you – your last job and your core responsibilities there, the reason why you took that specific course in college, and why you’re sitting in front of me now.

Rehearse and memorize this. Make it sound natural. Practice in front of your friends, family and a mirror.

Then go for it on your next interview. Comment back and let me know the results!

However, saying too much about nothing is just as harmful as not saying enough to answer an interview question.

Earlier today I conducted an interview and I posed this question to the interviewee: “So, you’ve come from very rigid corporate environments and you’ve even received your MBA from a very good institution. How will you handle the change from a corporate environment to a young, entrepreneurial environment where things work at a much faster pace and your job functions vary with the business needs?”

She spent about 8 minutes answering the question without really answering it. She rambled on and told elaborate stories about her previous work environment (Good!) but the stories were completely unrelated to the topic at hand (Bad!). The only thing I can remember from that question is the fact that wearing Crocs to her previous office constituted casual dress and because of that, she’s ready to work at a younger and more entrepreneurial company. I don’t know how valid that statement is but thats the only thing I remember. She did this for every question and this was probably the longest interview I’ve conducted this year.

I came to the conclusion that while she was a very bright and motivated individual, there wasn’t much substance behind her interview answers. It was all interview fluff – words, statements, phrases that don’t add any value to your answer and distracts me from the question you’re trying to answer. Fluff is like static – the more fluff you have, the more your potentially good answers gets hidden in the noise.

In the end, I want you to answer the question with as much depth and breadth as possible but I don’t want you to treat the interview like your own personal monologue.

How many ping pong balls can you fit in a jeepney – You’re probably thinking, what kind of stupid irrelevant question is that?

Well, its a stupid and irrelevant question that exposes you, the interviewee, to unfamiliar territory – there is no defined answer to this question and the logistical challenges of answering the question, boggle the mind of most individuals. In short, it catches you off guard and forces you to think (or not) on your feet. Its a question you can’t prepare for and even if you’ve prepared for all the other interview questions – tell me about yourself, what is your greatest strength, what do you know about our company – this is a question you can’t prepare for and where your mental ability will be tested.

For most standard positions, if you can’t answer this question, it will not make or break your application. However, if you’re someone on the edge of passing an interview or someone who answers this with the depth and breadth I expect, then you automatically position yourself for an even more prominent position within the company. However, for positions which require analytical ability – legal, accounting, finance, logistics – I expect you to at least ask me some questions about the question to help yourself answer it.

The ping pong ball question requires you to face an unfamiliar situation and determine a plan of attack – how are you going to answer a question which you’ve never been asked and frankly, which boggles the mind. Who thinks of packing a jeepney full of ping pong tables and aren’t they going to all fall out?

So how many ping pong balls can you fit in a jeepney?