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BY Maddie Reese

Encore of E102: How to Impress a Corporate Recruiter: Interview Tips for Junior Military Officers

The November 2026 Career Conference is in full swing, and we are bringing back one of our top episodes. Joel Junker, Senior Vice President and Partner of Cameron-Brooks, sat down with special guest Frances Cole Jones, the author of How to Wow:  Proven Strategies for Selling Your (Brilliant) Self in Any Situation. In this episode, they address the following question: How can a junior military officer impress a corporate recruiter?

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Here’s a note from Joel about his key takeaways:

Junior Military Officers (JMOs) are taught to be calm under pressure, to stay even keeled and be short and to the point when speaking with superiors.  While this style is important as a JMO leader, it does not translate well to interviewing. During an interview, recruiters really want to get to know a candidate. A big part of what a corporate recruiter thinks of a candidate is how the candidate made them “feel”.  That feeling is an emotional connection.

I spend a lot of time interview coaching candidates on bringing out personality with body language and tone of voice.  In 2016, I looked for books and other tools to help candidates and I came across Frances Cole Jones the author of How to Wow:  Proven Strategies for Selling Your (Brilliant) Self in Any Situation  She is often a guest on the podcast, “The Art of Manliness”, sharing her expertise on communication, body language and presenting your best self.  I was so impressed with Frances, I wrote about her work on our blog in 2016. 

Her website has an Ask a Question section and claims she answers them personally.  So, I boldly asked her to be a guest on The Cameron-Brooks Podcast.  The next day, she sent me a response with a resounding “Yes”, telling me that her nephew is a JMO in the Navy, her spouse is a former Marine and her brother is a former Air Force (I think I got all of that right).

One of the topics Frances and I covered in our podcast is Albert Mehrabian’s study on how we influence people.  Mehrabian is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at UCLA and he found that the effectiveness of our communication (or influence) is 7% verbal, 38% tone of voice, and 55% body language.  I asked Frances to be on the podcast to discuss the study and share tips on how JMOs can improve their own body language and tone of voice during interviews. She covers many tips during the podcast, but there were two I particularly liked.

• Video record yourself delivering answers.  You can record with your phone or sign up for a free account with Zoom.  When you watch it back, turn off the sound. Try to focus on your facial expressions and body language only.  Does it look like you are talking about something you are proud of and excited about or like you’re about to have a root canal?
• If you have difficulty with a dynamic range in your voice inflection, record yourself reading a children’s book.  You have to give voice inflection because it’s what they are designed for.

I want to thank Frances for her time and expertise.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning from her and I hope you do as well.

Joel Junker

Since his discussion with Frances, Joel has incorporated these tips on how to impress a corporate recruiter into each Career Conference. By applying these tips, along with the preparation and coaching they receive through the Cameron-Brooks program, officers have found great success.

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