If you’ve ever been in a bad job situation, you have no desire to repeat it. And that’s understandable. However, you don’t want to ever, ever—and I mean NEVER—discuss it in an interview.
Think of it this way—when you’re on a first date with someone, do you want to hear about their past failed relationships? It’s irrelevant whether they were at fault or not. You don’t know enough about someone on a first date to assess who they are as a person and trust them.
It’s the same in an interview. Recently I heard an example of someone who had had several interviews with a major department store. Things seemed to be going very well. They liked him, he liked them. But he let his guard down and felt compelled to discuss a bad experience he had had at another employer. It probably didn’t help that the other employer was part of the same parent company of department stores.
I don’t know why he let the conversation go there, but in some cases it could be his own bravado, or desire to confide in who he thinks are future friends. Either way, it’s a bad move. It’s assuming a level of trust that isn’t there.
Everyone can relate to the feeling though, and that’s why it’s such a dangerous trap. It’s the gossip feeling. The rush when we divulge information that we know we probably shouldn’t and that the information we’re imparting will increase our standing in the interviewer’s eyes. It won’t.
Many of you will read this and think—well DUH! I’d NEVER do that—but it’s easier than you think. No matter how well you’re getting along with the interviewers, no matter how much you want to establish rapport and have them see you as a fit with the company. No matter how much you want them to like you—don’t talk about past jobs in an unfavorable light.
If you must talk about where you used to work, admit responsibility for whatever happened, and what you learned from the situation and move on. Never pin all of the blame on a former employer.
The strengths and weaknesses topic is universally the one that most interviewees are afraid of being asked, and the question that most interviewers are most likely to ask. Therefore there is no reason not to have an excellent answer to this question.
Let’s start with the more difficult question first—your weaknesses. No one likes to admit that they have a weakness, whether it be for chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate, or procrastinating until the very last minute before an important project is due.
The key to answering this question correctly is to provide a weakness, and discuss how you have overcome it, or are working to overcome it. An example I always use is that unless I’m constantly vigilant, my desk can turn into an absolute hovel of papers. I have a tendency to let things pile up even after I’ve completed a project, thinking that I’ll still need to refer to my notes in the future. It’s only after a few weeks have snuck by and I make a desperate attempt to find the desktop again, that I realize that I didn’t need to save as much paperwork as I did. I now make sure that I set aside time when I come into the office on Friday morning to clear off my desk and prioritize my projects for the day. I have found that it makes me feel much more sane, and keeps me productive.
Note in the above example how I discussed my weakness: that it’s always been a problem, and how I work to overcome it on a weekly basis. Also note that admitting this specific weakness probably won’t keep me from getting the job—unless the hiring manager is a compulsive neat freak (in which case it’s probably best that I not work for them). Avoid weaknesses that could seriously cast doubt on your work ethic or personality. Never discuss coming into work late, personality conflicts, or the quintessential “I work too hard” as a weakness. First, nobody wants to take a chance on you if you have the first two weaknesses, and nobody actually believes the third one. Acceptable weaknesses are a fear of public speaking, drinking too much coffee in the morning, or the constant battle to stop smoking, and others that are not typically job-threatening. Don’t forget to show how you are working to overcome these weaknesses.
In discussing your strengths—your best bet is to identify a strength that you know is a quality they are looking for in a job applicant. If it’s a customer service position, emphasize how much you like to help people, and although they can be challenging at times, you enjoy being able to make someone else’s life easier. Just don’t get too sappy here or it will seem fake, but if possible take this opportunity to further show them that you are the perfect applicant for the job.
This is part two of my TODAY method of preparing for job interviews–discussing obstacles you’ve Overcome.
This can seem daunting, but don’t be intimidated because you haven’t climbed Mt. Everest with one hand tied behind your back. Employers are looking for day-to-day examples of when you were faced with a challenge and used your street-smarts, book-smarts, or just plain cunning to get you out of a mess.
Again, remember to set the stage to give some background about the situation, talk specifically about what YOU did, and how the situation resolved.
Think of everyday examples of obstacles you worked to overcome. Was there a time when you had to get to the airport but your car wouldn’t start? Do you remember a situation at work when you had to ship many packages but the shipping department had left for the day? Did you ever start a job to find that the person before you had left all of the materials in complete disarray and your new boss wasn’t able to train you on what you should be doing? Maybe it’s even something as simple as quitting smoking.
Some of those were bigger challenges than others, but all of them will demonstrate to a potential employer the following characteristics:
- How you deal with pressure.
- How you approach problems.
- What your thought process is to find the solution.
- How do you react if you have to change your game plan midway through the task.
- How much guidance you require to accomplish a task. Are you a self-starter?
- Maybe in some of those situations you even had to manage others to overcome the obstacle. Can you be an effective leader?
All of these things are vital characteristics to an employer’s search for the perfect employee. Make it easy for them to recognize you as their next star by practicing your soundbites and clearly explaining your greatness.
It seems like this should be the easiest one in the world to discuss in an interview, but it’s the one that most interviewees don’t do well.
These days many jobs are pretty compartmentalized. The bigger companies get, the more jobs that involve handling minute details of the business. Unfortunately in some cases it can be difficult to explain those daily duties in an interview and help the interviewer understand what skills you use every day.
The best approach is to be as direct and simple as possible. When they ask you about your current position, start by telling them about your basic responsibilities. Then tell them who your “clients” are. Who do you service in the company? Whose questions do you answer? Are all of your clients external customers, or are you responsible for working with other departments in the company?
Then branch out into describing what a typical request would be. And BE SPECIFIC. Remember, the interviewer is coming from a completely different company where things are done completely differently. They’re trying to figure out what you get paid to do on a daily basis, and if it in any way relates to the stuff that they’re going to ask you to do. If you can’t use the actual names of clients or companies or products, then tell them names like Company X, or a project involving researching/finding/buying/selling widgets. Paint a detailed picture of what you do, almost to the point where you’re describing to them how to do it.
Here’s an example of an OK answer, and then a Great answer.
In my last position, I was responsible for assisting the executive director. He was only in the office a few days a week, so I spent a lot of time on the phone with him. I would make plane reservations, handle the catering for some in-house meetings, and schedule appointments. He was busy, so I had a lot of things to do all the time. I like being busy. Sometimes the meetings were in different cities around the country, and he would invite many executives from those cities and spend a lot of time on the phone. I would also make copies of things, and do some filing. He didn’t have a good filing system when he started so I fixed that.
Great Answer:
In my last position, my title was Executive Administrative Assistant, and I worked directly for the Executive Director of PlanetCo Inc. The company had about $150 million in sales, and 500 employees around the country. As I’m sure you can imagine with a company that size, the executive director is very busy with meetings and travel to the various sites. I would book all of his travel arrangements, many times I stayed late to make sure to book him on the correct flight in the morning. I was also responsible for booking the meeting space in each city, handling the catering, and if they were planning to meet with any clients in the evening, it was up to me to make dinner reservations at a great restaurant, as well as secure tickets to the hottest act in town for them and their wives. It was stressful at times, but I learned to chat up the receptionist and other admins in the other locations for help in knowing who to call, and where to send them for dinner. I liked being resourceful and the challenge of keeping up with the executive director’s requests. I was also responsible for getting the Annual Meeting report produced—everything from sending his edits to the designer, to taking the file to the copy center and answering their questions about how it should be bound. I knew nothing about doing that when I started, but luckily the company we use for our printing was very friendly and taught me a lot. Their filing system was pretty inefficient when I started. All projects were filed alphabetically, so I suggested we change the system to file it by department first, then alphabetically, and that worked better for everyone.
Notice how much detail is in the second example. I quickly talk about the size of the company, to give the interviewer some perspective about the scope of the job. Leaving out that detail could leave the interviewer thinking that the company only had a few people, vs. their company where there’s hundreds. They may not think that you can handle the responsibility. I then go on to describe some typical requests, and include that I liked doing them and why. This clues the interviewer into your personality. I even included details about the specific dinner and ticket requests, how I solved that problem, and that I enjoyed figuring it out. That tells an interviewer that you’re not afraid of difficult situations and will find a creative way to solve a problem.
So to wrap up—the more details you can include to paint a picture about your current job, the better. However, be careful not to go off on tangents. Stick to the point. The great thing about this soundbite is that I can GUARANTEE you’ll be asked it in every interview. If not about every past job, certainly about your most recent job, so there’s no excuse for not practicing it and nailing it.
Let’s face it – while we go to the office to work, no one is expected to keep their head down the entire time they’re there, not speak to anyone else, and forego the occasional cigarette break. Yet companies obviously expect productivity out of their employees.
No talking or socializing at all is one extreme, while the other is being able to talk to whomever you want, whenever you want, about whatever you want, even if you never quite manage to make it to your desk until 11:00 a.m. Both examples are equally unrealistic
So first we have the entire gray area in between those two, and that’s just during office time. Some companies have outside-the-office events or activities in which to participate – and of those, companies will differ in their definition of voluntary and mandatory, depending on the company and the event.
Then you take into account management styles; the self perception of an individual – erroneous or otherwise; a company’s philosophy and style, which in small to medium companies is usually pervasive of the CEO; or in a large company, the varying philosophies of Vice Presidents or personality characteristics of different functions (accounting vs. sales) which can result in multiple departments each with a different personality.
You begin to see the various influences that define “people oriented.”
The phrase is generally used to convey something vaguely like a company where everyone is pleasant and happy and people smile at each other when they pass in the halls. It’s fun to work there, everyone likes his job, and each employee is treated well and fairly. Know any companies like that?
“People oriented” is a trite and ambiguous phrase that needs defining to make sure your definition is the same as the company’s – and that you can spot a difference if there is one.
But additionally, saying you want a “people oriented” company assumes, by contrast, that there are companies which are not people oriented.
What does a company that is not people oriented behave like? Is there such a thing? Probably, yes. But do they know it? High turnover is usually a clue, but an amazing number of companies never identify that as a problem, much less one worth looking at.
Most companies consider themselves people oriented. Most people consider themselves “people oriented”!
So in many of those same companies, there’s likely to be a significant difference of opinion on what “people oriented” means, depending on who you ask: senior management, staff, customers, or other businesses with whom they interact; depending on whether they like their job; depending on what kind of day they’re having…..or depending on if they have to put on a face to interview you.
You’ve probably had a boss or a co-worker who considered himself people oriented, but perhaps was rather aloof. Or a boss who moves through the halls waving a cheery hello to his employees, but when you go looking for him, he’s never available. What about the CEO who is jovial with his employees, knows everyone by name, but through policies and procedures, makes life miserable for those who work there?
Each of these individuals might claim to be people oriented, but in reality, what might seem to that person as people oriented, looks to others like a lack of awareness and unwillingness to look inwardly at the truth.
So what do you mean by “people oriented”?
- do you want a company that promotes from within?
- doesn’t frown on gathering at the water cooler?
- a company that has routine company parties and other office-wide gatherings?
- one where management makes a practice of being accessible?
- customers are of paramount importance both in philosophy and actuality?
- a company that is involved in its community and requires each employee to join or participate in a specific event once or twice each year?
When you take the time to look closer at what this phrase means to you, you’ll discover that some aspects of being “people-oriented” are more important to you than others. Knowing what you mean by this phrase gives you the power to discover if the company’s definition is the same as yours.
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