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Ten minutes after I meet with a coaching client for the first time, the client is facing my video camera for 60 to 90 seconds. Then we watch the video together. Differently from in real life and because we have modern technology, I can separate the impression—and the client’s image—from the spoken words. I simply turn the speakers off so I don’t get influenced by the video’s verbal content and context. This is a powerful experience, one that provides rich information. In most cases a client can use that information for improving job interview skills and then can apply the newly learned skills during a job interview. Most people are awestruck by their video experience. In less than two minutes, people can see for themselves how they’re perceived by others—something they couldn’t have known before.
Albert Mehrabian, currently UCLA professor emeritus of psychology, published his findings on inconsistent communication of feelings and attitudes and on the relative importance of verbal messages and nonverbal messages. He devised what’s known as the 55%-38%-7% rule. Professor Mehrabian’s basic tenet is that when we communicate with other people, we’re being judged to the extent of 55% by our nonverbal behavior such as body language and facial expression, 38% by our tone of voice, and only the remaining 7% by the actual words we speak and their context. Moreover, if the words we use are incongruent with our body language and tonality, then the other person tends to believe more in what he sees and hears and less in the meaning of the words.
When we interview, our body language says a lot about us and about our emotional state; and poor body language often sends the message that we’re stressed or fearful. But even before the interview interaction begins, the interviewer looks at your face, your hair, your clothes, and the image you’re projecting. Thus, he forms an opinion about you before you’ve even had a chance to formally meet.
The interviewer observes your body language and interprets it quickly, knowing at once whether you’re scared, passive, under- qualified, or something else. If you say the wrong thing, the interviewer can forgive that, but if your body language says something different from what you actually say—for example, you say you’re a person who works well in stressful situations, but your body language betrays the fact that you’re indeed stressed; or, for another example, you say you’re confident, but your body language again betrays the fact that you’re not—well, those are things an interviewer knows you can’t change.
Following are a few body language mistakes to avoid during a job interview.
- Crossing your arms, which suggests you’re either overconfident or uncomfortable
- Lack of eye contact, especially while the interviewer is talking
- Not smiling, which makes you appear nervous or unfriendly
- Hiding your hands, because the interviewer will want to interpret how open and honest you are by looking at your hands
The only way to improve correspondence between the words you say and what your body language says is to prepare for the interview and practice, practice, and practice some more. It’s best to practice interviewing with someone who can point out to you your areas of deficiency and can guide you in making improvements.
So, finally, you receive a call to schedule an interview.
All your efforts have paid off. A person calls you to schedule another interview. This is a huge compliment! You were selected from dozens or, at times, hundreds of people who applied for the very same position. You typically feel elated on one hand and apprehensive on the other. The reason is clear. You know that the real test lies in the interview process.
Even if you think you interview well (because you’ve gotten jobs in the past!), the interview represents a big challenge. Over the past several years, the business climate has changed dramatically, and at the same time, the market has gotten flooded with highly qualified candidates. Interviewing is a skill that can be improved through hard work and preparation. There are so many applicants for only one opening that the process has become extremely competitive. You need to outshine your competition. Unless you kept your job search skills honed in on job market developments, you’ll most likely need to improve in this area.
So, what to do? You can do your own research and preparation via the Internet. Millions do so, but that process can take weeks or even months. Instead, you could hire a career coach! The career coach’s job is to prepare you for the upcoming competition. Such coaching will shorten your search as well as teach you how to do things right and how to avoid making costly or even, at times, fatal mistakes. The coach might also assist you in negotiating a better compensation package, which will more than make up for what you paid for coaching services.
Think of it in terms of sports: All professional athletes have coaches even though professional athletes are highly skilled. Why is this? Since the coach has no bias, he will point out to you not only your strong points but also your areas needing improvement. He will guide you to attainment of your goal.
What’s important to the hiring manager?
A hiring manager considers several factors. For example, he will review your professional background and your career progression. He’s also going to question your accomplishments as described on your resume. Be prepared to elaborate on those accomplishments once prompted in your interview. In addition, of course, your education and credentials will likely weigh heavily.
It is a huge plus for you if you were referred by a trusted source. Why is that? It’s because the roles in the interview process are well defined: This is a transaction between you and the hiring manager. You are tantamount to a salesperson with the intent to sell yourself. The hiring manager is the buyer. His job is to select among several salesperson candidates. He is not inclined to buy everything the salesperson wants to sell. However, if a trusted person recommended you, then the hiring manager’s scrutiny is significantly minimized, thus dramatically increasing your chances of being hired.
What happens at an interview?
In preparing for a big interview, it might be helpful to take on the mind-set of someone who has just finished one. After an interview is over, you will have many questions in your mind: How did you do? Were you able to provide the right answers? Defend your liabilities? And convince the hiring manager that in your past positions you not only did what he needs done but, more important, also did it successfully? Was that job performance successful because you said so? Or because it was recognized by others? Recognition by others is what convinces a hiring manager that you performed with distinction.
Once the interview is over, you must follow up. Your thank-you letter should address any questions the interviewer may have about your candidacy. It’s up to you to find out what they are. When you’re asked, “So, do you have any questions for me?” ask the interviewer about your candidacy for the position. After all of this, the only big issue remaining to be addressed is whether you’d fit harmoniously into the organization. This fit issue has a lot to do with the chemistry between a candidate and a hiring manager.
So, why is the hiring process illogical?
As you can see, today’s hiring process is lengthy. A candidate uses logic throughout the application process, but the involvement of many people over such a long time can sometimes lead to an illogical result. Furthermore, in most of the cases of rejection, the truth is not revealed to the candidate because of the potential trigger of a lawsuit. Therefore, the only logical conclusion from the candidate’s point of view is that the process is illogical. However, an understanding of the entire process can equip you and help you through.
Unlike past scenarios, job interviews have become harder and harder. Employers have an abundance of very qualified applicants, many of them working with interview coaches to elevate their interviewing skills. The outcome is that it raises the bar for everyone. There are many books available to job seekers to read and brush up on interviewing skills, but the problem associated with that is that many of those books are old and reflect the thinking of the era in which they were written.
Employers have become sophisticated in the area of interviewing candidates. In the past, after snail mailing a cover letter and résumé to a target company, a job applicant would receive a phone call invitation for an interview with the hiring manager. Nowadays there’s very little personal interaction at the front end of the process. The résumé submittal is electronic and goes directly into a database. The résumé gets buried there until its resurrection via the appropriate keywords a recruiter is interested in. Then comes the initial screening-out phone interview, and only if that goes well is a candidate invited to a series of interviews with often large numbers of people. There are a number of reasons for these changes.
Today’s employers react to the current economic condition by focusing on higher productivity through the application of various technologies, new and better software, and outsourcing in order to reduce staff and associated staff costs such as office space, pensions, and health care.
The hiring process today is also significantly more selective than in the past. Companies need people who can quickly learn constantly new technologies, can adapt to continuous changes, can reinvent their own jobs, and can function while changes occur at faster and faster rates.
When employers select new employees, they’re looking for those types who can provide solutions resulting in increased efficiency and, at the same time, reduced costs. Otherwise, jobs will move offshore.
Nobody’s job is safe anymore. The past paradigm of building a solid career is no longer valid. People out of work need information and intelligence about growth opportunities and must adapt their skills to meet employers’ requirements. This is a challenging proposition for job seekers—and especially for those who are more advanced in age than other job seekers. Waiting for things to happen is often futile and certainly demoralizing. Career counselors can be of great assistance, but the majority of the burden is on the job seeker.
Many interviewers don’t know how to interview, and the majority of candidates are not sufficiently prepared for the test. Because that situation is a given, a candidate can improve the chances for hire by better understanding the interview process itself and the emotional aspects of the interview.
Conversely from what our instinct might tell us, the interview focus is not on the candidate but on the interviewer’s needs and on satisfying them. And by the way, this is done on a competitive basis, because the candidate who appears to be the best fit into the interviewer’s company’s culture and who shows passion and excitement will be offered the job.
This may sound obvious, but beyond the exchange of information and the validation of career facts are a lot of emotions that intrude themselves into the interview process. For example, a candidate’s natural tendency is to walk into the interview and start selling because the clock is ticking. My suggestion, however, is to hold off the selling and instead, start easy talk. Establish a relationship with the other party, and work on strengthening that relationship until the interviewer stops it when it’s time to move on with the interview.
At that point, the interviewer will ask a guided, open-ended question such as, “Tell me about yourself” or “Why are you interested in this job?” because he wants to obtain a point of reference for how the candidate is positioning himself. A candidate who understands the interview process will give a very brief answer to the question and then turn the conversation so that the interviewer starts talking about his problems. After all, this is what the interview is really all about.
The candidate should indeed bring up and interject facts from past professional experience to prove a history of dealing with similar issues and being able to resolve them to the satisfaction of customers, bosses, and others. Make sure you provide such facts, because otherwise, whatever you say is no more than anecdotal hearsay or your opinion. This phase is most likely the crux of the interview, since now, the interviewer is analyzing your candidacy for fit, skills, and character. This is when you have to project lots of confidence. This is what you’re selling, and this is what the interviewer wants to buy.
If you can follow the foregoing guidelines, you’ll improve your chances to win the competition. The last step before you formally accept an offer involves learning the tactics of negotiating a compensation package.
Perfection is an overrated concept. Even those who know it’s unattainable try for it when they interview. What’s the result? Nervousness. For example, fear you won’t be liked. Fear you’ll be asked a question but won’t know the answer. Fear that you won’t be asked back. Fear that you might, and they hire the other person instead.
Frequently fear stems from lack of preparation. It can also result from being too attached to the outcome. When you really want the job, but are afraid of not getting it, you try too hard and worry too much about pleasing the interviewer. Consequently, you lose touch with who you are and sabotage yourself, bringing about the opposite outcome from the one you consciously desired. A small incident can take on monumental proportions.
Even when you’ve done your homework, know what you’re looking for in your perfect job, and are fully grounded, things can go amok, scattering your composure. And though you’re not desperate to please, you’d still prefer that nothing untoward happens with which you have to deal.
If Murphy’s Law should rear its ugly head while you’re interviewing, here are a few scenarios and how to handle them.
- You’re in the middle of a sentence, and completely forget what you’re talking about – Don’t try to recoup by talking randomly in an attempt to get back on track. Trying to pretend it didn’t happen makes it more noticeable. Instead, break the awkwardness and throw a little lightness into the situation. Smile. Say, “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little nervous. I forgot what I was saying!” Interviewers forget what they’re saying too.
- You get that incessant tickle in your throat and cough every few words – The interviewer is bound to offer you a glass of water. Don’t be shy, proud, or embarrassed. Take it and say, “Thank you.” Then smile, pause, gather yourself. Continue where you left off. Interviewers cough too.
- You burp unexpectedly – Finesse is definitely the key in this one, along with your thought process. Look surprised and aghast; you probably are anyway. Gracefully say, “Excuse me. I’m a little embarrassed by that!” Smile graciously. Resist the urge to say anything about your lunch. Put it out of your mind, and continue with the interview. Interviewers may not always burp in an interview, but they burp. And at some point in their recent life, they, too, have burped at the wrong moment.
- Your cell phone rings – Don’t answer it. Don’t find it and turn it off. Say, “I’m sorry. I thought I’d turned that off before I got here.” Then ignore it and hope it doesn’t ring again. If it does, then turn it off. Better yet, make sure you turn it off before you arrive.
- You knock an item onto the floor and it breaks – A simple “I’m so sorry,” will suffice. Don’t tag on a line about how clumsy you are. When you begin to pick up the pieces, the interviewer should tell you not to bother. If you can replace it easily, like a coffee mug, do so. If it can be fixed, offer to take it to the best repair shop around. Otherwise send some flowers or a plant the next day with a brief, handwritten note of apology. Your thank you letter still counts, and it’s a separate document in a separate envelope.
Can you detect the common thread in these instances? Gracefulness. People tend to make a mistake and be mortified about it. They babble excuses, attempt to be funny, and then silently and mentally dwell on it for the remainder of the interview. And not coincidentally, they don’t get the job.
Interviewers aren’t perfect either. They’ve sneezed and not had a tissue, they’ve been fired, they’ve said the wrong thing at the wrong moment. Keep your composure. Don’t give away your power. It’s not what you do, it’s how you handle it.
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