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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Sending a thank you letter is as important as interview preparation. But they’re tough to write, so people either tell themselves that not sending one doesn’t matter, or they procrastinate until it’s too late and almost pointless anyway. Anyone who tells themselves that foregoing a fundamental rule of etiquette doesn’t matter, not only taints themselves in the mind of the interviewer, but misses two additional opportunities to sell.
A thank you letter is an additional sales piece. As I’ve said before, you’re selling a product and the product is you. So beyond the reason of etiquette, the letter sells you as a polite person who recognizes that the interviewer gave them something valuable: time and consideration.
A fundamental rule of sales is to keep the product in front of the buyer and reinforce its benefits. So beyond the etiquette, the letter gives you ample space to comment on what you liked about the company, why your skills are of benefit to them, and how much you’re interested. If something wasn’t tied up, or was left unsatisfactorily, you should use the space to further address the issue.
If you miss the opportunity to reinforce your skills and tie them to the job requirements, you miss a chance to sell. If you miss the opportunity to address a negative, and leave it to fester in the mind of the interviewer, you’ve failed to overcome an objection. And if a buyer has an objection to the product, if it isn’t addressed the likelihood of the sale is slim.
The third opportunity missed by skipping the thank you letter is the chance to keep your name in front of the buyer. Read newspapers? Watch TV? See the same ads over and over and over again? It’s somewhat the same principle – if you keep your name in front of the hiring authority, they’re more likely to remember you.
So let’s look at how to create a thank you letter so that it becomes a less odious task.
- First paragraph
Open with the obligatory thank you and include how you enjoyed the meeting. Say why. Maybe the people you met were exceptional. Perhaps their company philosophy was exactly what you had hoped for. It doesn’t matter. Pick something out, and put it down. But make it real.
- Second paragraph
What took place during your interview? Pull out a piece of information that pleased you, say what it was, and tell them why. For instance: I was particularly pleased to find that X company/the opportunity/your management style has/was/is/does whatever. This is exciting because…… .
You can expand on whatever it is for a few sentences by elaborating: how it relates to something you’ve experienced and like — or didn’t liked. Discuss a particular aspect of the job you find appealing and reiterate why you’d be successful at it or how long you’ve been performing it or how similar it is to something you’ve done in the past.
- Third paragraph
You can add a similar paragraph if the second was fairly short. Or you can wind it up if it was a bit lengthy. If there was something that came up that needed clarification or about which they were dubious, address it and clear it up here.
- Fourth paragraph
Wind it up. Re-iterate your interest. Be enthusiastic! Leave the job speak behind. If you really want to be hired, let your interest shine through.
Caution: Don’t start every sentence with “I”. It may be the easiest way to write the letter but it’s not only repetitive, it’s a turn off. Count them. It’s not unusual to, in fact, start every single paragraph with that. Egocentric. Re-arrange the sentence.
If you really want the job, the letter will be easy to write because it will contain genuine impressions. If you choose to skip the letter, perhaps you don’t care if you’re hired or not. But make that decision yours and withdraw from the process instead of letting the decision be made for you.
Thanks to Fisher-Price, as babies we learn a concept that we seem to forget by the time we’re adults: you can’t put a square peg in a round hole. And people are doing this more than ever in this market, as they continue to go about job searches totally backwards and how they give themselves away on the interview.
We do the “square peg in a round hole” especially with relationships and with jobs. If we don’t know what we’re looking for, we become obscured by what we’re attracted to. And then we don’t realize we’ve reverted to pounding the round orange peg into the hole on that plastic table right in front of us when it’s the square blue peg that fits.
These days, job seekers don’t care. They want a job! Any job! Ironically “these days” this concept is even more important than it is when the hiring market is healthier.
But because people need a job, they’ll continue to force it – and with a lot of hard work, sweat, and stress – it can be made to fit, but never very well and never for very long. Eventually that peg is going to explode out of the hole into which they’re trying to mash it.
And by the time they realize it’s not fitting, they’re so far in that instead of realizing what’s happened and getting out, they try harder to make it work or else they do nothing. In both cases, not only does the fit fail to improve, it becomes more tenuous with time.
Failing to define what they want is where it begins. And unless luck intervenes, it’s not long before the new job – or new relationship – isn’t as satisfying as it initially appeared. Additionally, when they realize that what they have isn’t what they want, they wait too long to leave. And in leaving one job for another, desperation does not breed objectivity.
Avoiding the “unhappy at work” syndrome can be solved in a few simple pro-active steps especially if you don’t get bogged down in the discomfort and fear of the minutae along the way.
- Acknowledge you hate your job and want to be elsewhere – and realize it before you feel you have to leave at any cost
- Get a solid idea of what you like, don’t like, what motivates you, at what you excel, under what circumstances you produce your best work, etc, by examining your previous jobs
- Identify exactly what you want in your next job and under what circumstances you’re willing to bend your needs
- Actively go find it, and exclude anything that doesn’t match it or come close
- As you interview – and learn more information about each opportunity – pursue it if it fits and dump it if it doesn’t
You’re looking for the company that meets your profile, and is looking for an employee like you. Every person is unique, and every company and job is unique. Job hunting isn’t that different from dating. In a bad match, both parties will be unhappy and resistant to being changed by the other. But when the bad match is your new job, you’ve gotten married a whole lot sooner so there’s a bit more involved than just breaking up and going home.
Beyond knowing what you want in your next company, you need to be aware of why you’re valuable, what you have to offer, under what circumstances you can best contribute to a company, and how and why you will be an asset and a value-added employee.
Because otherwise, whether you’re tempted by the salary, blinded by the desperate need to pay bills, operating under a haze of assumptions or – having stuck your resume on a job board and waited for a miracle – finally having found something, you might soon discover it’s not the Utopia you thought it would be.
So pay attention to that long-ago lesson you learned sitting on the living room floor. Know if you’re a square blue peg, a red triangle peg, a green rectangle peg or whatever you are before you go looking so you’re able to spot the place you want to be. Not only will you find you slide into place and rest there contentedly much easier, but you’ll find you get a job much faster, too.
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BIO: Judi Perkins, the How-To Career Coach, worked with decision making, hiring authorities for over 22 years. She’s seen over 600,000 resumes and knows how hiring authorities think and how they hire. As many of her clients who have found jobs in 4 – 12 weeks agree, her perspective and method is much different from that of other career coaches, because her unique background results in a very counter-intuitive but holistic approach encompassing skills, psychology, and sales. Clients come to understand why the typical strategies in finding a job so often fail, and learn what to do instead, why, and how, yet never hiding or sacrificing who they are. She’s been on PBS’s Frontline, Smart Money magazine, articles for CareerBuilder, MSN Careers, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and the New York Times, among others. She’s also been featured as an expert in numerous career books. Sign up for her free newsletter and receive a comprehensive resume report in return! www.findtheperfectjob.com
The Four Types of Career Coaching
Often people find themselves in the in-transition phase as a surprise without having a fair chance to evaluate sources of assistance getting back into the labor force. Following are a few scenarios.
No Career Coaching
Some people belong to this group. Their previous employers have not entitled them to career coaching, and they decide not to seek such assistance. Two of the primary reasons are that (1) they say that in past they were able to secure employment and (2) they’re in such emotional torment that they feel themselves to be in a fog and can’t make logical decisions. They still mourn their loss. Their success is thus hindered and grossly limited but not impossible.
Limited Assistance
Some people are entitled to several months of a full package of outplacement services based on their positions in their previous companies and on their tenures there. Paid in full by that past employer, the service may entitle the person in transition to limited, one-on-one coaching; group networking; seminars and workshops; assistance in resume writing; and access to the outplacement firm’s online databases to search for potential employers. This type of service offers value for the first three weeks or so; thereafter the benefit curve turns down drastically. Separately, or in conjunction with outplacement services, some people in transition join one or more of various job search networking groups and/or state-run organizations such as one of New Jersey’s 11 One-Stop Professional Service Groups. Some of the groups, such as the one in Dover, are truly effective for job seekers; others are less helpful.
Career Marketing Firms
A career marketing firm is an organization that hires a sales force to recruit candidates who are typically job seekers in desperate stages of the job search. Payment is made up front and varies, but it’s in the range of 5 percent of a candidate’s annual salary. Career marketing firms provide one-on-one career coaching; they produce personal marketing material for the job seeker; they offer access to one or more paid-for databases; and they render assistance with resume writing. The degree of their success varies, and their reputations by and large are questionable. Most of them close shop within a few years because they get sued; others morph into differently named shops. Before you engage a particular firm, talk to people you trust who have knowledge of it; get recommendations for good ones if you can; and then check them out yourself online at www.ripoffreport.com.
Independent Career Coaching
Independent career coaches vary greatly in terms of the fees they charge and the services they provide. Your best bet is to thoroughly check out a coach’s reputation. Talk to several people who have used that coach’s services, visit the coach’s Web site, and interview several such coaches before making a commitment. Learn what your total expense will be, and find out what to expect once the coaching is done. An independent career coach tailors a program specifically to your needs. The coach assists with resume writing, provides marketing material, gives unbiased opinions and advice regarding next steps and how to accomplish them, and assists in teaching the skills for negotiation of a better compensation package. A career coach holds your hand till you land and provides you with emotional support to get you through job transition. Above all, a coach typically speeds up the job search process.
In Summary
Simply put there are two major components to people’s decision making process; emotional and logical. There is no question that a person in-transition is surrounded by all kind of emotionally driven thoughts. Given a little time the emotional side will subside and be taken over by the logic. That is the time to make the hard decisions. The sooner you get there the sooner you will get employed.
Alex Freund is the founder of Landing Expert–Career Coaching. His Web site includes a current and comprehensive list of job search networking groups in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the city of New York, and the site is visited by thousands of people every month. Landing Expert is a premier career-coaching service with the objective of preparing job seekers for interviews. Alex’s clients are gaining knowledge, receiving marketing material, and acquiring the know-how to beat the competition.
Alex can be reached at:
609-333-8866
