Your Interview Process
This is the most powerful and exciting part of your job seeking adventure. If you are properly prepared, you will breeze through it with confidence and pleasure, light years ahead of your competition.
The job search starts with your résumé and cover letter and continues with the interview process.
Interviews are conducted in a variety of ways. They can be by phone or face to face. You may participate in a panel interview where you are the only interviewee with a whole team of interviewers asking you questions. Sometimes, not often, you may be a part of an interview where all the candidates are in a room facing a panel of interviewers.
Most likely you will experience a short phone interview and be asked to come in for a more extensive interview. This second step will be primarily conducted one-on-one with the hiring manager and/or a handful of people.
The number of possible scenarios are plenty, so your preparation is critical to your success. By the time you finish the next three chapters you will have enough skills to handle any situation.
The Phone Interview
Usually the phone is reserved for the screening interviews. This is just part of the elimination process to narrow the field to a manageable level. Very often, employers check your salary requirements at this time. This is a critical area of preparation. You must know your salary range and what your industry is willing to pay for your skills and services.
Not all employers use this as a screening tool. Depending on your field, you may find yourself in a situation where the phone interview is the majority of your interview process. That is why early preparation is so important. Don't think for a minute that you will have time to prepare for your interview after you are contacted by a potential employer.
Most employers look for any excuse to eliminate you and narrow the number of folks they have to deal with. Don't give them a chance. Prepare ahead of time and have a copy of your notes by the phone and ready at all times.
These notes should include your cover letter, résumé and any notes or ads from every employer you talked to or to whom you sent a résumé. If you are in a technical field where the interview questions are dealing with calculations and formulas, have a calculator and cheat sheet with the typical formulas available.
As you talk to your interviewer be careful not to make noise with your stack of notes. In other words, don't rustle your papers around while talking on the phone.
Most employers will call and make arrangements to call you again at a convenient time for a phone screening or a phone interview. This isn't always the case, however. I would be wary of companies who demand you interview right now. This throws up a big red flag for me. I believe the way you are treated on the phone will usually be much better then you will be treated on the job.
Sometimes, however, companies don't care because their résumé stack is a mile high and the folks doing the calling are not part of the main hiring team, they're just weeding people out. If for some reason you are caught off guard by a phone call, there are a couple of things you can do to re-gain your composure and control.
I am giving the next couple of examples to you as a backup plan when you haven't prepared properly. These aren't failsafe but might buy you enough time so you don't blow an opportunity.
If you just need a few seconds to get your notes because they are not by the phone then ask to switch phones, which you will probably want to do anyway, and grab them on the way. Or tell them you are late for an appointment; with your insurance agent, lawyer, taking your child to a game, etc. and ask if you can call them back in an hour, half an hour or whatever seems appropriate. Take this time to collect your notes, thoughts and attitude to maximize this opportunity.
For Desperate Phone Emergencies Only!
You may be one of those people who are very eager and have a tendency to jump right in the middle of something before you have all the information. We all do this once in a while. There are advantages and disadvantages to this type of approach.
I will cover a disadvantage and give you a way to save yourself in an extreme emergency. This technique works for anyone in a situation on the phone where they find themselves unprepared and in a panic. Sometimes this occurs when someone has been out of the job market for a while and isn't quite sure what to expect on the phone.
The worse case scenario is when you think you are prepared but the first question out of the interviewers mouth totally stuns you. If this happens and panic strikes and your gut tells you to run, it's time to be bold.
Quietly but quickly take a big saucepan with the big metal spoon and drop the pan so it just grazes the corner of the counter or stove.
When the pan makes the loud crash, say something like, "Oh no! I am so sorry! I just knocked the dinner on the floor and it's running onto the carpet! Can I call you back in fifteen minutes?"
This one desperate move could save your interview. Now you need to re-gain your composure, focus on your strengths and think about the question you were just asked.
I know it sounds a little crazy but it might just be the only way to save your opportunity if you are suddenly overcome with panic.
A few more comments about the phone interview:
If you aren't in a panic or all hyped up you will start relaxing after just a few minutes on the phone. Quite often the interview will begin to feel and sound like a normal everyday conversation. Don't let your guard down. This step of the process is a big hurdle and a critical benchmark on your way to a job offer.
When I am the one conducting an interview, I use this phone time to build rapport with my interviewee and help them open up to me so I can find out what type of person they are. By helping them relax and get comfortable with me, I can almost always get them to volunteer pertinent information they would normally keep closely guarded. So, be aware of what you are saying.
With the techniques you are learning in this program, it is highly likely you will ultimately get a job offer if you prepare properly and make it through the phone interview.
Face-to-Face Interview
The next two types of interviews I call a face to face screening and a full-blown interview. Others may refer to them as screening and hiring interviews.
You may never experience both of these but you should know the difference anyway. The face-to-face screening interview is typically shorter than the full-blown interview. It is usually more of a technically fundamental interview. This is where your preparation really pays off.
It can be one or multiple interviews with one person at a time or a panel of three or more. In order to be successful you will have to PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE. Your résumé and cover letter got you the interview, now it is really up to you to do the rest.
The full-blown interview is much the same as a screening but is usually longer and will typically contain a bit more behaviorally oriented questioning along with the technical portion. Either way, the preparation is the same.
You know you are interviewing with an exceptional company when they take you through a series of sequential interviews, which will ultimately yield them the best possible candidate.
My advice has always been, "If your interview lasts less then 30 minutes, RUN!" Sometimes circumstances are different I realize but unless you are interviewing for an entry-level position I would consider this as mandatory.
If your future boss won't take longer than 30 minutes to interview a candidate, you won't want to work in that environment. I coach my clients that are hiring to do an absolute minimum of three separate thirty minute interviews after the résumé and phone screening.
How to Prepare
Study the job description, again. Add the items that were uncovered during your pre-interview with your future boss. This will familiarize you with the position. Recall the research you have already done on the company for whom you plan to work.
Make a list of all the disciplines of your particular field. In other words, what are the categories of technical questions that you could possibly be asked about the job, your schooling or experience?
In each category, what are the specifics? Don't avoid the hard questions. You will definitely be asked these. What other tough questions would you ask if you were the hiring manager? Write them down.
Do some studying on the fundamentals of your particular field. Crack open the text books from your school days. Many employers use these basic skills as a primary basis for hiring. It isn't necessarily fair but you will appreciate the review after you're done.
If you didn't visit your potential employer and the résumé was the only thing that got you the interview, all is not lost. Take note however, you have no significant advantage over your competition at this point, at least as far as your interviewer sees it.
If there is enough time before your scheduled interview, use it to gain the advantage by setting up a face-to-face meeting with your future employer using the same guidelines as mentioned in Chapter 4 under, Questions to Ask Your Future Boss.
If you didn't contact anybody or do any research you need to get started right away finding out as much about the company as possible. Potential sources might be: their corporate website; employees you may know; the human resources department; competitors or the library.
When you go for your interview, take copies of your résumé, cover letter and any employee evaluations that are particularly good, hopefully recent ones. Also take a copy of any special awards you may have received. Make copies and put together a simple, easy to carry, organized portfolio of all these important documents.
Double-check the time and location if you are even a bit doubtful.
Just like the résumé and cover letter, there are some basic do's and don'ts for the interview process.
Do's and Don'ts
Your answers need to be truthful, so careful thought needs to be put into each interview answer. If you decide not to be forthright with your answers and happen to be interviewing with an experienced interviewer, you will be caught. Interview over. No chance, ever again.
NEVER answer any questions by being critical of your past employers, peers or positions.
NEVER answer any questions by complaining about your past employers, peers or positions.
Preparation is KING
Being prepared for the potential barrage of questions you may face is absolutely paramount.
It is critical to go through every part of the following preparation. This section will give you the confidence you need to succeed in the interview and the personal insight to the talents and skills you have to offer.
Review these to make sure you can answer every question. Answer them out loud. Record it. It's best to use a video camera and have someone ask you these questions.
Thinking about your answer and saying your answer out loud are not the same. I will repeat myself here:
saying your answer out loud
are NOT the same.
If you still don't believe this, record your answers and play them back to yourself. You will definitely understand what I am talking about.
The people who get jobs in a competitive market are the ones who are not afraid to do the preparation. They PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. I know you will do the same.
Answer each of the following questions from the employer's perspective. Put yourself in their place and think about the way you would want the question answered if you were the employer.
As you work through the following questions try to think of examples that demonstrate your skill level. Pay particular attention to the skills listed under your Skills Summary Highlights.
The following questions and personal fact finding are warm-ups for the more difficult ones to follow. They are the most common questions used by the majority of interviewers.
Here they are:
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Why do you think you are qualified for this job?
What is your single best quality or skill you bring to this position?
What would you say is your weakest attribute?
Why should I hire you?
What do you know about our company or organization?
What attracts you to this position?
Give me a quick evaluation of yourself? (Think about the power word lists.)
What do you think your peers would say about you? Your boss? Your subordinates?
Why do you want this job?
What is the most attractive aspect of this position?
What has been your least favorite job and why?
What has been your most favorite job and why?
Why did you leave your last position?
What kind of company do you prefer to work for, big or small and why?
Will you continue your education?
Tell me about a time you were able to resolve a conflict with a peer, boss or subordinate.
Tell me about a time you were not able to resolve a conflict with a peer, boss or subordinate.
What is the most frustrating aspect of your job right now?
If you had a choice, would you rather work in a group or by yourself and why?
Tell me what your biggest accomplishment in the last year has been. The year before?
Tell me about a time at work when you went above and beyond the call of duty.
Have you set any goals for yourself? What are they?
What is your plan for attaining these goals?
Give me an example of a time when you showed your leadership ability.
-substitute leadership with any other skill you claim to have.
Tell me, "step-by-step", what you would normally do from the time you show up to work till you go home.
What motivates you?
What de-motivates you?
What else should I know about you?
Tell me about the biggest obstacle you ever overcame at work.
Tell me about a time that you came up with an idea that solved a problem. How did you implement it? Who did you have to persuade?
What kind of decisions are the most difficult for you to make and why?
What did your last evaluation say about you that surprised you?
Describe the personality of someone you've worked with that you found difficult.
Give me an example of a job you would dislike.
What is the one question you hope I won't ask?
You appear to be over qualified. Why are you applying for this job and how can you convince me this isn't just to bring in some money while you look for a better paying opportunity?
What was the biggest failure of your career?
What has been the biggest success of your career?
Chapter 9 Review
- Prepare, Prepare, Prepare.
- Study the fundamental disciplines of your field.
- Have your notes available by the phone.
- Be prepared with questions of your own.
- Be truthful.
- Practice your answers in front of a video camera.
- Don't criticize, condemn or complain about past employers, positions or bosses.
- Prepare, Prepare, Prepare.
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