When you feel confident and secure, it's easier to rise to the challenge. You may even learn to welcome tough questions because they provide an opportunity for you to set an employer's mind at ease.
When Patrice Becicka, a former tax supervisor in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, interviewed for a compliance position with a local manufacturer, she was grilled about her work relationships: How did you get along with your supervisor? What did you most dislike about him? What was your relationship with subordinates like? Did you ever have to fire someone? What did your subordinates like least about you?
This barrage of questions would lead most people who have a history of friction with bosses and coworkers to become defensive or blame others. Becicka didn't find the inquisition unsettling, though. Because she loved her job, got along well with nearly everyone and managed a team of productive employees, she warmed to the challenge presented by this line of questioning. She realized that in her role as a compliance officer, she'd need to deal tactfully with people at all levels and manage the conflicts that inevitably arise.
This doesn't make her a saint. There's no such thing as a perfect candidate. We all have professional strengths and weaknesses, as well as work experiences we wish we could undo or redo.
Becicka's Achilles heel was her lack of a college degree. When employers brought the subject up, she got embarrassed and tongue-tied. There were three possible ways for her to surmount the obstacle: (1) she could try to refocus the interviewer on her practical work experience; (2) she could ask if there was something specific the employer wanted her to learn (and then offer to study that subject); or (3) she could go back to school for a degree. She chose Door No. 3.
While you can't change reality, you can reshape it, put the best spin on it and make peace with it. To weather employers' inquiries and prevent a downward spiral, you must manage the flow of negative information.
If you identify your own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, you can develop positive strategies to reduce or counteract them. Perhaps you feel you're too old or that others will feel you're too old. You're sensitive to sexism, racism or religious discrimination. You were fired from your last job and are sure no one will ever hire you again. Or you didn't get fired-but secretly suspect that you deserved to be. You're worried that your references will sabotage your job search and ruin your future.
It may not be fun to take those long honest looks at yourself (in fact, most of us would rather avoid it), but doing so will serve you well in the long run. You'll no longer hear criticisms and insults where they don't exist, or overreact when you're questioned more closely. You'll be able to develop more persuasive presentations and your confidence will rise considerably.
When Phyllis Ravin decided to sell her insurance business and start job hunting, she assumed it would be fairly easy for her to find a job with regular working hours, a steady paycheck and benefits. Instead, she ran into a brick wall.
Although she's only in her 40s, some employers questioned whether she could get along with much younger coworkers. Others feared she was overqualified: that she'd get bored and leave as soon as something better came along. Still others were sticklers for the college degree she doesn't have. To add insult to injury, she was asked by five different employers to take the same personality assessment exercise. None of these employers ever provided any feedback on the results (or extended her a job offer). On the fifth go-round, she refused to take the test again.
Remember that you have no obligation to become a victim to an inquisition. You can always decline to take a prospective employer's test, refuse to answer an offensive question, clarify what a query really means or set boundaries that limit the scope and nature of a question. However, these situations should be handled tactfully. Ravin's strategy made her feel better about asserting her rights, but didn't do much to endear her to the employer.
Ravin had gotten caught in a Catch-22: the more objections she encountered, the more angry and frustrated she became; and the angrier and more frustrated she became, the more objections she encountered.
To break that cycle, she needed to step back and take an unemotional look at the objections she's heard from employers. Says Tom Washington, "An objection isn't a rejection. It's simply a request for more information. It means that the interviewer isn't yet completely sold on you."
Except for the interviewer who commented on Ravin's lack of a college degree, no employers questioned her ability or technical qualifications (which are indisputable). Instead, they questioned whether she'd be a positive influence. Would she be enthusiastic about the work? Would she get along with other people? How long would she stay?
Basically, they raised understandable and appropriate concerns about whether she'd be able to make the transition from business owner to worker bee. When you set your job sights too low, you automatically create a perception that you're unmotivated. Ravin may say she'd be content with much less responsibility, but she was coming across as more interested in getting a steady paycheck than in performing the jobs in question. Thus, it's not surprising that employers had doubts. They wanted someone who'd be unequivocally enthusiastic, excited and challenged by the job they had to offer.
Overcoming Objections
Ravin had convinced herself that she was the victim of age discrimination. To better handle interviewers' true objections; she needed to adopt a new strategy. The following five-step approach worked well:
- Rephrase. When employers express an objection or reservation, restate or summarize your understanding of their concern in your own words, (e.g., "You seem concerned that I won't be happy with this job.")
- Confirm. Check with the employer to see if your perception is accurate. (e.g., "Do I understand you correctly?")
- Acknowledge. Concede the concern but not the liability. ("I can understand how you might feel that way.")
- Neutralize. Provide new information or redirect the conversation toward a positive anchor. ("You're probably worried that I might get bored, since I'm used to having more responsibility. Truthfully, though, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do more 'hands-on' work. That's what I really love about this business.")
- Recount. Tell a story or mention an accomplishment that will alleviate the interviewer's fears. ("Before I had my own business, the bosses I worked for often recognized me for setting high standards of achievement. I even won an award for being the most productive, accurate worker. Those day-to-day challenges are the kind I really thrive on.")
The interview process is a learning experience. When employers repeatedly raise tough questions or sensitive issues, consider it a sign that you may need to address a real liability in your qualifications, rethink your job objective or create a more persuasive presentation. Once you're on the right track, become more practiced in delivering convincing, effective responses to employers' objections and develop a slightly thicker skin, you'll feel a change in the tenor of your interviews. Then, the job offers will start to roll in.
To get you started in that direction, let's look at some of the common objections employers raise, along with some healthy and not-so-healthy responses.
Employment History
Because past history often predicts future performance, employers are (understandably) concerned when work histories include too much job-hopping, employment gaps or unexplained terminations. Savvy interviewees can gain employers' confidence and trust by reassuring them that they have no such liabilities.
Job-Hopping
Says Ed Goedert, president of an Oakbrook, Illinois, and psychological testing firm:
When a corporation hires me to assess a candidate's suitability for a certain position, I always look at their career moves. I want to know why they changed jobs and where they think they're headed so I can determine if they'll be happy in the position that's available.
If you don't know where you're headed (or do know--but took a long time to find out), it's easy to get defensive about your career history. But it won't help your cause. You're better off to lead with whatever positives were gleaned from the experience.
After 15 productive years in the real-estate industry, a client of mine lost his job when his firm closed up shop. Because his industry was going through a massive crisis, his next three jobs were very short-lived: In each case, the firms went belly-up.
He decided to change careers but had trouble finding anything he liked (or that paid) half as much. For the next four years, he wandered through the job market like a shell-shocked war victim--taking and discarding a series of entry-level jobs.
By the time he decided to settle into the field of public relations, he had a whole lot of explaining to do to future employers-most of whom were worried that he was unstable. In fact, he wanted desperately to find a place where he could settle down and stay. "If I never look for another job again," he says, "it will be too soon for me."
It's crucial that this candidate plan exactly how to approach the job-hopping issue so he can relax in interviews, instead of waiting nervously for employers to drop the bombshell question.
Rather than elaborate on the years of angst he experienced after being stripped of his professional identity, he decided simply to share his (hard-earned) resolution of the problem and keep the gory details to himself. The answer we composed is short and to the point:
I was really committed to my career in real estate. Once that was no longer possible, it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do. But, in the meantime, I had to pay the bills.
Through my volunteer work at , I discovered that I really love public relations. I think my skills translate particularly well to the corporate communications position available here, which is what I'm here to pursue with you.
Defuse Loaded Questions
Carol Hyatt and Linda Gottlieb, authors of When Smart People Fail: Rebuilding Yourself for Success (Penguin USA, 1993), suggest a four-step procedure for developing emotionally neutral responses to dangerous questions:
- Write down a brief statement of the event (e.g., "I lost my job").
- Tell your side of the story.
- Review it for negative, self-defeating assumptions.
- Reinterpret the event in a more positive way.
It can take some practice to get your spiel down pat, as the following story demonstrates:
Seven years ago, "Sandy" graduated from the University of Missouri with a BS in journalism and got her first job as a cub reporter on a small-town newspaper. Not cut out for small-town life, she quit her job after 18 months and moved back home where she worked as a hostess in her family's restaurant business while pursuing another writing job. It took her almost a year to land a position with a local cable television channel, where she was involved in the writing, producing and on-air delivery of a weekly news show.
She loved the work, but the pay was abysmal. Seven months later, she jumped ship for a better-paying media relations position with a health-care association. She stayed there for 3V2 years. Then, when her husband was transferred to a new city, she quit her job to move with him.
Viewed from one perspective, Sandy's job changes have always been governed more by life needs--small-town blues, financial concerns, marital harmony--than career development. Any employer reviewing her career history might naturally wonder when her personal needs will next interrupt her employment situation. Knowing this, Sandy deemphasizes many of the personal lifestyle issues that motivated her decisions in the past. Her scenario sounds something like this:
I view the early years of my career as a period of experimentation. Mostly, I was figuring out who I am professionally and what I'm really good at--which is media communications. Now that I have a broad range of experiences, I'm ready to put them together in one position that will utilize my strengths in writing and presenting information to (or for) the media.
By stressing her career-development goals, she presents herself as an ambitious self-directed careerist who knows who she is and what she wants.
Employment Gaps
Employment gaps provide another potential red flag to employers. While many career paths are no longer a single upward trajectory, it still matters what you did with your time out. Employers aren't really all that interested in your personal life; they just want to make sure that you're ready, willing and able to commit to a job with them.
Linda Bougie, a career consultant with Career Labs Ltd. in Englewood, Colorado, recommends telling employers how you grew professionally during breaks in employment. "Regardless of whether it was volunteer work, parenthood or job hunting that kept you busy, there's always something you can learn from the experience," she says.
Even "serving time" can have its productive moments. When Bob Maher was on the corporate side of human resources, he remembers interviewing a man who had a seven-year gap in his employment history. "He explained the gap by saying that he'd just gotten out of prison for killing his wife," says Maher. "While he was there, he'd developed some good job skills that he wanted to put to work."
After delving carefully into the man's past, Maher learned that the murder had been a crime of passion and that the man was considered completely rehabilitated. So, Maher-who appreciated the man's honesty-trusted his gut, hired the man and never regretted his decision.
Obviously, this is a high-risk interviewing strategy that should be used only as a last resort. In this particular case, it simply would not have been possible for this man to honestly explain (1) what he'd been doing for the past seven years and (2) how he acquired his expertise, without also mentioning his prison record.
A recovering alcoholic had developed a spotty employment record during an arduous three-year treatment program. To deal with that history, he had two choices: He could use a high-risk emotional strategy in which he identified himself as a recovering alcoholic and presented the issue as a "problem solved," or he could "cover his tracks" by focusing on the volunteer activities and skills he'd developed through his church involvements during this time.
There is no "right" or "wrong" way to handle such problems. The real key is to choose the strategy you feel best about-and to live comfortably with the consequences.
Terminations
Terminations are emotion-filled events that can make you feel angry, scared, nervous, humiliated or even relieved. Because unresolved emotions greatly hamper your ability to carry out an effective job-search campaign, most experts recommend a "feelings-first" approach.
In many cases, emotions that have been expressed and shared lose their power. Venting your feelings can offer a real cathartic value. After that, it becomes much easier to develop a rational, emotion-free explanation for your termination.
Why is this so important? Ed Goedert explains,
Attitude toward employers is the No. 1 thing I look at. Because so many people are losing their jobs, there's a lot more anger, resentment and cynicism toward employers. Corporations don't want to hire anyone who feels that way because those people are disruptive to the environment. They can't get along with their coworkers and they fight with their bosses.
The Golden Ax Hall of Fame
Many people not only survive a job loss, they flourish afterward. To illustrate that point, Bob McCarthy, president of McCarthy Resources, Inc., in Los Angeles, created "The Golden Ax Hall of Fame," with awards to such notable victims of firings as Lee Iacocca, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford I and Alexander the Great. "Fifty percent of the time companies fire the wrong people," McCarthy says. "The process is so political."
If you're able to learn something about yourself (and your needs) from the experience, you can avoid repeating mistakes. But what kinds of lessons can be learned from such a painful experience?
Compassion. Humility. A new attitude toward risk. A better sense of your own needs and priorities. Even a newfound sense of power that evolves from knowing you survived the loss.
A marketing manager lost her job with a glamorous entrepreneurial cosmetics company when it was bought out by a pharmaceutical conglomerate. Her search for a new position took so long that she was forced to seek out consulting assignments. And while she missed having an organizational affiliation, the experience taught her how to be more visible, competitive and professionally self-sufficient.
In another case, a Wall Street financial executive was constantly getting into power struggles with his supervisors and managed to antagonize almost every boss he ever had. Instead of quitting, he hung on until he got fired. Once out, he began to realize how much corporate life had been strangling him. He redirected his career into a smaller, more flexible organization and never had a major supervisory conflict again.
In such cases of mismatch, Patricia Berg, director of outplacement at Career Dynamics Inc. in Bloomfield, Minnesota, recommends introducing your references as a balancing point of view: "It invites the employer to recognize your current employment situation as a reflection of one person's opinion about you- not some objective reality."
Whatever you do, don't let the emotions of failure crowd out your memories of success. Most employers are less interested in the details of a termination than in how you've resolved or dealt with your feelings about the situation.
An executive vice president of a Fortune 100 company got fired because of a personality clash with his boss. Even though his termination was unrelated to performance, he found it painfully difficult to deal with the question, "Why did you leave your last employer?" Finally, to make his life easier, he decided to write a letter to CEOs explaining his firing up front. The letter began:
Did you ever have a philosophical difference with your boss-and win? Me neither. And, I'm looking . . .
Having cleared the way toward a more open and honest discussion of his situation helped this executive relax in the interview and present himself more confidently.
Qualifications
The bottom line is: Can you do the job? An employer who extends you a job offer believes you can.
When employers raise objections in the qualifications arena, it is usually because they perceive you as being overqualified (having too much experience), under qualified (having too little) or differently qualified. By knowing your product (yourself) and your market (their company), you should be able to anticipate and neutralize their objections with good sales technique.
Not Enough Experience
In a competitive job market where employers have their pick of candidates, it can feel like a real uphill battle to convince an interviewer to hire less-than-perfect you.
Yet there's no evidence whatsoever to support the theory that the best-qualified candidate always gets the job. Plenty of other issues factor into the hiring equation. Likability is one. All things being equal, employers like to hire people they like. However, not every interviewer is won over by a friendly face with a winning smile.
To get hired, you also have to show signs of what some psychologists call "unconscious competence." This term means that you genuinely believe in yourself and your ability to learn and do the work required of you. It's a deep-seated faith in your own capabilities, which typically reflects a history of accomplishments and successful adaptations. To prove your competence, you must be persuasive and trustworthy.
Janet Landay was hired into a newly created position as the director of exhibitions at the Glassell School in Houston, even though she'd never specifically done that kind of work before. When the director of the museum asked, "Why should I hire you? You've never been an exhibition director before," her response was immediate and direct:
Yes, but I have training in art history and experience in exhibitions, so this is a logical next step. I know I can do it. Besides, if it weren't new, it wouldn't be a challenge. And, if there weren't any challenge, why would I want the job?
Landay's "Yes, but" strategy effectively neutralized the director's objection by selling her related experience and potential. Apparently, the director was convinced. He offered her the job, which she readily accepted.
When you're trying to advance to the next level in your career, there will always be new skills and challenges to master. The trick is to convince skeptical employers that you have enough of the right experience to competently perform the job's central responsibilities.
If you're coming from a position with a different title and level, this can be a tough sell. You'll have to make sure employers believe your argument, though, even if it means battling unfair labels and stereotypes. When my friend Judy Brady tried to enter the meeting-planning business, she had lots of good experience to support her career goal. As an executive secretary, she had often planned conferences and meetings for her bosses. She also had tons of planning, organizational and people skills. But her "secretary" job title kept getting in the way.
Focus was the key to her success. Because she knew what she wanted to do and why she was qualified to do it, she took every opportunity to direct and redirect interviewers toward her event-planning experience and away from her clerical support functions.
This created a positive upward spiral: the more confident she felt, the better she presented herself. The better she presented herself, the more confident employers felt about her ability. The net result of all that confidence: She landed a job as an international meeting planner with Rotary International in Evanston, Illinois. That position proved to be a steppingstone into her own meeting management business.
Both Janet Landay and Judy Brady pursued jobs that were logical next steps based on their employment record. For the most part, they simply needed to convince employers that they had the skill base, potential and desire to do the job.
When you're making a more dramatic career change, it can be harder to identify and sell your related experience and transferable skills. You may not know exactly why an employer should hire you and may even agree that you're a less-than-ideal candidate. Under these circumstances, information interviewing is key to making a successful transition.
As the name implies, an information interview is a meeting in which you gather insider knowledge from someone who works in your target field or function. Since you're not interviewing for an open position, you don't have to defend or sell your skills. Instead, you can concentrate on gaining insight into how your prospective employers operate, the problems they face and the skills and experiences they look for.
Before Candy Gilmore became the director of outplacement services for The H.S. Group in Green Bay, Wisconsin, she had a strong communications background that included lobbying for Fort Howard Corporation and managing the sales and marketing function for a hotel.
When she first considered the outplacement business, she knew almost nothing about the industry. To learn more, she did a lot of networking with human resources professionals and company presidents. She discovered that her diverse business background, teaching expertise and personal experience with transitions (her husband had lost his sales job and taken nine months to find a new one) made her a good candidate for the job. When it came time to sell her skills, she knew exactly why she was qualified and what to emphasize. In her case, lots of up-front research in the form of information interviewing proved invaluable for developing an effective job-interview strategy.
A human resources generalist who wanted to enter the training and development field went through a similar process. Although she'd coordinated and facilitated some training programs, this was only a small part of her responsibilities. As a result, potential employers questioned whether she had the depth of expertise to perform the job.
In fact, she had a broad background in managing sales, marketing, customer service and operations, which uniquely qualified her to identify and understand organizations' training needs. Although she had never designed a course herself, she knew how to evaluate and teach existing programs. And since the cosmetics manufacturer she worked for had been through many reorganizations, she had first-hand knowledge of what it takes to stabilize and motivate a workforce under constantly changing conditions.
When prospective employers didn't immediately understand or appreciate the value of her years of experience in the trenches, she felt discouraged. But instead of giving up, she set about presenting her skills and accomplishments more effectively. Once she recognized the value of her varied, in-the-trenches experience, she found it easier to sell herself and the contributions she could make. Better than most candidates, she could speak the language of results that managers love to hear.
She also started listening better. Because she was no longer focused on defending herself, she was able to hear employers' legitimate concerns about her somewhat unusual background. For example, when a health-care organization's senior hiring manager said he always hired people with graduate degrees in training and development, she followed up by asking whether that strategy was 100 percent effective for him.
He admitted that it had some limitations. In his experience, trainers weren't always in touch with the business's needs and tended to be less interested in financial issues. As he was speaking, she could practically see a light bulb go on inside his head.
"It was as if he suddenly realized that an experienced manager with sales, operations and customer-service experience might add something valuable to his existing staff," she says.
It was an important lesson for her as well. "If you don't know why an employer should hire you, you can't expect them to figure it out for you," she says. "When people looked at my resume, they were only seeing what I didn't have. I needed to show them what I could do."
The further the stretch, the harder they sell. For some candidates, creative interviewing strategies know no boundaries.
On paper, Carl Maxcey hardly looked like the perfect candidate for a job as a financial analyst with Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. A tenured ethics professor at Loyola University in Chicago, he had no experience in the financial services industry whatsoever.
Yet, he managed to convince then-staffing manager Lynn Lillibridge that he had the technical aptitude and personal drive to prosper in the securities industry. "We were impressed with Carl's discipline and determination," Ms. Lillibridge says. "He had accomplished so much in academia in such a short period of time, we were anxious to see if he could do it again with us."
So, what did Maxcey say that was so persuasive?
"I convinced them that teaching ethics to recalcitrant students was really no different than persuading skeptical clients to buy stocks," he says.
One final strategy relies heavily on a positive can-do attitude and your ability to demonstrate potential. With this method, you sell your exposure-in other words, "the fact that you've observed the task being done by others or worked closely with others who used that skill," says Tom Washington, an analytical chemist in Texas interested in becoming a supervisor who plans to use that strategy to "sell himself" into a management training position. He's thought carefully about the different supervisory styles he's experienced and can discuss what he liked and disliked about each particular style, as well as articulate how he'd synthesize those approaches into his own unique style. Only time will tell if this particular strategy proves effective for him.
The Wrong Degree
If an interviewer says, "I really wanted someone with a degree," and you
don't have one, there's no need to apologize. "I'm sorry I'm not what you're looking for" won't cut it as a reply, anyway. Instead, stress the strength and quality of what you do have with a "Yes, but" approach.
Remember, educational requirements aren't always cast in concrete. The fact that the employer is interviewing you at all means that he or she still considers you a viable candidate, even without the right degree.
After losing a long-standing position with a pharmaceutical company, a professional with 19 years of accounting experience (but no degree) addressed the issue by saying to employers, "Yes, I realize that a college degree is preferable. But I though you wanted someone who could come in and handle your automated accounting systems. Let me tell you more about my accomplishments in that area ..."
A banker sans MBA assured potential employers that he'd be more than happy to pursue an MBA with their assistance. This statement opened the door to a discussion of the company's attitude toward professional development.
A master's level psychologist was questioned about her lack of a doctorate. Since she felt strongly that more graduate school wasn't in her career scenario, she countered by asking, "What is it you think a Ph.D. would do for me?"
Had the reply been "We want you to have more clinical experience," she was prepared to sell the experience she'd gathered in 10 years of private practice. But when the employer said, "We need someone who can obtain insurance reimbursement for our clients," she knew there was no rebuttal. The employer had a reason for wanting what he did. Unfortunately, that reason made her the wrong candidate for the job.
In some cases, a candidate may actually agree with the employer's objection. Patrice Becicka knew her lack of a college degree interfered with her feelings of professionalism although she loved her supervisory job at CCH Computax. When the facility closed, she seized the opportunity to finish her undergraduate degree more quickly.
For those who are struggling with a not-enough-education problem, there is one surefire way to overcome it: Get more education.
Over qualification
Jerry Hannigan has 25 years of marketing experience, including stints with Motorola, Gillette, Merrill Lynch and most recently AT&T. In fact, his wealth of accumulated expertise often leads employers to remark, "You seem overqualified."
Hannigan's initial reaction to such comments was to listen silently. Then he decided to rethink his job search strategy and prescreen positions more extensively on the telephone, but he still did nothing to directly address the objection.
If, like Hannigan, you've been accused of being overqualified, your first defense should be to reiterate your best qualifications for the position. You might say:
I'm confused by your statement that I'm overqualified. I thought you wanted someone who could manage your marketing department. My 25 years of marketing experience demonstrate my ability to meet that challenge. For example, when
I worked at , I repositioned the company's product line to increase revenues . . .
In other words, view the objection as another opportunity to sell your qualifications. This will push interviewers to rethink their objection and keep an open mind.
If the employer still seems to be waffling, probe more deeply into the resistance. "Is there something specific you're concerned about?"
By inviting employers to express their reservations, you can open the door to a more fruitful discussion of what they really mean by "You're overqualified." In some cases, it's a euphemism that means "You're too expensive." Or it can camouflage ageism-the employer really is thinking, "You're too old."
Don't be shy about asking for clarification. You can't correct a misconception that you don't understand. Once you've smoked out the employer's real objection, you can address the issue more openly.
If it turns out that money is the problem, it might be a good time to enter into a discussion of your financial needs and goals. Although you'll certainly want to negotiate the best possible compensation package, your salary history may not be an accurate reflection of how much money you want or need to do a different job in a different industry. If you have some flexibility, try to encourage the interviewer to set the discussion of money aside until it's clear there's a mutual interest. And don't start throwing numbers around until you know exactly what the intended salary range is.
If, on the other hand, the employer's over qualification concern sounds like conveniently disguised age discrimination, your strategy should be completely different. To win over ageist interviewers, you'll need to show off your energy, enthusiasm and flexibility, while emphasizing the value of your experience and maturity.
Over qualification can also be a compliment-meaning that the employer recognizes your competence and capability. Unfortunately, that compliment won't garner you many job offers. Hiring managers will assume you'll find the work boring, so you won't give your best effort and will look for greener pastures as soon as possible. As Phyllis Ravin discovered, it can be just as difficult to be considered overqualified as under qualified. To overcome this perception, you'll have to work hard to persuade employers that you have the interest and motivation to do the job.
"You're overqualified" can also mean that an employer doesn't really understand your qualifications. When Edward Buckbee decided to leave his academic career as a humanities professor at the University of Chicago for the world of banking, he spent a lot of time educating potential employers about the value of his Princeton Ph.D.
"People in business have a lot of preconceived notions about what academics really do for a living," he says. "They tend to think we're overeducated but lack common sense." As a result, they may be viewed as simultaneously over- and under qualified. In fact, they're simply differently qualified. The task is to convince employers that those skills count, too.
Diversity may be the buzzword for the 1990s, but many employers still prefer to hire in their own image. If you don't fit that particular mold, your task is to reassure them that you have "compatible differences."
Unfortunately, some interviewers show bad judgment when they evaluate candidates. Illegal questions are a perfect example. A recruiter with a Wall Street investment banking firm made headlines for asking MBA women, "Would you have an abortion to stay on the fast track?" Fortunately, the women banded together to get the recruiter fired. In another well-publicized case, a discount department store was called on the carpet for asking job applicants, "How long can you hold your urine?" Apparently, a weak bladder cannot be the final determinant of a candidate's qualifications.
Not every illegal question is so flagrantly disrespectful. Many employers are simply concerned with how you'll fit into their environment. You do yourself a disservice if you automatically assume malicious intentions every time you hear an illegal question.
When Ann Moran, a 53-year-old former sales coordinator with AT&T, interviewed with a family-owned music company, she sensed that the interviewer was uncomfortable with the fact that she was black. Because she was interested in the job, she made a concerted effort to set the employer at ease by mentioning her experiences in all-or mostly white organizations.
Moran expects a certain amount of resistance, but she doesn't let it bother her too much. In fact, she enjoys the interviewing process. "I'm not desperate for a job. I know I have skills that employers can use. And I like meeting new people," Moran says. "That makes interviewing fun."
Part of her comfort comes from knowing what she will and won't tolerate. While interviewing with an Oklahoma-based company that was setting up shop in Indianapolis, one employer remarked: "I know I'm not supposed to ask you this, but I'm going to anyway. How old are you?"
Moran held her ground. "I'll answer that question after I get the job," she said. "Or even if I don't. But not now."
Her ploy worked because the employer followed up with an explanation of his question. "We've had something of a revolving door here," he told her. "And I really need to hire someone who plans to stay."
To which Moran responded: "I plan to work another 10 years."
Understanding the reservation beneath the question is often the key to an effective response.
When litigation attorney Nancy Hirsch interviewed for a position as a senior associate in a personal injury law firm, she was asked outright, "Do you plan to have a family?"
She knew the question was inappropriate; but her response indicated that she understood the employer's hesitation. "I'm very committed to my career," she said. "Even if I do have children, I still plan to work."
While it's important to know your rights, it's up to you whether you choose to enforce them.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating against any person on the basis of sex, race, age, national origin or religion.
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1991) protects people with disabilities from discrimination in any aspect of employment, including application procedures, hiring, training, compensation, fringe benefits or promotion.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967) prohibits discrimination in employment against workers age 40 or older and promotes employment of older workers.
"When dealing with an illegal question, it's important to know exactly where your boundaries are," says Patricia Berg.
For her, questions about family aren't off-limits. "Do you plan to have more children?" might have been a boundary in her childbearing years, but now she considers it a moot point.
When faced with an illegal question, you can:
- Answer the question and hope the information isn't used against you.
- Answer the question, then explore how the employer plans to use the information.
- Ask how the information relates to the job requirements.
- Refuse to answer the question.
If you decide you still want to work for the employer, you have to find a way to dismantle the objection, illegal or not.
Phyllis Edelen, a human resources manager in Dallas, Texas, suggests asking for clarification: "I'm confused. I thought you wanted an experienced person who could make an immediate contribution to your organizational goals." (Then, convert the question into an opportunity to sell your skills for the position.)
Another strategy is to answer the question with a question.
Former Caremark executive assistant Diana Kraus always answers the "How old are you?" question with one of her own: "Can you tell me why this is a concern?"
She feels that it's important to explore the reasons behind the question so that she'll know if the environment really is wrong for her. "If it's a totally youthful environment, I don't want to work there, anyway," Kraus says. "I'd rather know before I take the job. Otherwise, I'll be unhappy later."
However tactlessly expressed, employers may have a legitimate concern about your commitment and energy level. To combat an ageist stereotype, a 61-year-old engineer with a 13-year-old son made sure employers knew he had no intention of retiring. By interviewing enthusiastically and persistently and proving to employers that "age is a state of mind," he landed a job within a scant three months.
Age, sex and race stereotypes are only three of the ways in which employers sometimes offend. But don't assume you know which one is at work.
When Phyllis Edelen was a corporate recruiter, she remembers working with a credit manager of a Fortune 500 company who never hired any of the black candidates she routed his way. When Edelen complained to her boss that the credit manager was racist, he responded, "Send him a black Catholic and see what he does."
She complied, and shortly afterward the credit department had its first black employee. What looked like racial discrimination turned out to be religious discrimination instead!
Another example: An MIS professional was asked by a corporate recruiter: "Are you Jewish?" The man hesitated before he answered, "No. Why do you ask?"
"Because Jews are smart," the recruiter said. "Does that mean you're stupid?"
While illegal questions may indicate deep-seated prejudices, they can also reflect a more benign form of ignorance. Since they always mean "You're different. I don't know what to do with you," exploring the nature of that difference serves two important functions: First, it will make the employer more comfortable with you as a candidate; and second, it will give you more insight into the true nature of the organization.
You probably can't do much to change deeply rooted prejudices, but you can do a lot to resolve legitimate employment concerns-even if they're not legitimately expressed.
If you're offended by what you see and hear, you always have the right to say, "Thank you for your time, but I don't think this is the right place for me." If for no other reason than your own integrity, you decide where and how to plant your flag. But keep in mind that oversensitivity can easily turn into self-destructive pride.
