A reminder: Don't give wrong schooling information. This is now one of the few permissible and checkable sets of information which companies are allowed to get before you're hired. Yet a nationwide survey a few years ago showed that education was also the most lied-about item on resumes and applications. An application is a legal document-if you lie on it and are found out, it's a fire-able offense. Use your chronological resume to fill out the application accurately. Be especially neat and be careful to answer all the questions. Occasionally an application form will contain illegal questions. You can choose to answer the question if you want. Or, you can do as most knowledgeable applicants do these days: Fill in these blanks with NA (not applicable) or draw a dash across the response blank.
The wait: Use your waiting time to find out about the company, to check your appearance again, to review the answers you prepared to questions that might be asked, to go over your resume one more time, and to focus in on the place and your purpose for being there. If any brochures, annual reports or advertising pieces on the company products or services are in the waiting area, look them over for additional back ground information.
Talk pleasantly to the secretary or receptionist. You can often pick up useful information without being overtly curious. And do ask how your interviewer's name is pronounced if you're not sure.
You have no problem if you're told the interview will be delayed. But when it's more than 20 minutes late, ask how long the delay will be. Say something like, "Is Mr. or Ms. Y aware that I'm here?"
Should the delay run to 45 minutes or more, you run a risk. They've made you wait. Without any kind of rancor, comments something like, "I had an appointment at 10:00. Would like to reschedule the appointment, if possible," However, if you were flown in or drove a long distance for the interview, you must wait, rechecking every 10 minutes or so without appearing nervous. Some companies actually delay interviews as a sort of test to see how you react to and manage stress.
The Actual Interview
The order of events varies with each interview and interviewer. Remember, though, that most interviewers are predisposed in your favor. They want to hire someone-and most of the time, they'd as soon it were you.
Most people conducting interviews are not professional interviewers.
Interviewing is just a part of their job-and a part they're usually not very good at.
You'll generally see one of three types of interviewers: (1) Self-made individualists pride themselves on their ability to size people up. They're sure of themselves and conduct their interviews accordingly; (2) Inexperienced interviewers and the kind of interviewers you see far too often in the not-for-profit sector are unsure of themselves and how to begin.These are the most nervous interviewers and may spend too much time on small talk before leading up to ask any of the nitty-gritty questions they feel are essential; (3) Professional human resources department interviewers know their business. They may be nondirective and low key, but they will be relevant. They'll also maintain reins on the direction and pace of the interview.
Coping with a Stress Interview
Welcome to the stress interview. Instead of an interviewer, you've got an interrogator-you feel as though it'll only be a matter of a few minutes before "they" come and take you to be finger printed and have a mug shot taken.
The stress interview is the one in which you're treated as though you're the enemy. The interviewer asks you a number of offensive questions that are designed to put you on the defensive or to make you blow your cool. The physical setting may also be deliberately uncomfortable-the room is full of smoke, has inadequate lighting, heating or cooling, uncomfortable chairs or too low a couch for you to sit on comfortably, or you may be asked to sit so that you have to face a bright window and can't see the interviewer's face,
In a tight job market, companies tend to use these ''grilling" interviews to "separate the men from the boys, the women from the girls." They're a trick-and it's one you can learn to play.
First of all, don't put up with an unpleasant environment. Ask politely to sit elsewhere or to move so that you don't have to face a light or the window. Comment on the lack of heat or cooling in a commiserating fashion. "Gee, it must be tough to have to work when the heating (or cooling) isn't adjusted for your comfort I hope they get it fixed for you soon." Second, refuse the invitation to go on the defensive (or the offensive, if you happen to be a High D). Practice responding to tough questions so that if you're asked one, your response will be easy and relatively automatic. You want to answer tough questions in a sincere, direct manner. You try to move through the volley of unpleasantness as fast as you can so that you can get on to the meat of the interview.
Also consider your own hot buttons. What kind of comments or questions tend to put you on the defensive? What in your background or experience could be embarrassing? What is on your resume (or isn't on there) that might need some explanation? Prepare these answers in advance, too. People who regularly conduct stress interviews have an absolutely uncanny ability to go for the jugular. And they'll be successful if you're not ready.
But if you've been subjected to a stress interview and handle yourself with confidence and aplomb, you'll find that you've made a conquest. They'll be trying to get you signed, sealed and delivered. Many people say they don't want to work for a company that would employ stress interviews.
That's unrealistic. As you are fully aware, many jobs out there are full of daily stress. It's not unreasonable for companies to want to know how you react. If you keep your cool and respond well under fire, they'll be more likely to want you. That's the kind of executive timber they must have if they're going to survive in the tough competitive environment of today.
