After the interview, your interviewer will go over everything he or she learned from you and will interpret it. To help the interviewer decide in your favor, you should have provided positive factors about yourself. The interviewer will have to choose between your negative and positive factors and make a judgment on what has been revealed. Keep in mind; it's never a mathematical equation. The hiring decision is always a matter of judgment. And as long as it remains this way, there are some things that should work in your favor.
Facts are not enough
Most interviewers will have little difficulty in finding out your job history, family background, health, job know-how, and so forth. However, character and personality will be judged: your mental effectiveness, your attitudes toward people, and the like. Here's where you need to be familiar with the method used by interviewers as they attempt to unravel you as a person.
Mental effectiveness and you
For one thing, you'll be judged on mental effectiveness-how effectively you use your mental abilities. If you take a test, your results will give clues to your basic ability. What does mental effectiveness mean?
- Your ability to think logically
- To express ideas precisely
- To anticipate or look ahead or plan intelligently
- To express your ideas clearly
- To get at the central issue in a problem quickly
- To spot the difference between important and unimportant matters, to display a tendency to be mentally alert, curious, and inquisitive rather than sluggish, narrow in interests, and incurious
- To possess the capacity to learn from previous experiences and to learn new material quickly
- Fine, you're probably thinking, but how do I display this in an interview?
- Be precise in remembering dates, places, names.
- Be quick to grasp the meaning of questions. If you've asked complex question such as, "What are the important things to look for in a job?" be prepared to handle it. Sort-out the important from the unimportant things when you answer.
- Express your ideas with a minimum of hesitancy.
- Organize your answer to a complex question. For example, you can say, "Well, there are three things that I look for in job: One... two... three...
- Ask questions that are sharp and precise. Stay with the interviewer mentally as you talk together, and don't be passive or appear to be daydreaming.
- Be able to back up with specifics a general statement such as, like selling because I like people". When asked about general statements you've made, don't follow them up with even more vague generalizations. When challenged to explain a generalization ask yourself: Is it just a run-of-the-mill platitude that doesn't represent much thinking; or is it carefully thought-through conviction that I can back up with specifics?
- Be able to explain a process, product, or situation clearly and precisely.
Most interviewers will also delve into your character and personality. By character I refer to your principles and what you think is right and wrong. Personality is more matter of whether you're interesting or dull, weak or strong, unyielding or flexible, friendly or withdrawn, mature or immature, tense or relaxed. In short, character is whether you're "good" or "bad," personality has no moral judgment in it.
- What are your values? For example, if I asked you, "Why do you want to work for my company?" how would you answer in terms of values? What's your "hot button?" Money? Challenge? Opportunity? Security?
- Are you mature and able to act your age? Indications of immaturity are self-pity, a continual use of the big "I," poor perspective on some disappointment or difficulty that has occurred in the past, excessive impulsiveness, and so on. Indications of maturity are a quiet sureness about your career goals or other personal goals; a broad perspective on the ups and downs of daily living; healthy self-honesty, a tendency to face reality, a capacity for enthusiasm without being an eager beaver, and so forth.
- How tense are you? Do you fidget or squirm, tap your fingers, swing your feet, blush easily, frown a lot, squint, Orin general show outward signs of excessive inner agitation? Do you sit too still or rigid? Is your voice modulated or monotonous? What's your overall body language? (More about body language later.)
- Are you a person of convictions and quiet beliefs? Or are you highly prejudiced and emotional about what you think?
- When you talk, do you sound like a person who enjoys life? Are you enthusiastic? Interested? Alive? Are there warmth and a positive feeling to the comments you make; or are you negative or excessively detached or "dead" in feeling? Can you smile or laugh with the interviewer?
- How big is your world? Is your life bounded by job, family, physical being, or do you have outside interests? Do you belong to groups and organizations, serve in your church, and participate in scouting activities, professional groups, and neighborhood gatherings? Are you genuinely concerned about the state of American business, the security of the free enterprise system?
Another key area most interviewers delve into is human relations. Here the interviewer wants to know how you relate to other people in terms of attitudes, understanding, and personal warmth.
- Do you have several close friends? Do you enjoy your family ties? Do you have a history of leadership activities such as class president, chairperson of committees, motivator in neighborhood activates?
- Do you have a sense of humor? Is it wholesome and comfortable or do you wisecrack a lot?
- How well do you understand people? For example, when you talk about your boss, or a colleague, or a friend, can you cite specific characteristics of them? Can you analyze behavior?
- Are you self-assertive? If the interviewer objects to something you've said, can you good-humoredly stick to your guns? Do you argue or differ tactfully? Do you ask penetrating questions? For example, if you asked me to tell you two or three basic things about my company, would you make me perform nicely for you?
