The Mental No-show One:
Style: This type of interviewer is usually not mentally present in the interview room and often seems to be distracted.
Best Approach: The best thing to do with such an interviewer is to keep things simple since it would be very difficult to impress someone who is distracted. Offer a reschedule if the interviewer is pressed for time, get your important point across and then concentrate on following up.
The Friendly One
Style: This type of interviewer will joke, smile and help you get relaxed. The interviewer can either be an expert who understands that you will reveal more information once you are relaxed or he can be inept and is someone who just wants to be liked.
Best Approach: Try to be friendly but don’t let your guard down completely.
The Interrogator
Style: Will not smile. He/she will ask tough questions.
Best Approach: Try to come across as condiment, respectful and composed. This type of interviewer may think that your hidden qualities will be unearthed during a stress interview.
The Ultra-Focused One
Style: This type of interviewer will usually focus only on a single topic like the quota for the sales job.
Best Approach: Try to satisfy his queries and then move on.
The Rapid-fire One
Style: Quickly fires questions on all imaginable topics. The subjects may not seem to be connected at all and this may leave you feeling confused.
Best Approach: Careful presentation can come in really handy here since you will be able to relate the strengths you have to various job aspects.
The One with the Magic Question
Style: This type of interview will only ask you a few questions and will then ask you a magic question based on which he/she will determine if you are suitable for the job.
Best Approach: Keep your answers simple and short and then move on.
Tailoring your interview approach based on the interviewer
It can be highly beneficial if you successfully recognize the style of the interviewer during your interview. This will allow you to accordingly adjust your approach. Your answers should be different for different styles of interviewers.
For example, you may want to offer the ultra-focused a choice when you start answering a question, allowing him/her to decide which aspect of a job should be explored. The friendly one might be impressed with teamwork skills while the interrogator would be more interested in knowing about the results of your own work. Your objective should to be demonstrate emotional intelligence during an interview by understanding the objective of the interviewer and accordingly molding your answers to his/her questions. This will increase your chances of standing out among hundreds of candidates and get noticed by the interviewer during a job interview.
