Employer's Needs
Put yourself in the position of the interviewer for a few moments.
You invited a candidate to an interview based upon his or her cover letter, resume, application form, and perhaps a telephone screening interview. Within a short period of time -- a 30 to 60 minute interview --you must now fully assess the interviewee's attitudes, motivations, behaviors, and skills. You want to know what this person can and will do for you. Making a mistake can cost you a great deal of time and money. Studies show companies spend thousands of dollars hiring individuals. The initial costs include announcing the vacancy, screening resumes and letters, interviewing candidates, and settling on a salary/benefit package. The long-term hiring expenses include training costs and the possibility of repeating the whole hiring process - which may include unemployment compensation and/or severance pay, if the individual must be terminated or resigns. Regardless of how hard you try, you can still make mistakes hiring what appeared to be the best candidate. As many interviewers have learned after years of interviewing experience, assessment techniques are at best only rough indicators of performance.
From the employer's perspective, hiring is a risky and expensive business. He or she wants someone who can do the job well --someone worth the salary and benefits. The employer also wants someone who will be a good representative to others outside the organization. The person should be able to get along well with supervisors and co-workers inside the organization. Translating these concerns into questions, most interviewers want to know:
Concerns of Interviewers
o Why should I hire you? o What kind of person are you? o What kind of employee will you make in our organization - willingness to take responsibility as well as directions, be productive, loyal, creative, entrepreneurial, enthusiastic? o Do you have a demonstrated and sustained interest in this work? o Do your credentials demonstrate that you are a purposeful individual who gets things done? o How much will you cost us? o What haven't you told us about yourself? o What are your weaknesses? o Will you be able to work with your supervisors and other employees in this organization? How long will you stay with us before you start looking for another job?
While most interviewers will not bluntly ask you these questions, they will seek answers by asking other questions which may give cues to your behavior.
The Competent Interviewer
Interviewers also are concerned about conducting effective interviews. Like interviewees, interviewers vary in quality. Some interviewers are well trained and experienced in the art of interviewing. They know how to put the interviewee at ease and draw out the information needed for the final assessment. Other interviewers are less successful. Some may be in training or have little experience. Still others may be incompetent or need major retraining. Expect to encounter all types.
If you find yourself with a well trained and experienced inter viewer, you can expect him or her to conduct the interview in a professional manner and according to a particular pattern. Most trained interviewers are versed in six rules for conducting effective interviews:
Rules for Effective Interviewers
- The interviewer will be sensitive to the candidate, respect his or her intelligence, and not act superior.
- The interviewer will try to put the candidate at ease rather than create stress.
- Following the initial "icebreakers" the interviewer will state the objective of the interview.
- The interviewer will try to get the candidate to talk as much as possible without drilling him or her with questions.
- The interviewer will seek valid information and not interject personal opinions into the interview. He or she will be professional at all times.
- The interviewer will know when and how to close the interview. This includes clearly summarizing the candidate's interview statements so there will be no misunderstandings about what was communicated.
Most interviewers are competent people trying their best to do a good job. However, well trained and prepared interviewers are the exception rather than the rule. You most frequently will be interviewed by someone who has previous experience interviewing.
Whether they are professionally trained is another question. Some interviewers will ask irrelevant, illegal, or stressful questions, or they may have difficulty formulating and asking enough questions to keep the interview going. Some questions may be redundant; you already answered them on your resume or employment application. If you encounter irrelevant, illegal, or stressful questions, try to be tactful. In the case of the inept interviewer, you may feel you are not being given a chance to put your best foot forward. Be prepared to take some initiative in this interview by asking questions which will indicate your strengths and value to the interviewer. If the inter viewer's questions seem too broad or vague, try to refocus or narrow them. You might do this by asking a question, "By _do you mean_?"
The Interview Sequence
While interviewers do not follow an exact pattern of questioning, most of them do follow a basic sequence which you should be aware of and manage to your advantage. The sequance will approximate this:
The Interview Sequence
- Greeting
- Establishing common ground/icebreakers
- Indicating purpose of interview
- Drawing out information through the exchange of questions and answers:
- General and specific questions
- Brief and drawn out answers
- Conversations to clarify questions, explain answers, and reach mutual understanding
- Summarizing information and understanding
- Indicating next steps to be taken
- Closing
This is a chance for both of you to feel more at ease. If you know something about the interviewer's interests --either from information gathered in your research or because of something you see in the office -- you might use this topic to establish common ground.
Small talk for establishing common ground is important. For example, we know a young woman who applied for a teaching position at a community college. A few weeks earlier, she had read Mager's book on behavioral objectives for instruction. At the beginning of the interview, she noticed a copy of Mager's book lying on the interviewer's desk and commented about it. The interviewer was pleased to learn she was familiar with Mager's work, and indicated none of the other applicants were familiar with it. She is convinced to this day that it was a major factor in getting the job offer. It established common ground set her apart from the many other people applying for the same position.
The interviewer may next talk about the purpose of the interview as he or she attempts to "get drawn to business". The company or the specific position will become the major subject. At this point, the interviewer may be very persuasive, even attempting to "sell" the applicant on the position. Most of the interview time will be spent on the "drawing out information" phase . Avoid negatives by presenting yourself in as positive a light as possible.
Use Positive Form
The way you phrase your questions and answers can be as important as the actual content of your communication. What you want to achieve is positive form. This means avoiding negatives by presenting yourself in as positive a light as possible. In the interview, several opportunities arise for enhancing your image through the use of positive form.
The first use of positive form relates to names. Each of us likes to be called by our name. Make sure you get the name of the interviewer, get it right, and use it from time to time as you speak. Use the interviewer's title (Miss, Mrs., Mr., Dr., Professor, etc.) and last name. Never call the interviewer by his or her first name unless specifically requested to do so -- even if the interviewer uses your first name. Many interviewers will be offended by such familiarity.
A second use of positive form is inherent in the way you phrase questions and answers. For example, rather than ask "What are the duties of position?" ask "What would be my duties?" This form of questioning subtly plants the positive thought of you in the position. This is not presumptuous because you use the word "would", which indicates you are not overly sure of yourself.
A third use of positive form relates to good grammar. Proper use of language is not something to be left in the English classroom.
Many so-called "educated" people do not use good grammar, and many of these people do not interview successfully. Check your use of grammar. If it is not impeccable, make an effort to improve it before the interview.
Fourth, use good diction. One of the most common problems is to shorten words. How many people do you hear say "goin" instead of "going", or "gonna" rather than "going to". Another problem is substituting, eliminating, or adding on consonants; "Adlanta" rather than "Atlanta", "din't''rather than "didn't", "idear" rather than "idea".
Do you do this? Do you ever say "yea" rather the "yes"? The use of sloppy speech is a habit many people -- including the well educated -- get into. But it is a habit -- a learned and reinforced behavior -- you can change. If you have a tendency to modify words these in manners, it is a habit worth correcting.
Fifth, avoid using vocalized pauses. An occasional silence is acceptable and preferable to overuse of "ahs" and "uhms". Try not to fill silences with "ah" or "and ah". Vocalized pauses distract the listener from your message and the excessive use can be annoying.
Sixth, avoid the use of fillers. Fillers add no information and, if overdone, also distract the listener. The most commonly used fillers are "you know", "like" and "okay". If used frequently, the listener becomes distracted and will find it hard to concentrate on the content of your message.
Seventh, use active verbs. When talking about what you have done or will do, active verbs like "organized", "analyzed", or "supervised" are preferable to the nouns "organizer", "analyst", or "supervi sor". Even stronger action words can be used to indicate your present strengths: "organize", "analyze", and "supervise". Avoid the passive voice. For example, instead of saying "The entire conference
was organized by me" (passive), say "I organized the entire conference" (active).
Eighth, avoid using tentative, indecisive terms, such as "I think", "I guess", "I feel". If you use them excessively, they will negatively affect the impression you are trying to leave with the interviewer.
Research indicates that women use these tentative terms more frequently than men. By using these indecisive terms, you can --male or female -- appear indecisive and somewhat muddled. You want to communicate that you are a clear and purposeful individual.
Ninth, avoid the use of ambiguous and somewhat negative terms such as "pretty good" or "fairly well". These terms say little if anything. They may even communicate negatives -- that what you did was not good!
Most people could improve their use of positive form. But it is difficult for someone to follow those suggestions after reading them the night before the interview. One needs to begin making the necessary changes well in advance of the interview. It can be done if one really wants to make the changes, but for most people it takes concerted effort over time. By all means, do not pass up the nine opportunities for using positive form in the interview.
Analyze your Listener and Use Supports
Public speakers are always advised to analyze both their audience and their situation before speaking. The same advice should be followed when you interview. The language you use should vary according to the interviewer. If the interviewer is from the personnel office with little or no background in your field of expertise, your language should be less technical than it would be if you were talking with someone who shares your technical background. If you are interviewing with someone in your area of expertise, and who also has the technical background, you should use a vocabulary relevant to the job in order to build common ground. But don't overdo the use of jargon.
Analysis of your situation should tell you this is not the time for excessive modesty. Of course, you do not want to become an obnoxious braggart, but you do want to present your strengths -- skills and accomplishments -- in a positive way. Therefore, don't be reluctant to talk about yourself and your accomplishments. Remember, the interviewer wants to know more about you, especially your potential value to him or her. The more positive information you can communicate to the interviewer, the stronger your position will be in the final hiring decision.
Present your strengths -- skills and accomplishments -- in a positive way. When you make statements about your skills or accomplishments, try to back them up with supports. Can you give an example of how you improved production on your last job? Can you describe the sales campaign that won you the Best-Copywriter-of-the-Year Award? Can you compare the previous bookkeeping system with the one you instituted that saved your last employer so much money? Can you quote figures that demonstrate how you increased sales at the last company you worked for?
When you back up your assertions with supports, you gain several advantages over individuals who do not. Supports help clarify your comments; help substantiate them; help the listener recall them at a later time; and they add interest. Supports include such things as examples, illustrations, descriptions, definitions, statistics, comparisons, and testimonials.
Use such supports to emphasize your accomplishments. A frequent question asked by prospective interviewers is "How honest should I be?" Most individuals have something in their background they believe would work against them in getting the job if the interviewer knew about it. They wonder if they should tell the interviewer before he or she finds out. We advise you to be honest, but not stupid. In other words, if asked a direct question about the thing you hoped to hide, answer honestly, but emphasize positives. Under no circumstances should you volunteer your negatives or weaknesses.
