Take a closer look at some of the structural deviations employers build into the interviewing process.
Screening Interviews
These interviews can take place on the telephone or in person, and are usually conducted by a human resources (HR) professional or executive recruiter.
Their goal is to determine whether you have the minimum qualifications for the position. Your goal is to stop them from weeding you out and win a face-to-face meeting.
How do you accomplish that?
The rules remain the same: Establish rapport, and sell your qualifications. In telephone interviews, however, you have an additional obstacle. Because you never know when an interviewer will call, it's easy to get caught off guard.
Situation: You're just about to sit down to dinner with your family. The kids are roughhousing in the living room, and the television is blaring. The phone rings--it's an HR person saying he's received your resume and would like to ask you a few questions. What do you do?
"Buy some time to get ready," advises an expert. Don't feel compelled to conduct an interview on the spot. If you're in the midst of something else, you'll never come across well.
You can regain control of the situation by using a rapport builder, such as "We just sat down to dinner. Let me move to my office and call you back in 15 minutes." Fifteen minutes may not seem like a long time, but if you're organized, it's long enough to review your notes, prepare your major selling points and calm your nerves.
A recruiter remembers calling a candidate about an office manager position. First, the candidate asked, "What job is this?"
The recruiter answered, and then there was a minute or two of paper rustling. Finally, the candidate got back on the phone and asked, "Can you read my letter back to me?"
The recruiter replied, "No. Goodbye."
Telephone interviews can also be a test of how you handle yourself. A computer programmer remembers receiving a call from a Hewlett-Packard recruiter at 2 A.M. Since the job required a lot of on-call experience, we can safely assume that this was a test of the candidate's responsiveness. It also says a lot about the company and the position.
In this latter example, we can safely assume that (if hired) this candidate would have lots of on-call responsibilities.
Candidates who understand the meaning of an employer's actions during the interview process will undoubtedly want to ask some questions of their own about the employer's expectations for the position.
Some initial screening interviews take place in person with a company's HR representative. When you're called to set up an appointment, avoid the impulse to schedule your meeting immediately. You're better off having some time to prepare than being the first (unprepared) candidate who walks in the door. Ask the recruiter for company brochures and a job description to help you get ready.
HR interviews typically follow a structured question-answer format that revolves around technical qualifications. Your main task is to prove you have those qualifications. That doesn't mean you should neglect the rapport-building possibilities in the situation. You never know how much influence HR will play in the hiring decision, and having the screener pass along your resume with some glowing comments certainly can't hurt. An enthusiastic recommendation is obviously better than a lukewarm one.
Videotape interviews are another screening device. They're usually conducted by an outside service or recruiter who's trying to handle multiple interviews quickly. This format leaves no room for rapport building. Mostly, it's an on-camera performance in which you recite your credentials (or read your resume) to a stone-faced interviewer. Unless you're a real camera ham, this can be very disconcerting.
Remember to keep your answers short and objective, look at the camera when you speak--and try to look happy about the whole adventure.
Sequential Interviews
Many companies hire by consensus. As a result, you may find yourself meeting with multiple hiring authorities.
One candidate for a management position with a Milwaukee bank was asked to meet with 12 different people in one day. This proved to be an unmanageable task. He knocked himself out of the running when interviewer 9 asked him what he thought of interviewer 7. When the candidate half-criticized interviewer 7's approach, interviewer 9 commented, "Too bad you didn't like her. She's my protegee."
To avoid such disasters, treat each interview as "new and fresh." Ask questions and try to build a relationship with every individual you meet. That will enhance the spontaneity of the event, and you won't feel so much like a robot or someone's repetitious pet parrot. Also, consider the process a chance to improve your interview skills; what better way to get your spiel down cold than by practicing it a dozen times in one day?
Group Interviews
A candidate for a bank management position was interviewed by two Japanese managers. After each of his answers, the two interviewers conversed earnestly with each other in Japanese.
This scenario is enough to make even the most secure candidate wince. Rather than sit there uncomfortably (as he did), the candidate might have taken more control over the situation by asking the managers, "Did you need some clarification of my answer?"
In the meantime, he learned a lot about the culture of the firm. Accepting a position with this bank would inevitably mean feeling left out of many conversations.
Group and panel interviews are intimidating simply because of the sheer number of people involved. As the outsider, you can easily feel overwhelmed by the barrage of questions. In such situations, it's often helpful to use a technique salespeople rely on to get committees to decide in their favor. Monica Tulley did this when she interviewed for a corporate strategic planning job. During the meeting, she asked each panel member what he or she wanted from the position and tried to get a consensus of opinion. Eventually, she got them to agree that they wanted a set of five-year goals and, in the process, convinced them she could do the job.
However, you need excellent group facilitation skills--and the right group-- to succeed with this approach. A Chicago-area meeting planner was asked to interview with the 12-member executive committee of a nonprofit association. During the meeting, there were so many competing agendas (including disagreement over whether the position should even exist) that the candidate realized that until the group could agree more, the job was undoable.
In another case, a vocational counselor interviewed with an entire mental-health team for a newly created position. She spent most of her time educating department members about the role of vocational counseling in a mental health clinic, making it less like a job interview and more like an educational seminar.
There are endless variations on the theme. A law office manager candidate was invited to a half-day round-robin interview with more than 30 attorneys. She was seated at the head of a long conference table with a dozen attorneys staring down at her. They started asking the standard questions: "Tell us about yourself." "Why do you want to work here?" "Why are you leaving your current job?" and so on. Periodically, one or two attorneys would get up and leave--soon to be replaced by other members of the firm. When the new interviewers began asking questions she'd already answered, the first group got up and left--while the candidate had to plunge into her explanation once more.
Consensus building was obviously not an option under these circumstances. Indeed, the Grand Inquisition was so intimidating that this candidate had her hands full just fielding questions and trying to make eye contact with questioners. Had she been savvier she would've tried to slow the process down by interacting with each interviewer more closely.
Then, there was the woman who was interviewed by 45 people all at once. Her interview felt more like a press conference.
Why do employers choose these formats? Obviously, it's an expedient way to have everyone meet the candidate at once. It also gives decision makers the luxury of safety in numbers. But it's undoubtedly harder on the candidate.
Stress Interviews
While all interviews are, by definition, stressful, stress interviews are designed to test your reactions to specific situations. The theory is that you'll reveal in the interview how you'll actually handle stress when it occurs on the job.
A candidate interviewed with a stock brokerage firm. During the interview, he was put in a room for 90 minutes with a phone, notepad, list of names and instructions to sell stocks. On the other end were people the company had arranged to give him a hard time.
In some cases, though, the stress applied seems so artificial that it's difficult to gauge exactly what employers learn from the experiment. Before so many offices became smoke-free, many employers were known to offer candidates cigarettes without supplying ashtrays. (Apparently, the test was whether you asked for an ashtray, flicked your ashes in the cuff of your pants or squashed your cigarette out on the butt of your hand.)
A method used more frequently now is asking rapid-fire questions that barely give the interviewee a chance to think.
Richard Silverman, president of a St. Louis-based management consulting firm that bears his name, says, "When barraged with questions from all directions, a candidate should feel free to slow things down." For example, you might turn to one interviewer and say, "You ask a very important question that I'd be delighted to answer, Mr. Jones. But before I address that issue, I need to finish responding to Ms. Smith's question."
Another common stress test involves the use of silence. A manager of a pharmaceutical company liked to throw candidates off balance by beginning the interviews with silence--for as long as necessary. For him, the way candidates broke the silence was a test of their relationship skills. Since the job involved crisis intervention on a telephone helpline, he felt it was important to see how candidates would react in the absence of a verbal response.
In this situation, candidates have three good options, all of which involve taking control:
- Ask permission to begin the interview-"Would you like me to begin?"
- Start the interview in the absence of a question-"Let me tell you a little about myself."
- Ask a question about the organization--"Can you give me more information about the position?"
When faced with such questions, you have several alternatives:
- Answer the question and let the interviewer interpret the data (without any further input from you).
- Answer the question, and then ask for feedback--"I think I'd like to be a porpoise. What does that mean to you?"
- Answer the question and give your own interpretation-"I'd like to be a dolphin because dolphins are graceful and highly intelligent."
- Answer the question with a question-"Can you tell me how this relates to the position?"
"Follow your instincts," says Pat Berg. "Do what you'd do in other similar situations."
One caveat: If you do decide to play along, make sure you find out later why the interviewer chose to use a stress interview. This will tell you a great deal about the company and the position. If there's a legitimate reason, you may still want to work there. But if they're just sadistic people on a power trip, you should know that, too.
Performance Interviews
As part of the interview process, you may be asked to showcase your skills.
When Ruben Lamarque, a former sales manager with AT&T, made a transition into college teaching, one school asked him to present a portion of a business course to colleagues. In that presentation, he needed to demonstrate platform skills and knowledge of his subject material.
Ditto for Lana Steinman, an experienced sales trainer who expected--and was routinely asked--to teach a segment of a training program as part of her evaluation process.
Fortunately, both Lamarque and Steinman are polished presenters unlikely to suffer from performance anxiety. But not every candidate shares their love of the podium. When your livelihood is hanging in the balance, I know lots of candidates who would gladly pass on the public speaking challenge.
Like it or not, however, there are some types of jobs where candidates are routinely expected to make group presentations. In the world of research and development, for example, there is a well-established precedent that scientists present the results of their research to their professional colleagues. This protocol has been known to strike terror into the hearts of research professionals, many of whom feel more comfortable in the laboratory than at the lectern.
While interviewing for a position as the administrative director of a sleep disorder clinic, a research psychologist was asked to present the results of his research to the employer's management team.
He channeled his anxiety into the preparation, working long hours to write a well-organized paper and create audiovisuals and flip charts that would clearly illustrate his point.
The goal of his extensive preparation was twofold: first, to create the impression of a thorough and well-organized professional, and second (but equally important), to leave little room for error.
True to his strengths, his performance relied more on his intellect than his personality, which he knew to be something less than dynamic.
A psychiatric social worker who was interviewing with an in-patient psychiatric hospital didn't enjoy the same luxury of time and control. When she was asked to lead a group of psychotic patients to demonstrate her skill in working with that particular population, she knew that the situation was likely to be volatile and unpredictable.
To prepare herself, she did some behind-the-scenes networking with an acquaintance who had formerly worked at the same hospital. He was able to provide her with some useful insight into both the patient population and the professional staff's preferred modus operandi.
When aptitude testing is used as a performance measure, it may be more difficult to prepare yourself except, perhaps, to brush up on some of the basic skills in your area.
Testing
Many employers like to supplement their interview process with testing instruments that measure aptitudes, skills, values and personality style.
"Testing is a way of trying to objectify a process that can sometimes seem hopelessly subjective," says Joseph Imburgia, president of Diagnostic Sciences, an employment testing firm in Chicago. "It helps interviewers test out and validate their own perceptions of a candidate," he says. "To a large extent, it takes potential prejudice out of the picture."
Most tests are administered in a face-to-face meeting with a psychologist who interprets the results and submits a report to the hiring manager for review.
Some candidates really take offense at psychological testing because it seems so intrusive. If so, you always have the right to terminate the interview but, if you want to work for a company that subscribes to psychological testing, you'll have to bite the bullet and comply. Otherwise, you'll be screened out.
But you do have choices about how you handle your side of the testing equation. Employment professionals divide up on the issue of whether to "be yourself" or "take control."
Careers columnist Joyce Lain Kennedy and writer Thomas J. Morrow fall into the latter camp. In Electronic Job Search Revolution, they suggest that job hunters prepare for personality tests by scripting out a personality statement in advance of the interview:
Declare who you think you are. Include your characteristics. List your strengths as they apply to the job you hope to land. Write as though you were describing a character in a film script.
Others go one step further. They approach personality tests by creating a mental picture of a successful friend in a similar career field. When responding to questions, they think how that person would respond.
In keeping with that line of thinking, Knock 'em Dead author Martin Yate recommends the following guidelines to "beat the psychological tests."
- Never answer a question from the viewpoint of your innermost beliefs. Instead, ask yourself, "How has my experience as a professional taught me to think and respond to this?"
- Look at yourself from the employer's point of view. Then highlight those traits the employer is most likely to value.
- Think of people you've known who have failed on the job. What can you learn from their mistakes and make a part of the "professional you"?
- Think of people you've known who have succeeded on the job. What have you learned from their success? How can you make this knowledge a part of the professional you?
"It's actually much easier to fool an interviewer than a test," says Dr. Sandy Marcus, a principal with the Chicago-based testing firm of Friedland and Marcus. "Many tests have consistency factors built into them which make it difficult for applicants to fake a whole pattern of responses without getting tripped up."
Imburgia agrees. Most of the personality tests have "lie scales" that are set up to ferret out people who are lying about who they really are, he says
Ed Goedert says it's a mistake to try to psych out the assessment instruments. "The true purpose of a psychological test is to determine whether the position and organization are a good match," says Goedert. "If it's a mistake, you need to know that, too."
Even if you do manage to fool the testing folks and get hired, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Unless you're prepared to think and act like the character you impersonated, employers may be disappointed to discover that you aren't who you pretended to be in the interview.
Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not suggesting that you reveal every wart or turn your test-taking experience into an opportunity for true confessions. As Sandy Marcus says, "There are 1,000 different ways to represent the same truth."
Obviously, you'll want to select one that best represents you. In testing terms, that means always responding in ways that are consistent with the best you can be. That way, if and when you're hired, all you really need to do is live up to your potential.
Computer-Assisted Interviews
For some employers, computers are changing the face of their selection process.
During a typical computer-assisted interview, you sit at a terminal (or, in some cases, program information into the computer via a touch tone telephone), and work through a series of 50 to 100 multiple choice questions relating to your employment history, background and qualifications.
If you're in control of your storyline and presentation, these interviews should pose no special problem. In fact, it may be much easier to type your answers into the computer without the distraction of another person in the room.
Ironically, some candidates may get a little too comfortable for their own good.
"A lot of people are more honest with a computer than they are with interviewers," says Pat Engler-Parish, a vice president of Aspen Software in Laramie, Wyoming, developers of the Greentree Computer-Assisted Employment Interview. "In the absence of non-verbal cues, they aren't trying to please the interviewer and are more likely to tell the truth."
By way of example, Engler-Parish says she was surprised by how many candidates responded "Yes" to the question: "Have you ever stolen property?"; but she was even more astonished by the number of people who said "Yes" to the follow-up question: "Will you steal property from this company if you're hired?" And when asked "How much will you steal?" they were more than willing to be specific.
For the most part, computer-assisted interviews are designed to collect data, organize information and help employers develop probing questions around areas of concern. They aren't intended to replace the human encounter or screen out applicants (although some candidates do, in fact, get screened out during the preliminaries).
Too much candor is one clear faux pas. Overselling is another. At Aspen, the experts have a name for this phenomenon: over-responders. Sandy Marcus describes them as "self-enhancers."
Candidates who oversell themselves may lose credibility in the eyes of the employer. "If they look too good to be true," says Engler-Parish, "they probably are."
Mealtime Interviews
Mealtime interviews present a number of interviewing challenges ranging from where you sit to what and how you eat to who pays the bill.
When dining and interviewing are combined, a number of considerations arise. Group privacy is an important issue. If the restaurant is crowded or the tables are crowded together too closely, you may find it difficult to speak freely. Don't be afraid to raise that concern; most interviewers will thank you for it.
Your personal privacy is also at risk. A mealtime interview can have a whole different feel to it. Because it's often a "getting-to-know-you" experience, expect lots of social questions about your car, home, kids and so on. It's a great time for employers to ask all those off-limits questions that would be considered illegal under other circumstances.
The challenge is in making your conversational contribution without falling into the trap of over familiarity. Discussions about politics, religion and other loaded subjects are still off limits. So are true confessions. The interviewer isn't your best friend (or best-friend-to-be), so don't reveal any personal or emotional problems. The employer doesn't need to know that you're getting divorced, are a recovering alcoholic or that your kids have drug problems.
Your social graces are also on display, so watch your table manners. During an important lunch meeting early in his career, The Wall Street Journal writer Hal Lancaster remembers, with startling clarity, attempting to squeeze lemon juice into his iced tea. Instead, he shot it "with laser-beam accuracy" into the eye of his companion, the chief executive officer of a top corporation. The victim was gracious about his faux pas; but for the rest of the meeting Lancaster was clearly on the defensive.
While gaffes like that won't necessarily destroy your interviewing chances, they do make it harder to create the right impression. If employers can't trust you to be professional and behave well in public, they're less likely to want to hire you.
Employers increasingly complain that young professionals reared on microwave meals don't how to dine in polite company. Traditional rules of dining still apply:
- Don't order the most expensive meal on the menu.
- Don't start eating before your host.
- Don't drink alcohol or smoke-even at dinner.
- Don't order food that's likely to splatter, like soup or pasta.
- Use good manners at all times.
Regardless of whether over salting your food is indicative of hastiness (or more likely a precursor to hypertension), you need to be aware of how you present yourself both visually and verbally. When in doubt, take your cues from the interviewers-and don't forget why you're there.
It's less important whether your food is prepared exactly to your liking than it is for you to create the best impression. A candidate who seemed like the perfect choice on paper made a less than perfect impression at dinner. When she complained that her lettuce was wilted and the steak overcooked, the CEO who was interviewing her was less concerned about the quality of the restaurant fare than he was about the candidate's inflexibility. Despite her excellent credentials, he couldn't shake the impression that the candidate was a "whiner" who would inevitably find fault with everything and everyone. Need I mention that she wasn't offered the job?
Mind Your Manners at Mealtime Interviews
- Keep drinking to a minimum. Better yet, don't drink at all.
- No smoking, please-unless the interviewer smokes first or you're interviewing with a tobacco company.
- Order something easy to eat. If you're struggling with spaghetti, you won't be able to concentrate on the interview.
- Don't over order or choose the most expensive item on the menu. Take your cues from the interviewer.
- Use your best manners. Don't shovel your food, talk with your mouth full or eat with your hands (unless it's finger food).
When the bill came, the interviewer discovered he'd "forgotten" his wallet and asked the candidate to pay. The would-be CFO said, "No problem" and paid the bill without looking at it. Not surprisingly, the interviewer decided he didn't want a CFO who'd pay bills without looking them over first.
Out-of-Town Interviews
Out-of-town interviews involve lots of logistical concerns. Nancy Schellhoust recommends conducting a mental run-through of the whole episode to anticipate obstacles. For example, say you're flying and the plane gets grounded. What do you do? (Fly in the night before.) The airline loses your luggage. What do you do'.
(Carry your interview suit with you on the plane.) You don't know the city and are worried about getting lost. (Take a cab.) You're worried you won't have enough money. (Confirm that the company will be paying expenses, and carry a credit card.)
Most important, control what you can control--and hope interviewers pitch in to make your life a little easier.
