Your most comprehensive interview will usually be with the hiring manager. He's the person who can least afford to make a mistake in selecting you. He'll therefore want to learn about your professional capability as well as your personal characteristics. He may even want other people's opinions about your qualifications and have you interviewed by members of his staff or other managers in the company. The higher the level of the position, the more people you’ll have you meet.
In order to get a better sense of your personal qualities, the hiring manager may also take you to lunch or dinner where he'll be able to observe you in a relaxed, informal atmosphere. Never mistake this for a social affair (even if your spouse has been invited along) or interpret this to mean that you've already been selected for hire. The manager will be actively evaluating you (and your spouse as well!), even though the conversation may have nothing to do with your background or the position.
Your interviews with personnel representatives will be more varied. Sometimes hiring managers will rely heavily on these individuals' assessment of you, and your background will be examined in detail. In other instances, meeting with personnel will just be a formality before being introduced to the hiring manager and only a cursory conversation will take place.
When it comes to interviewing, the personnel department is in a rather difficult situation. Because it's responsible for filling every position in an organization, it can seldom perform an in depth, technical evaluation. Instead, personnel representatives will usually try to get a general sense of your background. They'll look for inconsistencies that require explanation. They'll try to establish the reasons for your job changes and why you're currently interviewing. They'll also try to determine if you're the type of person who will fit into the department and the company.
Some personnel departments may have on staff or retain a psychologist who's an extremely skilled interviewer. This individual's responsibility will be to investigate factors such as your personal characteristics, values, attitudes, current objectives, and long-term goals. Although he'll have little concern for your technical abilities, his assessment of you will be crucial to the hiring manager. He may even have the authority to veto your being hired.
Executive search firms will conduct a thorough examination of your background. They're retained by their clients to identify and refer candidates who have only impeccable qualifications. Like hiring managers, executive recruiters will be interested in both your technical capability and your personal characteristics. The majority of these individuals are also highly adept interviewers. Some will even be able to conduct a technical evaluation, since they specialize in your job function or entered the search business after a career in your field or industry.
Interviews with employment agencies will be brief. Some agencies won't even need to meet you in person. Receiving your resume and then obtaining additional information on the phone will suffice for the recruiter's needs.
The Stress Interview
The majority of your interviews will be congenial and straight forward. Only occasionally will you encounter an interviewer who will intentionally provoke you or try to make you uncomfortable. In this situation, with emotions heightened, job-seekers act instinctively and demonstrate more of their "real" personalities. That is the point of a stress interview: to allow potential employers to see how you act while pressured, frustrated, and annoyed.
A technique sometimes used is the "stress" interview. Interviewers can create stress in a number of ways. They can frequently point out your weaknesses or problem areas; constantly interrupt you in midsentence and not allow you to finish what you were saying; try to intimidate you with their greater knowledge of your field; continually disagree with you; or be generally rude, belligerent, or antagonistic. These tactics are especially effective when there are two or more interviewers evaluating you at the same time.
In this setting, some job-seekers become so flustered or angry that they lose control and forget how they were trying to present themselves. Others are able to maintain their composure because they understand what an interviewer is trying to achieve and the gamesmanship that's involved. If you meet this type of interviewer, demonstrate your mettle by "rolling with the punches."
Other methods for inducing stress, as well as to observe how assertive or submissive someone is, are to seat an applicant in a wobbly or squeaky chair or so that the sun is glaring into his eyes. Since no one wants to be interviewed under these conditions, continue the conversation while moving your chair to a different location or sitting in another one. These measures always gain an interviewer's respect.
A third technique is the introduction of silences. Here, an interviewer won't say anything after you've answered his question. He'll just stare at you. Many job-seekers become anxious under this condition and grope for things to say. Sometimes they end up revealing information that they later regret.
These silences are easy to manage. First of all, they usually don't last for more than 15 or 20 seconds, so just look back at the interviewer while slowly counting to 20. You have answered his question. It's now up to him to continue the conversation.
If these 20 seconds seem like a long period of time and you want to break the silence, ask the interviewer a question.
More than anything else, an interviewer will be using a silence to test you, to see how you handle yourself. By proceeding as above, you'll always make a favorable impression and win the interviewer's approval.
A certain type of interviewer may present a difficult situation. He's the one who is very friendly, lighthearted, and casual. He'll usually start the conversation by discussing a recent news item or topic of public interest. He'll also be in no rush to change the subject and discuss the position or your background.
In this situation, many job-seekers wonder when the small talk will end and when "the interview" will begin. It already has! This interviewer is just more interested in learning about your personal qualities than he is in your work experience. He's looking to see if the right chemistry exists, if you're the type of person for the job and the company. If the interviewer decides that you're not, he'll adjourn the meeting quickly.
Once this interviewer begins to examine your background, he'll repeatedly compliment you and agree with what you're saying. The purpose of this is to make you feel confident and at ease, so that you'll drop your guard and volunteer information about yourself, especially concerning your problem areas. People are always more willing to discuss their liabilities when assured that they have gained someone's respect. If you find yourself with such an interviewer, don't be taken in by his inviting style. Understand his technique and conduct yourself accordingly.
The Group Interview
Also known as the board interview and the panel interview, this is where you're simultaneously interviewed by two or more people. The number of interviewers can run as high as six. Board and panel interviews have traditionally been used to evaluate candidates for executive, government, and academic positions. Today, however, this type of interview is on the rise, since more and more companies are hiring people to work in concert with others as part of a team effort. Here, the entire team, or several members of it, will interview a prospective employee.
Although this group interview approach isn't necessarily used to create a stressful situation, it's undoubtedly an uncomfortable setting to be in. Many people become intimidated by the number of interviewers and say very little. They clam up as if they were being interrogated.
What you want to strive for in this interview situation is a balanced conversation with an even flow of dialogue. To achieve this, ask questions, just as you would during a one-on-one interview. Also, initiate discussions along lines where you'll be able to talk about your important strengths and accomplishments, in order to advance your candidacy.
Due to this group format, it's much more difficult to establish rapport with an interviewer. An effective way to conduct yourself when answering questions, though, is to concentrate your response and eye-contact on the individual who asked the question, while being sure to glance at each of the other interviewers during the course of your reply. This will convey confidence and poise, as well as keep the entire interviewing team engaged in your response.
