Beating the Unstructured System of the ‘Popular System of Employment Interviewing’

Interviews, of course, allow the candidate to take over by answering his or her way, by picking and choosing what he or she wants and has to say, and by twisting and turning questions to his or her own ends. The bottom line is that if you play the game right, you win. You get the job. If you don't play the game, no matter how well qualified you are on paper, you don't get the job. It is not a matter of training or experience, then, as much as it is the way you look and sound. Oh, the education and background that you have is important, but only to the point that it gets you the interview in the first place. After that, it becomes less and less a factor in being hired.

In the face of all this, it stands to reason that the person who prepares answers in advance, and projects the right physical image, has a better than ever chance of beating the system and landing the position he or she wants.

You might be asking yourself at this point whether or not the interviewer can really be as easily manipulated as I have implied, and if so why? Well, first of all, very few employment interviewers have ever had any formal training in the process. Second, it is widely assumed (with very little scientific evidence to support it) that informal, relatively unstructured interviews bring out the "real candidate" and allow the employer to discover the "true" person. Third, most interviewers make up questions as they go or use hackneyed cliché questions. And fourth, very few of them have any other model from which to work. In other words, that is the way they were questioned during their own interviews as candidates, and they simply don't know any other way to do it.



It goes without saying that in situations like this, the employer often loses. The manager hires a person who might or might not be appropriate to the job and hopes for the best. The candidate might also lose if he or she doesn't know what is going on in the situation. My own experience tells me that nine out of ten times both parties lose under these circumstances. That is too bad because there are valid ways to truly qualify people. For now, though, you probably are concerned with landing the job rather than making sure the employer gets what he or she wants.

The popular system of employment interviewing can be overcome because it is no system at all. Few employers have the necessary safeguards to prevent you from getting the job that you want.

Take the case of a very attractive woman from the Midwest who responded to an advertisement for a management job with a major hotel chain. Her only experience up to that point was as a social worker in Chicago. She found herself burned out and the new position in question attracted her because it was so different from what she was doing. It apparently did not bother her that she lacked the proper training or experience. In any case, she applied for the job and despite the odds, she got it. Today, she is one of the highest paid and most powerful executives in the company. It was a lucky break for her and the company to be sure, but certainly not typical of most employment interview outcomes. Everything points to the fact that she was hired because she looked and sounded good to the man who first talked to her. It certainly was not a question of being qualified!

I once became a shoe salesman because, when I was interviewed by the store manager, he asked, "Do you know much about shoes?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Have you had much experience in shoes?" he went on.

"Sure, a number of years," I answered.

"Well," he said, "I guess we'll give you a try."

I must confess that my answers to his questions were based on the fact that I had been wearing shoes all of my life. I had never sold them, of course, but then he never really asked me that.

This illustration points out another reality of the employment interviewing process. Most employers seldom check on the candidate's background. It might seem crazy, but in my experience with most companies-even Fortune 500 companies-background checks are routinely ignored. Partly, this is because if they really want you, they do not want to learn anything negative that could possibly spoil their plans. Also, in many cases, it is simply a question of thinking someone else in the organization has already done it. Finally, some recruiters are just too lazy to bother. As a candidate, once again, it is to your benefit because there might be things about your previous employment you would rather not discuss.

To summarize, you can beat the employment interview if you follow the basic principles. Remember, most interviews are unplanned, unstructured, and highly subjective regarding looks and feelings. In such a setting, the candidate can take charge and manipulate the interview.

Then, is a step-by-step how to prepare yourself for the employment interview that stands in your way of becoming whatever you want to be. It provides everything from simple suggestions on discovering what your prospective employer is really looking for, to answers to those standard questions that nearly every recruiter asks. It also gives numerous examples of how even the most unqualified people have wound up in important, responsible, high-paying jobs. Finally, it offers information on where to locate the best jobs, and it highlights ways to deal with the special problems that you might encounter.

It might seem that getting that good job you want just has to be harder than the outlines and that it is too good to be true. It is not. Believe me, it is probably easier to get the job you want than you think.