- You should present yourself in the most favorable light, and sell yourself to the interviewer.
- Gather as much information as you can about the position and the organization so that you can make a decision about the company.
- Develop other objectives to fit your own personal needs.
External factors
If you were interviewed after an impressive candidate, then the interviewer will tend to evaluate you somewhat less favorably than if you followed a weak candidate. Also, appearance is important. Applicants who are overweight or sloppily dressed are less likely to be hired than those with comparable qualifications who make a good appearance. Remember-you've being compared to others. So in order to win, you must score better than they do in as many categories as possible.
That all-important first impression
Many interviewers tend to hire in their own image. They have preconceived notions of what the ideal candidate should be. As a result, they enter the interview situation with biases that cause them to evaluate applicants as total human beings with human frailties as opposed to job- related deficiencies. This is further complicated by the overpowering tendency to make a complete evaluation of a candidate early in the interview, often from the impression formed in the first two or three minutes. This initial impression is often based on information that is totally unrelated to job performance. For example, it may be dress, bearing, and firmness of handshake, hair style, facial expression, or other physical characteristics.
Your attitude will have an influence on how you're initially judged. Are you open-minded to change? Will you be a team worker? Will you be cooperative? Will you fit in with other members of the company in terms of your ability to work well with others and not cause any personality conflicts? Will you come across as a well set-up, healthy, energetic person with good bodily and facial characteristics? Will you be perceived as being well groomed, with an erect posture, or slouchy and unattractive in appearance? Will your voice impress the interviewer as being irritating or pleasant? Are you perceived as one whose judgment will be dependable even under stress; or will you impress the interviewer as being hasty, erratic, biased, or easily swayed emotionally?
For example, your responses to the interviewer's questions may provide evidence that you have acquired the habit of making considered judgments. You weigh the pros and cons of a situation before you render any judgmental decision. On the other hand, a tendency to react impulsively and without restraint in answering questions that require judgment will lose points for you.
Another key element in creating a good first impression is to present yourself as an emotionally stable individual. To do that, you must appear well poised. If you are by nature touchy, sensitive to criticism, or easily upset, strive instead for coolness and restraint. Once judged as ''easily irritated," or "impatient," or "oversensitive," or "easily disconcerted," you'll be out of consideration. Picture yourself as poised and in control.
Another key element of that first impression is your level of self-confidence. If you seem to be uncertain of yourself, easily bluffed, overly self-conscious, or timid, your impact as a candidate will be negative. You must impress the interviewer as one who is self-confident and assured.
Once the interviewer forms a first impression of you, he or she will tend to seek out and interpret information that reinforces that initial impression. All too often, it's difficult-if not impossible-to overcome the stigma of a bad first impression. Think of the interviewer as the buyer in a buyer/seller relationship. If you impress the interviewer from the beginning, he or she will treat you as if you're already an employee. You'll perceive this as the interviewer answers your questions fully and thoroughly or shares a lot of company information on benefits. In general, the interviewer will try to sell you, the candidate, on the attractiveness of the company. On the other hand, if the interviewer tries to sell you off the company, or does not provide adequate answers to your questions, or tries to tell you that you may be better qualified for a job other than the one for which you're being interviewed, you can bet you haven't impressed the interviewer. When you perceive this, muster your wits and work twice as hard to reverse that first impression and overcome it. To win, you must make the most of that first impression! You must also make good on it by being able to follow through and deliver.
Determination of a professional interviewing team
If you undergo two or more successive interviews with the same company, you may detect a pattern. In order to overcome the unreliability of the interview process and to diminish the influence of the factors that contribute to that unreliability, the seasoned, professional, interviewing team will have accomplished two things. First, they will have designed a patterned interview; and second, they will have developed a selection strategy. The patterned interview ensures that the interviewers are covering the job-related areas of information and that they are doing it consistently. This results in their being able to gather data without injecting their own personal biases. The development of a selection strategy ensures that all interviewers in the hiring process are looking for the same candidate. They will have defined very carefully what the ideal candidate will look like in terms of experience, education, and personal qualities and characteristics. This combination of the patterned interview and the development of a selection strategy enable them to remove many of the unreliable factors from the interview situation.
If, on the other hand, the interviewers interview you in completely different styles and ask you questions unrelated to each other, if they pursue different subjects-then you know that they most likely haven't been trained. If you're qualified, without a doubt, for the position and you find yourself in the hands of a professional, then you stand an excellent chance of getting the position. On the other hand, if you're well qualified and find yourself the subject of an uncoordinated recruiting effort, then you must recognize it as such. Try to furnish data and information that will lead each successive interviewer to believe that you're the ideal candidate for the job. This can be accomplished if you're sensitive to the personal needs of the interviewer and respond to those needs.
If you feel, by the line of questioning, that the interviewer is definitely interested in you, then you must maintain that level of interest. If, however, the interviewer asks you a question and lets you ramble on and you sense the interviewer is not listening to your responses, then you must regain his or her interest and keep the interview on track. This can be done by asking the interviewer a question at the appropriate time that will research the interview and give you additional clues as to how your future responses should be made. This technique is intended to enable you to make the most favorable review from each interviewer in the loop.
Remember-to win, you must sell each and every interviewer in the process. Two out of three or three out of four is not good enough. Any one of them can blackball you. Don't be misled by the size of the office or the title of each person in the hiring loop. Each one has a vital role in selection and is there for the express purpose of evaluating you! Be at your best with each, and make your answers consistent.
Watch out for a probing strategy
As you go from interviewer to interviewer, each may be sharing information they have obtained from you. If you did not make yourself clear or if you have not satisfied one interviewer, he or she will most likely ask the next interviewer to "probe" more deeply into the subject. To win, you must convince the succeeding interviewer that you are prepared and capable of giving satisfactory answers.
