There are many definitions of an interview and even more concepts of what it is. Be aware of what it shouldn't be when you are being interviewed. It is not an inquisition; it is not a speech by the employer on the merits of the organization; it is not a psychological test to see how you react to situations devised by the interviewer; and it is definitely not a device used by an opportunistic employer to buy you for less than you are worth to him or her.
Most people look upon an interview as a conversation in which each side gives and receives information. This is correct, as far as it goes. But for you, it is not only a communication in which information is exchanged, it is also a wonderful opportunity for you to make a friend. Friendship can often do as much for you in life as facts and logic. More friends can only help you, not hinder you, in your job search.
Be prepared for any kind of an interview and any kind of interviewer. While most interviews go along rather standard lines, some won't. An executive interview may be so well handled that you will hardly realize that you are being questioned or studied. Such an interview may seem to be just an ordinary conversation at first.
The usual format, however, includes: (1) an introduction by way of inconsequential comments, just to get acquainted; (2) some probing questions by the interviewer; (3) an opportunity for you to ask questions; and (4) a closing, at which time you should ask for the job (or not ask for it), while the interviewer will be doing a mental summing up to determine whether or not to consider you or see you again.
The interview coin has another side. The interviewer may do very little interviewing in the course of normal work. What little they do may be poorly done. What a spot to find yourself in! One solution, if you can carry it off, is to become the interviewer yourself and guide the discussion. Take charge! You can, if you are thoroughly prepared to present your abilities and achievements and explain how they can be applied to a new situation. As interviewer, it then becomes your job to bring out for the other individual the needs of the employer. You do the probing, and you supply the answers. When it becomes established that your presence on the job will aid the employer substantially, the time is right to let the interview flow into your need for challenge, opportunity, and reward.
There is no doubt that getting the interview is your first big hurdle. But once there, you are on your own to obtain what you seek. You can do it, too. Everyone has experienced personal interactions that have been successful. Have you ever gone to a retail store to buy clothes, and the salesperson, whom you have never met before, seems to understand what you want? The salesperson finds the right garment for you and a sale is made; you are a pleased and satisfied customer. This interaction was successful. What about when you meet someone socially for the first time, and he or she makes you feel comfortable? Sometime in the conversation a mutual interest arises. The encounter, lengthy or brief, goes well for both of you. Definitely a successful personal interaction. To make it happen you have to work at it. Be sincerely interested in the other person. Listen to what is said. Keep your mind wide open. Talk less yourself. You can work wonders. An interview is a highly important personal interaction. When you are offered the job, both you and the employer have gained what each of you wants.
Employers look for these things: (1) the right person (and personality) to fill the job as they see it; (2) someone who can contribute over and above the demands of that particular job; (3) someone with executive and/or management experience and characteristics. As an applicant, you will be asking yourself these questions: (1) Do I want to work for this organization?; (2) Do I want this job?; (3) Can I fulfill the requirements?; (4) Will I fit in?; (5) Will this job and this employer give me work satisfaction and career progress?
SELLING YOURSELF
The interview is a splendid occasion to convey to an interviewer how you can contribute and why you should be selected over other applicants. Is this selling? It surely is. It takes skillful persuasion to get someone else to see things your way. That's selling! That's marketing yourself.
It is how you appear, how you act, and what you say that registers with an interviewer, as well as what the interviewer sees as your accomplishments, through his or her perspective. One key point in selling: keep the eye contact steady and your demeanor friendly. You are more likely to get hired if the interviewer feels that he or she likes you not a very scientific fact, maybe, but a fact, nevertheless. Most interviewers will want to like you. Would they hire somebody who didn't appeal to them?
Selling isn't confined to just the person who interviews you, either. Selling includes everyone you come in contact with. The interviewer's secretary and other individuals in the reception room need to have favorable impressions of you. Their unseen votes can sometimes count for or against you.
Do you truly believe in yourself? You should. There is a right place for each individual, but yours may be hard to come by, unless you help. So help yourself first by knowing that you can do what you set out to do. Then, through marketing yourself and your talents, acquaint others with your efforts that have worked well for past employers. Selling, and in this case, selling yourself, is what brings a sound marketing plan to fruition. As long as you never hesitate to believe in your own value, selling yourself will never be a problem.
YOUR IMAGE STARTS WITH A FIRST IMPRESSION
Books and magazine articles have thoroughly covered the subject of grooming, conduct, and behavior at the interview. Even the subject of protocol (e.g., if offered, do you drink at a lunch meeting? Answer: no) has been written about. All of this is good in theory and makes for good reading. But now it becomes a very practical matter for you. Don't put off the needed trip to the hairdresser or the barber. Make sure that the appropriate clothes are available and clean. Do you have another outfit for a second interview? The vital point is that your wearing apparel must be right for the position and the organization. You won't go wrong being conservative in your choice of clothes. Dress for the interview as you would expect to dress for the job.
Image isn't all clothing and hairstyle. Many other items make up the total picture of you. What about mannerisms? Small habits and actions become so much a part of you that you're not conscious of them. Do you keep your hand or finger on your chin or in front of your mouth? You speak less clearly if you do. Do you raise your eyebrows constantly? This becomes distracting. Throat clearing isn't terribly pleasant. Keys and glasses are necessary for their purpose but shouldn't be used as playthings in an interview.
If your normal custom is to slouch down in a chair, you are probably more comfortable in this position. You do not, however, present much of a picture of vitality and drive. Your new job might not call for drive, but your employer will certainly expect alertness.
Many, many interviewers are sharp people who know what to look for in an applicant. They notice the little things, without comment, and record them in their mental computers.
Try to avoid showing stress or anxiety. They make you frown and perspire and contribute negatively to the overall picture of a confident executive or professional. Stress is a natural, physiological reaction to a certain sot of conditions. Being relaxed is the opposite. Granted, you have a great deal riding on an important face-to-face conversation. But if you keep your mind on how you could help the employer and how you are enjoying the opportunity to say so, you won't worry about failure. If this interview doesn't produce the magic words ("Mary/Bill, we'd like to have you join us!"), perhaps the next one will. Meanwhile, you've picked up some more interviewing experience and learned a thing or two.
One final suggestion about image and first impression: Just be yourself. Chances are that you will come across much better that way than if you try to be someone or something you aren't. If the first interviewer doesn't spot the make-believe, the second one might, at which point the game is over. Stretching the truth or pretending is hard work because you always have to remember what you said or did. It is hardly any trouble at all to be yourself.
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR INTERVIEW
If you have succeeded in obtaining an interview, you have acquired a time and place to create a favorable image, to sell yourself, to tell of your experience, and to demonstrate how your achievements can be put to better use-all of which may solve an employer's problem. He or she has one or more problems for sure, or you wouldn't be sitting there.
Some people will consider this next thought to be naive, but it could be important in the long run, as well as in the short run: You have an opportunity to make a new friend-someone who may not necessarily hire you, but who could give you another lead, or another contact. Individuals seldom go out of their way for people they don't care about. Friends help friends.
If you've done your homework, you've learned a great deal about the organization, but you know little about the position that's open or about your potential superior-to-be. So another basic is to get some vital data not previously available. Decide before the interview what you need to know to enable you to evaluate the position intelligently.
You are in this interview to do what your resume and letters could not do. In a face-to-face discussion you can explain how you accomplished the highlights you brought out in your resume You can also explain how the methods that brought about your past results can be applied to the new problems you did not even learn about until this interview.
You are here to get the job. This is your immediate goal, and there is no other, or better, place or time than right here, right now!
PREPARING TO BE INTERVIEWED
Plan each interview. The interviewer does. You should, too. Know all you can about the potential employer. The Appendix lists directories that contain a wealth of information. Prepare your own set of questions and work them into the give-and-take of the interview exchange. Prepare your answers to the possible questions an interviewer might ask you. See if you can locate someone who has worked for the employer, and find out about the organization, your boss-to-be, and the job itself.
Your preparation should begin early, because last-minute crash efforts seldom work out well. Some preparatory steps are general in nature, while others are down-to-earth ideas to use just prior to and during each interview. Here are thirteen preparation suggestions, applicable to almost any interview you will have:
- Study your resume. Review what you have to sell and how best to sell it.
- Plan to be yourself.
- Be well rested, physically and emotionally.
- Practice interviewing. Learn to answer, not wander. Learn to be brief. Line up some interviews for jobs you don't want-just for the practice.
- Know who you'll see, at an exact time and specific location.
- Make sure that your grooming and dress are correct.
- Be on time, which means five to ten minutes early. Tardiness is inexcusable, so allow for a traffic accident tie-up, a train crossing your highway, a hard-to-find parking lot, or a two-block walk to the building entrance.
- Don't get agitated if you are kept waiting; usually the interviewer can't help it.
- Be mentally prepared to adopt a good attitude, and be responsive.
- Let your employer talk at the beginning of the interview, while you listen.
- When you speak, dwell on your successes, not your responsibilities. These are two different things.
- Remember your goals in the interview.
- Avoid planning interviews too close together.
Here are twenty-nine common-sense suggestions and points of behavior, under the headings of "Listening," "Speaking," "Alertness," and "Actions." These recommendations are useful guides during an interview itself. No one item on this list is crucial by itself, but together they add up. You already know these twenty-nine suggestions or have read similar ones in other sources. Study them anyway, as a refresher. You want to handle an interview right the first time; there is no second chance.
LISTENING
- Listen well. Be truly interested in the interviewer as a person.
- Do not interrupt; your turn will come.
- Listen for positive remarks that show you are being well received.
- Listen for a job offer.
- Speak well; clearly, not too fast, with a freshness in your voice. Keep eye contact. Use correct grammar. Say what you have to say, and then stop.
- When speaking of past employers or bosses, be honest, give short answers, do not downgrade, and get off the subject.
- Ask a question when silence prevails.
- Have examples of your achievements on tap.
- Avoid discussing your own strong biases, and steer clear of religion and politics.
- Never argue; if you win, you lose.
- Watch for the hidden opportunity-the other job the interviewer knows about that you don't.
- You are interviewing the interviewer, too.
- Conduct yourself according to the tone of the interview.
- Forget about anyone you already know in the organization.
- Your personal problems are your own; don't discuss them.
- Keep your temper in check; it could be costly.
- Should the interviewer get an outside interruption, plan your next strategy.
- The interviewer decides when the interview is over, you don't.
- Practice courtesy and use good manners.
- Be friendly, conservative, and quietly enthusiastic.
- Smile easily.
- Do not smoke.
- Avoid unusual approaches or gimmicks.
- Keep your ego submerged. Never show up an interviewer.
- Skip the drinks at a luncheon interview.
- When the interview is over, stop talking and prepare to leave.
- Find out what happens next.
- Shake hands firmly.
- Don't use hard sell; it doesn't work.
