Although executive recruiters will be discussed in greater detail later, the recruiter-generated interview is worth mentioning here because it represents such a strong trend. The number of job placements by executive recruiters has grown in recent years to the point where some companies conduct job searches only through search firms. Even companies with strong human resources departments use search firms for their top searches and in situations when confidentiality is important.
One big difference exists between going into an interview when a recruiter is presenting you and going into one on your own: You have more power when you are being presented by a recruiter. According to Al Duarte, "When you're being recruited, you go in on a one-on-one basis. You may not even want the job at that point; you have to be sold on it. You've got more power when you're coming through a recruiter. This interview is more of a fact-finding exercise on both sides."
It is still possible, with all the power you wield, to fail this kind of interview. The way most people do this is by throwing their weight around too much. For example, even with a recruiter-generated interview, many job candidates still start with the human resources department. And as Robert M. Hecht of Lee-Hecht & Associates, a human resources consulting firm, noted, this is where many executives make their biggest mistake: "Senior-level people, without realizing it, send non-verbal messages to interviewers who may not be able to offer them a job because they're not at a high enough level. They don't think these people are very important, or they don't realize they can stop them from being hired even if they can't hire them. Even though the job candidate is saying the right words, he sends non-verbal messages that often believe the content of the words.
"What do I mean by non-verbal messages? You get a $100,000-a-year senior executive who is being interviewed by a $30,000-a-year personnel worker, and the executive leans back in his chair, puts his hands behind his head, and talks down his nose as if to say, 'Here, young man or young lady, I'll tell you what you need to know,' but the message is that the junior person doesn't really understand the situation or that the executive is doing him or her a favor by responding to the questions. Often, these executives display intimidating behaviors that they use on the job but that at the moment don't fit the role they are playing of a candidate who is trying to sell himself, however subtly."
A similar way to fail this interview, or any interview for that matter, is to be rude or inattentive to the little people who surround the Big Boss. The following was reported the head of one human resources department at a major manufacturing company: "I get feedback about a candidate from my secretary. I ask her how she was treated or what her impressions were. I ask if the person was conversational with her, especially if the candidate had to wait for me outside the office for a few minutes."
This man offered a good general guideline for anyone when he said, "The assumption that an interviewee ought to make is that anybody he or she talks to can influence the hiring decision."
The Information Interview
The last trend in executive interviewing--the information interview--has unfortunately fallen on hard times, partly because of its overuse by networkers.
The information interview, usually generated by the job candidate, is set up not to ask for a job but merely to gather information about one. For example, you may want to learn about the opportunities in a new field, and so you call someone you know who works in that field and ask him or her to spend some time discussing this with you.
The information interview works best when someone has a tie or relationship, however remote, to you. Millie McCoy of Gould & McCoy, an executive search firm, commented: "I understand that the information-gathering interview has been heavily abused, but it still can be used if you've got a friend. I know so many people who do it very well, by using their school ties. You went to Harvard Business School with Joe Smith at such-and-such a bank, so you call him up and ask him if he'll just talk to you." Most of the time, Joe Smith is happy to talk to you.
Information interviews work because people feel powerful when they can help other people. People like to be helpful when they can, and they may even feel that they are paying off an old debt to someone who helped them find a job. An information interview can also backfire, as on those occasions when you find yourself sitting in some very busy executive's office. He made the appointment three weeks ago, feels honor-bound to keep it, but really doesn't have the time to sit down and talk with you. These interviews are best ended as quickly as possible, and there's nothing wrong with your suggesting that you've come at the wrong time and could perhaps call to set another date.
One veteran job hunter who spent over a year unemployed while he changed from publishing to public relations had this to say about information interviews: "The whole networking concept, which has been overused, really works. I would sometimes be sitting across a desk from somebody who was three or four or even five generations removed from how it all started. A friend would give me the name of somebody, and then somebody else would give me another name. Some people were helpful and cared, and others just wanted me out of their offices. But there were a number of situations where I would have an information interview with someone, and a month or two later, the person would call and say, hey, I heard about something for you."
One very important thing to keep in mind about information interviews is this: Underneath every informational interview is a person who wants a job. That person is you. This means you should approach this interview as seriously as any other. Prepare just as hard for it as for any other interview; prepare especially hard, in fact, because you don't want to waste the time of someone who is making time to help you.
Finally, don't abuse an information interview. Never set one up under false pretenses, either by pretending to have a tie where you don’t have one, or by blatantly pushing for a job when you have said your only purpose is to gather information.
What's Out?
In a word, what's out is stress. Stress interviewing techniques, which ranged from the sublime to the silly (and frankly, most hovered around the silly), are no longer used. At least, obvious stress is out, and the only kind of stress that is acceptable is what experts like to call "fair stress"--throwing the occasional tough question at a job candidate, deliberately trying to rile the candidate a little, or requesting that the candidate perform some job simulation before an audience.
Definitely out are such tricks as handing a job candidate an object and asking him or her to sell it, asking him or her to take a phone call that is supposedly from a client but is actually from a colleague in the next room, offering a cigarette in a room where there is no ash tray, asking someone to sit down when there is no chair nearby, or simultaneous drilling by three or four executives. Even interrogation is out, although there are some tough bosses whose personal style is and always will be inquisitional in tone.
Robert Hecht noted the overall ineffectiveness of stress techniques, saying, "Even when people use trap questions or stress techniques, they generally don't work. They were long ago demonstrated to be of no value. The interview itself is stressful enough because the candidate has a job at stake, as well as a livelihood and self-esteem."
During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services conducted elaborate studies that confirmed that stress tests are ineffective. They are particularly ineffective in a business setting, since the typical person doesn't encounter a lot of high-level, unhealthy stress at work. Stress tests don't work because they can't create a lifelike situation, and because they generate a false response from the person being tested. People subjected to stress tests don't get their adrenaline flowing and rise to the occasion; they close up and feel defensive and guarded.
Occasionally, a company works out a fair stress test. One such company is Life Science Division of Whittaker Corporation, which provides hospital and health services to Saudi Arabia. They spend $10,000 to hire each employee, and employees sign an 18-month contract, so a mistake can be costly for everyone involved. They typically conduct three interviews, and one of these is a negative stress interview in which the interviewer attempts to tell the job candidate why he or she doesn't want the job. The last interview is supposedly with a person who will brief the job candidate on the culture and lifestyle in Saudi Arabia, but who is, in reality, one final interviewer. Many job candidates let down their guard and confess to fears that disqualify them for the job at this stage. Although the candidate is unaware of the degree of manipulation to which he or she is being subjected during this company's interview process, this is that rare stress interview that works in everyone's best interests.
Never Expect Form to Follow Function
In conclusion, although you're a step ahead of the competition if you know about the different kinds of interviews and how to handle them, never forget that each interview is unique. A company could set up the most stringent guidelines in the world for its executives to use in hiring, but as long as human beings are involved, interviews will remain highly personal in content and often intuitive in conduct.
See the following articles for more information:
- How to Start on the Right Foot in Your New Job
- What Are the Sources to Find the Information You Need
- The Background of Application Process
- How to Network and Take an Information Interview
