Facing the Future - The Interview

It will be obvious, if not now then later, that the interview is most probably the most important step in your job seeking project. So you are going to spend quite a lot of time preparing for it.

The invitation

When you receive the invitation letter you have been waiting for read it very carefully and confirm to yourself that you understand where you have to be, when you have to be there and who is going to interview you. Any doubts or questions then telephone them and check.

The approach

The thing is, you should approach a job interview as if it were a play or a film. You have to prepare, learn and rehearse. My television audition which I mention later proves this point.

A quick word about nerves, stage-fright, call it what you will. Most people suffer from it. Do what you can to overcome it but remember, the interviewer will understand and take it into account.

Prepare

What many people do not do is prepare their interview. This is incredible seeing as how they are going to talk about what could be their future!

So have a list of topics and questions you want to talk about and ask during the interview. Examples:

- Possible projects or work-areas you could be involved in

- Social involvement in the company

- Etcetera

The questions you can expect

You’ll get easy questions, difficult questions, a lot of questions, maybe many questions. Always assume you’ll be asked lots of difficult ones.

A lot of difficult question does not necessarily mean that the person interviewing you is an unpleasant person who does not like the people he is interviewing. It usually means he is being thorough in his job because he wants the best person for the job. If you are prepared for him you should do well.

Here are a couple of examples:

- Why did you choose the education subjects you followed?

- Why did you choose our company?

- What are your strengths?

- etc.

Prepare!

The entrance

First impressions, most probably even the first sixty seconds, are extremely important. The ‘you’ that is seen at the first meeting - in the reception area, when you are shown into the interviewer’s office - will be the ‘you’ that will be remembered.

Be erect and self - aware, what I call ’smart’. Hold eye-contact from the first moment, avoid it and you look shifty and show lack of self-confidence.

The hand-shake should be firm, not the “dead-fish” grip but certainly not the macho “I’m gonna crush your fingers” grip.

Always be correct in addressing the person interviewing you, Mr or Mrs. Always remain standing until your host invites you to sit down and if you are not sure where to sit, ask.

Once seated do not start to arrange things on the host’s desk or table, ash-trays and the like. You are not at home.

The interview

A word to start with about handicaps or ‘infirmities’. If you have a handicap which is not immediately obvious. For example, if your are deaf or hard of hearing, mention it.

“Would you speak clearly please as I have a (slight) hearing problem.”

The subject is out in the open!

The same is true about other handicaps, you should be the one to bring the subject up and not let the interviewer ‘discover’ it.

On the subject of small-talk keep it simple unless you are aware of a subject which will interest your host, a sport, hobby or a news item concerning the company you are visiting.

Once the interview has started there are simple rules which have to be adhered to rigidly.

Communication

I quote a Finnish professor of communications who once stated:

“The greatest danger of communication is the assumption that it has taken place. “

Example

I was once sitting in a hospital waiting-room, when a nurse put her head in the door and asked,

“Is Mr Jones here?”

Silence!

“Is Mr Jones here, please?”

Silence!

“Mr Jones for the hearing test, please?”

Silence!

So she left. The man sitting next to me said,

“What did she say?”

It was of course, the deaf Mr Jones!

So, always make sure you know what your interviewer means, if something is not clear ask them to repeat it. Nothing is sillier than answering the wrong question!
The same is true if you notice that the interviewer does not appear to understand something you have said. If that is so, check and if need be repeat your message.

Be relevant

Answer the questions concisely and do not deviate, why should you give information which is not relevant to the question asked. If the answer to a question is for example,

“No, I don’t have experience with X.”

then say that and say no more. It is simply a waste of time and energy explaining why you do not have the relevant experience and where you went wrong, etc.

Be polite

Not all interviewers are pleasant people; some can appear to be downright rude. Whatever you think about your interviewer, make sure you are not rude. Be polite at all times and give your host the benefit of the doubt.

To the point

It seems to some people that they think that the more they say the better an impression they will give the interviewer. Nothing could be further from the truth. You will come over as a bore, a chatter- box and nothing irritates an interviewer more that someone who does not give him a chance to get a word in edgeways. If you are nervous and it shows itself in this way practise suppressing it.

Self

Do not forget, sell yourself! Underline your talents and if possible ignore the bleak areas in your background. Sell yourself and the talents you are offering the future employer. And do not forget to mention your ambitions however modest they may be. Ambitions can indicate to your host that there is more to you than meets the eye.

Avoid what I call the ‘honest- negative -selling’, that is, spending too much time on explaining what you cannot do and why it is that you cannot do it. Imagine a would-be bus driver explaining why it had taken him so long to get his driving license and the problems involved. Imagine the computer programmer taking time to in explain why he does not know the languages which are in use at the company he is hoping to get a job at.

As I have said before, underline what you can do, why you are just the person they are looking for. Sell, sell and sell some more but be honest.

Approach

Do not ‘creep’. It will not be appreciated and will end the interview quicker that you can imagine.

The end of the interview

When it is obvious the interview is over try to find out what the status is. You can ask questions like,

“Am I still in the running?”
“How many candidates are still in the race?”

Ask what you can expect, and when, as to actions like letters, further interviews, etc., and confirm what you think you have heard.

Role playing

The interview is a typical situation where the most preparation pays off. It is a typical situation for practising in role playing with one or more of your friends. Tape-recording the rehearsal, or if you can get hold of a camera, videoing it, is an excellent way to hear and see your reactions and answers to the questions.

If three or four are looking for jobs then you can all help each other by swapping roles in the interview.

Role-playing is difficult, especially when you are doing it with a friend, but when you have done it a couple of times it becomes more natural.

Setting the scene is important. Do not do it on the sofa in your living room but use two chairs on opposite sides of a table like in an office.

Do not just sit down and start talking but act it out. Knock on the door, enter, introduce yourself formally to Mr Interviewer, wait until they invite you to sit down and then start the interview. It will be a bit embarrassing and cause a few laughs to start with, but keep at it and it will come. If there is someone else who can help they can sit in the background observing and taking notes to give an evaluation later.

An important aspect in role-playing is that it must be as realistic as possible. This means the ‘Interviewer’ really has to act and does not have to be nice all the time.

It should be obvious that not all interviews are going to be pleasant chats; some are in fact going to be unpleasant. Some interviewers are going to ask mean questions, going to try to trip you up, catch you out in your answers and maybe even see if they can undermine your opinions. Role-playing should take this into account. Questions asked should not only try to seek information to confirm what you, and your resume, say. Some questions should be abstract and seeking your opinions and theories. Questions like:

“Why did you choose this particular profession?”

“Why do you like team-work? Can’t you work independently?”

Sometimes the interviewer is like the dentist looking for that sore spot which will make you squirm. Beware!

Preparing the role playing

Not only the person being interviewed but the one doing the interview needs to prepare well. Let us look at preparation for the interviewer.

One interview session is not enough so plan out how many you think you should do. Then ask yourself what the objectives and goals should be. Each session should have one or more goals, for example going for the personality, for the technical expertise, going for the general attitude, etc.

For the total sessions there should be one or more objectives. One is of course, making sure that our candidate is ready for the interview. During the first session(s) weaknesses in the candidates performance will become apparent and then you will have new objectives, to hammer at the weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or at least make them less apparent.

And you, the interviewee, can rehearse as well, do not forget you are performing and it is very important for the person you are helping.

Video

A word about using a video set-up. The camera should be as unobtrusive as possible and the person being interviewed should not be able to see the monitor. Do not forget to check the equipment before starting and making sure the camera angle, position of the person’s chair, etc., are all correct. And switch on before the interview gets under way.

Appearance

When I was in the Royal Air Force there used to be - and maybe there still is - a mirror on the guardhouse wall so that everyone leaving camp for the day or evening could check their appearance to see if they were up to scratch. You should have the same approach.

When dressed in your normal clothes stand in front of a full-length mirror and ask yourself the question,

“Am I smart enough for a potential employer?”

If the answer is “Yes”, then skip the rest of this chapter.

Of course your dress approach will be governed by the job itself. Going for carpenter, then a three-piece suit is over the top. Going for systems-analyst at a bank, then jeans, T-shirt and sneakers just ain’t good enough.

You have invested all that time and money and energy in your education and then you go to the interview looking like something that has been dragged through the hedge backwards.

Check what you are going to wear. Why not invest some money in an “application-outfit”. When I decided to give up the bright-lights of being a disc- jockey to go into computing I realised that silver shirts and flowery trousers were not the right attire. So I bought myself a two- piece suit, a shirt, a tie, a pair of socks and a pair of shoes. You can do that as well. And it does not have to cost much, haute couture is not necessary.

And make sure that the parts of your outfit fit together. A smart suit can look awful when you are wearing an old pair of sneakers. And smart clothes look dreadful when you wear an old pair of tennis socks with them. And shoes should be polished! The smartest tie and shirt money can buy look embarrassing if you do not know how to tie a knot.

Hair is a very personal thing, whether you wear it long or short, dyed or natural should not matter but it still will to some people. Just ask yourself if your style could spoil your chances. If the answer is yes then it is up to you to take the appropriate steps. In all cases make sure it looks clean and smart.

And of course do not forget the finishing touches. If you shave then be clean shaven, if you do not then be trimmed, wear a clean shirt and check your nails. Of course as a man I have only talked about the masculine approach but you ladies have to pay attention to this subject just as much as men have to. All very old-fashioned advice but advice that will help you get that job, the return on all that you have invested.

This is one of 5 articles on job hunting by this author.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Hayes

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Tags: career interview, future, interviews, job application, job interviews

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