Research shows the main reason employees leave jobs in the first 12-18 months is that they were unhappy with the day-to-day requirements of the position or they were a miss-match for the job. In other words, during the interview there was no clear understanding between the candidate and the hiring manager of what the job was about.

I had this experience when I was hired as an “Account Manager” for a new software product in California. Three weeks into the job it turned out it was a project management job. I did not have the depth of experience in project management to manage a $6M software development project for a government entity with 3000 users. I stuck with it until the project was transferred to a vendor, however it was a stressful and unpleasant experience.

Start your interview by finding out as much detail as possible about the job and its exact requirements. Ask questions about day-to-day activities, success metrics, and priorities. Who will you be working with, what departments will you interact with, is there an unusual work schedules. How will you be “onboarded”? Is there training or an orientation period. No detail is too small to ask about and discuss.

Be aware of how well the job is defined. Can the hiring manager provide an in-depth description of the job and it’s duties and responsibilities. If the hiring manager is unclear and the job is poorly defined, this may indicate the organization will be difficult to work for. Take this into consideration when you are making your decision about accepting the job.

Also, in terms of the interview, once you have the details you will be able to target your answers more specifically to the job requirements. Your answers will be more focused and your interview performance will be more persuasive.

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There are three domains of knowledge:

1. What you know
2. What you know you don’t know
3. What you don’t know you don’t know

The first two domains are easily handled. In terms of a job, there are things you know about the job. There are things you know you don’t know such as exact responsibilities, compensation, who you will report to etc etc. To learn this information you know what questions to ask. The third domain is the tricky one. How do you find out information you don’t even know exists, where do you begin?

It is what you don’t know you don’t know that typically causes you the greatest difficulty; “If I knew that before I took the job…….” To uncover this domain of knowledge, ask questions that do not bias or lead the interviewer. Here are some examples:

You want to find out how many hours people work on the job. Many applicants will ask “How many hours do people typically work”. The interviewer replies,”Typically 35 to 40 hours per week”. Sounds OK, then comes holiday time and you are putting in 50 to 60 hours and are overworked and miserable. An open question would have been more revealing, for example “Tell me about work hours on the job”. This question opens the opportunity for the interviewer to say “We typically work 35 to 40 hours per week except for holiday time when we work 50 to 60 hours and everyone feels overworked.”

Another example- You want to find out what it is like to work at the company. You can ask the question, “What do you like and dislike about working here” The answer will be focused on the interviewer’s predominant likes and dislikes. A better question is “So, tell me about working here”. This question opens up the possibility of hearing about challenges, relationships, concerns, excitement, etc, etc. You may very well hear about something you would not have thought to ask about.

The more exact and detailed your question the less likely you are to hear what you don’t know you don’t know. With open, non-leading, and non-biasing questions, the interviewer has the opening to respond from their own perspective. Once you hear their answer there may be a whole area of information you want to learn more about, and now you know to ask.

Posted in job interview   Tagged: interview questions, interviewing, win the interview   

As a psychologist, I have worked with many people to reduce their “anxiety”. Since anxiety is defined as free floating fear, my first suggestion is to abandon the word “anxiety” and replace it with the word “fear”. Once you begin to think of the feeling as fear, you can begin to ask yourself “what am I scared of”. Once you begin to identify what you are scared of, you can develop specific strategies to reduce your fear.

In interviewing performance most candidate’s primary fear is being asked a question for which they have no answer. In interviewing in general, the greatest fear is not being chosen for the job.

Interestingly, both these fears can be dealt with by one strategy…preparation, preparation, preparation.

The best way to prepare to answer questions is to anticipate what questions you will be asked. Ask yourself this question, “If I were hiring someone to fill the position for which I am applying, what questions would I ask?” Make a list of questions and then prepare answers to the questions. Also, prepare answers to frequently asked questions including questions related to your strengths, weaknesses, goals, and why they should hire you.

One question you will definitely be asked is “Do you have any questions for me/us?” Prepare questions you would like to ask. Write them down and take them with you.

In addition, to allay more fear, it is a good strategy to get a book or look online for the most frequently asked interview questions. Look through the book or web site and note which questions stump you. Prepare answers for these questions. The one problem with this strategy is you will not know which questions you will be asked, but it can’t hurt to become acqainted with popular interview questions.

In addition, prepare by doing research about the company, the industry, competitiors, and the job. Overally, the better prepared you are the more confident you will feel and the less fearful you will be. As your fear goes down your thinking improves and you will perform better in the interview.

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The selection average is this:

• Hundreds of resumes are received
• Resumes are sifted down to 28 potential candidates
• The 28 potential candidates are screened
• Eight candidates are interviewed
• One candidate gets the job

All final eight candidates have the qualifications to do the job. To land the job you have to differentiate yourself from the other seven qualified candidates.

To differentiate yourself in the interview, communicate your additional areas of expertise or “value adds” that you bring  to the position the others will not. For example, a manufacturing plant manager had experience managing the construction of a manufacturing facility. He could read blue prints and had worked with construction contractors. The position for which he was applying did not require construction experience but the added value of being able to help the company expand the facility in the future landed him the job.

Are you a human resource professional with special expertise in job task analysis, are you an engineer that knows ergonomic design, are you a healthcare professional with electronic claims processing expertise? Choose additional areas of expertise that are related to the position, have the possibility of providing special benefit, but are not part of the basic requirements for the job. Tell the interviewer about the expertise and be sure to be specific about the potential benefit to the organization.

You can also ask about additional areas of expertise either in an interview or prior to the interview process; “Are there additional areas of expertise that would be of benefit to this position but are not part of the basic requirements? This may give you some good ideas about aditional areas of expertise that will differentiate you from the other seven applicants.

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Knowing areas in which you are strong and areas where you are weak, or uninterested, will help you to manage your interviews. My suggestion is to know these areas and use the knowledge to to 1- decide if the job is for you and 2-know how to respond to questions.

We all have strengths and weaknesses and the suggested strategy is to maximize your strengths and manage around your weaknesses. One way to manage around your weaknesses is to only accept jobs which draw primarily on your strengths. To do this you need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately, there are many ways, some for free, to find out your strengths and weaknesses. An excellent free strengths assessment is the VIA.

During an interview, when you are asked questions that touch upon your weaknesses you are at risk of giving a poor answer. For example if you are strongly creative you may be weak in analytical skills (using logic to analyze problems and anticipate potential future problems). Thus, a question such as, “Give an example where you analyzed options, planned, and anticipated outcomes?’ may be challenging for you. If you discuss an intuitive (creative) approach to problem solving and the interviewer is looking for a more planned analytical approach you will blow the question.

Knowing your strengths and how you are likely to answer questions will help you consider how to respond to questions. The best approach in answering this question would be “I am very strong creatively and I tend to use a creative approach to problem solving. I generate a number of potential options and then use an objective approach to deciding upon the best answer. I find it is very helpful to consult with strongly analytical people when deciding upon the final option. Let me give you an example…”

Additional areas of strengths and weaknesses include:

Love of learning

Humor

Gratitude

Collaboration

Leadership

Controlling behavior

Organization

Sociability

Decisiveness

Confidence

Civic mindedness

Plus many more depending on the assessment instrument.

There are literally hundreds of books written about the most frequently asked interview questions with suggestions about how to answer them. The challenge is these books may list 250 questions; which ones are most challenging for you and which ones will be asked in your interviews?  By knowing your weaknesses, you can use these books to efficiently prepare answers to questions that are likely to be challenging.

There is rarely, if ever, a time when you will be hired following one interview. Even if you will be hired by the company where you first interview, you will typically go through multiple rounds of interviews. A formal debrief of your interview will give you the information you need to refine and improve your performance.

Consider the following areas for a comprehensive debrief:

Interview preparation:
Were you well prepared for your interview. Did you know the company, the industry, the job and who would be doing the interviewing? Did you read the latest news about the company and were you aware of their latest successes and largest challenges? Did you develop 5-7 good insightful questions to ask? Did you prepare and bring printed bound copies of an interview presentation?

How well did you manage the interview?
Were you there on time, properly dressed and carrying the right things? Was your body language, energy level and listening skills good? Did your create a good conversation? Did you express interest in the job and thank the interviewer for their time? Did you use your interview presentation in the interview or at least give it to the interviewer as a leave behind?

How well did you handle the interviewer’s questions?
Had you anticipated and prepared for the questions? Did any questions surprise you and trip you up? Did you answer as many questions as possible using success stories?

How confident and relaxed were you?
How confident and relaxed were you going into the interview. How nervous were you during the interview? 

How good was the interviewer?
Was the interviewer prepared and did she manage the interview well? Did she describe the job requirements, listen well and answer your questions. Did she put you at ease and establish a good rapport?

Positive VS Negatives:
What three or four things did you do particularly well and you want to continue? What three or four things did you do that needs improvement?

Debriefing an interview is a bit challenging because you have to evaluate your own performance. However, by reflecting on your performance in the above areas, particularly in writing, you will be focused and ready for your next round of interviews at the same company or next interview at another company.

The interview is a sales process, thus it makes great sense to use sales techniques and sales processes to interview effectively. Using a sales approach provides a terrific structure for preparing for the interview, presenting in the interview, and following through the interview.

A good sales process includes:

Understand the problem
What is the problem the new hire is being brought on board to solve? Specifically identify and address the problem from the hiring managers point of view. Even if it seems like the position is a “line job” with specific duties the job is in place to solve a problem. What is it?

Understand the benefits of addressing the problem
What is the benefit to the company of solving the problem. Focus on the benefit not just the act of solving the problem. For example, the company is hiring a staff accountant. The problem is that there is accounting work that needs to be done and the work is not getting done. The benefit to the company is that the company’s financial information is current and they are in compliance with accounting requirements. Talk about the benefits of hiring you not just being able to do the job.

Explain how it works
Explain just how you will solve the problem and provide benefit to the company. Often the best way to do this is to give examples from other jobs or school experience where you provided similar benefits. Be specific about what you did, how you did it, and the benefits you provided.

Pre-empt objections
Most probably you will not be a perfect match with the job for which you are interviewing. With some preparation, you will know where your weaknesses are. Proactively address your obvious weaknesses. “Even though I don’t have experience with ………. I can I can make up for that by……

Close strong
In an interview closing strong does not mean asking for the job (you will typically not get a straight answer anyway). It means expressing strong interest in the job and establishing the next step. The next step is typically when and how you should contact the hiring manager to follow up. Basically, you are asking for another meeting to continue the sales process.

We are all use to buying things and we relate to the sales process,  thus selling your services to a prospective employer in an interview is an excellent approach to landing the job. And as with all selling, the more confidant you are in your product and your sales skills the better the sales call.

At the end of your interview it is important to ask the one most important interview question;
“Based on my background and skills what do you think will be the greatest challenges for me in this position?’

Once you have asked this question, you may hear a  challenge or a concern from the hiring manager. This presents a terrific opportunity for you to address what is referred to in sales as “an objection”.

Good sales people relish an objection because it gives them an opportunity to directly address the reason a person may be hesitant to buy. An unexpressed objection results in no-sale without an opportunity to overcome the objection and make the sale.

Many job seekers first reaction to an objection is to get nervous and then react defensively. An objection typically sounds like a criticism and is perceived as a threat to receiving a job offer. How you handle the objection may be the difference between a rejection and a job offer.

When you hear the objection, lean in to the objection. This means instead of withdrawing and reacting defensively, ask more about the objection. Get all the details. Use body language to actually lean forward showing that you are interested and not threatened or defensive. Once you have heard all the details and displayed openness, respond to the objection.

Using this approach, you will be able to clarify any misconceptions or misinformation. You may also be able to lay out a plan about how you will overcome real shortcomings. The take away here is that by “leaning in” and displaying confidence and strength, you may be able to change a rejection to a job offer.

An interview is selling your services to the hiring manager (decision maker). You may be interviewed by numerous people and each will have input (no manager wants to take full responsibility for a bad hire) however, it is the hiring manager who has the final say.

Since you are selling your services to your potential boss it makes sense to focus on what would really please the boss.  Here are some things that make bosses happy:

Communication:
Particularly at the beginning of a new job communication is the key to establishing a productive relationship. It is equally important to know how the boss likes to receive communication. Does she want the details, the highlights, the problem and the solution, communications via email or in-person meetings?

In the interview talk about how you communicate and the importance of being in communication with the person to whom you report.

Listening to the boss:
Bosses really like to be heard. In order for them to feel heard, it helps for them to hear from you what you learned from what they said. Responsive listening where you summarize what you heard is very effective. For example, “What I heard you say is you want this report to include all client sales figures and you would like it by close of business Thursday is that correct?”

You can display responsive listening in the interview. Example, “What I understand from what you said is you are looking for the person in this position to manage all perishable inventory for the three East Coast locations, is that correct?”

Collaboration:
Bosses are looking for someone to support and cooperate with them to bring their ideas (good or not) to fruition. They are not looking for naysayers and doubters. It is important to give the idea a try and not to throw up roadblocks.

In the interview, if possible acknowledge the hiring manager’s ideas. Being genuine, say “interesting idea” or “good thought” or “I like that approach.” If you cannot genuinely say one of these phrases, consider if the job is for you.

Understand how you fit the bosses style:

Good bosses are not looking for a Minnie-Me. They want someone to compliment their style and add additional skill dimensions. Understand what your boss is strong at, what he is weak at, and try to fill the gaps.

Listen during the interview and discern what the hiring manager is good at, what they like, and don’t like to do. Position yourself as filling the gaps; if you really can and if you want to.

Engagement:
Bosses like committed engaged workers that are motivated and energetic. They like a person who is thinking about the job, going above and beyond, and is offering suggestions and solutions.

Be proactive in the interview. The best way to do this is to prepare an interview presentation including strategic action plan for your first 30 and 60 days on the job. An interview presentation communicate interest, motivation and engagement.

In your interview you can talk about or exhibit many of the qualities the hiring manager is looking for. Once they experience your attitude and style they will feel more secure to make you the candidate of choice.

Reference checking is a standard although flawed process. Candidates choose references that will speak positively about them so hiring managers are expecting glowing references with little valuable information. If a hiring manager hears anything that sounds the least negative they immediately see red flags.

Instead of your reference checks being a standard procedure with little information, you can have your reference check enhance your candidacy. Once your interview is over you will have a great deal of information about the position, the qualities the hiring manager likes about you, and any hesitations the hiring manager may have about hiring you. This is all very important information your references need to know.

Call your references and prepare them for the reference check call. Tell them about the critical requirements of the position, how you fit the position, and your strongest selling points. Tell them what the hiring manager likes about you and ask them to highlight those points. Mention any concerns the hiring manager has and ask your reference to talk positively about those areas.

The Business Pundit in his online blog suggests that hiring manager ask references the following questions:
* What did he learn during his time at your company
* If you could give him a single career suggestion, what would it be?
(If the reference was a supervisor)
* How did the candidate respond to your management style?
* Would you rehire her
You can discuss these questions with your references and prepare them with answers.