The Latest Words on Interviewing

August 2003

The Latest Words on Interviewing

President of Workforce Associates

and author of

NetWork: Maximizing Your Career Resources on the Internet

Available online and in print from Author House

I’ve avoided writing about the interview process for the last two and a half years for several reasons:

1) There are untold books that cover this topic in far greater depth than I can muster in one article or even several;

2) Since interviews are not Internet-based per se, I haven’t felt that it was a topic that needed my attention.

But I’ve changed my mind because the job searching process is becoming more and more protracted. And also because I’m hearing from you, the reader, that although I’ve helped in preparing you well with finely crafted electronic resumes and dazzling cover letters, I’ve left you in the lurch when interview time invariably comes. So, I decided to do some research to see what the latest interviewing world is like. In a word, it’s not a pretty sight.

You’ve been writing to me to say that it’s not unusual these days for a candidate to be grilled by six, eight, or even a dozen interviewers on various rungs of the corporate ladder as part of the overall screening process. And I read similar accounts from human-resources executives, headhunters, and other experts in modern hiring practices who feel that they must use endless rounds of interviewing to CYA the fact that they made poor hires in the past, mostly by letting job applicants who knew the interview process better than the employer did to get jobs that they did not perform well in. "It's payback time," adds John Dooney, who advises the Society for Human Resources Management on its own hiring techniques. "Companies are picky, picky, picky."

Why the endless rounds of interviewing?

You and I can argue persuasively that subjecting candidates to multiple interrogators does not necessarily increase the likelihood of finding the best people. Someone who wrote me recently suggested that "corporate America doesn't know how to select the best person, so what they do instead is cast a wide net, then deselect until they're left with the least offensive candidate. You can't even get nine people to agree on where to go for lunch," he added. "How can you expect them to agree on a person?"

But in an age where companies routinely boast about their teamwork ethos, nonhierarchical cultures, and commitment to "cross-functional" collaboration, it's easy to see why consensus now plays a major role in hiring. Many companies known for attracting top-flight talent say they believe that gathering a wide variety of perspectives is essential to ensuring that the right person gets the job. "We've used a group process for many years," said a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines, a firm often hailed as being among the most worker-friendly US companies. "We're all about people, and so we're interested in how [candidates] respond in group environments." Particularly when it comes to executive positions, "there's a likelihood of numerous interviews, because a lot of people need to buy into the hire," said a staffing manager for Sun Microsystems. She contended that candidates are often the ones who benefit most from multiple meetings.

"When they get here, they'll find it easier to acclimate, and they'll be effective more quickly," she said.

The roller coaster ride of group interviewing.

Experts readily acknowledge that there are both effective and ineffective ways to go about group interviewing. The worst examples involve situations in which a candidate is passed around to several interviewers who riddle him with the same set of questions.

This can make for a frightfully tedious experience for the job-seeker; it may also compromise the value of the sessions for the employer.

"When people all ask the same things, something interesting happens: The candidate gets better as he goes along," noted an independent hiring consultant in Pittsburgh. "Well, guess what? You've given that person a dozen chances to refine and improve his answer."

But as the old disclaimer goes, past performance is no guarantee of future success. Companies need most to consider whether a candidate is a good fit for the company's culture, according to Joseph Broschak, assistant professor of business administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Interviewers need to determine not just whether people have the skills, but also consider whether they match the intangibles we're looking for - things like ethical orientation," he says.

Know your questioners.

Try to outpsych your interviewers. Find out as much as you can from your networking colleagues re their experience in the firm or having interviewed recently. Try to learn the backgrounds of the people you’ll be interviewing with. Look for those common threads so you can strike a positive chord in each person you meet with. For better and worse, people tend to like people with whom they have something in common, whether it's an alma mater, a past employer, a former colleague, or a passion for obscure '70s punk and new-wave bands.

Put in a lot of pre-interview patter matter practice.

"So, where do you see yourself in five years?" "What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?" "How well do you work in teams?"

Hackneyed questions along these lines are the stuff bad job interviews are made of. Asked once, they're merely silly. Posed six times by six consecutive interviewers, they can be downright maddening. But suppose you want the job despite your interviewers' shortcomings in the snappy repartee department? How can savvy candidates respond to tired lines of questioning in a way that ensures they leave a trail of suitably impressed interrogators in their wake?

It’s a good idea to have concise answers ready for these typical interview questions:

What prompted you to apply to our company?

What are some of the qualities that you value in an employer?

How would you describe your work style and your work ethic?

How do you continue to stay current with trends in your field?

How well have you researched our company and our major competitors?

What have you done in the last year to continue your learning/education?

If you had only one word to describe yourself, what would it be? Why?

What challenges do you foresee in this type of job and how would you overcome them?

What are the clues you have come to recognize you are under too much stress?

Would you feel comfortable with us contacting your Boss (es)? Peers? Subordinates? Customers?

What do you think they (above) would say about you?

Describe an instance when you had to overcome a difficult situation. How did you do it?

What do you like most about your current position? Why? What do you like least? Why?

When did you last receive feedback at work that made you feel proud? When did you receive criticism that upset you?

Describe a situation where multi-tasking was necessary to complete a specific goal. How did you feel about that situation?

Do you have any specific salary requirements?

What resources do you use to manage your time? Be prepared to show them in a follow-up interview?

What is your motivation to succeed?

What do you need your next employer to provide for you to succeed?

Rate yourself in the following areas: 1 being weak, 10 being strong

Organization Skills: ___________ Interpersonal Skills: ___________

Creative Thinking: ___________ Technical Skills: ___________

Analytical Thinking: ___________ Time Management Skills: ___________

What have you done in the last year to improve the weakest of the above skills?

Behavioral interviewing questions:

Behavior-based interviewing has been defined by business Professor Herbert G. Heneman III of the University of Wisconsin-Madison as "A thorough, planned, systematic way to gather and evaluate information about what candidates have done in the past to show how they would handle future situations."

The key assumption is that job candidates who have previously demonstrated a particular behavior to address a situation will repeat that behavior in the future when confronted with a similar set of problems. The hiring authority determines which specific behaviors are necessary for success on the job, and then seeks out candidates who have shown that they are capable of exhibiting those behaviors.

Typical behavioral-based questions might be phrased along these lines:

"Think of an occasion when you…" and then describe a particular situation. Another approach might be "Can you give me an example of…"

A follow up question might be "What needed to be done about that situation?"

And finally: "What was the result?"

These kinds of behavioral questions are designed to address the various themes of behavior exhibited by successful incumbents in the position that you’re applying for. Examples sought might address values/ethics, work intensity, relationship skills, problem solving, people management, and others associated with success on the job.

Typically, open-ended, structured questions are developed and incorporated into an interview instrument, and each applicant is asked the same questions. Questions of this nature are generally asked toward the end of the interview after the applicant's basic skills and qualifications for the position have been determined. Then the interviewer's task turns to deciding if the candidate can, and has, demonstrated the behaviors that will assure success on the job.

Usually there is a "score keeping" element to this type of interviewing. If the candidate's response to the question matches that given by the best performers on the job, a plus sign or a numerical value is recorded next to the question. The wrong answer gets a zero. This scoring profile is then matched against those of the best performers on the job.

When the Q&A begins, answer openly but remember to form your answer positively. For example:

Q – Why did you leave your last position?

A – The company did not like my recommendation for purchasing and this was due to the owner's son recently taking over the accounting department.

Q – Same question but painted differently

A – This family-owned company produces a high quality widget for the Midwest markets has recently implemented departmental changes and the majority of my duties were absorbed into the accounting department.

Turn the interview around.

Don't use the job interview as a chance to rehash your résumé's highlights and tell war stories. Look at it this way: If they didn't think you had the basic skills, you wouldn't be there. You need to focus on what you can do to help the company and to find out what each interviewer wants from the person in this position. When the interview winds down, have your questions ready. Yes, you must ask a few questions. It is a recognized part of the interviewing process. Here are probing questions that are frequently asked by candidates:

• Is this a new or existing position?

• What are the chances for advancement/promotion from within?

• How many hours per year can I expect to be given for training?

• Pay or pay range? Asking questions about pay is OK but remember to check their website first for some clues. Most of the time you will get a range from the interviewer.

• Hours? Is flexible scheduling available? What is the company’s policy re telecommuting?

• Why do you the interviewer like working here?

General Advice.

Do not ask many questions about benefits during the first couple of interviews. Most companies have their benefits information on their website. Do not seem overly infatuated with salary or benefits in the beginning.

Adjust your style to your interviewer. For example, if he/she is stern, you would need to be very businesslike. If she is humorous then you become more up beat etc.... Although it is important to switch gears, do not go overboard. Always remain professional with each interviewer. Don’t try to be a Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.

Know when to stop talking. A failure to stop yakking is the single most common reason why candidates don't make the final cut. "You want to have a conversation with people, but you also have to know when to listen," according to a Korn/Ferry executive recruiter. "Social skills do matter."

At the conclusion of the interview give a firm handshake, remind the interviewer that you are interested (if you are), and ask what is the next step in this process. Reiterate the best means of contact and make sure to get a business card.

Follow-up Thank you

Professionals are split on sending a follow-up thank you card. I like this quaint custom. Sending a follow-up card or email demonstrates that you are genuinely interested and are well mannered. The thank you also allows you the opportunity to send a positive suggestion or comment which will allow for future dialogue.

Thanks for alerting me to what’s happening in today’s interview sessions. Hope that these tips make the ornery interviewing process a little more tolerable.

Enjoy the dog days of August like I will. See you in September!

Sincerely,
Jane M. Lommel, Ph.D.
jlommel@WorkforceAssociates.com

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