ARE YOU READY TO INTERVIEW?

Here it comes – the dreaded job interview. No matter your résumé and talents, if you mess up the interview you won’t get that job. In today’s tough economy you need every possible edge. It can be a simple equation: You want to be liked — not hated. Think of it as … not personal. I can hear you now. “What do you mean, ‘not personal’?” An interview feels intensely personal. They ask difficult questions, silly questions, stupid questions and easy questions; all to find out if you can do the job and will fit in with the existing team and corporate culture. That’s it – just two objectives. I have a list of frequent interview questions with good and bad answers for my next posting, so let’s start with the chemistry. The Chemistry Part of the fitting in is “do they like me?” This is the chemistry of relationships. Just like dating, there will be a lot that happens below the surface. Unlike dating, you can do some research on the company and corporate culture to find out what it is. Watch people as they go in to work in the morning and go home at night. How are they dressed? What is their body language saying – eager and energetic or tired and anxious? Do they greet each other? Talk to someone who works there. Find out what the corporate culture says formally on the company website and does that match the office? What are the unwritten rules that everyone knows? For more on this, and to see if this is a place you want to work, check out this previous post, Are You a Match? Armed with this information, you can tailor your demeanor and answers to the company culture. If you’ve gotten this far, you probably have done some of this already with your résumé and other application materials. For more details on what I mean, see my previous posting How to Get Hired. Let’s say that during your research you find that although the company website talks about work/life balance, there is an expectation of consistent overtime. If you are willing to do consistent overtime, say so during the interview. How you act, your word choices, your use of humor, or not, all will go towards the question of “fit.” How can you maximize your ability to appear to be the right fit? Here is a top ten list to help you be the fit. 1. Relax. Yes, relax during the interview. Stay alert and focused, but be physically relaxed. This will immediately stop the excessive smiling that often happens due to nervousness. Or it’s opposite, no smiling at all. As a person who has been on many interviews, both are scary. Too much smiling will appear phony and not enough smiling will appear anti social. Just be your normal pleasant self. 2. Dress appropriately. Dressing appropriately means two things: professional and comfortable. The business suit still works for the interview. Wear it as you plan to for the interview for friends. Yes, with the tie for men and silky blouse for women. As you sit there, notice if you get uncomfortable. Sweat will be seen as a sign of weakness and nervousness. Be comfortable in your clothes. 3. Silence can be golden. You want to be knowledgeable about the company and the job. After the exchange of pleasantries, you don’t need to fill the void with celebrity gossip or information about your favorite blog (mine, right?). Sometimes, the panel needs to breathe and finish their notes. If it seems to drag on, ask one of your questions about the company or the job. This will demonstrate your ability to go with the flow of the interview and that you remain focused on the topic at hand. Pockets of silence are better than padding an interview with random babble. 4. Be eager and enthusiastic. Interviewers are seeking candidates eager to take on challenging projects and jobs. Hesitance and negative attitude will be as visible as gravy on your collar. Practice saying “yes” to questions about your interest in tasks and work that might normally give you pause. 5. Focus on the job. The interview is not the place to ask about the location of the lunchroom or routine elements or functions of a company: where stuff is, the size of your cube, and company policy on coffee breaks. This is also not the place to talk about salary. Save the salary discussion for after they offer you the job. 6. Be honest. Employers read the studies that show employees lie frequently in the workplace. Lying won’t get you a job. Even a slight exaggeration is lying. Just don’t. Never stretch your résumé or embellish accomplishments. There’s a difference between speaking with a measured confidence and engaging in BS. One lie can ruin your entire interview, and the skilled interviewer will spot the lie and show you out the door. 7. Use humor judiciously. Humor tends to be subjective. You’ve got to be careful about your material. You probably will know nothing about the sensibilities of your interviewer, let alone what makes them laugh. On the other hand, nothing disarms the tension of a job interview like a little laughter. Take your cues from the interviewer and use only G-rated humor. Make it situational, rather than an actual joke. So you can probably score at least a courtesy chuckle mentioning that it’s “perfect weather for a job interview!” 8. Be flexible. If you start talking about the ideal office temperature, the perfect chair for your tricky back, and if the cafeteria serves mochas, chances are you’ll be shown a polite smile and the door, regardless of your qualifications. Nobody hiring today is going to be looking for someone who’s going to be finicky about their workspace. This includes if you think you’ll get a cubicle. Don’t ask about the office noise policy for cube-mates. 9. Do have good questions ready. During every job interview, the candidate is given the chance to ask questions. Make yours intelligent, to the point and watch the person across the desk for visual cues whether you’ve asked enough. If one of your questions got answered during the interview, don’t ask it. Show you were paying attention. Don’t ask questions to just ask questions. You’ll be seen as a time-waster. If it wasn’t completely answered, restate what you know and ask about the missing piece. 10. Be positive. Bad things have happened to everyone on the job at one time. That is just part of life. So don’t trash talk a former employer or criticize an employee or take credit for someone else’s work. If you put someone down, the interviewer will wonder how you will characterize them later. Or, they might be tempted to call that employer to find out the “real” scoop. If your boss was a challenge, just say you had different values and leave it at that. Back to Chemistry This is how you demonstrate your chemistry for the job. There will be a lot that happens below the surface. You may understand that you “clicked” during the interview, or not. Just relax and be true to who you are. How you act, your word choices, how you used humor, all will go towards the question of “fit.” It really isn’t personal. The employer just wants to know, "Will this candidate fit in?" If you are a round peg, you will not fit in a company’s square hole. It really is much better to find that out now, rather than a month into the job. Find the round job opening that will fit you best. That is the best way to job search and to find meaningful employment. Confucius said, “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Thank you for reading and I hope you found this helpful. Stay tuned for next week, when I tackle some common interview questions. I’ll present some common bad answers along with the preferable good answers. Let me know how your job search is going. I’d love to know what your particular challenges are and your strategy for dealing with them. A dream with a plan is a goal. A goal without a plan is just a dream. Warmly, Elisabeth Elisabeth Adler-Lund Executive and Life Coaching Telephone: 916 • 803•1494 E-mail: eal@EALCoaching.com