Review of an article about interviewing from the September 6, 2009 Parade insert in the Sunday paper.
In the September 6, 2009 Parade located in your friendly Sunday newspaper, there is a short two-page article about careers and interviewing with some advice from Jay Leno...yes, I said Jay Leno, the same Jay Leno that replaced Johnny Carson and most recently retired from the Tonight Show and the same one starting yet another "variety" show for late night. So how can Jay Leno provide career/interview advice? Good question, I will save you the time in reading his little blurb on Jay's sage advice. Bottom-line from Jay is to be persistent and have a good attitude in an interview and job-searching...ok, and what else? Not exactly earth-shaking advice for the job-seeker of today. Don't get me wrong, you must be persistent and you must have a great attitude when interviewing, but you need a bit more these days to get an interview much less perform well during an interview.
Fortunately the two-page article is not all about Jay's advice, but also provides important and pertinent high-level interview advice on the following five areas by New City career coach Fredrick Ball:
- Prepare, prepare, prepare.
- Keep your answers short.
- When in doubt, overdress.
- Be positive.
- Say to the interviewer, "I really want this job."
- Follow up promptly.
I feel these are all very valid points but they do require some additional rhetoric to be used effectively in an interview.
Prepare, prepare, prepare
Ok, prepare for what? Prepare for the interview. Mr. Ball states you should know the company and yourself before going to the interview. We need a bit more on this one...first we'll start with knowing the company. This is where the Internet is your ally. Just about every organization from big to small, public or private has a website. Their website will contain valuable information about the organization such as their mission statement, executive leadership, history, various divisions, financial information, customers, partners, etc. etc. All of which can be used in your interview to display your serious commitment to working for that organization...do this and the interviewer will see it and award points. But don't stop there, get yourself an account on LinkedIn, if you don't already have one, and do a search for people and groups that have connections to the organization, such as current employees. You might be able to find out current efforts by the organization via LinkedIn profile or subscribing to the LinkedIn group for that organization. Either way, use this information in the interview to score big points with the interviewer. Knowing yourself is a little harder...you need to field interview questions about yourself, such as identifying a weakness, examples of accomplishments, examples of corrective action, etc. Identifying these will help you apply them to answers you can provide to an interviewer.
Keep your answers short
It should read, "Keep your answers short AND to the point". Keep your answers short is fine, but uttering a single syllable word such as "no" or yes" is not going to cut it. Frederick Ball states, "The average American listens for 28 seconds before getting distracted." I can't dispute this so I will have to take at face value...28 seconds it is. Assuming he is correct, keeping you answers short AND to the point will be critical in keeping your interviewer engaged and interested in your interview. You need to expound on those answers by providing pertinent and detailed information, while at the same time keeping the answers short...which means get to the point. You don't want to drone on and on about a single topic of discussion, else your interviewer will lose interest. He also states you should practice interviewing with a friend before the interview...again nothing earth-shattering but this is advice we routinely espouse on JobGet.Net. My suggestion would be to search the Internet for sample interview questions to use when practicing. Ensure you practice with questions that make you speak towards intelligent answers which will highlight you as a potential employee.
When in doubt, overdress
Not sure why this is included, maybe he has seen people arrive at an interview in t-shirt and shorts, but it should go without saying that you need to wear your Sunday best when interviewing. Dressing your best will show the interviewer you are serious about the position. It does not matter if you are interviewing for first job, last job, low-paying job, high paying job or no paying job...always dress for success.
Be positive
Always always be positive in an interview. Quickest way to sabotage an interview, other than showing up in t-shirt and shorts, is to be negative in the interview. No one wants to hire a negative person into their organization and they won't. As stated in the article this means NEVER say anything negative about your former employer or colleagues. You might have been working in the worst hell-hole environment on the earth and they will ask you why you are leaving or left, but you need to spin it into a positive answer, such as "I have accomplished everything I can at company XYZ and I'm looking for a new challenge such as this opportunity with your company ABC." You want to complain about your former employer? Complain to your wife or friends...not during an interview for a new job.
Say to the interviewer, "I really want this job."
This one can be explained with one word...ENTHUSIASM! This is one area that can win-over an interviewer. Smiling, eye contact, composure, posture, hand gesturing, positive answers, smooth responses, enthusiastic responses, etc. Showing your enthusiasm for a position during an interview is one of the primary must-do's during an interview. Displaying enthusiasm for a position is one of the few areas that can actually over-come deficiencies in your resume or back-ground, if you can believe it and you should. The hiring manager already liked something about you from reading your resume, so you have your foot in the door, the problem is they are interviewing 20 other candidates, so how can you complete if you feel you resume is on the low-end of the scale compared to the other 20? Enthusiasm will give you the boost you need. Remember, many people interview more than once, possibly 3 or 4 interviews before a position is offered, so it is important to be enthusiastic. While your resume might be light, getting that boost might be enough to get you to the next round of interviews, if not the job. Also, every organization wants an enthusiastic person on the team. A person who is positive and excited about being on the team will bring that energy into the organization and possibly re-energize the rest of the team. I would save the "I really want this job" declaration for the end of the interview so the interviewer has no doubt in their mind you really want this job.
Follow up promptly
I have done this in the past, but how much it matters is debatable, especially when interviewers are pouring over hundreds of resumes and conducting interviews. One thing is for certain...it can't hurt. I agree with the article that sending a thank you note one or two business days after the interview is sufficient. I also agree with Frederick Ball when he states"...send a brief note to the interviewer to thank him for talking with you, bring up a point where you two connected, add anything you forgot to say, and re-state your excitement about the job." Obviously you are going to thank the person, but also provide a couple of high-points as to why you are the best candidate and re-state your enthusiasm. Be prepared before the interview and ensure you have necessary contact information such email address, phone and/or physical address of the interviewer. If you don't have contact info then just ask at the end...they will usually hand you a business card, if they have not done so already, and explain you would like to send them a follow-up communication. Use your own judgement as to how you communicate your thank you. Maybe the organization is old-school, no computers and they do everything on paper, then providing a thank you on paper might be best or maybe they are paperless company then email might be best. How about if the interviewer makes a off-handed comment like, I hate email...don't send them an email thank you, send paper. This will be your call.
To sum up, the points in the article, while important, need to be addressed in greater detail in preparation and during an interview. Ensure you take each of these areas an apply them to your situation since some may be more important than others depending on the organization, the job and the interviewer, but rest assured, correctly applying these areas before and during an interview will ensure the greatest success to get that job!
