INTERVIEW SKILLS THAT WIN THE JOB

Introduction: The path to interview success

Interview Skills that Win the Job offers an innovative and exciting approach to developing interview skills. As well as letting you know what’s needed to succeed at interviews, it goes one important step further and demonstrates how you can prepare your own answers including exercises designed to improve your skills. 

          People who consistently succeed at interviews are those who take the time to prepare their own answers rather than simply using answers they have read or heard elsewhere. Whether you’re a recent school leaver or a seasoned professional, this blog will show you how to prepare highly effective answers and how to deliver them in a confident manner whilst establishing that all-important rapport with interviewers. The book recognizes that one of the major obstacles to successful interviewing is organizing a vast amount of detail about what you’ve done in previous jobs (or at school or university) and expressing this information in a clear and convincing way at the interview. 

     

   In addition to teaching you how to respond to popular interview questions and distinguishing a good answer from a bad one, Interview Skills that Win the Job will go through the specific steps you need to establish rapport and trust during the course of the interview. The reason for this is simple: if you fail to establish rapport and trust, it is highly unlikely that you will get the job—no matter how technically brilliant your answers are. The skills and techniques you will develop from reading this book will remain with you for the rest of your working life. They will immeasurably improve your chances of winning those hard-to-get jobs and contribute to a rewarding career.

Interview myths

Myth no. 1: The best person for the job gets it 

        Sometimes this is true—especially in a situation where everyone knows everyone else, such as when a company is recruiting internally. However, this is often not the case. In order for the best person for the job to win it, a number of very important things need to be in place (and even then, there’s no guarantee). These include:  

• The interviewer knows what questions to ask and how to search for the truthfulness in answers. These two things may sound simple enough, but I can assure you that a large proportion of people conducting interviews have received no training, lack interview experience and often do not even go to the trouble of preparing for the interview. 
• The interviewer is not taken in by the charm, good looks, great humour or any other aspect of the interviewee. This can be a difficult obstacle, even for experienced interviewers. 
• The interviewee has learned how to clearly articulate their skills, key achievements and how they can add value to the organisation. 
• There is no personality clash between interviewer and interviewee. 
• Neither party is having a bad day. 

Some employers—usually the ones who have been badly burnt by hiring the wrong people in the past—go to great lengths to set up professional hiring procedures designed to minimize hiring mistakes.

 Whilst some of these procedures are effective in improving candidate selection, they do not guarantee that the best person for the job will actually win it. In the final analysis, choosing someone for a job involves at least one human being making a decision about another, and no matter what we do to eliminate subjectivity, as human beings it is impossible to put aside our predispositions, predilections and personal preferences—no matter how much we may try to. 

       In an ideal world, the best person for the job would always win it; however, the reality is that it is often the person who performs best at the interview who wins the prize. 

         The important lessons here are: 

• Don’t automatically pull out of applying for a job if you know someone better suited for the job is also applying for it. If you go to the trouble of preparing properly for the interview, there’s a good chance that you may be seen as the preferred candidate— especially if the other person takes the interview for granted and fails to prepare. 
• If you happen to know that you’re the best person for the job, avoid taking the interview for granted. Behave as though you’re 2 interview skills that win the job competing against formidable rivals. Take the time to prepare properly. Just because you’ve got a lot of experience does not mean you know how to convey this message at an interview. 

Myth no. 2: Interviews are like school exams— the more you say, the better you’ll do 

      Yes, interviews are a bit like exams in so far as that you’re asked a number of questions to which you need to respond intelligently, but there the similarities end. Unlike exams, where lots of accurate detail is important, interviews are more about interacting and rapport building whilst simultaneously articulating smart answers. And a smart answer is often not the most detailed.

      In fact, long and overly detailed answers can drive interviewers to distraction, despite their technical accuracy. Knowing when to stop talking is a skill all successful interviewees have. Also unlike many exams, there are often no right or wrong answers in interviews. We’re all different and come to interviews from different backgrounds and business stations.

      What is important at an interview is to justify your actions and talk about your achievements in a confident manner.

Myth no. 3: Interviewers know what they’re doing 

Some interviewers are very good at what they do, especially full time professionals (provided they’re not suffering from interview fatigue). However, many managers and owners of small businesses often flounder because interviewing is not something they do on a regular basis. Some sure signs of a bad interviewer are:

• They do most of the talking. 
• They sound as though they’ve made up their mind about you in the first five minutes. 
• They seem to pluck their questions randomly out of the ether. 
• Their phone keeps ringing and they answer it. 
• They sound like very sharp and less-than-honest salespeople when it comes to selling the job. 

Some sure signs of a good interviewer are:

• They have their questions carefully prepared in advance. 
• They want to know what you’ve done and how you’ve done it, including specific examples. 
• They let you do most of the talking. 
• They may want to interview you more than once. 
• They will try to make you feel at ease. 
• They are genuinely interested in your accomplishments, skills and the type of person you are. 

     Inexperienced interviewers generally don’t ask the right questions and can easily be swayed by factors that have little to do with your ability to perform in the job. So if you are being interviewed by an inexperienced interviewer, don’t wait to be asked a good question— one that will allow you to talk about all your wonderful skills and qualities. Rather, take the initiative in as unobtrusive a way as possible and talk about the things you feel the interviewer might really want to know. Unfortunately, this may not always be possible—especially if you’re being interviewed by a forceful personality who loves the sound of their own voice. If ever you find yourself in such a situation, don’t panic. Remind yourself that interviews are just as much about rapport-building as they are about answering questions. So nod your head, smile and make all the right noises—talkative interviewers love people who agree with them.

Myth no. 4: Never say ‘I don’t know’ 

      Interviews are about making a positive impression by answering questions intelligently and building rapport with the interviewer. To this end, many interviewees feel that they have to provide the perfect answer to every question put to them, irrespective of whether or not they actually know the answer. Clearly, a great interview is one in which you can answer all the questions (and you should be able to do so if you take the time to prepare correctly); however, if you don’t know the answer to something, it is better to admit to it rather than pretend to know and start waffling. Most interviewers can pick waffling a mile away and they don’t like it for a couple of very important reasons: first, it is likely to make you sound dishonest; and second, it will make you sound considerably less than intelligent.

      You may as well not attend the interview if you give the impression that you’re neither honest nor bright. Trying to answer a question that you have little idea about could undermine an otherwise great interview. This does not mean that you cannot attempt answers that you are unsure of. There’s nothing wrong with having a go, as long as you make your uncertainty clear to the interviewer at the outset. Here’s what an answer may sound like: I have to be honest and say that this is not an area I’m familiar with, though I am very interested in it. If you like, I’m happy to have a go at trying to address the issue, as long as you’re not expecting the perfect answer. Or: I’d love to answer that question, but I need to be honest upfront and say that this is not an area that I’m overly familiar with, though I’m very interested in increasing my knowledge about it.

Myth no. 5: Good-looking people get the job 

     I suppose if the job was for a drop-dead gorgeous femme fatale type in a movie, then good looks would certainly help, but for most other jobs the way you look is not as big a deal as many people make out. As we’ve already discussed, there will always be an inexperienced employer who will hire on the basis of superficial factors, but most employers are smarter than that.

     The claim that good-looking people get the job over plain-looking people makes one seriously flawed assumption—that employers make a habit of putting someone’s good looks before the interests of their livelihood. Most businesses find themselves in highly competitive environments and employers are only too keenly aware that a poor hiring decision can prove very costly. This is not to say that appearance and a bright personality are not important factors at an interview.

     It is very important that you dress appropriately and try your best to demonstrate all your friendly qualities. Good looks are certainly overrated in interviews, but an appropriate appearance and a friendly personality are not.

Myth no. 6: If you answer the questions better than the others, you’ll get the job 

      Being able to articulate good answers in an interview is very important, and failure to do so will almost certainly mean you don’t get the job. However, interviews—as we’ve already seen—are much more than just giving good answers.

      They’re also about convincing the interviewer that you will be a nice person to work with. To put it another way, it doesn’t matter how good your answers are technically, if the interviewer doesn’t like you there’s not much chance you’ll get the job (unless your talents are unique, extremely difficult to find or the interviewer is desperate). So avoid thinking about interviews just in terms of answering questions correctly.

      Interviews are also about establishing rapport and trust, and whilst there is no fail-safe method in doing this, there are things you can do (and things you should not do) that will go a long way towards improving your skills in this all-important area of interviewing.

Myth no. 7: You should try to give the perfect answer 

      Too many people stumble over their words, repeat themselves and talk in circles because they’re trying to articulate the perfect answer—or what they think constitutes the perfect answer. Some people are so obsessed with delivering the perfect answer that they don’t stop until they produce what in their opinion is a word perfect response.

        Because we can never be entirely sure of what the interviewer wants to hear, some of us will keep on talking in the hope that we’ll cover all bases. The problem with this approach is that we end up talking too much, leading to the interviewer losing concentration— which, of course, is the last thing you need at an interview. The reality is that in most cases there is no such thing as the perfect answer. The lesson here is: it makes a lot of sense to settle for a good answer that gets to the point rather than meander all over the place searching for the elusive perfect answer.

Myth no. 8: You must ask questions to demonstrate your interest and intelligence 

       Many interviewees are under the mistaken belief that they must ask questions at the end of the interview. There seems to be a common belief amongst many interviewees that this makes them sound more intelligent as well as more interested in the job. This is not true. Asking questions simply for the sake of doing so won’t improve your chances of getting a job. It could even make you sound a little dull—especially if you ask questions about matters that were already covered during the course of the interview. Only ask a question if you have a genuine query. Acceptable questions include those relating directly to the job you’re applying for, as well as working conditions and company policies on such things as on pay, leave, and so on. Interviewers never mind answering questions about such matters, but they do mind answering questions they perceive to be irrelevant. If you have no questions to ask, simply say something like: ‘Thank-you, but I have no questions. You’ve been very thorough during the course of the interview and have covered all the important matters regarding the job.’ There’s nothing wrong with including a compliment to the interviewer about their thoroughness and professionalism—provided it doesn’t go over the top or sound like grovelling.

       Two further points need to be made about asking questions. First, avoid asking too many questions. On the whole, interviewers do not enjoy role reversals. Second, never ask potentially embarrassing questions.

      These can include:

• a question relating to a negative incident; 
• something that’s not supposed to be in the public domain; 
• a difficult question that may stump the interviewer. 

     The rule of thumb is: if you think a question may cause embarrassment, err on the side of caution and avoid it.

Myth no. 9: Relax and just be yourself 

       Whilst it is important to be relaxed and show your better side, it is also very important to understand that interviews are not social engagements. Most interviews are highly formalized events in which otherwise innocuous behaviors are deemed unacceptable. In short, being your usual self could spell disaster (as contradictory as that may sound). For example, if being yourself means leaning back on your chair, dressing somewhat shabbily and making jokes, you might find yourself attending an inordinate number of interviews. Whilst interviewers like people to be relaxed, they also have definite expectations about what behaviors are appropriate for an interview— and you violate these expectations at your peril!

Myth no. 10: Interviewers are looking for flaws 

      The danger with this myth is that it can easily lead to interviewees adopting a defensive, perhaps even distrustful, attitude during the interview. If you believe that the interviewer is assiduously searching for your flaws, it will more than likely undermine your attempts to establish that all-important rapport and trust. It may also prevent you from opening up and giving really good answers. Rest assured that most interviewers do not prepare their interview questions with a view to uncovering your flaws. Questions are mostly prepared with a view to giving the interviewer an overall or holistic insight into what you have to offer the company.

      A good interviewer will indeed uncover areas in which you are not strong, but that is a far cry from thinking that the interviewer is hell bent on uncovering only your flaws. It is very important to treat every question as an opportunity to excel rather than being unnecessarily guarded. It is only by answering the questions that you can demonstrate how good you are. To treat questions as objects of suspicion makes no sense at all. Understanding the myths surrounding interviews gives you a great start for success. Remember, interviews are no different to other endeavors in life: the better you understand their underlying nature the higher the probability you’ll tackle them successfully. An insight into common interview myths will arm you with the information you need to prevent you from falling into those disheartening traps. Just as importantly, a clearer picture of the true nature of interviews better informs the rest of your preparation and will contribute to your confidence and performance.