TRANSCRIPT: Acing Your Job Interview: Strategies For Success
Speaker: George Hoey
Acing Your Job Interview
Hi. I'm George Hoey. I'm recently retired career development advisor of 18 years at a major university in Colorado. Before that, 21 years as director of an academic support program for student athletes at two major universities in the US. Prior to that, I was also employed by the National Football League for six years.
Today's Agenda
Today's agenda is to provide you with information to help you feel at ease during the interviewing process. Well, today, I want to do some things that hopefully put you at ease so that you feel very comfortable going into the interview.
Thoughts About The Interview
The interview itself, what is it? "It's just a conversation," to quote Peter Veruki from the Vanderbilt School of Management. Peter said that years ago, and I've just held on to it because it just makes so much common sense, it is just a conversation between two people who are getting together to have a conversation to see if they have something in common. That's what Peter says.
I'd like to take it a step further. I like to say that the interviewer is the expert on the organization on the position talking to a lot of different people to see who's going to be the best fit. You're the expert on you. And those two people sitting to have that conversation to see if they have something in common are literally, to me and my way of thinking, two experts. So you are the expert on you, the interviewer is the expert on the organization and the position for which you're applying.
Interview Preparation
Now, we get to the actual interviewing process. Some important tips. The job description should always be your guide as to how you respond to questions and also gives an indication of what you know about the position and how prepared you are to fill that position.
A second point is it's your interview, own it. You've earned it. And you treat it with respect, and you treat it as if you're in control and not the other person who's asking the questions of you. Your voice should be heard.
Now, when questions come your way, if you don't understand the question, ask for clarity. That's totally appropriate. Again, I've heard a number of individuals when going through an interview come out with the response, well, they were asking me this question and I didn't really understand it. So I just sort of gave an answer that I thought would fit the bill so that we could move on. No. Again, it's your time, it's your interview. If you need clarity, ask for it. If you don't understand, ask for clarity around that.
And one of the things that does also for the employer is to let them know how you operate. If ever you're in a situation in the workforce and you have a question about what's going on, how to reach a certain conclusion, and you're not sure, and you ask for clarity, they know that's a part of your makeup and that's a good quality or good trait to have. And if you need time to respond to a question, ask for it. There may be a question where you're pausing you thinking, "wow, I have two or three different responses that I could give to that question." Well, say that. "There are several points that I can make in responding to that question. Let me think about it for a moment and then give you my response."
Or if it's a deep question and you really can't come up with the full response at that moment, just indicate to the interviewer, "could we come back to that in a moment? I really want to give you a quality answer and right now, I'm just digging for one and I want to give you an appropriate response." More often than not, the person will be understanding and will allow you the opportunity to come back to that question and to think about it deeper. The one thing you don't want to do is to stumble or search around for a response that clearly is sometimes incoherent and it only does damage.
Another point around questions. At one point during the interview, s you'll probably get that question, "do you have any questions for me?" The answer should always be yes. Even though it may be a thorough interview, that may be a lot of topics that have been covered, you may have heard almost everything except salary and start date, but sometimes there are questions that will not be addressed in a lot of the exchange that's taking place. So you should have one or two, maybe even three questions that haven't been covered in the interview itself. And again, that's letting the individual who's interviewing you know that you've done your research and yes, you want it to be more thorough, there's more that you want to know. So you should always have questions when that is posed to you.
Tell Your Story
So when all is said and done, the interviewing process is one where you're basically trying to tell your story. And you figure, well, "tell my story, but they're in control. They're asking the questions." Yeah, but you have the answers, and you're sterilizing the answers. And the employer has to get to a certain point. The employer knows that I've gone through the application process, I've looked at resumés, I have a person sitting in front of me. I'm interviewing, trying to find out as much information as I can to find out if they're going to be a good fit with my organization.
And you're providing your story, you're telling your story, you're giving your answers. And you're giving your answers because what you're trying to tell that employer is, I know where you're trying to go. You have to get to the place of finding out who this person is who's going to come to the door representing you every day. And in order for you to find that out about me, I'm going to tell you my story.
So when you're answering questions, your answers are going to be very unique and specific to you, and that's going to be your story. And you're going to be able to tell that employer, this is the person who's going to be coming through the door every day based on the responses that you're giving.
Understanding The Interview Process
Now we're going to go over tips for the interviewing process. We'll cover four items. Number 1 is going to be the job description. You need to know the job description.
Number 2, that it's your interview what that entails. Number 3, we're going to talk about ending the interview. And the fourth item will be items that you should do or things that you should do after the interview.
Let's go back to the first topic. Knowing the job description. It's going to be important for you to have done ample research on the job so that you know that the skills required for the duties and tasks that you'll be asked to perform are ones that you possess. It's not a bad idea to carry a list with you into the interview where you can highlight 10 to 15 different examples of skills that you've developed in the classroom, doing volunteer work, or other areas of your life that pertain to the job and shows that you can do the job at a very high level.
The Interview
Now, let's go to item number two. The fact that this is your interview. Oftentimes, interviewees will go into the situation thinking that the interviewer is in total control, and you have to give answers to the questions in a particular way that satisfies the interviewer. Well, think of it this way as well. It's your interview, you have as much control as the interviewer.
And several elements that can help you get to that point of knowing that it's your interview, is just to air confidence. Confidence that you are able to answer any questions that the interviewer will ask. You need to make affirmative statements, and show the confidence level that they can expect of you on the job. You need to avoid fillers such as, umm, ah. Don't begin sentences such as that.
Always begin with an affirmative statement. One other thing that you can consider doing is speaking in language that will show that you're a member of the team, or will indicate that you're a member of the team already. And if you're talking about issues that may arise on the job, you can say, well as a member of the team, I think we would consider doing x, y, or z, to reach an agreement or conclusion to the project that is at hand.
One very important element is the smile. Even though you may feel a little bit of angst from time to time during the interview, or maybe even throughout the interview, it's always a positive aspect of you as a person if you present that smile. So a smile can always serve in your best interests. Along with that smile should come eye contact.
Assure yourself that you're not going to be intimidated by the interviewer or the questions that are being asked, and when you respond to a question, you're maintaining very good eye contact with the interviewer. And that's a sign of showing that I know what I'm saying, I feel good in speaking to you about it, and I'm OK with that. One thing to avoid, and I hate to end on a negative note, but it's important. No nervous habits or tics. That may irritate the interviewer or may be distracting as a part of the process.
Ending The Interview
That's probably going to take you to the end of the interview. One of the things that I've found over the years, which is extremely helpful, is to end the interview with a strong affirmative statement. A great example is, I've appreciated the opportunity and I'm very excited about this job opportunity. I think the requirements would really fit my skill set. I want this job.
Most individuals might not say such a strong statement as, I really want this job. And when someone does make it a point to say that, it sticks with the interviewer.
After The Interview
After the interview, what do you do? One of the most appropriate things to do is to send a thank you note. Either hand-written or via email. Use your best judgment in terms of what format would be most appropriate.
Web-Based Interviews
Let's move on now to video interviews or web-based interviews. There are various types that are out there and you never know which one you're going to get. But I just want to cover an approach to being a part of that whole process.
The preparation is the same for the in-person interview with a few differences. One of the things that's important is to get comfortable talking to a screen and a microphone. Sometimes we feel as if I'm good in person and I just love to speak to someone in person. But if you come upon that ideal position and the methods that they use for screening applicants is going to be video interviews, you need to be ready for that.
And as you're in your own surroundings, have a copy of a resume on the desk in front of you. So if you need to refer to it, you can, it's available. You don't have to dig and plow through various elements to be able to respond to any issue that may arise.
But while you're in your environment, avoid bright lights and busy backgrounds that are going to be so very distracting for someone who's wanting to see you and hear you but might otherwise be taken by the business in the background. Be sure that it's going to be soft and subtle and non-distracting so that the focus will be totally on you and there won't be any restrictions there.
Going Deeper In Your Preparation
One other way that you can begin to feel more comfortable with the video interviews is going through mock interviews. Mock interviews are really just demonstrations of real interviews that you would take but you just have a chance to get feedback, you can do that at your career center, you can do it with a friend, you can do it with a professional, and you can gather a lot of information and insight about your presence when you're going to be viewed on screen.
You can follow the organization on social media to have the most up to date information on them should a question arise about how you found out about them and why you're interested in that position. There are a lot of ways that you can begin to prepare yourself so that you're sounding normal and natural when you're given responses to questions whether it's a video interview, social media contacts, or connections. There's always a way that you can better prepare yourself to gain information about that organization.
Now, one of the most important things is the technology that's being utilized. Test it out in advance, knowing that it works properly. And you don't have any control over what's happening on their end but on your end, you know what's going to happen, you know your equipment, and the method that's going to be utilized. Test it out so that there are no quirks in the process, and no delays, and definitely not a fault of yours.
Sample Interviews
SPEAKER 1: Now we're going to watch two video clips. And what I want you to do is pay attention to some of the elements that we talked about previously. If the interviewee is going to show an air of confidence, if there is a smile, or if there are any nervous habits or nervous tics that the interviewee is displaying throughout the process. Now let's look at the first interview.
SPEAKER 2: Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a person in position of authority. And what the outcome of that situation was.
SPEAKER 3: OK. Disagreement. Well, I did work at this company one time, where we had the supervisor and she just wasn't good at getting emails back and returning phone calls and answering our questions. And it just really made it hard for me to do my job. And I really didn't even know how to handle that because she was my boss.
Interview Analysis
SPEAKER 1: Now let's think about that interview. What did you notice? Well, I'll tell you what I noticed. I noticed that the interviewee really did not answer the full question that was asked. It's very important to be a good listener during the interviewing process, and be sure that for whatever question is asked, if it's a two-part question, you answer both parts of the question and you answer them well.
The second element that I noticed was the nervous tapping. And if you notice at one point during the interview itself, the interviewer's eyes actually went down to the pen because it was distracting enough to get that interview as attention.
So the important things to remember are be a good listener, understand if a question is being asked of you, especially if it's a multipart question, that you answer each and every part, you answer it well. And to avoid the nervous tics, the nervous habits. That could be distracting. And could just not bode very well for you during the interviewing process.
Sample Interviews
Now we'll take a look at a second video clip. And as before, be very observant. Look carefully at the interviewee and the interviewer. Just the whole nature of the process itself.
SPEAKER 2: Why should we hire you?
SPEAKER 3: Why should you hire me? Well, as you know, I do have the experience and the skills that this position requires. But in addition to that, I think one of my best assets to your company will be that I'm very flexible, and I get along well with others. I work well in a team. And I'm not afraid to ask for help when I need it.
SPEAKER 2: OK. Thank you. Do you have any questions of me?
SPEAKER 3: I do. I'm just wondering what the next steps are in the process.
SPEAKER 2: Well, we're going to finish our interviewing process with all of our candidates within the next two days. And beyond that, we're going to notify everyone within the next seven days what the outcome will be and who's going to move forward in the process.
SPEAKER 3: Thank you.
Interview Analysis
SPEAKER 1: Now you've seen the second video clip. What do you think? I really enjoy watching this clip because there are several things that are really positive and are outstanding. If you notice one thing, body language. That was great eye contact. The interviewee was looking at the interviewer with an air of confidence. That's always good to display during an interview.
Body posture. Sitting upright, a little bit of a forward lean just to show that I'm engaged. That's always good to display as well. The employer can sort of feel that and respect that. And almost accept that coming from anyone who's sitting giving information about himself or herself.
So think about the positives when you look at this clip, and something good will come out of it for you. The most important part, I think, of that whole clip was the ending. The interviewee said thank you. You have to always acknowledge the fact that you're in a part of a process. And you appreciate the opportunity to receive the interview, to give information about yourself, and to be thankful for that opportunity. So that was really a quality statement on the part of the interviewee.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Now one of the things that you know I'm going to say is practice, practice, practice. We all need to do that. And sometimes it's almost as if we can't do enough. But at the same time, as you're going through your practice routine, don't take it to the point of sounding robotic. Be your natural self.
And that comes over time. And again, if you feel that you're comfortable in your own environment and you've practiced a lot, go and take your time. Breathe. Relax. And just get to that natural state where you feel comfortable answering any question that might come your way.
Little Things That Make A BIG Difference
At this point, I want to mention a few things. Little things that might make a big difference. Click on the link to view a handout with several simple steps that can make or break an interview.
Let's Reflect
Let's take a moment to reflect on what we've just experienced. We talked about the interviewing process. And a question that comes up for me is whether you saw yourself in any of the video clips.
If you saw yourself doing things that were positive, things that were negative, things that you could improve upon. If you need additional tips for interviewing, you can always refer to the resource list that's going to be made available for you. But keep in mind that as you go through the interviewing process, it may be your first, it may be your second, and there will be probably multiple times so you can rehearse, you can practice, and taking tips with you.
Are you smiling? Do you sound confident? Are you maintaining eye contact? Keep those things in mind and use the ones that apply to you. And I'd like to say good luck to you during your next interview or subsequent ones to that one.