You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. -Naguib Mahfouz, writer, Nobel laureate (1911-2006)
Interviews are typically an anxiety-provoking and a stressful step for the candidates going after a new job. Many analogize them to a root-canal procedure, except that for this you do not have to go through a lot of preparations; just getting psyched-up is often enough, and, sometimes, knowing that you have enough available balance on your credit card to cover the expensive procedure!
There are a variety of reasons for this tension, which often stems from the fear of defeat; apprehension about your own ability to stand up to the interviewers scrutiny; and the trust you hold in your own powers of memory, persuasion, and in delivering a cogent response to the curve-ball questions thrown at you. Then there is the anxiety around how to close and get the offer in the end of the final interview. All of this is made further complicated by factors that are uncontrollable: technology hiccups, unforeseen impediments to the interview, interviewers mood, and what else is happening that day when some major headline breaks, shattering the days quietude.
To most people interviews are a nightmare that they must face to cross the Rubicon for them to get to where they want to go next in their career. There are now an entire segment of professionals that engage in interview coaching by providing boot camps, live sessions, mock interviews, and materials by the truckloads to further exacerbate the anxiety of those facing their next interview. Although mastering the technical details of the subject for which you are going in for your interview are the sine qua non, merely mastering them is often not enough, you need to equip yourself with morea lot more.
For example, understanding how to interpret the interviewers body language and how to manage yours; how to package your message before delivering it, so that the interviewer hears, not what you are saying, but what you want them to hear, just to name a few. So, as you can see, going through an interview and acing it is no longer a matter of just showing up in your Sunday best, but it is like a prolonged audition that may or may not result in your being cast in the role they are trying to fill!
So, now that I have made you anxious, apprehensive, and diffident facing your next interview let me give you some tips to make up for my transgressions!
- SME Prep: After you have fully prepared yourself as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) with the topic that is going to be discussed during your interview make sure that you have also practiced your oral responses to these technical questions. Merely knowing the content in a written form is never enough to score well in an interview; how you deliver it has its own weight in how you are scored. Many interview boot camps also provide you a forum where an expert interviews you and scores your responses. Most people underestimate what it takes to translate written content into a coherent oral response that is crisp, clear, and concise.
- The HR Questions: Also, spend equal amount of preparation time on your personality side of the interview. This is also called the side related to the HR Questions, which often include topics in the areas such as Tell me about yourself, What are your strengths/ weaknesses, why are you looking, why this company, etc. Many companies put equal weight on these questions and they are not limited to the HR staff; hiring mangers also want to know your responses to such questions.
- The Company: Learn as much about the company as a business as you can. Read up material on its website, what is available in the media, and research material prepared by marketing companies such as Gartner, Forrester, D&B Hoovers, and even LinkedIn.
- You the Customer: If you come across the companys products or services in your everyday life or can encounter them by trying something new, make a note of the experience youve had using them. Bring that experience in the interview discussion and make a suggestion about how you could improve that in your targeted role.
For example, a client was recently asked to interview at one of the large grocery-store chains in California in a customer support role. We decided to place a home-delivery order of a basket of everyday grocery items that included ice cream on a particularly hot day (100F/38C). When the delivery was made the ice cream had almost melted. Bringing this experience during the interview and how he could improve that experience clenched the deal for this client in that role. - The Market: Look at what the companys competitors are doing and how it affects this companys markets, customers, and ecosystem. Bringing up this insights into your interview discussions is a great way to show that you not only understand the companys mission, but how it may have to change based on the market forces and on what the competitors are going to do.
- Facing the Google-type Interviews: Google interviews are conducted a bit differently from how most other companies do theirs. Over time, Google interviews have become more clinical, in that they are conducted as if you are in front of an automaton. Interviewers will typically ask questions in a rapid-fire way and star entering your responses by tapping on their keyboard without so much as looking at you, except perhaps when they are asking a question or explaining a point.
There is not much eye contact throughout this process, so preparing for these types of interviews takes a different mindset. In this, Google is not alone. My clients have reported that Uber and some other companies have also taken this approach to interviewing. Once you go in knowing this regime then it is somewhat easier to deal with it with giving clinical responses without too much human interaction with the interviewer. Of course, in such interviews the focus is mostly on the accuracy of the responses and how the candidate responds with their logic and thought process. In most such interviews questions from the candidates are deferred until after they complete their checklist, sometimes leaving little or no time for such questions. Despite knowing this you must always go in with your own prepared questions, in addition to what may surface from the interview discussions.
Google or not, as you research and get ready for your interview you must formulate insightful questions to the respective interviewers, so that they know how well equipped you are with the ammunition to win the interview battle. Make sure that the categories of questions you have formulated are relevant to the functional areas from which the interviewers are drawn.
For example, if the question is about the companys stock price swings, it is best to ask this question to someone in finance. It is about declining sales anyone from Sales, Marketing, and Product Management would be the appropriate audience. In asking carefully thought-out questions make sure that you ask them early in the session to provide them enough time for a thoughtful discussion. Even though the interviewer may say, Ask all you questions at the end, you can always find an appropriate window early in the interview to ask the right question and steer the interview in your directionsee how we brought up the melted ice cream issue with the grocery chain!
Most candidates go into an interview in a position where they surrender its control to the interviewer. Remember, the person asking the questions is in control; the person doing the talking is doing the selling. Let them sell you on the job and their company. So, asking some strategic questions timed well can put you in control of your own interview. Try it and see how well that works!
Good luck!
| About Author | |
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Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
Website: https://dilipsaraf.com/how-to-crush-your-next-job-interview/
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