Jerry posted a comment wanting to know what underdog candidates can do to perform better in a tough interview situation.
I’ve been assisting in interviews for an open position in my group. Some of the candidates are missing people skills, personality, etc. A few of the other interviewers visibly showed their displeasure and unease with the candidate. I was taken back considerably, having been in the candidate’s shoes many times. Do you know of any specific resources these ‘underdog’ candidates can tap into to make themselves marketable and valued by an employer…..?
Here is my take on things:
Candidates
In order to be successful in an interview situation I think that every candidate has to start with the basics:
- Be on time.
- Dress appropriately.
- Be prepared. Know your resume. Do some basic research on the company and job you are applying for.
As a job candidate you can to a certain extent influence and control the interview situation. To start with, smile and be happy that you got the chance to do the interview. As I’ve said before, positive people attract people. If you are open, honest, forthcoming and willing to meet people halfway, then you are more likely to succeed in your goal.
What is your goal? Do you want to execute a perfect interview (whatever that is?) or do you want to start building a long term relationship with the people who are interviewing you? If you get the job then you’ll probably spend a lot of time together. Why not start by taking the steps to build a long term relationship immediately? This doesn’t mean you should end the interview by going out for a beer together, but it does mean that you can choose to adopt a certain attitude and emotional state when you interact with your future potential coworkers.
Interviewer
As an interviewer it is your responsibility to set the expectations for both the candidate, your co-interviewers and yourself. What is the goal with the interview? What kind of people are you trying to attract? Is it more important to have a candidate that is a team player and fits well in together with the current team or is it crucial to find someone with a unique skill set to give you a competitive edge? I suggest having a pre-meeting with your co-interviewers before the interview in order to discuss and agree upon what you want to achieve with the interview.
People are different. Some people are loners, some people are team players. Everybody does NOT have to be a team player. I know several computer programmers who are very skilled at what they do and contribute significantly to the company they work for, but are completely lacking in people skills. By providing these people with the appropriate environment, you are much more likely to get them to perform and deliver in a way that contributes to the firm’s bottom line.
Everybody has a personality, but in an interview situation, because of the stresses involved, many people can become quiet, closed and introvert. As an interviewer, it is your job to make the candidate feel comfortable and to draw out a good performance from them. A good way to start is to provide a clear structure for the interview, for example write down an agenda on the whiteboard and come back to it as you go through each step. Also, you should clearly state the expectations you have of a future employee. If your expectations are clear, then it is much easier for the candidate to fulfill them.
If the candidate is quiet and doesn’t contribute very much to the interview, it is likely that they feel intimidated by the situation. As an interviewer, you can use open questions to draw them out. Don’t pepper the candidate with questions. Give them time to reflect and think after you have posed a question. Also, you should make sure to ask only one question at a time.
If your co-interviewers show displeasure with the candidate and feel unease then you should discuss this with them after the interview. It may be that they feel threatened by a new person entering the group. Maybe they feel like their position or competence is being challenged or questioned? If this is the case, then it is a serious barrier to having a highly effective team. This will most likely prevent the group from accepting any new members, as the people who feel threatened will try to sabotage the new persons efforts, in order to protect their own position within the group. In this case it is important that the manager or team leader makes a serious effort to get to the bottom of the conflict and try to solve it.
In an interview situation it is the interviewer, not the candidate, who has the main responsibility for getting a good result. If your company consistently has problems finding job candidates, it could be that there is an serious problem in the way you try to recruit people and structure interviews. In the end it’s up to you to decide what you want to achieve.
