St.Louis Business Journal
ACING A HIRING INTERVIEW REQUIRES THOROUGH PREPARATION

By Anna Navarro October 2010  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy.



Jonathan was elated. He’d just gotten an interview for a job opening that sounded terrific. He’d learned about the position through networking and had sent his resume to the person to whom the job reported. His next challenge was to do a great hiring interview.

Preparing for the interview was the main topic of our next meeting. He’d already gathered some information from his networking contact and the internet about the organization and the person to whom the position reported. We’d used that information in our last meeting, to tailor his resume and cover letter. But there was much hard work still ahead.

The next step was to try to find out about specific issues in the organization. Jonathan got an important clue when his networking contact told him the person who had occupied the position had been let go.

I suggested he call his contacts in the industry to see what he could learn. He found a couple of people who knew the outgoing holder of the position. The word on the street was that the person who was released didn’t meet needs of the new CEO, who was young and proactive and wanted a person who could match his temperament and suggest new initiatives. That’s just what we needed to know.

In our next meeting, we discussed how Jonathan could describe his background and experience to demonstrate that he was a person with bold new ideas and the ability to implement them. Together we came up with four instances where he had proposed significant initiatives and followed through successfully. We honed each of those events into brief (2 minutes or less), colorful stories, and recorded the discussion. His goal was to find a way to get several of those vignettes into the conversation during the hiring interview.

We also talked though ideas for new initiatives he might bring to the organization. I cautioned him to introduce those ideas in a self-deprecating manner, as examples of what he could potentially do, with an acknowledgement that he was aware he was an outsider and might be really off base because he lacked an insider’s knowledge of the situation.

He already knew from prior sessions that he should focus on the employer’s needs during the interview, and hold off raising issues like compensation and benefits until it was clear they were interested in hiring him.

We also addressed what I call “soft spots”-- areas where his background wasn’t exactly what the employer was likely to want. The main one was that his degree came from a less than prestigious school. But he’d done an enormous amount of training on his own after graduation, and had personal exposure to some of the giants in the field as a result of his last two jobs. We rehearsed how to talk about those experiences in a way that was impressive, but not bragging.

We recorded all these discussions, and I emailed him the audio file so he could play it at home and rehearse for the interview.

Another issue we discussed was clothes. Jonathan was a casual dresser. I’d suggested earlier that one of the questions he ask his buddies in the industry was what the prevalent dress code was in the organization. Given the information he got, and his answers to my questions about what was in his closet, we decided he needed to go shopping for a few new items to wear to the interview.

As we closed the session, we reviewed some basic interviewing ground rules we’d previously discussed: Get a lot of sleep the night before the interview. Be on time. Be courteous and considerate of everyone you meet, including the receptionist and administrative assistants, whose opinion of candidates is often valued. Be confident but respectful. Maintain good eye contact. Listen carefully to all that is said. Write a “thank you for taking the time to interview me” note to everyone you meet, and make it as specific as possible to that person.

He left saying he now knew exactly what he needed to do to make the best impression he was capable of making. We both knew that whether he got the job still depended on how he stacked up against the other candidates, but he was prepared to put his best foot forward and make the most of the opportunity he had to contend for the position.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.