Top Tips for Nailing Your Next Interview

Interviewing can be tough these days.  While CNBC and the Department of Labor data show that initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped this past week, there are still challenges with regards to interviewing for jobs (https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/25/weekly-jobless-claims.html?&qsearchterm=unemployment)  

Continuing claims for unemployment also paint a challenging picture as well:

With all these challenges, here are some helpful tips for candidates to help them with regard to where to turn, what to do, and how to increase your confidence throughout the interview process.  

Preparation:  

Preparation is key.  First, take the main responsibilities from the job description and put together a list of your ‘Greatest Hits’.  These Greatest Hits will include projects or assignments where you knocked it out of the park and should reflect similar responsibilities of the new role.  This will help you stay organized and will give you some go-to examples to draw from when answering interview questions.  

Think of the interview like a freeway.  You have a starting point and a destination when you’re responding to interview questions.  You don’t want to go off on an off ramp (a tangent) and not be able to get back on the freeway.  By putting together your ‘Greatest Hits’ it will help you stay on track.  

Before an interview, you may feel nervous or anxious. That's completely normal! If you're worried it will interfere with your responses though, set aside 10 minutes prior to the interview to take a few deep breaths and practice mindfulness. A great exercise is to envision yourself feeling extremely confident throughout the interview. Imagine how you will introduce yourself, how you'll respond to questions, and how you'll feel throughout it. Remind yourself that just because you're nervous, it doesn't mean that you can't show up confidently. Give yourself a pep talk like you would give to your favorite co-worker prior to an interview, take a few more deep breaths, and go for it! 

The Interview:  

One of the greatest things you can do is to NOT DISCOUNT YOURSELF!  You are having this interview for a reason!  They didn’t set aside 40 minutes of their time to talk because they were feeling nice.  Trust that they see potential in you joining their team.

Your interview actually starts before you meet the hiring manager.  One of the best interviewers ever was Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines.  He would have a pilot wait in a waiting room (not for too long, but long enough) and judge how he or she treated the receptionist.  If you treated the receptionist poorly, you could have been the greatest pilot on the planet, but you were out before you even chatted with Herb. Keep this in mind when you are also talking to HR individuals who may not have an elaborate technical acumen.  They will take notes on your demeanor and share them the hiring manager, so treat everyone with respect throughout the process.  

The first question of an interview is, more often than not, “Tell me about yourself?”  The very best way to answer that question is, “I’m happy to, where on my resume would you like me to start?”.  That way you will get right into the meat of why you are there.  The hiring manager will likely point to exactly what they want to know about your background.  

After about 4 minutes into the interview, you should ask, “Am I going into enough detail? I can go into more if you would like.” Another good question to ask is, “Does that answer your question?”.  Don’t ever assume…  

If you realize that you did get lost on a tangent, it is completely okay to admit you went off course.  Even the most talented CIO’s make errors in their interviewing style.  You can then self-correct by saying, “I seem to have gotten off track.  Let me refocus” and get ‘back on the freeway’.

Here are some things to make sure you’re prepared to talk about:

1      What you or your team did, how they did it (what tools/technologies they used), and what the results were.

2      How you went about working with various stakeholders throughout a project.

3      What you’ve learned from mistakes.  Hiring managers understand that not all projects are a complete success and it’s what you learned from that project that matters most.

Here are some things to avoid during the interview:

1     Please do not say “I did it all.”  Hiring managers know that this, more than likely, is not 100% truthful.  There may have been projects where you handled 80% or more of the work.  However, you did not do everything yourself on every project you have ever been a part of.  Instead, balance “I” and “we” statements to discuss your work to show both your ownership of responsibilities and leadership skills.

2     Bad mouthing previous management.  We all know there are companies, managers, and so on that are subpar.  However, previous management is not the cause of everything that has gone wrong in a particular role.  Rarely is one single person or one single manager at fault for 100% of the challenges with a role, except, perhaps, in the case of Enron (thought I would add some humor). 

3     Over talking. This happens when one person talks over another and interrupts frequently.  It’s understandable that you have a point to get across, but remember this famous quote from Steven Covey, “First, seek to understand, then to be understood”.  

Questions:

Always come to an interview with questions for the hiring manager.  It’s just as important that you get what you need from this conversation as they do!  Here are two great ones to start with and a best practice:

1      “What are the common themes and characteristics of the people who succeed on your team?” This will tell you about the existing team and can help you gauge if this is the team and culture that you WANT to spend your time with.

2      “Pretend we are sitting down 60 days from now. What are some things that I could do which would have you say, ‘Wow, I’m so glad we hired you!’” You will get a very clear understanding of what their top priorities and expectations are and, more importantly, you will know if you can hit those exceptions.

3      Consider what your most important deciding factors are for your next role and prep questions to specificallyaddress them. For example, if you want to know about the culture, instead of asking "What's your team's culture?" ask a situational question that highlights how they treat each other.

At any point:

If you have the unfortunate occurrence of working with a hiring manager that simply does not treat you with respect, remember to respect YOURSELF.  It is completely okay to have to go through some hoops for a job, but you should not have to go through too many. If you feel disrespected, it is completely acceptable to end the interviewer cordially by saying, “I don’t believe this is a fit” and thanking them for their time.

Post Interview and Follow-up:

This will be almost as important as the interview itself. 

When it comes to follow-up, follow that great rule from Brian Tracy…the 5 – 15 – 30 Rule. Follow up 5 days after a discussion, then 15 days after that (day 20), and then 30 days after that (day 50). Even if you did not get the job, you never know, the person they hired might not have worked out. This way, you aren't following up too much but you're still keeping the line of communication open. Don't underestimate the power of a thoughtful thank-you note after the first interview either! 

The interview process can be dismaying, especially if you're told "no thanks" from a position you really wanted. Remember that just because you faced rejection from one promising opportunity, it doesn't mean that all opportunities will say "no". Take each interview as it comes, independent from the others, and take care of yourself to show up as your best for each one. And remember that old Garth Brooks song, "Thank God for Unanswered Prayers”. Sometimes a “no” is a blessing in disguise.

Conclusion:

The interview process can be overwhelming and stressful.  It’s important that you’re as prepared and confident as you can be going into the interview, that you stay focused during it, and that you follow-up.  From two interview experts, know that these tips and best practices can help you feel good each step of the way.

A quick word about the authors.  Tom has been recruiting technical resources for 19 years and been in the tech sector since the late 1990’s.  Most, if not all, of his time is actually spent working with CIO’s, VP’s of IT and Directors of IT with regard to hiring strategy and finding the right ‘fit’ for candidates and for clients.   His LinkedIN Profile can be found here:  https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/tomwelke  

Karla spent 8 years in the tech industry prior to becoming a confidence coach managing people and projects.  She now helps tech leaders at all levels be confident in their decisions, be effective leaders, and handle career transitions as smoothly as possible.  Her LinkedIN profile can be found here:  https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/karla-angel-coach/