THE WIN-LOSE INTERVIEW PROPOSITION: IDEATION SHARING AND FULL DISCLOSURE!

Landing an interview with a targeted employer feels great! You experience elation, accomplishment, and affirmation knowing that a major organization is interested in you. It's proof of life that your job search efforts aren't in vain.

But here's the rub.

You go on the interview, and you're peppered with questions about your ideas, innovative approaches, best practices, accomplishments, and solutions to hypotheticals. Before you leave, you shake hands with the interviewer and depart hoping you did well, anxiously waiting for a final decision in your favor. It's a different tale for the employer! The employer walks away from the interview with FREE newfound ideas, innovative approaches, best practices, proven accomplishments, and solutions - - all courtesy of you the applicant - - whether you're hired or not!

Simply put, interviews are a great way to data mine and abscond great ideas from job applicants...all free!

Recruiting and talent acquisition also involves acquisition of best practices from applicant interviews. This is horrible news for applicants and great news for employers.

For employers, the return on investing man hours in interviewing applicants can result in employers walking away with a bucket full of great ideas to improve efficiencies, products, and/or services, and possibly the new hire of an employee! It's like gathering a group of experienced consultants, and getting all their best ideas for organizational success for FREE!

According to Liz Ryan, CEO, Human Workplace, she suggests, "Most job-seekers make the mistake of throwing up all over the hiring manager on a job interview. They share every good idea they've ever had in hopes of impressing their future boss. They don't realize that your value as a candidate doesn't increase when you spill the contents of your brain across the conference room table. Your value decreases."

"Consultants know better than to show up at a prospect's office with great ideas to peddle. Once the client hears your ideas, why should s/he hire you? In the throes of delusion, the client believes s/he can implement your ideas without you. Consultants hold back their (best) ideas."

Journalist Aman Khan, of Vice media, says "Many companies ask prospective employees to do some “spec work” to bolster their chances of getting hired and ensure the company that you’re what they’re looking for. But the fear that a potential employer will steal your ideas without hiring or crediting you looms large, particularly in creative industries and for those trying to land their first jobs."

So, it seems if you give up all the tapes in the interview, the employer walks away with a bucket full of your great ideas, free of charge! They win, applicants lose.

Brandi Fowler, contributing writer-Get Ahead by LinkedIn News, offers a few suggestions for protecting your ideas, innovations, efficiencies, management strategies, etc., during the interview...

1. Consider Copyrighting Your Work Before Your Interview.
2. Have the employer sign a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
3. Consider scaling back the information you provide. Deliver a solid (interview) presentation, but don’t give away your best ideas.

You're rolling the dice every time you fully disclose your best ideas and best practices in the interview, there's a risk the employer may take and implement your ideas and hire another candidate. Is that a calculated risk you're willing to take?

Some experts suggest being descriptive but judicious in how much you disclose. Achieving this balance of disclosure takes practice. Remember, the goal is to wet the appetite of an employer just enough to lean the hiring decision in your favor.

Let me know your thoughts on this topic. Also, share how you've handled disclosing your best ideas and best practices in interviews.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rev. Michael Robinson, M.S.

Director, Community Outreach and Hiring, Temple University Lenfest North Philadelphia Workforce Initiative

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Adjunct Professor, Fox School of Business at Temple University

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