How do you become a great interviewer? In my own personal opinion, which is based on experience interviewing and being interviewed, is that the biggest factor that sways how an interviewer rates an interviewee is “personal connection”. The interview is basically a 2-way conversation that takes place between human beings, and key characteristics that interviewers get swayed on are charisma, good communication skills, articulate, thoughtful, genuine, humourous, politeness and confidence (not arrogant). The important thing to understand and learn is that you can optimally demonstrate these characteristics by being organized and ready. People typically are better communicators about things they know well and are comfortable talking about. Why do people who get caught flat-footed tend to stammer, speak quickly, sweat, get red in the face or raise the volume of their voice? It’s because they’re not ready or organized to talk about whatever they have been asked to talk about. For a job interview, focus on the following activities to help you be ready and organized:
- Understand the main job duties as per the job posting or job description if one exists — many of the questions asked of you will relate to the job posting, and in fact, public sector organizations are required to ensure their questions relate to the posting, as it ensures fairness and equity. If you are unsure of certain aspects of the job posting/description, write down questions to ask the interviewers.
- Know your resume inside-out (of course have a copy with you), and this is referring to things such as your key strengths, areas of opportunity (a.k.a. weaknesses), major achievements, projects you have worked on, volunteerism and how your work has translated into leadership. Regardless of the question being asked of you, I highly recommend you talk about your work experience wherever possible so that the interviewer can make the connection to how you have done something in the past that will help them in the future.
- Read through the organization’s website — specifically business plan/strategy, vision and values, latest news, key products and/or services offered, history of the organization — write down any questions that you may have (I like to focus questions on something related to the latest news affecting the organization like a recent merger and how it may affect the organization, recent launch of a new product offering, new partnership agreement with another organization, etc…).
- Read the news and look for specific events that relate to the organization you will be interviewing with. A personal example was when I interviewed with CIBC and they were in the process or replacing their CEO. The outgoing CEO was a long-time CIBC employee who rose through the ranks and the incoming CEO was a younger, more cost-focused business person who more than likely was going to make some significant changes to the organization. I simply asked how this huge change at the “top of the house” was going to affect the organization, the work unit I would be working for and my specific job duties.
- Know the names and titles of the people you will be meeting with. It’s important to try and find as much information as you possibly can about the interview panel. Use Google, social networking sites like LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Facebook and so forth.
- Practice, practice and practice some more – practice interviewing with someone you know who can provide objective and bias-free support. Practice responding to a variety of interview questions that challenge you. Note: please do not practice “canned answers”… giving canned answers regardless of how good they are will do more harm than good. Responses should be genuine and authentic.
- Have questions ready that you want to ask. These questions should relate to things such as organizational culture (what is it like working for this organization – ask the interviewers for their individual experiences), leadership style – are the leaders “micro-managers”, “hands-off”, strong or weak leaders, etc…, major sectoral or organizational changes – these changes could be mergers, major public policy changes such as healthcare reforms and any other major change that has huge organizational impact (the focus of this question should be on how the organization is going to be affected in the future) and so forth. The idea of these questions is to demonstrate your focus, preparedness and organization, but also to determine if you want to work for this organization or not.
We all know that how you present yourself is critical in order to portray that perception of confidence and competence. Here are other tips for you to think about:
- Make eye contact with all of the interviewees, not just one. Maintaining eye contact exudes confidence and preparedness where not making eye contact portrays the opposite.
- Do not be afraid to ask the interviewer to repeat the question or ask for clarification. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this…. many people don’t do this because they think it means you’re not listening or what-have-you. Would you rather give a bad answer by not asking for clarification? Paraphrasing sporadically and where needed shows you are listening and paying attention, and are genuinely interested and engaged in the conversation….. all very good things!
- Use a little bit of humour – interviews are stressful situations so try and figure out who the personable interviewers are and try and build a rapport through humour. Humour is amazing at quickly reducing tension and highly formal conversation. Remember, use light humour and nothing that may offend someone. Use your judgment!
- Dress appropriately – I am a bit different when it comes to dress. I believe that you need to look smart and put together, but based on the sector you work in. If you work in a creative marketing agency then a formal suit and tie may not be appropriate. If you’re a lawyer and you’re interviewing with one of the top firms in the city then nothing less than a suit and tie would be acceptable. Whatever the case may be, just ensure that you are clean, wearing clothes without any “print” (i.e. slogans) and you are well put together. Again, use your judgment!
- Answer the questions being asked of you in a concise manner – there is probably nothing more annoying than job candidates that do not answer the questions being asked of them! Listen carefully to the question being asked of you, and take your time in thinking about the answer you want to give. First impression is your only impression in this situation!
- Use good etiquette – shake hands when you walk in and walk out of the room with everyone, thank the panel for their time, sit properly in the chair (no slouching leaning, etc…).
Finally, this may sound like something that is “easier said than done” but have some fun. You may be working with these people down the road so you want to see how they are in conversation. Quite often those that are interviewing are also nervous as well. I was when I met a new job candidate! People are people, and we’re all human beings so keep that in mind! The bottom line is if you can interview well by being organized and exuding confidence and competence, you will significantly improve your chances of landing a job!
