specialized group: effective interviewing
DESCRIPTION
Brief coaching material for interview preparation.TRANSCRIPT
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How to handle interviews effectively
Making a success of job interviews is crucial. Yet many people walk into the interview unpracticed and
unprepared. They fail the interview not because they lack experience and qualifications for the job, but because
they haven’t presented themselves effectively.
Remember: however qualified you are for a position, the company conducting the interview will be meeting lots
of other people very much like you.
The interview is your best opportunity in the hiring process to present yourself to an employer. Handled well, it will
increase your chances of getting an offer, and ultimately will affect how favorable that offer is. But securing an offer is
only one side of the story. Based on the interview, how do you decide whether the role is really the right one for you?
We’ll look at the interview from both sides of the table to get a clearer idea of how to handle it effectively.
The hiring manager usually has just a couple of meetings with each candidate
on which to base an important hiring decision. For him to offer the role to you,
he needs to be confident not only of your abilities and experience, but also that
you share the same goals and values.
The hiring manager will base
his decision on a number of
factors, including assumptions
he makes from your resume
and from meeting you in per-
son, from the answers you
give to questions in the inter-
view, and from his impression
of you as a person. It’s up to
you to make all these things
work in your favor.
What is the hiring manager looking for?
It’s important to recognize – though often overlooked – that the deci-
sion to hire is as much a subjective assessment as an objective one: in
addition to weighing your abilities and experience, the hiring manager
will be trying to decide how much he likes you, how much he wants to
work with you and how confident he is in his decision to hire.
Also worth remembering is that while the hiring manager is probably
anxious to fill the position, any new hire is a substantial risk. An ill-
judged decision is likely to be expensive and can reflect badly on him.
When you appreciate how much is going on in the hiring manager’s
mind, you’ll realize that the easier you make it for him, the more likely
you’ll be offered the role.
By the end of the interview, he should feel confident that:
■ You want the job
■ You have the skills and ability to do the job well
■ You have the right personality
■ He wants to work with you
If he’s confident of these four points, you should have a very
good chance of getting to the next stage or to an offer.
How does the hiring manager decide?
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The decision to hire is as much a suggestive assessment as it is an objective one.
Technical questions will always
be relevant to your background
and are simply designed to test
your knowledge.
The hiring manager will already have a good idea of your
experience from your resume, but he will naturally add to
this knowledge with some assumptions of his own. These
assumptions may or may not be accurate.
Let’s take the example of a candidate who worked at a large
institution before moving to a small start-up business. The
start-up failed and the candidate is now looking for a new
position. Depending on his own experience, the
hiring manager may see your experience in two
very different ways.
He could see the decision as a calculated risk that
didn’t pay off, but value the courage and determina-
tion that would have been required. He may also
Every hiring manager will want to know why you joined and left companies; each answer will predict your future actions.
appreciate that the candidate has learned about how
two very different cultures work.
Alternatively, he could see the decision as unwise
from the start and as evidence of the candidate’s
poor judgement.
You won’t know how the hir ing manager has
subjectively assessed your resume until you ask
what he thinks of your background, what he likes
about it and what concerns him. It’s important to
uncover the assumptions he’s made and to put right
the inaccurate ones.
Past performance is the most reliable
indicator of future capabilities, so many
managers will use evidence-based ques-
tions to identify not only knowledge and
skills, but also character. For example,
if communication skills are important in
the role, you may be asked to describe a
situation in which there were problems
of communication, and explain how you
resolved them. Your answer will show
the hiring manager how you thought
through the problem and how well you
understood the dynamics involved.
Technical questions
Assumptions based on your resume and the hiring manager’s own experience
Evidence-based questions
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In many interviews, questions designed to reveal
your motivations are the most important ones
to get right. A good manager must understand
the emotional connection of each member of
his team – the aspects of work they enjoy, how
they want to develop their career and their
Silicon Valley companies and financial firms have a reputation for
posing academic challenges to test intelligence – questions such
as ‘Why are manholes round?’ or ‘How do you weigh a jumbo jet
without the aid of scales?’ In reality, many of these puzzles have
become so generic that you can pre-read them on dedicated websites.
Hiring managers who use riddles and puzzles have different motives.
Some genuinely believe that a correct answer will indicate the
intelligence of the candidate. Others purely want to see how a
candidate will analyze a problem to reach an answer. If you discuss
the problem through with the interviewer and pose intelligent
questions you will demonstrate your problem-solving abilities, even if
you come to an alternative or incorrect solution.
Riddles and puzzles
Motivational questions
Every hiring manager will want to
know why you made key decisions
to join and leave companies, and
each answer will be used to predict
your future actions. Explain your
decisions concisely and objectively.
Most importantly, never give nega-
tive reasons for leaving previous
jobs. Explain each move to show a
considered career progression.
Historical questions
expectations for work-life balance –
in order to balance the goals of each
individual and those of the company.
Be clear about what your plans are
in order to manage the employer’s
expectations from the start and prevent
potential misunderstandings.
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Putting questions to the hiring manager is a new experience for some, but it is an extremely effective technique.
If the hiring manager sees that you’re already
thinking about the challenges his business
is facing and that you’re interested in the
business itself, it will make him significantly
more conf ident that you’re motivated to
take the job. Questions about the volume
of business, the seasonal f low, the relative
strengths of their business model and their
competitive advantage in particular markets
will give you valuable insight into how the
company sees itself. Assessing how long the
team has been together, their budget and
their perspective of future challenges are
important for you to judge whether their
goals are realistic.
Ask everyone present at the inter-
view as many relevant questions
as you comfortably can. Then ask
many of the same questions to any
other members of the team you
meet. Inconsistent or contradictory
answers across a team are always
a cause for concern. Be persistent
but not aggressive.
Questions are a powerful tool that will help
you separate good opportunities from bad.
Intelligent questioning will also mark you
out as an above-average candidate by dem-
onstrating preparation and forethought, and
an understanding of the obstacles and op-
portunities that the new role
holds. Often, the more control
you take of the conversation,
the more you will impress the
hiring manager, and the easier
will be his decision to hire.
What do you need to know?
What questions should you ask and to whom?
Build your questions around the employer’s business
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Putting questions to the hiring manager in
an interview is a new experience for some
people, but it’s an extremely effective
technique. Just don’t take it too far. Some
excel lent candidates with impressive
backgrounds walk into interviews with an
attitude of “Why should I work for you?”
This is not the way to impress the hiring
manager, and if he suspects you would
join his team with the same attitude he
is likely to pass you over, however good
Anyone who has been in business for any
time has heard wild claims about future
prospects for growth or potential deals that
are just around the corner. We’ve all been
involved in businesses or projects that have
finished late and over budget, just as many
others have come in on time and within
budget. Through the interview process,
you can assess whether the team has the
resources, vision and dedication to bring
their goals to fruition. Listen to everyone
you can inside and outside the business.
Interviews are short and each person involved can
leave the meeting with quite different impressions. If
you want the job you have to ensure that the hiring
manager is left with no doubts. Ask a question like:
“From our discussion today, is there anything that you
feel is preventing you from offering me this position?”
If he’s unsure about your knowledge in a particular
area, you can tell him more about your experience
in that area. Your aim is to make sure that the hiring
manager leaves the room with their expectations met.
And you will leave
knowing whether
you’ve secured the
next meeting.
your resume.
Keep a balance. Be polite and
friendly, be inquisitive and collect
the information you need.
Remember you need to impress
Nobody can see the future, but you can form an opinion
If you want the job, close the meeting
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