Get The Most Out of Every Interview
By Pedro Silva
In my role at JCSI, I have the opportunity to engage with candidates in situations beyond the recruitment process. Very frequently I speak with people after it has been determined that they are no longer being considered for a particular position. At this point, with nothing else to lose and an urge to vent, some will take the opportunity to share their interview experiences with me. I have also served on recruiter panels at a local outplacement firm and attended many job seeker networking groups where war stories of the job market are in no short supply. Some tell me how each interview leaves them successively scarred. They know that they have to keep their spirits up, but eventually holding back at interviews is the only way they can protect themselves from the sting of rejection.
Understanding how candidates perceive the job market is crucial part of our function. Personally, I see the recruiter’s role as part detective and part match maker. This requires working to see beyond the surface of relationships and into the intricacies that foster endurance and the subtle miscommunication, that very often, prevent them from ever meeting their full potential. Listening is key to meeting this requirement.
At a recent networking event, I spoke with job seekers about the roles of the different recruiters that are at work in the job market. I had to translate to them the nature of the recruitment industry and why companies employ our services. From their vantage point, hiring should be a lot easier than it is. Unless they’ve been part of a hiring process before, it is difficult to put their application for a certain position into perspective. It can be very disconcerting when they apply for an opportunity that they feel they are qualified for only to get a sense that their resume has entered into an abyss, never to see the light of day.
Conversely, on the other end of that requisition, there sits a hiring manager with 200 resumes for a single position. They are haunted by the demands of their situation and are looking for the one person in that growing stack that can be a solution to their problem. If only that person would appear–stand out in some way–then they can get back to business. And this is where recruiters come in.
We have two people with compatible problems looking for a mutually beneficial solution. On the surface that can seem quite easy, but as we all know, establishing trusting relationships rarely are. This is what we explain to candidates. On the phone, in talks, and on our webinars, we try to help them see that it’s all about relationships. In our recent webinar, The Anatomy of the Interview Process, we loosely compare the process to establishing long term personal relationships in order to illustrate how the basic protocols of social interaction come into play.
It’s unfortunate that there are times when a candidate’s previous job searching and interview experiences prevent them from fully engaging with their present interviewer. I often wish that I could coach certain candidates through the interview. I want to remind them that they are being interviewed for a reason. I want to encourage them to bring their entire selves to the interview despite previous experiences. Lastly, I want them to remember that in essence, the interviewer is consciously or subconsciously seeing their interview style as a glimpse to their future work style. Therefore, in some way this interview is like their first day at work. Their goal is to be invited back.
To the interviewers, I’d like to suggest that every interview should be considered a learning experience. Although there is no guarantee that the person being interviewed will bring the solution to your problem, they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t understand the nature of the problem itself. They may not be the one, but they may lead you to them so commit to engaging with them throughout the interview. In so many ways, finding the “right fit” is a mystery and every, phone screen, meeting, and interview presents valuable clues. Remember that “candid” is the root for the word candidate. To truly get the most out of the interview, it helps to see each candidate as new and to offer a welcoming environment that fosters some space for creativity. After all if they are hired, you are going to need them to solve a problem that will take just that.
Ultimately our job as recruiters is to help remove the obstacles that come between the employer and their future employees finding one another. Our expertise lies in that space between the candidate’s resume and the company’s requisition. In our world it can take hours upon hours of searching, calling, and screening just to lead up to a single phone conversation. Seeing the process in that light, is exactly why we encourage all parties to get the most they can out of every interview. Whether you are interviewing or being interviewed it can only serve your cause.
