An interview checklist: what to bring the next time you interview

Interview experiences can be memorable for candidates but often for the wrong reasons.

A former colleague described how when she arrived for a scheduled interview, the person who was interviewing was obviously unprepared. She watched as he frantically searched through the stack of file folders on his desk for her resumé.

She then waited as he scanned her resumé, seemingly for the first time. Putting it down, he ad libbed his way through the interview, asking for information already available to him from her resumé and other questions which seemed to have nothing to do with the position for which she had applied. Throughout the interview, he spent more time talking about himself and how busy he was than he did asking about how her background prepared her for the vacant position.

After he had asked all the questions he could think of, he gave her an opportunity to ask her questions about the position and the organization. These were met with responses filled with generalizations which left her feeling the interviewer knew little about either the position or the larger organization.

Like all of us do when we go shopping, visit a restaurant or contact a call centre, candidates make judgments about organizations based on their experience, including during interviews. It’s a moment of truth—one of many encounters on which potential and current employees make judgments about an organization.

Leaders who appear prepared for interviews portray a better image of the organization than those who are ill-prepared to meet potential employees. Whatever the outcome of the interview, that impression lingers.

Because of what I learned from this former colleague’s experience, I reserve time during my Interview Right to Hire Right workshops to discuss how participants can prepare for interviews, beginning with deciding where to interview—a quiet, private location free from interruptions, and not a coffee shop or other public place.

This discussion continues with a list of what should be available for the interview. Here is an updated version of that list, with an explanation of why each of these items are important:

Candidate’s resumé or application – This would seem to be a no-brainer. Not having the candidates’ information available would require interviewers to ask them to repeat what was already available to them. When interviewers appear not to be aware of information from their resumés, candidates may interpret this as an indication that they and their background are not being taken seriously. The importance of what is on their resumé can be signalled with a stress-reducing phrase such as, “From your resumé, it appears you have had a variety of experiences.” 

Questions to be asked – Interviewers who follow an interview protocol appear prepared and committed to treating all the candidates the same. For reasons outlined in a previous article, interviewers should consider preparing “interview cards,” each bearing one question. These cards can be passed to candidates as the question is asked.

Note-taking resources – This could be as simple as paper on which to record what the candidates say, although my preference is the use of a note-taking form, which includes the initial question and followup prompts. Also, remember to take at least two pens to every interview. It would be awkward to have to interrupt the interview to go to get another one because your pen ran dry (and you don’t want to borrow a pen from the candidate).

Clock – You want to keep the interview on schedule, so place a clock where you can see it (such as behind where the candidate will be sitting). This means you can monitor the time, without breaking eye contact with the candidate. Repeatedly glancing at your watch may be misinterpreted by candidates as a sign that you are anxious to end the interview because you have already decided this isn’t someone you want to hire.

Beverages – Keep it simple. No coffee. No tea. Just a bottle of water placed in front of the candidate. They may not feel they need any water if asked at the beginning of the interview, but later on candidates may appreciate having it available to ease a dry throat, a result of the time spent responding to your questions. And occasionally pausing for a sip will allow them a moment to formulate a response to your question.

Information package – The most dangerous question that interviewers ask may be the one that comes near the end of interviews—“Do you have any questions?”—if they have not anticipated what candidates might ask. Prepare a FAQ sheet, including information about wages/salary and benefits, and other information that candidates might want to know. As you conclude the interview, quickly summarize the information you have for them and then, before handing it to them, ask that dangerous question. If you have  done a good job of selling the value of your information, the candidates may not have any questions because they are anxious to get their hands on that sheet they believe will answer all their questions.

Business cards – At the end of the interview, hand the candidate your business card, “in case you think of anything else that will help us make our decision or if you have any questions you would like to ask me.”

When the people asking the questions is well-prepared, the interview becomes memorable for the right reasons. Candidates leave with the impression that the company’s interviews indicate a workplace that is organized and where people know what they are doing, rather than one where no one would be prepared to welcome newly hired staff on their first day and might not remember to advise the payroll department of the requirement to prepare a paycheque for the new hire.

Image Credit: http://www.bigstockphoto.com

Interviewing in public: what I witness in coffee shops makes me cringe

Coffee shops are often described as peoples’ “third space”—after their home and workplace. 

Simon Sinek, the author of Start With Why, wrote the following about these places where people hang out between work and home

“Starbucks was founded around the experience and the environment of their stores. Starbucks was about a space with comfortable chairs, lots of power outlets, tables and desks at which we could work, and the option to spend as much time in their stores as we wanted without any pressure to buy. The coffee was incidental.”

For some, including me, coffee shops have become more than a place to hang out.  They are where we go to work. Most of what you read in Briefly Noted was written in a Second Cup near the University of Alberta.

This may seem a little strange. You would think that I would write more if I sealed myself
away somewhere quieter, where I would be free from interruptions.

I’ve tried that, but it just doesn’t work. 

I require two essential ingredients that coffee shops provide: the energy of strangers and the opportunity to people-watch and be inspired by what I see.

There is always a mix of people and activity. At one table, a group of students may be working on a class project. Others are completing an individual project or studying with a classmate. Friends and co-workers meet for conversation over a drink. Individuals sit alone, reading or surfing the Internet. Some even appear to be napping.

Some people come to the coffee shop to meet each other for the first time. This includes those who are there for job interviews, even though a coffee shop is not the most conducive setting for this activity.

Ideally, interviews should be conducted in a private space that is quiet and interruption-free, which hardly describes a busy coffee shop, with its background music, conversations at nearby tables and a steady flow of customers purchasing drinks to go.

Not that I’m going to chase them away. Their presence provides opportunities for me to observe how others conduct interviews. What I have seen, more often than not illustrates how not to conduct interviews.

A common mistake interviewers make is to talk too much, so much at times that it becomes difficult to determine who is the interviewer and who is being interviewed.

What I overheard as one interview was conducted at the next table led me to conclude that the most dangerous question an interviewer can ask is, “Do you have any questions for me?” unless the interviewer has anticipated what might be asked and is well-prepared to respond. Ad libbing responses can lead interviewers to talk too much and shift the focus onto themselves. 

Given an opportunity by an interviewer, a young jobseeker masterfully assumed control of the interview. She asked questions that encouraged the interviewer to talk about himself—a topic he seemed to enjoy—when he should have used the time to learn more about her.

Sometimes the candidate doesn’t need to do anything to get the interviewer to talk.

Recently, I was next to a table when an interview began. The interviewer appeared ill-prepared for the interview. He didn’t know what he should do. There was no list of questions to ask. No process to follow.

It was a conversation about the job, during which he did the most of the talking. There were few opportunities for the candidate to talk about her background, what she had done in previous jobs, or why he should hire her.

What she did say was not in response to questions, but to what he said about the job, the company and himself. He spent more time selling the job and expressing confidence in her ability to do the job than she was allowed to do about herself.

I don’t know if either of these jobseekers received a job offer. If they did, it may have been because the interviewers were so impressed by what the jobseekers encouraged the interviewers to say about themselves that they decided to “hire themselves.” Of course that would be impossible, so they did the next best thing and hired the candidates. They hired themselves, but the women received the paycheques.

I suspect each of these guys were decent fellows and had done their jobs well in the past, leading to a promotion that now required them to hire. Unfortunately, no one had prepared them for the task.

Frequently, the candidate is better prepared for the interview than the person with a position to fill. Jobseekers take courses, watch videos and read books to prepare to be interviewed.

Managers and others who hire need to do as much as the candidates, to prepare themselves to interview.

If you are responsible for hiring, get some training. Attend a workshop. Read a few books on the subject. Be better prepared the next time you interview.

Hiring the right people is the most important task any leader does. The goal of every interview is to select people with the potential to become top performers. These are the people who will make your organization successful.

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Participants in my Interview Right to Hire Right workshops acquire skills to prepare them to make better hiring decisions, including identifying job requirements, writing and asking interview questions, checking references, making job offers and getting the new hire off to a good start. Email nmscott@telus.net or call (780) 232-3828 to learn more or to schedule training for your team.

 

Why I took the easy route and gave gift cards at Christmas

I’m going to come clean with you. This holiday season, I gave gift cards—the same gift cards that I have described as a “cop-out” in the past. I still feel that way, but under the circumstances, it seemed the best way to go.

When you give someone a gift card, especially a generic type such as a prepaid VISA, a grocery store card or a card for a coffee shop, you send messages that are likely unintended:

“I don’t know you well enough to be able to choose a gift that would be appropriate for you.”

“It’s important to treat everyone the same, whether they contribute equally (which is unlikely) or not.”

“I haven’t the time to find the right gift for you.”

At least two of these statements apply to my decision to give gift cards.

With 2016 coming an end, I wanted to express my appreciation in some way to four people I don’t know, but on whose services I rely: the person who delivers my newspapers at 3 a.m. six mornings a week, the post office employee who delivers mail daily, and the people who pick up the garbage and recycling every Thursday.

My solution was Tim Hortons cards for all of them. I’m sure they will be able to use them to purchase a drink or sandwich.

If I knew them in a way we know the people with whom we work each day, I might have found more appropriate ways to express my appreciation.

With staff members, we can discover ways to recognize them appropriately. In some cases, it might be a gift card, but one selected with the intended recipient’s interests and preferences in mind. It could be a gift card for a retailer in whose store they like to shop, a gift card for their favourite restaurant or even to their favourite coffee shop (this article was written while sitting in a coffee shop, but it wasn’t Tim Hortons).

Another option when using gift cards, is to personalize them. At http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/timcard/personalized-tim-card.php, for example, you can upload a photo which holds special meaning for the recipient, such as a picture of the family or of a place where the staff member dreams of vacationing. Starbucks offers the option of a blank card, which comes with a pen that can be used to decorate the card before presenting it to the person who you wish to recognize.

The most dangerous question interviewers ask

It may be the most dangerous question that an interviewer can ask: “Do you have any questions for us?”

Most candidates will. The courses they took and books they read to prepare them for this moment said they should.

When this offer is made, the interviewer puts the candidate into the driver’s seat. He or she now determines where the interview will go. What they ask, how they ask and how they respond to the interviewer’s answers can influence the ultimate decision as much as anything they say in response to the interviewer’s questions, if the interviewer is unprepared for this part of the interview.

A recent experience at a coffee shop near the University of Alberta campus illustrates what can happen when an interviewer does not anticipate the consequences of inviting the candidate to ask her questions.

At the next table, a recent graduate was being interviewed. By the time I realized what was happening, and professional curiosity meant that the conversation was receiving my full but hopefully not obvious attention, the interviewer had exhausted his supply of questions and had given the candidate the opportunity to ask her questions, and unintentionally, control of the agenda.

The candidate masterfully managed this aspect of the interview. She took the conversation where she wanted to go with the questions she asked and what she did with the interviewer’s responses. By the end, she had seduced him with his own words.

Her questions were less about learning about her future potential employer than they were intended to open topics that would portray her in a positive light.

Certainly, she began with information-seeking questions: salary and benefits, opportunities for promotion, expectations, start date, etc. But soon she shifted the focus from the company to the interviewer.

How long had he been with the company? Why had he joined this company? What did he like about working for the company? What was most rewarding about the job? What opportunities had the company provided for him to give back to the community?

No longer about the company or the candidate’s ability to do the job, the conversation was now focused on the interviewer and it appeared to be a subject which he enjoyed. His responses grew longer.

He talked about his family, the rewards of the job, the opportunities it had provided for him, and his off-the-job interests. With a skill that any interviewer would envy, she encouraged him to keep talking by asking followup questions and finding reasons to agree with what he said.

“Yes, that’s important.” “Me too. I enjoy doing that.”

Her control was so great, that it was she, not the interviewer, who decided when the interview was over, but not before checking out where he was in the process.

“Are you here all day?”

“I am. I have a couple of other appointments, but no more interviews.”

This was valuable information for the candidate. There would be no more candidates interviewed for this position. Now she could deliver another incentive for him to hire her—and soon!

“I’m not going to rush into accepting the first job that’s offered. I’m looking at several opportunities right now.”

In other words, big boy, yours is not the only job for which I have applied. Move quickly or I will be gone!

While I don’t know if the interviewer decided to hire this candidate, I do believe that the candidate improved her prospects by how she responded when the interview asked the most dangerous question. It could have turned out so differently. With some preparation and self-restraint, this interviewer could have been less susceptible to the candidate’s manipulation.

First, the interviewer could have anticipated the questions that candidates might ask and come prepared to answer them: salary and benefits, information about the company and community (if the job would require the candidate to relocate), opportunities for promotion, information about the people with whom she would be working (age, gender, length of service, etc.) and the people for whom she would be working.

Ideally, this information would previously have been assembled as a document that candidates would be told they would receive at the end of the interview.

Secondly, the interviewer should have restricted himself to brief, impersonal responses to the candidate’s questions.

Generally, I resist offering advice to job seekers. It’s not really my area of expertise, but there is one suggestion I do make. If you run into a talkative interviewer (such as this fellow), let him talk. Listen to find opportunities to express agreement with what he says. The more he talks, the greater the chance he will hire himself—but you will collect the paycheque.

It’s advice that the candidate seemed to be following.

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During my Interview Right to Hire Right program, I provide participants with tips and techniques to ensure they don’t allow the candidate to assume control of the interview. Contact me to learn more and to schedule a workshop for the leaders within your organization.