Interview danger zones: where does it all go wrong?

Photo by openDemocracy via Flickr

So you’re a veteran of the job hunt: you’ve mastered the CV and got your cover letters primed to perfection. Invitations to interview are coming thick and fast but for some reason you’re just not managing to seal the deal. Even when you think it’s gone well things don’t work out and you start to ask yourself where am I going wrong? Feedback from the interviewers is seldom revealing: unsurprisingly they’d have you believe that you were perfect but somebody else was just a bit more perfect – nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news, after all. In reality, few interviews go without a hitch and all we can do is focus on smoothing out as many of the hitches as possible. One of the ways to do this is to identify your interview danger zones.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

How do you prepare for an interview? If you are an under-preparer then this could be a potential danger zone. Doing your research is an expected part of the interview process these days – you need to know your stuff not only when it comes to the company and your interviewer but also the field in which they work and current market trends. You don’t have to become an expert overnight but you need to sound confident and familiar with the business if you want to work for them!

During a skype interview once, for which I had done fairly cursory research, the interviewer said “if you read the profile on me…” I was forced to admit that I hadn’t and it was clear that that didn’t go over well.

Alternatively you might be an over-preparer, which can be an equally problematic danger zone. While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with doing your research, keep in mind that the information you’re busy memorising is stuff that they already know. You’re not going to impress if you simply recite information about their company – if you have a chance to mention any of it at all. A better technique is to read up on some of the more recent developments in the company or one or two areas you find particularly interesting and think of a way to link it to your personal interests or experience. That way not only is it easier to bring up in the interview, you will come across as much more analytical and prepared than you would do simply reciting facts.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

Although you can never predict the direction an interview will take, there are certain questions that are the bedrock upon which such meetings are built. These are the big questions, the broad questions and for many people (myself included) these are where you fall down. Even though it seems like you can prepare for these questions, when they arrive it’s always an unpleasant shock. A lot of interview preparation guides provide ‘slick, professional’ techniques for dealing with this situation but I find that in such moments I can barely remember what I wrote on my CV let alone what I read in a book three days before. My advice would be to recap the progression of your CV (people assume this is redundant but you’d be surprised how little attention it receives from the interviewer once they’ve made the decision to ask you in) and give clear reasons for your decisions in each situation. If you’re feeling brave you can also give some details about your duties in each post and how it contributed to the skill set you’re presenting to them.

More than once I have had an interviewer recapping my CV to me and have had to correct them because they have gotten the timeline completely wrong, despite my helpful dating alongside each position or have failed to take in how my education and experience overlap. It is up to you to direct them to the information you want them to remember.

If broad questions don’t faze you and you are happy to chatter on about yourself ad nauseam then it may be the more specific questions that trip you up. After all, if the worst comes to the worst you can always say something about yourself but if you don’t know how you would deal with a specific situation or the answer to a technical question then you’re in trouble. The important thing to remember in these situatio

ns is that you need to give some kind of answer – any answer – rather than remaining silent. If you think you have an inkling it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for further clarification which may then help you answer the question but if you genuinely have no idea pull a classic politicians move and deliberately misinterpret the question into one you can answer – then talk at length and hope they’ll move on. It might not fool them but it will show them that you can think on your feet and have a good knowledge of topics relating to the one they’re interested in.

AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW

The final question in every interview – and I do mean every – is the one that strikes dread into the hearts of many “do you have any questions?” The answer by the way is yes you do if you want to have any chance of getting this job. Think of some questions – preferably intelligent and preferably prepared in advance. I intend to write more about developing good stock interview questions in a later post but for now will just content myself with two pieces of advice – make them relevant or interesting and capable of stimulating discussion but don’t overdo. When they ask “is that everything?” they are not questioning the brevity of your inquiries they are simply making sure you have the time to say everything you want to. Do not get sucked into the black hole of trailing out increasingly weaker questions every time that sentence is uttered. Decide on your questions and stick to them.

Hopefully this will be helpful to anybody heading off to interview this week – let me know in the comments if you have any different danger zones or advice to offer for this situation. You can also check out our general tips for interview success here.