interviewing

A reader writes:

I had a second interview with a company last week and it went horribly, in my estimation. There were a bunch of technical questions, and I did my best to answer them to the best of my abilities, but for the most part, I did not know the answers and I told them so. The interview was to last about an hour and it lasted about 20 minutes, so I figured it wasn’t a good fit and that was that.

Fast forward to today. They asked for my references. I, of course, sent them back immediately. Now, I’m scared that if they offer me the job it will be to do a bunch of things I cannot do. Though they are aware of my shortcomings, I’m willing to learn and do pick up on things very quickly, but I don’t want to disappoint after 30 days and have them find that I am not a fit. The other thing that scares me is that I am completely versed on a system that no one at their company knows anything about and in the back of my mind, I think they could possibly offer me the job to pick my brain about that system and once they get their information they won’t need me anymore.

I haven’t been offered a position yet, but don’t even know how to react if it happens. I almost want to act surprised if they do call to get some sort of answer as to why they took me after not being able to answer the questions in the interview. Any advice would be helpful. If they were up front and said they are hiring me because of my knowledge in system X, but while I taught them about that they would train me, that is one thing, but if they just offer me the job without any speak of the “bad interview,” I would come away a bit afraid.

I’m fascinated by the HBO late-night show “Cathouse,” which is about a real-life, legal brothel in Nevada. There’s tons of fascinating weirdness to love about the show, but one of the oddest parts is this thing called “the line-up,” which is where a customer arrives and all the women currently on-duty line up inside the front door so that he can choose one of them. This is a one-way selection process; the customer makes a choice, the women wait to be chosen, end of story.

Your letter makes me think of that because you’re talking about interviewing as if it’s a one-way selection process too. But it’s not — far from it. And if you treat it like it is, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of ending up in a job that you won’t do well in or be happy with. (You also won’t come across as well to the employer, interestingly.)

You should see all hiring processes as two-way streets: The employer is interviewing and assessing you, and you should be interviewing and assessing them right back. It’s not about you just waiting for them to decide if they want you or not; you also need to decide if you want them.

So in this case, that means that you’ll ask these questions that are on your mind. Ideally, you would have asked in the interview: “I’m noticing that you’re asking a lot about X and Y. Is that a substantial portion of the job?” and “How important is it that the person in the job have technical knowledge in these areas from the beginning, versus being able to pick it up through training and learning on the job?”

But even though you didn’t ask then, it’s not too late — if you get a job offer, ask about it then:  ”During our interview, you asked a lot of technical questions and X and Y, and I wasn’t familiar with many of them. How much of the job will those areas account for? Is it something I’d need to pick up on my own or is there any training?”  And so forth — and anything else that you’re wondering about too.  Ask as many questions as you need to until you’re satisfied that you fully understand what you’d be signing up for, and never, ever accept a job offer until that part is done.

You are not in a brothel line-up. You’re in a two-way business discussion.

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A reader writes:

I recently began interviewing candidates for a position at my company. I found a candidate I really liked, and introduced her to my higher-ups. I think she’ll get the position, but their complaints about her were that she wore too much makeup:

1- She was wearing fake eyelashes. The men asked me if they were real or not, they had no idea.
2- She had a lot of eye makeup on.

Maybe you could write a post about how to dress for interviews, and the workplace in general? You don’t want people to rule you out because you look Jersey Shore. My higher-ups both said they would have written her off immediately if she hadn’t had my endorsement!

I’m just going to quote a comment left on a post earlier today by commenter Tax Nerd:

“Dress appropriately. Err on the side of conservative until you figure out the dress code (written and not). For women in particular – short skirts, cleavage, hooker heels, spaghetti straps, and bare midriffs are probably not okay unless you’re interning at a fashion magazine. Scratch that, unless you’re modelling for a fashion magazine. Dress like the kind of professional who gets paid for their mind.”

That last sentence is exactly right: If you want to get paid for your mind, present yourself that way.

Rightly or wrongly, false eyelashes, heavy makeup, cleavage, fishnet stockings, showing your thighs, and anything you’d wear to a club are all off-limits. People aren’t going to take you seriously if you interview that way (or show up to your job that way), because you’ll be conveying that (a) you’re focused more on how you look than on what you can do professionally, and (b) you don’t know or don’t care about professional norms.

When in doubt, err on the conservative side. You’re not going to jeopardize anything by wearing less eye makeup.

Readers: Please now entertain us all with stories of inappropriate things you have seen worn in professional settings. Bonus points if you were the one wearing them.

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“Tell me about yourself” is one of the most common openers to a job interview, but job-seekers are often unsure what interviewers really want to hear in response. Are you supposed to include personal information? Should your answer focus on selling yourself, or just give the facts? What is the employer really asking?

“Tell me about yourself” in a job interview means “give me an overview of who you are, professionally speaking.”  And there’s a reason this is asked at the very beginning of an interview; it’s a way of saying, “Give me some broad background before we dive into specifics.”You should be ready with a short-ish (like one minute) answer that summarizes where you are in your career, generally with an emphasis on your most recent job and the strengths of your approach.

Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about how to do that. With examples! You can read it here.

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A reader writes:

I am an 18-year-old college student looking for an entry-level part-time job. I have been trying to prepare my answers ahead of time to some of the common questions, and I have examples my previous work experience with things like “dealing with an angry customer” and all that. I am trying to improve my interviewing skills because I am frustrated that I haven’t been hired anywhere, but my mother told me not to over-prepare and I should “be myself” and “say what I really think” instead of trying to tell them exactly what they want to hear. I try not to look phony but I don’t think this is the best advice. What do you think?

Well, it’s certainly true that you should be yourself rather than telling them what you think they want to hear, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t prepare. Thoroughly preparing and practicing for an interview is one of the best ways to do well in them.  Let’s break this down a bit.

“Being yourself” is important so that you’ll end up in a job and culture that’s a good fit for you, rather than one where you’re miserable or don’t do well. So that means that you shouldn’t hide your personality or put on a very stiff and formal interview persona. You need them to get an idea of what you’re going to be like to work with day-to-day, because if it’s not a good fit, you both need to know that now. Otherwise you risk ending up in a job where you’re both uncomfortable with each other (or worse). For instance, if you’re naturally bubbly and they hate bubbly, it’s important that they see that in the interview so that you don’t end up in a job where they’re constantly nagging you to be less bubbly, when you can’t.  (You might be thinking that you just want the job anyway, but trust me, you don’t want to work somewhere that wants you to be something you’re not.)

Now, obviously, your professional self is probably a bit different from your social self. So “be yourself” really means “be your professional self.”  You’re not going to slouch halfway down in your chair during the interview, or tell a dirty joke, or refer to a customer as a d-bag, even if you do those things outside of work. We’re talking about your professional self here. You probably still have some personality at work, but you put a professional sheen on it, right? That’s the self you need to be in the interview. (And if you haven’t had a job before and you’re totally baffled by what I’m talking about, then just be warm, friendly, and polite. And really, at 18, just being really polite and eager to work — not eager to make money, but eager to work — counts for a lot.)

But none of that has anything to do with whether or not you work on your answers ahead of time and practice your interviewing. You should absolutely should do those things, because they’re key to doing well in an interview. That’s especially true of the sorts of questions you referred to, like “tell me about a time when you had to deal with an angry customer” or any other “tell me about a time when…” question. Practicing answers ahead of time means that when you’re sitting in the interview and get asked one of these questions, you actually have a good answer ready, rather than trying to wing it and maybe not being able to come up with a good response right away. If you practice, those answers will be easily retrievable in your brain and you’ll be less likely to stumble over your answers.

Preparing and practicing makes a huge difference. (In fact, I have a whole guide that talks about how to prepare for an interview, and it is awesome.)

That said, there is such a thing as over-preparing, where you’re doing so much that you’re stressing yourself out. The litmus test:  Is your preparing making you feel more confident? If you’ve passed the more-confident stage and gone into the agonizing-and-freaking-out stage, then you might want to pull back a bit. But in general, preparing is incredibly helpful and a good thing to do.

Overall, it sounds to me like your instincts are right on how to approach this stuff. Follow them.

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Not sure what questions to ask your interviewer at your next job interview?

Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I give you some suggestions. You can read it here.

Update: Since writing this, my editor at U.S. News suggested that I do a second version explaining why each question I suggested is a good one — how it makes the interviewer see you — so there’s now a version of that column that contains an explanation for each suggestion here.

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Savvy interviewers have ways of getting beneath the surface so that they can find out what you’re really like, from staying silent so that you keep talking to getting you to let your guard down so that you’re more likely to reveal something unflattering. Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about 10 interviewer tricks that you should be aware of if you’re a job-seeker (and that you should use if you’re an interviewer). You can read it here.

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When you’ve been job-hunting for a while, it’s easy to become frustrated and wonder what on earth employers are looking for.

The answer is that in this economy, it’s not enough to just have the basic qualifications. Employers are flooded with resumes, so they’re narrowing the applicant pool down by looking for traits that go well beyond the basics.

Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about things that interviewers want to find out about you. You can read it here.

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A reader writes:

I have a speech impediment (stuttering) that comes out mainly when I am nervous (i.e., job interviews). It seems like no matter how much I practice, I always stutter or use the word “um” (which I really try not to do). This has become very frustrating to me because I know I can do a job well once I get the job, and I feel that my stuttering has gotten in the way of me getting job offers.

In the meantime, I have been temping, where I get glowing reviews from my coworkers about my work ethic and how good of a job I do. Also, I am starting to take speech therapy lessons as a way to practice job interviews.

So, what I really want to know is how to handle my stuttering when it comes to job interviews. If I catch myself stuttering, do I just say that I have a speech impediment or just act like it is nerves getting the best of me.

I would absolutely address it. Do it nonchalantly, because people will generally take their cues from you, and if you seem comfortable mentioning it, they’re likely to be more comfortable too. Say something like, “I sometimes stutter, mainly when I’m nervous. I’ve been working on it with a speech therapist, but it’s never gotten in the way of my work.”

I think you’ll feel better if you’ve addressed it, because you’ll be putting yourself under less pressure to hide it. Also, read this article. Good luck!

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