Your Next Life — Take Charge with an Unprepared Interviewer
Aug 18 2008
Because the vast majority of job failures arise out of differences in style, personality, and cultural compatibility, organizations often will have job candidates meet with employees who have different levels of responsibility during the interview process. Skilled and prepared interviewers will try to extract three important pieces of information from the candidates: can they do the job in a trustworthy and reliable manner; will they fit into the organization’s culture; and will they have a good relationship with their coworkers.
But how should a candidate handle an unskilled interviewer who is excessively chatty or a harried manager who is reading the résumé for the first time as the candidate sits down across the desk? Either situation puts more pressure on the candidate to steer the interview in a productive direction.
For the unprepared or unskilled interviewer, try to move the conversation in a helpful direction by acknowledging that time together might be limited and offer to tell the interviewer a little about yourself. In crafting your introductory remarks, include elements of data, structure, vision, and the human touch from your résumé — as you summarize your employment goal, education, qualifications, and the specific attributes that match your experiences to the demands of the position. Keep it positive and upbeat, even if you are leaving your last employer because of a missed promotion or a conflict with a coworker. If the interviewer is distracted by office technology or persistent phone interruptions, make a mental note of the point you were making and offer to step out of the office if this is not a convenient time. When the discussion resumes, reiterate the point you were making before the interruption.
Many unskilled interviewers will be excessively chatty, making it difficult for a candidate to highlight the greatest strengths from their résumé. While it might feel impolite to interrupt, it’s important to jump into the conversation with short sound bites that spotlight relevant successes from your work history.
The best interviews will be more like a conversation, with an equal blend of listening and speaking. Combine this comfortable banter about work experience and qualifications with an engaging personality and confident style, and it’s easy for an interviewer to make a positive hiring recommendation.
Finally, don’t be too critical of an unprepared or inexperienced interviewer. A poor interviewer easily could be an excellent leader. Moreover, many of us struggle with competing priorities, and sometimes 24 hours isn’t enough. It’s forgivable if the interviewer overlooked the read-ahead of your résumé for more pressing priorities the previous evening.
About the author: Jim Carman is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management and a retired Navy Captain. He writes and lectures on career transition topics.
