Michigan

Keys to Winning that Dream Job:
Discover Creative Interviewing

You have authored an awesome resumé and cover letter tailored to your dream job and ideal organization and you've landed an interview.

Now comes the exciting, and often dreaded, part of your job search - the interview.

Why an Interview?

It's one thing to look good on paper. Qualifications, skills, and knowledge are definitely important. But the ability to relate to others, establish rapport, and demonstrate a positive attitude is a whole different ballgame. The next step is that deciding job interview.

How you fit within the organization goes beyond your experience and training. Fit includes personality, communications skills and style, and even your personal appearance.

The interview process provides an opportunity for the interviewer to not only check out your qualifications, but to see if you can connect with others and demonstrate good human relations skills.

Think about the interview as a conversation in which you can showcase achievements and interpersonal skills and on the flip-side, determine if this organization is a good fit. In other words, use the interview as an opportunity to learn about the organization and the team you may be joining.

The interview can be compared to a sort of sales process. During the process, don't get out of your selling mode. You want to know what the job will pay, the benefits, vacation days, and if you can wear jeans to the office on Friday. But until the "sale" is made none of those questions are relevant.

Don't blow your chances by focusing interview conversation on "what's in it for me" before the job is offered. Keep in mind that once you make the "sale" and get the offer, there will be plenty of time to get the answers to these questions.

Begin with Google, Google, Google

Standing out from the rest of the candidates has everything to do with research and preparation. Your research provides clues on customizing your resume, credentials, career goals, and language to better match the organization's vision, mission, goals, values, and culture.

Doing your homework achieves the following:

- It determines what is important to the organization and any new projects.
- It helps to anticipate questions about your skills and competencies as they relate to the organization.
- You assimilate the organizational structure and understand the thinking of key senior managers.
- You discover ways to build rapport, interest in people, the team, and the job.
- You better understand the organization's competitors, how they compensate their employees, and industry challenges.
- It generates negotiating power when an offer is made.

Dress for Success

An interview is a business meeting. You have one chance to make a first impression. Even if the job is in an industry or environment where casual attire is clearly the norm, dressing professionally provides a favorable impression and a display of respect and courtesy. Here are other tips on your dressing:

- Formal business attire for men and women is typically a dark colored, two piece suit.
- Men: consider a solid white shirt and a conservative tie.
- Women: consider a blouse or shirt that is not too revealing.
- Ladies: Suppress use of perfume or cologne.
- Ladies: Limit amount and size of jewelry.
- Men: Be clean shaven.
- All: Wear comfortable, professional looking shoes.
- All: No bulky backpack or cluttered briefcase.
- All: No water bottle.
- All: Don't smoke or chew gum.

The Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is a thirty second answer to the question, "tell me about yourself". Your response should emphasize your skills, experience, and personal characteristics. Achieving this identifies you as a preferable fit for this particular position and of specific interest to the interviewer.

Typically begin with an identification of yourself in terms of your educational background or profession. It might sound something like this: "I am a business major with a focus in public relations." After that, add details about yourself that distinguish you a good match for the job.

The elevator speech is also an important tool for introducing yourself in networking situations. Compose it in writing and practice until you can do it without rambling and it becomes natural.

The Dreaded Salary Question

At some point the dreaded salary question will arise. Usually it appears during the initial screening in order to eliminate applicants out of the salary range. Answering this question with a tangible number is a no-win proposition. Too high, you will be eliminated. Too low, that is what you will be paid.

The best approach is to say salary is negotiable. Then, quickly express excitement about the opportunity. Underscore your excitement to learn more about the position and don't be intimated into giving a dollar amount. It's too early. You do not have enough information at this point.

Preparing for Different Types of Interviews

If possible, find out what kind of interview you will be coming in for and the format. There are four common types of interviews you will probably encounter: (1) traditional, (2) behavioral (or experiential), (3) case, and (4) the situational.

The situational is similar to the behavioral interview, but behavioral focuses on past experiences and situational interviews on how you might react to a future situation.

In the course of a single interview session, you will be faced with elements of each. So let's briefly examine each and consider questions you might be asked.

The Traditional Interview

The main goal of the traditional interview is for the interviewer to learn more about you, why you want the job, and why you should be hired.

- Tell me about yourself.
- Why have you applied for this position?
- What would you describe as your biggest accomplishment? What was your biggest failure?
- What would you say your greatest strength is? Biggest weakness?
- Why do you feel you are the best candidate for this job?
- What did you like and dislike about your previous supervisor or boss?
- Give some examples of when you worked on a team and what your specific contribution to the team and the goals were.
- How has your university education prepared you for this position?
- What salary do you hope to be paid?

The Behavioral and Situation Interview

The goals of both the behavioral and situational interviews are to gain understanding of past job responses. A behavioral perspective asks about your past and a situational interview on future situations and challenges.

Behavioral questions might include:
- Describe a situation when you led a team and some of the others disagreed on the approach the team should take to solve a problem. What did you do?
- Was there a time when you had to persuade others to take a specific action?
- Tell me about a time when you had a difficult boss (professor or supervisor). How did you handle it?
- Describe a time when your creativity led to a new solution to a particular problem.

Situational questions might be:

- If you were the leader of a project team and encountered a significant roadblock and your supervisor(s) were unavailable, what would you do?
- What kind of supervision do you prefer if you are on a tight deadline?
- What would you do if you had an assignment to complete and didn't have time to gather all the information needed to complete the project?

As you can see, these questions require real experiences and stories. Record details in writing and commit them to memory. Be ready to describe successes or challenges met. Maybe it was difficult people you have learned to deal with.

Construct compelling, interesting, and succinct stories. The stories should demonstrate a positive attitude and an ability to get along with others. Do not talk negatively about others. Practice getting your points across without rambling for greater credibility.

The Case Interview

Case interviews are designed to assess problem solving, listening, and communications skills and also the ability to think quickly under stress. By succinct, persuasive summary, you clearly demonstrate communication and leadership skills.

The interviewer will present a business problem and the situation may or may not be factual. The organization may be fictional but it's often the very organization for which you are being interviewed.

The interviewer presents a scenario emphasizing the problem and offers some of the relevant facts. You are asked to identify key business issues, urged to ask questions to gather information, and then quickly analyze the situation before presenting a possible solution.

Generally there is no absolutely correct answer to the case so your success is measured by the observance and relevance of questions asked, the logic of your conclusions, and the poise and interpersonal skills displayed throughout the exercise interview.

The focus is on how you approach the solution. These situations are generally not related to a business condition and most of the problems do not have an absolutely correct answer.

In addition to logic problems, you might be asked to compute financial and/or probability problems as part of an initial screening or in a subsequent phone interview.

Computer science and IT firms such as Microsoft will ask you to demonstrate your programming skills and systems knowledge during an initial or second phone interview. Therefore, it's important to have your laptop handy and your technical skills primed and ready prior to such interviews.

Preparing for Different Interview Formats

Given the wide range of communications technology available today, interviews can be conducted in many formats. Most, however, are conducted by phone and in person, with a lesser number being done via videoconference.

The Phone Interview

After you have submitted your resume you might get a telephone call requesting a phone interview. Don't feel you have to take the interview at that moment, but be enthusiastic about the opportunity and focused on setting a mutually convenient time. Some tips include:

- Set a time when you know you will have privacy and can focus.
- Use a landline instead of a cell phone for clarity.
- Find out who will be on the phone and the position of that person within the organization.
- Confirm the date and time of the call and verify time zones if necessary

Often the first phone interview will be for screening purposes, particularly if there are many applicants. The screening interview may be conducted by the person for whom you will work, a secretary, human resources professional, or by a committee or team.

If the screening interview is conducted by a secretary or a member of the human resources recruiting staff, plan for general questions about availability, salary expectations, and clarification of items in your resumé.

Typically this will be a traditional interviewing format. Be honest, natural and don't offer more information than asked for.

If the phone interview is done by the hiring manager or the team with which you would work, expect questions more related to your credentials and responsibilities.

While this is usually a traditional interview, it could contain some behavioral and situational questions. As a word of preparation: review your resume and application because questions are generated from these documents.

Have notes in front of you as you speak. Use bullet points to remind yourself of the points you want to make and try not to read your answers.

Because you can't see the body language of the interviewer, it is crucial to listen carefully and pick up on any confusion or hesitation. Don't feel rushed to answer a question and always ask for clarification if a question seems vague.

At the end of an interview you will probably be asked if you have questions. Stay away from "what's in it for me" questions. Show interest in the interviewer with a question or comment related to how long that person has been at the company. Ask what attracted him or her to the organization.

Showing an interest in your interviewer can demonstrate that you are a team oriented individual. Your prior research is extremely valuable at this point as you bring up articles that the interviewer has written or allude to publicized organizational successes.

The Face-to-Face Interview

You have now passed the phone interview with flying colors and have advanced to the in-person interview. Don't blow it by arriving late. In fact, plan to arrive at least fifteen minutes before your appointment. Think of making a trial run to the location to the interview site. If in doubt, ask the best way to get there and confirm the actual time and location of the interview.

While arranging the interview be flexible but try to arrange a time later in the day because the last interview is the one most easily remembered. Make a strong first impression with a handshake, a smile, and eye contact.

On-site interviews are best because you can see your interviewers, often meet other team members and get a feeling for the organizational culture. Likewise, you will be judged by many more people as well.

Some candidates with excellent credentials and good interviewing skills have squandered opportunities because they failed to realize the importance of the receptionist or secretary who takes you into a interviewer's office or even the humble maintenance person you might meet.

All are judging you and some might have the ear of the hiring manager. Even when you are taken to lunch or dinner, for some informal time, your behavior is being watched and gauged. Always keep your best interviewing skills in gear while on-site and in the midst of potential future colleagues.

Again, research of the organization and interviewers is essential. Review all of the materials you have submitted in application for this position and print several copies of your resumé to hand to interviewers as requested.

If you have additional information to add to your resumé, offer a revised edition to all of your interviewers.

The on-site interview could include any or the entire interview types described earlier. You will sometimes be alerted in advance that the organization prefers to use the behavioral and/or situational type of interview.

If the case analysis type is to be used, you are usually forewarned. Be flexible because an on-site interview may be a combination of one-on-one and larger group meeting.

A group interview requires a bit of a different approach and, if possible, knowing the players in advance is of utmost importance.

Frequently, the group or panel interview is a courtesy to members of the organization who will work with you either directly as peers or less directly as members of other parts of the organization.

Occasionally, the group will include supervisory personnel and the dynamics may be different than in the peer group meeting. Still other group meetings may consist primarily of senior personnel.

Regardless of the group, remain natural, upbeat and as a cordial, honored guest. Listen thoughtfully and engage all participants in the conversation. Even if only one or two people are asking all of the questions, make eye contact with the entire group.

If the group is assembled classroom style, consider taking questions and responding on your feet to give your responses more energy. Use this opportunity to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the job. Other tips for the group interview include:

- If you feel you erred on one answer, shake it off. Don't think about your mistake. Move on to the next question with confidence.
- Smile whenever appropriate and make eye contact with everyone in the group.
- Compliment participants on perceptive questions and make them feel appreciated.
- Be mindful of areas of 'holes' in your education, training, or experience that you feel might create a reason for someone to object to your hiring
- Prepare appropriate responses showing how your other strengths and skills compensate for such deficits.
- If time permits and the group is smaller than a dozen or so, go around to each and shake hands and introduce yourself as they enter the interview room.

After the Interview

End the interview with thanks to the interviewers for their time and effort. Mention that you are very interested in the position and hope to meet them in person.

Finally, ask what the next step will be. If they intend to interview several others and then decide their finalists, ask when they anticipate there will be a decision.

Ask if you might follow up by phone shortly after their decision date if you have not heard from them. Often searches progress much more slowly than anticipated and it makes good sense to know where you stand.

Send a handwritten thank you note personalized with specifics related to the interviewer's conversation with you. Send via U.S. mail using a commemorative stamp which distinguishes your letter from rivals.

This is an extremely important action. This is an opportunity to amend some answers you were not completely satisfied with or provide additional information you may have forgotten.

If there is only a day or two between your interview and the anticipated decision date, send your thank you notes via email.

The Bottom Line

Interviewing can be scary, particularly when you are unaccustomed to being persuasive and talking about yourself without feeling boastful.

With each subsequent interview your skills will improve, your confidence will soar, and you may discover interviews to be fun and exciting. We hope that's the case.