Category: interview

Communications Set Backs at the Job Interview

We tend to obsess about our performance at interviews and believe we must impress the Interviewer. We have so many things to say that we decide to resize our conversation and speak only of our skills and accomplishments.

Candidates often fail to recognize that interviews must be goal-defined and specific. Under pressure, many candidates forget to pay attention to this interview strategy. They are often unaware as they ramble about their extensive experience that they have lost their audience.

We should stop and acknowledge when we are not connecting with the audience during the interview. At times, we try to communicate in a complex style, and we forget to ask thoughtful relevant questions that, demonstrate our potential as contributing team members.

Communication setbacks at the interview may not mean that you are necessarily failing to connect personally, but it can mean that you are failing to impress that you are the right fit for the position and that you will be an excellent addition to the team.

Many applicants who believe themselves to be good communicators are often blistered with confusion as to why they fail to connect with managers at interviews, be it one person or a panel interview.

This conundrum suggests that we should try to create advocates for our candidacy for the position, and this can be best remedied at the close of an interview.

Here are two stabilizing questions you can ask before the interview ends, and the Manager says, “we’ll be in touch!”

1.      “What have been the career paths of those who previously held this position?”

If the previous incumbents been promoted to more senior roles? That could be a sign that the company recognizes and rewards high achievers and promotes from within. If you are replacing someone who left to work elsewhere, that could indicate that internal career progression could be a concern.

2.      “What are some of the challenges can I expect to face in this role?”

Here is your opportunity to get beyond the surface stuff and understand what it may be like to work at this company, or for this Manager, and what kind of circumstances you may have to battle. How honest and straightforward the Manager is in responding to these types of questions will tell you whether you will thrive in this new position or at this company.

The Logic Bully

I heard from a former colleague recently who wanted to refer a friend. She said her friend was frustrated since he had attended twelve first interviews. But his interviews were not going well since quite a few ended early and abruptly. He felt no one allowed him to sell himself and sell his ideas. You don’t say!

On my exploratory call with the potential client, he explained his ongoing interviewing struggles and apparent failure to connect with interviewers and asked how I could help. After I explained our program. He volunteered that he had an excellent interview process and pronounced, “Here is how I would like you to approach my interview preparation training.”

He then told me how he would like his interview preparation sessions arranged and what topics should be covered. I listened to the entire schooling on how to coach job seekers of his level of experience. Then he ended with, “when are you available to help me practice?”

I reasoned that I should try to escape gracefully, as he was a referral. So I ventured that I did not think we would work well together since our approaches to coaching and communication styles differed quite a bit. Plus, since he was already using his process without success, I would hesitate to utilize his process and add more casualties.

Starting again, at some speed, he explained that he was a strong communicator with excellent people skills, areas of expertise, and achievements, etc. All the while sounding like the out-of-tune brass section of a marching band for whom noise is the thing.

We ended the call with the potential client offering me time to consider his proposal to coach him using HIS methods and a second meeting.

Sadly, in his effort to sell himself and his interviewing strategy, the client morphed into a “logic bully.” And in his self-centric drive to sell himself, he became a noisy communicator who deluges others with his processes, best practices, expertise, and riotous failure to stay on topic.

The colleague who referred him called a few days later, “Do you have any advice?” she asked. Then I remembered one of my mother’s pearls and offered: “Tell him to use the door handle. He doesn’t need to kick down every door.”  

Here’s why Asking Process Questions at the end of an interview is so very important.

So you have sailed through what seems like an easy interview, now you are at the close, and the Interviewer asks: “Do you have any questions for me?” Your brain screams – “Say what!” And your mouth volunteers, “Not really.” Your eye contact with the Interviewer relays that you have missed the seal-the-deal, closing shot. Oops!

End-of-interview questions should focus on organizational issues rather than the project or technical questions you may have already discussed with the Interviewer. Asking open-ended questions will help you gauge whether this position is a good career fit for you at this point in your career.

Why is asking key process questions at the end of an interview is so very important?

Asking thoughtful process questions shows that you are interested and committed to success in the role. And this can set you apart from the other candidates.

It is also an excellent opportunity to learn about possible internal barriers to success and problems you may encounter as you seek success in the role BEFORE starting the job, especially if the job is in a different industry!

A good sample question: “What are the challenges someone hired into this role expect to face?” The Manager’s answer will show the following:

1.   Is the manager aware of what it takes to succeed in this role?

2.   Is this manager offering a career advancement opportunity, simply a job, or are you interviewing for a disposable role?

3.   Does the manager’s response highlight how they will work with you to ensure your success?

4.   Are there departmental or interdepartmental politics that you will have to battle against?

5.   Are there technical issues that may make it initially challenging to perform your role effectively?

6.   Are there actions in place to correct these deficiencies?

7.   How involved is the Manager in mentoring and developing their staff and department?

8.   Does the manager mention others who might help you integrate into the existing team? 

These open-ended questions will also help you gauge Manager’s interest in your candidacy for the position. It is their opportunity to sell you the role, the organization, and the management style.

These questions can show that you are interested in success in the role and not just landing a new job. Master these end-of-interview questions, and you may level the performance field if you fumbled a question during the earlier part of the interview.

How would you describe your team at work?

Are your team members inward idea-processing decision makers, or are they outward idea-processing? Full disclosure here, one of the reasons I love webinars is that outward idea-processing people usually attend them. So you hardly need to say a word if you have a few of them in a webinar.

But trouble can occur when there are abundant outward-processing people in a meeting, and the inward-processing people need help to hang on to their ideas, which can leave the impression that there is consensus when there is not.

The fact is that while some colleagues prefer to process their thoughts and ideas through conversation and group banter (outward processing), others may choose to remain quiet in meetings (inwardly processing) their opinions. So, if management is keen to hear about viable ideas, it helps if they know how their key players communicate once presented with a problem.

A colleague who constantly interrupts others might appear rude or even a bully by others, while the excited offender thinks they are conveying noisy enthusiasm for an idea. The challenge for management is to determine if there is a true consensus or have the noisy outward processing folks shut the inward thinkers down.

The challenge is to figure out which way the majority of the team exchanges ideas and to assure the inward-processing teammates that their opinions matter and that you would like to hear from them.

Team friction can happen when teammates have different ways of processing and expressing information. This dissonance can have a disruptive effect on the productivity of individual members, but it can also disrupt the harmony of the entire team.

An essential interview question candidates should ask managers is how the manager would prefer them to communicate ideas and how the team communicates with each other. It is a question that candidates regularly need to ask in the interview.

Managers should also ask candidates they are considering for a position. Since woe is on you if you end up managing, working for, or with a “do you have a minute” five times a day outward processing teammate, lead, or manager, and you are an inward processing problem solver.

But if your exchanges with a colleague or team lead often drift into what appears to be bullying, please address it with management as soon as possible. Your colleague may be an outward idea-processing person and unaware that quiet thinking is an option to explore.

XAre your team members inward idea-processing decision makers, or are they outward idea-processing?

Full disclosure here, one of the reasons I love webinars is that outward idea-processing people usually attend them. So you hardly need to say a word if you have a few of them in a webinar.

But trouble can occur when there are abundant outward-processing people in a meeting, and the inward-processing people need help to hang on to their ideas, which can leave the impression that there is consensus when there is not.

The fact is that while some colleagues prefer to process their thoughts and ideas through conversation and group banter (outward processing), others may choose to remain quiet in meetings (inwardly processing) their opinions. So, if management is keen to hear about viable ideas, it helps if they know how their key players communicate once presented with a problem.

A colleague who constantly interrupts others might appear rude or even a bully by others, while the excited offender thinks they are conveying noisy enthusiasm for an idea. The challenge for management is to determine if there is a true consensus or have the noisy outward processing folks shut the inward thinkers down.

The challenge is to figure out which way the majority of the team exchanges ideas and to assure the inward-processing teammates that their opinions matter and that you would like to hear from them.

Team friction can happen when teammates have different ways of processing and expressing information. This dissonance can have a disruptive effect on the productivity of individual members, but it can also disrupt the harmony of the entire team.

An essential interview question candidates should ask managers is how the manager would prefer them to communicate ideas and how the team communicates with each other. It is a question that candidates regularly need to ask in the interview.

Managers should also ask candidates they are considering for a position. Since woe is on you if you end up managing, working for, or with a “do you have a minute” five times a day outward processing teammate, lead, or manager, and you are an inward processing problem solver.

But if your exchanges with a colleague or team lead often drift into what appears to be bullying, please address it with management as soon as possible. Your colleague may be an outward idea-processing person and unaware that quiet thinking is an option to explore.

Does your recent career read like a how-to guideline for successful Job Hopping? 

Does your recent career read like a how-to guideline for successful job hopping? Have you taken on a variety of well-paying short-term positions within a short time because, and let’s be frank, they paid well, and you could WFH? 

Have you taken advantage of the fluidity in the recent job market to job skip and accept diverse and unrelated roles in various industries for short periods? Or have you taken several non-related, short-term assignments? In that case, you may risk being viewed as someone bereft of loyalty and sticking power.

But, there are positive and negative aspects to this. Some hiring managers may be reluctant to interview you since they view job hoppers as not settling, getting bored quickly, and wanting to move on without giving each job a good go. So, be thoughtful and remember that there needs to be a consistent back story to your job travels.

On the positive side, job hopping can help you build skills, among them the very valuable skill of adaptability. This is the ability to perform well in new situations and deal with change and stress more productively. This shows resilience, confidence, and adaptability to change.

How to explain job skipping on a resume or an initial interview call?

1. Emphasize your credible and verifiable achievements: 
Concentrate on what you learned and achieved at each assignment, the transferable skills gained or enhanced, and the benefits you can bring to a new organization by utilizing these skills.

2. Combine similar roles in your narrative or omit some roles entirely:
Projects or roles with similar job titles may be combined under one heading. That will downplay the fact that the roles have been at different companies for short periods and bolster your point that there was a plan.

3. Omitting some roles:
Short-term roles that are not relevant to the position you seek can be omitted because they do not enhance your suitability for the job, nor are they relevant to the interview. Plus, discussing unrelated facts in an interview is rarely helpful.

4. Dates of employment:
Regarding employment dates, try using the years only and forgo adding the months. Using years only also lessens red flag alerts and screen-out issues. 

Above all, be prepared to explain your reasons for job hopping honestly and openly. This will work out better in the long run, especially if your reasons for changing companies were due to circumstances beyond your control, such as a layoff, relocation, or company closure; companies know that many good people are being and have been and are being let go. So be honest.