Interviewing isn't the same anymore

 I’ve talked with many of these educated professionals in our area. Many are pushing 50+, had 20 or more years on the job and haven’t interviewed for many years. Interviewing is not the same as it was when these professionals entered the workforce. Hopefully this information will help as they go through the job-hunting process.

 

As a candidate you may come across several different types of interviews. The phone interview is likely your first meeting with the recruiter. Although this feels very informal, this is definitely an interview and needs to be treated as such. The recruiter will call to set a time for the phone interview. You need to be as prepared for this as you do for a face-to-face interview. The traditional interview is still used although infrequently. The interview will seem informal asking things like, “Why do you want to work here?” and “Tell us about yourself.” Depending on the level of stress in the position, you may run across a stress interview. These are purposely created to provide the candidate with a higher level of stress.  You might be subjected to a panel of interviewers that greet you and begin firing questions at you in quick succession.   They might make you wait an hour before seeing you. The idea is to allow the interviewers to see how you react to the stress. 

 

Much more common than the traditional or stress interview is the behavioral interview. The concept behind a behavioral interview is the fact that past behavior predicts future behavior.   Research shows that behavioral interviewing is the most effective interviewing technique available to evaluate candidates.  In a behavioral interview you will face questions such as, “Give an example of when you faced XYZ situation.”   They interviewer may give you a present a real or hypothetical business problem, and ask you to analyze the situation and present how you might go about solving it. Questions are open ended and intended to allow the interviewer to understand how you behaved in a past situation. Candidates are asked to describe a situation or circumstance, discuss the action taken, explain the results based on their action taken, and why use this method.

 

Examples of behavioral questions include:

 

Tell me about a time when…

?       You headed a project that failed. What could you have done differently?

?       You coached a co-worker. How did you go about preparing? Delivering?

?       You were successful. And then, what made it successful.

?       You were on a team. How did you participate and what made the team successful?

 

Whether traditional or behavioral, the interview will likely be a structured interview. This has become more critical with each new labor law. Each interviewee is presented with exactly the same questions in the same order.  This allows comparisons to be made with confidence.  This also ensures that each candidate is asked exactly the same question, eliminating the possibility of unfair advantage. By sticking to a structured, or scripted, interview format the company is less likely to have an inexperienced interviewer ask an illegal question. This is also to candidate’s advantage because all answer same questions, are rated by the same rating scale and are assessed against the same set of competencies.

 

To prepare for this type of an interview you need to review your past experiences. Review your past successes and practice telling about them using the SOAR method: Situation, Obstacles, Action, and Results. Remember too, that results must be in measurable terms.

 

To be a viable candidate you need to practice, practice, and practice some more. Making a bad hire is extremely expensive. It is critical that companies hire right the first time. Show them you are the right person for the job by being confident and be ready for today’s interview format.

 

Past behavior indicates future behavior.