Interviewing in 2011

As I sit here on Thanksgiving evening, with more to be thankful for than I have time to mention, I look ahead a few weeks, as I face certain layoff on December 22.

If you've been through a layoff before, then you know the roller coaster of emotions you ride.   I have had 3 months' warning, and have been doing all that I know to do to find a new gig, both inside and outside of my present place of employment, but at this writing, I have, at best, a few warm leads.


Some might be content to have leads, but I'd be a lot more content with a job offer.   The truth is that I've applied and networked as much as I can while working full time, and it has produced calls from potential employers.  I have done multiple phone interviews, follow-up thank you letters, a couple of really good face-to-face interviews, but that is as far as it goes.  Naturally, I'm wondering what I might be doing or not doing in the interview to not move past the initial face-to-face interview.


Many thoughts go through my head about my interviewing--- too confident, not confident enough, wasn't specific enough, went into too much detail, etc., etc.    The truth is, I do not know what is going on.   "Behavioral interviews" are the interviewing style du jour, and depending on how strict to form the interviewer is, it can be very difficult to answer the unspoken questions being asked by the question being asked.

For example, if you are asked "tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with your boss.  What was it about, how did you approach it, and what was the result?"   Is the interviewer interested in that specific incident?   Somewhat, but more than that, the real questions being asked are "How do you relate to your boss?  How do you handle conflict?  What people skills do you have?   Will you fit in to our culture?"   etc....or at least that is what I perceive to be the questions behind the questions.   I've had one interviewer give me feedback about these questions behind the question, and it is very difficult to understand what the interviewer really wants to know or hear.   It is sad that this newest form of interviewing is seen as superior to having a conversation with the person you are interviewing about their experiences and accomplishments as they relate to the specific position for which that person is being interviewed.   In all honesty, it is much easier to fool the interviewers using the behavioral interviewing approach if you know the game and can play well, especially in a situation where the interview is short and there isn't a lot of other discussion before a hiring decision is made.

Behavioral interviewing is all the rage today, but I would caution anyone who thinks it's a panacea for poor interviewing of the past.   It wasn't that past interviewing techniques were inferior; it's that the same bad interviewers of the past are now doing bad interviews in the present with the behavioral interview model.    Frankly, anyone can talk a good game using any interview model.   Multiple discussions over time and with different people about experience needed for a position should not be replaced by an "all powerful" behavioral interview. 

Perhaps a better approach to the behavior interview is to ask interviewees about specific skill/experience/accomplishments that would show that an interviewee has the skills and experience needed to be successful in the role for which they are interviewing.   For example, "How do you work with a group of diverse people as we have at our company?  Can you give me an example of when you have done that?"    This is straightforward questioning that will generate a straightforward answer.   If the interviewer has no ability to discern the skill level from this approach, behavioral interviewing will not help them. 

I've had several behavioral interviews lately, and people will ask me about an organizational development experience, I answer the question with a clear OD example, only to have them say that they did not hear an OD example, and they re-ask the question.   The issue is not so much that I didn't answer the question, but that they are non-OD people, do not understand what OD people do, but by using a behavioral interviewing sheet, believe they can discern if I have OD skills.  Ludicrous.

Perhaps it is just me, but behavioral interviewing is another "HR trend" that HR believes will suddenly help bad hiring decisions from being made.   Giving a person a supposed tool does not enable a person to suddenly have discernment or make them analytical enough to read the human being with whom they are thinking.  It is unfortunate that the root cause of bad interviewing hasn't been truly addressed--the interviewers themselves.   More skill building in this area with hiring managers and HR personnel would greatly improve the interviewing process.

Job Hunting Presentation in Second Life

Just finished a live presentation in Second Life on job hunting and the use of social media in a job hunt.   Was a very fast hour, and had about 16 avatars/people in attendance.  I got some very nice comments on the presentation, and I sincerely hope that everyone will use what they have learned. 

Job hunting is and isn't the same as in "the past."   I talked a lot about the use of electronic media and how to aggregate job listings to save time looking for openings, but as usual, I came back to something that has never changed in job searching since the beginning--- networking.

Despite all of the wonderful tools and electronic gizmos, finding a job comes down to getting in front of a human and selling yourself.  Bottom line.   Electronic networking tools, fancy resumes, hours spent searching job openings will NOT net you a job.   They can only get you in front of another human....and then, the fun begins.

If I were to list what I consider the second most important thing in job searching (behind networking), it would be to practice, practice, practice your 30-2 min commercials (elevator speeches) until you were mumbling them in your sleep.   This is part of being able to interview well, which is where you win or lose a job offer.  If you know who you are and what you have to offer, and you couch it in "sales" terms ("here's what I can do for you"), you'll have a tremendous advantage over 90% of the rest of the population.

Being prepared for an interview is a book in itself, but being emotional prepared will help you even more.   Frankly, if you go into an interview so worried about getting the job that you can't function, you will fulfill your own prophecy.   Now I have been in some tight spots in my time---had no job/income and was interviewing---and those are tough.   I am blessed with not having debt, and that relieves a lot of pressure.  Of course, picturing my family scraping by because I'm out of work adds a tad more pressure.   I have had to learn the hard way that if I really trust that God will take care of me, I will relax in an interview and my thoughts will flow much better.   It's a test, or should I say like a test that we've all had in school (remind your kids of the kinds of tests adults take and the stakes of performing poorly on THOSE tests).   If you are prepared for the test, your stress level is much lower than if you know you're winging it.  Of course there could be a test that asks questions poorly (bad test design) or something you totally forgot, but that's where part 2 of preparedness comes into play---trust God.

No test, no interview is life ending.  Though we don't believe that we'll ever find another job as our last good job, honestly, we will.   I have often counseled job seekers with two words:  patience and persistence.  You must be patient, and you must never give up.   Since I like Star Trek, the analogy I offer is that of the Borg.  For those unfamiliar with Star Trek:  The Next Generation, the Borg are a race of cyborgs who are notorious for taking over and assimilating other races in the galaxy, and they are incredibly persistent.  Nothing seems to phase them...they just keep coming and coming.   Like the Borg, we must all keep pressing on to find the next job, and most of us need to work on our patience while we do that.

Cyborgs and virtual worlds like Second Life aside, the reality is that job hunting will continue to be the bane of our existence, at least until we land that next job. : )

Tales of the Interviewer

So I go on an interview with a well-known company for a contract position, and my contact at the contract company tells me that the job is for 6+ months, and that it could be extended beyond 6 months.  Since this isn't my first rodeo, I take statements like that at zero value.  And man, do I hate being right about something not feeling right.

The interviewers were gracious, professional, and the company is clearly a leader in their field, but when I asked about the length of contract and what happens after the 6 months, and the main interviewer discloses that the contract is only for 4-5 months, backfilling her position while she is away on leave, with no apparent possible employment after the contract period.   I kept my composure and continued on, but homicidal thoughts about my contact at the contract company begin to run through my head.  He'd either lied, misrepresented, or was uninformed about the nature of the contract.   If the interviewer told me the conditions of the contract so easily, you have to wonder why the contracting company didn't ask about/clarify this.

Remember, contracting companies' business models are all about getting bodies into companies and making, say, 25% markup on each person they place at a company.  Many are caring people, I'm sure, but given their business model, you have to figure that they get giddy with excitement at the possibility of getting a contract placement.

My caution to readers is this:   make sure you ask plenty of questions when the contracting company calls (this one pulled my resume off of a large job board), especially regarding the length of the contract, the company where you'll be working and their history with contractors, the possibilities of the contract being extended or cancelled, and your being converted to a full-time employee.

I spent 3-4 hours with this exercise, which, even though the job was not what I was hoping for, provided me another "real-life" practice situation with which to get ready for more interviews.... and another "lesson learned."

It's "just another day"

Each day is a day closer to landing your new job.....that's something we all need to remember. For the truly morbid among you, I know, it's another day closer to death---get over it.

I was a power networking day today: CareerConnections in the morning, outplacement counselor after lunch, meeting with other Dallas ASTD Officers at dinner. Everyone I met knows I'm looking for work, and I'm about at the point of having my marketing materials ready (resume, business card, "elevator speech," etc.)

Though I've had outplacement training before, and have had the misfortune (?) of having to look for work about every 3-4 years, I got a great outline of what you should do when you first find yourself out of work from CareerConnections (thanks Lisa!):

1) Get a professional email account (not hotkitten@blahblah.com)
2) Get business cards made--- Vistaprint.com seems like the hot place right now, but I made up my own, and my outplacement counselor says they look sharp (4 years at Kinko's and married to a graphic artist helps)
3) Develop a strong resume (CareerConnections has a Word template of what they call the "Million Dollar resume."
4) Develop and practice your 30-second commercial and your 2 minute verbal resume
5) Develop and practice your 30-minute infomercial (informational interview)
6) Develop your targeted list of companies (minimum of 25 companies)
7) Contact your state unemployment office for unemployment benefits
8) Get connected -- join various networking groups

More can be found at www.careerconnections.org