‘I turned up at the interview and it wasn’t anything like I’d imagined. The guy took me to Starbucks and was very informal. I felt a bit silly in my suit and best bib and tucker. Because I’d got it so wrong I found it very difficult to concentrate on flowing conversation. He was lovely and friendly – but I’m sure he was thinking ‘staid’. Ironically, I’d just massively over-compensated for my usual informal style’
This was Sam’s experience, going for interview to a media company. To avoid this happening to you, I want you to imagine you are recruiting for that job role you’ve just identified.
Yes, you are going to be that interviewer for that role you crave.
Imagine a specific person who is going to interview you and if you want to make them quite different from yourself, gender, age and interest-wise. They don’t have to represent exactly where you would like to work: they could be a recruitment or HR professional.
Give them a name. ‘Intee’ will do for your interviewer avatar, if you don’t feel inspired.
Now you may be thinking here ‘But I would always be interviewed by a panel, or at least a pair of people’, but for this exercise this is not important. You want to put your imagination into a single mindset, that of someone making their best hiring decision.
The next step is to take a few moments to think about this person’s priorities.
In workshops people say: ‘ that I’m competent’ ‘ that I can manage well’ ‘ that I’m creative enough’ or ‘ that I will be a reliable team player’. All these comments are likely to be correct, but Jo Fairley, founder of Green and Black’s organic chocolate describes her top priority as:
‘I just ask myself “Will this person be nice to have around in the office? ’
While there probably isn’t an HR recruitment form in the world that has ‘ nice to have around in the office’ on it as a job criteria, in reality this softer stuff matters quite considerably.
So imagine you are that interviewer, and take a stab at identifying their top concerns about interviewing for your role. Write at least three questions down, ideally between five and seven.
If you are finding this difficult, use your imagination to take you deeper into Intee’s psyche and p.o.v (point of view). What do they look like? How do they feel about interviewing? Are they proud on behalf of their enterprise? Does it feel a very responsible role? How are they to be judged if the decision is a poor one?
We are going to stay with the interviewer’s p.o.v. for most of this book. For every job I can think of, interviewers all over the world will share these concerns about you as candidate:
- How organized and prepared are you?
- What evidence is available for your skills and character?
- What does your behaviour and presentation reveal and indicate?