Why Interviews Die

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Why Interviews Die

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

You know, you’re sitting with the employer and you just have that sinking feeling like this is a huge fail.

There are a number of reasons why they fail.  The 1st 1 is because the hiring manager reviewed your resume and interpreted something you wrote that you didn’t intend it to say.  That mistake is from the employer’s standpoint.  That’s not your fault.  Sometimes, they read things into your resume and wish and hope and think and pray that maybe you have that particular experience.  And, you know, within 5 minutes.  Everyone knows that you don’t have the background that they are looking for.

Another reason is that is your fault.  Sometimes, you overstated skill or experience or success, and, if you desire to get that interview, you oversold yourself.  That’s your fault.

You wasted your time.  You wasted someone else’s time.  I have that happen in resumes all the time.  People send resumes and they really don’t have the experience that the resume suggests I can tell within 2 minutes at that is the case.  I just get them off the phone fast.

Don’t overstate what you can do.  By the same token, don’t understate.  Just be accurate.

Sometimes, “fail because, frankly, the interviewer gets lost in the thought.  They have other things on their plate and interviewing is 1 of 25 things they may have, to contend with on a given day.  So, for whatever reason, the timing wasn’t right for the interview.  You are stuck sitting there or trying to talk with them and realize pretty quickly that you’ve lost their attention.

Finally, this 1 is your fault, you are boring.  They ask you a question, you never organize your thoughts around this topic and you go off and drone on and are absolutely awful and how you present your ideas.  You give long-winded answers to questions that need to be answered in 35 to 45 seconds.

What can you do to avoid this?  The easiest thing is to ask them about the role that you’re going to be interviewing for.  Just don’t accept the interview.  Asked him to talk with you about the job and exploring a bit.  This way, if they are projecting experience onto you that you don’t have, you can investigate further and say, “I really haven’t done what you’re looking for.  This is what I have done.  Does that work for you?”  If they say, “no,” you save everyone a bunch of time.

Another thing you can do is don’t exaggerate.  Lay out exactly what you know and what you’ve done.  Exaggeration just puts you in the position of wasting a lot of folk’s time.

If you get a sense that the interviewer is often thought (if you’re in a phone interview this is a really easy one), this is one trick – – cough.  Doing a quick cough will jolt them back to attention.  If you are in an in-person interview, shift your position a little bit and that will get them back.

To avoid droning on, pay attention.  Here is the question if you are in person and stay on point.  If you’re doing this over the phone.  Very simply, shut down the question on a slip of paper (you do have your resume in front of you for a phone interview, don’t you).  Johnson notes down on your resume and let that remind you how to stay on point.

Finally, keep your answers to 30 to 45 seconds.  Where possible.  What I found is that when people go over 45 seconds.  The interviewer starts to mentally “channel surf” and start thinking about other thoughts other than you.  Keep your answers brief and to the point and you’ll find that you 'renot going to wind up losing them.

ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.

Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us 

My courses are available on my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses The courses include ones about Informational Interviews, Interviewing, final interview preparation, salary negotiation mistakes to avoid, the top 10 questions to prepare for on any job interview, and starting a new job.

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