Archive for November 2017

Keep follow up formal If you have the interviewer’s email address, or someone in the company referred you to the position, it can be tempting to reach out casually or multiple times to find out about the hiring process. It’s better to restrict your outreach to a formal thank you note, either electronically or by mailing a thank you card, and limit your follow up to that. Sending multiple emails or calling to speak with the interviewer can make for an awkward situation if they’ve moved on in the search. Hiring can take time. Multiple approvals, other interviews and outstanding paperwork can slow the process. Make sure you don’t ruin your chances of being hired by being too persistent or flooding the hiring manager’s inbox.

Split your attention If you’re doing a one-on-one interview, you should maintain eye contact with the interviewer and direct your answers towards them. But how do you divide your attention in a group setting? When you’re asked a question, remember the 50-50 rule. Focus 50% of your attention on the person who asked the question, and divide the other 50% among the other interviewers in the room. Companies like to place higher-level interviews in group settings, typically because they require more people to sign off on the hire and to see how the candidate would handle a boardroom or conference room situation. Always prepare for both solo and group interviews to make sure you won’t be thrown off if multiple interviewers are in the same room.

Balance your confidence You should always be confident in your experience and abilities during an interview. However, being overly confident or cocky can be a detriment to your chances. Employers will ask you some tough questions, and depending on the job, they can be very technical or specific about programs and processes. Don’t pretend to be familiar with topics when you only have a loose understanding. That can force you into a situation where you’re asked follow-up questions that you’re not comfortable answering, or even worse, presenting false information as fast. It’s important to be confident in what you know, but don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know sometime and offer to look deeper into the topic after the interview.

Prepare your PAR When faced with a classic “Tell me about a time when…” question, Forbes recommends framing your answer in terms of PAR: Problem, Action and Result. When talking about the problem you faced, give the interviewer key points about the challenge without overloading them with details. Communicate certain obstacles you considered and quickly discuss the team/timeline for the project. When describing the action you took, highlight your leadership during the process, teams you worked with and the reasoning behind your moves. For results, only highlight the one or two more relevant metrics to track your success. There’s no need to go into minutia if the results are better highlighted through a broader stat. By framing situation questions in terms of PAR, you’ll be able to fully cover the interviewer’s question while highlighting any relevant experience and skills.