Ask-A-Recruiter: Managing Your Interviews

Contributed by Caroline Ceniza-Levine of SixFigureStart

Many interviews I have don’t include questions that I think are relevant to the job. I get questions about unrelated topics, personal questions, or sometimes I get questions about things on my resume that I don’t want to emphasize. How do I prepare for interviews with people that don’t know how to interview?

You can and should prepare for interviews, but the fact remains that you are interacting with another human being. You cannot control their behavior and therefore cannot fully control the outcome of your interview. However, you still have control over yourself, so you can and should manage interviews to your advantage:

Ok, so your interviewer doesn’t know how to interview — asks vague questions, talks about himself the whole time. If questions are vague, consider them open-ended and direct your answers to showcase your achievements and potential for the company. (You should have prepared specific examples just waiting for this type of opening.) If the interviewer rambles, show how well you listen. Don’t bother trying to steer the conversation to yourself. If the interviewer is self-centered, he won’t remember what you say about yourself anyway. But he will remember that you paid him a lot of attention. You want to make a connection, not teach the interviewer how to interview.

Your interviewer might be rude — asking improper questions, starting late, smelling bad, interrupting the interview to take phone calls. Show how professional you are. In any job, you will have difficult clients and co-workers. Focus on what you came to do (sell yourself, build a relationship), and ignore the rest. Your interviewer might not know a question is illegal, she might have a good reason to be late, she might smell bad because she’s sick, and she might really need to take that phone call. Assume the positive, so your attitude remains upbeat.

Finally, I hear a lot of complaints about interviewers not knowing how to interview. This conveniently puts the blame and the responsibility for the interview outcome away from the candidate and onto someone else. Get rid of that attitude. It’s not attractive, it’s disempowering, and it leaves the door open for that confident, proactive candidate who recognizes that it’s her responsibility to manage her interviews – to brand herself and make her own opportunities.

Not getting the results that you want? Troubleshoot your search with personalized, 1:1 coaching from SixFigureStart. Contact Caroline Ceniza-Levine at 212-501-2234 or caroline@sixfigurestart.com for a complimentary coaching consultation.