Interviewing – An honest viewpoint

There are three questions that almost everyone gets asked when giving a job interview:

• Why do you want to work for us?
• Tell me something about yourself
• Why are you looking for a new job at this point?

We all know the feeling of terror when preparing for an interview! With so many dos and don’ts to keep in mind, there is the added pressure of being judged by every word you say. One wrong word and you are out of the race. So many people listen to us giving “mock interviews” and have opinions on where we went wrong and what we should or shouldn’t say or do. Keep an open face and positive body language. It’s hard to keep all this in mind and prepare for the STAR/CAR method of interviewing. I cannot boast of having given hundreds of interviews or having mastered the art of interviews. From the 10 odd interviews I have given in my short career so far, I have cracked just ONE and advanced to final rounds of just FOUR. So, I am, in no way, an authority in the matter. Nor do I honestly follow all these rules and regulations. I try to be myself in an interview and say what I have done or not done while giving my answers. Even then, all that I have learnt from my B School and the thousands of articles that I have read on the matter stay in my mind and I am a nervous wreck before even a basic phone-screening interview.

So, what am I trying to get at? My question here is why are we asked these questions when honestly no one wants to hear the absolute truth. Just as resumes are screened based on key words applicable to the job posting, interviews are conducted to see if the candidate has had the required experience or is capable of showing that experience if given an opportunity. This ability can be judged by the questions specific to our prior work experience or the behavioral questions. Even then, I feel the behavioral questions are useless because no one would give a wrong answer there. No one would say I will cover up a mistake I made and act like nothing happened. No one would say, I will put the whole blame on my team and not accept any responsibility in the matter. No one would say I will not share my knowledge and credit wherever due with my peers. No one will say will always try to one-up my team mate to focus on a promotion. I applaud the ability of recruiters to judge this characteristic in a candidate during the few hours of the interview process.

Then come the “touchy feely” questions, the questions I listed above, the questions which are justified by saying that they help judge if the candidate is a cultural fit for the company. This is where I do not agree. In that state of nervousness, how do you expect to find real good candidates? Candidates prepare answers to these questions months in advance and alter their answers for the “Why do you want to work for us” according to guidelines. Research on company news in the media, getting inside info on the company from friends who are employees, model answers like famous greats who have been part of the company and so many other “taught” answers. Rarely would someone say “Honestly because it’s a Fortune 500 company” or like “Because it pays a good salary” or “Because this position is close to home” or “because I have friends/family working there” or “just because I like this position description”. Either these type of answers would be unacceptable or counter questioned, even if these are all actual honest answers.

The second most popular one is “tell me about yourself”. Do you think if I tell the companies that I am an introvert who is great at her job just because I will go above and beyond to get my work done will actually get me a job? Of course not! I have to come up with model answers like the three point answer (my personal life, my professional life and what sets me apart) all in under a minute. I am like so many others. Yet I have to be creative in my answers to set me apart. What if I’m not that creative but just a plain hard worker who is loyal to her company and will do all it takes to succeed? Would a recruiter believe me if I say I am an introvert but I will do everything in my power to adapt to my circumstances and show you that I will be a success? Well, if some recruiter can go beyond and catch that side of me in a 30 min interview, I may be given an opportunity to prove that by giving me the job. But, that does not happen. A sharper tongued and street-smart person would be chosen over me. So not only do I have to know my stuff well and mind the Ps and Qs of an interview process, I also have to show street smarts in those 30 to 45 minute interviews just so that I can advance to another level of interviews.

Now, my most favorite one of all. This one, fresh graduates or undergraduates would not face. This one is for the experienced professionals who are looking to switch – Why are you looking to switch? The honest immediate answer would be that I liked what you are offering so I wanted to try it. Or maybe that I am just looking for a change or if its early on in the current position, it could very well be that I feel I see better prospects at the new position. All of these answers would be red flags. If you get the position, it’s a red flag for your current company. On the flip side, the new company would see that you aren’t as committed to your current company so they will hesitate to give you the position. Since this question isn’t asked to grad students, business schools would not coach you on the right answer. The problem is that there is no right answer. Anything you say can and will be used against you.  You need to have very carefully thought out answers to be able to justify applying to new positions. If not, then just wait a good amount of time before you apply even if you start getting bored or simply regret your choice in the first place. You are not allowed a shot at remedying without losing time. Again, you are only if you are street-smart and have a very creative and unique answer ready.

In short, recruiters, you don’t really want an honest answer to the three questions that I listed at the very beginning. Then why do you ask these questions? Just to pick out the street-smart ones? Are you telling us to become street-smart as soon as possible? What about those of us who aren’t as creative? How do you want us to cultivate this? Aren’t you tired of the almost routine answers that can just be “Googled”? I think, business schools should just offer a course on becoming creative and street-smart along with the communication classes that we went through! I admit, I don’t have the right answers to these questions myself, even though I’ve been coached on what to say and what not to by my business school. Before every interview, I will feel weak in the stomach or babble or just forget what I want to say. I will most certainly not give a perfect interview, if there is such a thing. I honestly believe I have only heaven to thank for my current job!

The interview process makes me feel like I have nothing in me that can make me successful. More so because no one tells you exactly why you were not selected. During the interview process, recruiters are trained to make you feel comfortable and throughout make you feel that everything is going extremely well and then comes the dreaded email, we have taken your profile into consideration and through we loved talking to you, we have decided to go forward with another candidate. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide any feedback at this point but we encourage you to keep an eye out at our career website for future opportunities. If you didn’t like something about me, shouldn’t it be mandatory to tell me what it was? You say you loved talking to me and feel like I am a cultural fit and then you reject based on who knows what!

At the risk of sounding like a sore loser to those who believe interviews are a piece of cake, I personally feel the interview process is flawed. What’s worse is there is no solution to it yet.  We will still apply to jobs and prepare for interviews and babble and give predictable answers and get selected or not based on maybe talent or maybe luck. This will always go on just as it is today. Recruiters will still be hard to catch and they will still, most definitely, ask those set questions. But one can certainly hope! Maybe someday some creative and street-smart candidate of today will develop a better process and make the interviewing process actually enjoyable. I urge you smart kids out there to take on this challenge and help the millions of candidates as well as recruiters who do this on a daily basis!