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Corporate interviews have become endurance tests, a common way of simulating how candidates will respond if hired. Job candidates sitting on the hot seat can expect to hear the same questions posed four to seven times in a single afternoon. While job seekers are judged on every little detail, feeling pressure not to make mistakes, paradoxically, interviewers often believe they have latitude to come across as aloof, disorganized or rude.
But in a tightened labor market, candidates may experience a role reversal. Savvy employers may drop the fortress mentality - lowering a drawbridge across the moat of fire. For example, some firms may devote more of the interview process to “sell” candidates on the company. And some firms hit by the labor crunch are lowering skill-level or experience requirements for new hires, especially when it’s possible to shape raw talent in a matter of weeks or months.
Not surprisingly, job seekers have a litany of complaints about the interview process. According to a 2007 study of 3,725 job seekers, conducted in five global regions by Development Dimensions International (DDI), in conjunction with Monster, the biggest complaints interviewees make are these:
| Interview Habits That Most Annoy Job Seekers |
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| Source: Development Dimensions International, Inc. |
The situation is dire when even recruiters harangue their peers. Allison Boyce, Candidate Development Manager, Deloitte Services, asserts in ERE.net (a recruiter publication) that some of her peers haven’t changed tactics to fit the current talent shortage. Boyce says that many of her peers are guilty of:
- Waiting two weeks to respond to résumés
- Missing interview days/refusing to schedule interviews
- Missing telephone screens
- Taking three to four weeks to extend an offer
- Allowing one person’s opinion to override six other decisions to hire.
That sounds like a process ripe for reform. “Believe it or not in the US we probably do the best job of any country in how we treat candidates. It’s absolutely medieval in the UK,” contends Boyce, who emphasizes that she is expressing her own opinions. In Boyce’s view one of the problems is that candidates aren’t told what to expect from the process, which often drags on for months for executive hires.
In theory, job interviews can be “dealmakers or deal breakers” say the authors of the DDI/Monster Study. The study finds that two-thirds of job candidates say that the “interviewer moderately or significantly influences their decision” to take the job if offered.
What does the interviewing process tell job candidates about the employer? “The interview process with the recruiter doesn’t give me much more insight into the company than I already had via my own research and networking,” says B. Lee Jones, a job seeker who until recently was CIO of a midsize, multinational company in Silicon Valley. “The only thing that is sometimes beneficial is their perspective on what the employer is looking for.”
Knowing a recruiter or colleague inside the company can prove invaluable. But unfortunately for most job candidates, researching how employers conduct a hiring process is rarely possible. While it is easy to find corporate mission statements, there is little to no information posted on corporate careers web pages that help a candidate prepare for what’s often a trial by fire.
According to the DDI/Monster job seeker study, at least one interviewer posed the following insightful question: “If you were a dog, what kind would you be?” That’s a tough call, but in a situation like that, I would have to go with pit bull. Let them draw their own conclusions.
[...] Would you say that these job seekers sound a bit brittle? If you’re called in for four or five or six interviews, aren’t you bound to dislike one or two of them? Unless you’re interviewing for a senior position, expect that one or two interviewers will go through the motions or be distracted by a pressing appointment. [...]
Ultimately the company is responsible for a good interview. However, the candidate can be more assertive by preparing for the interview and approaching the interview as a sales process. Good sales people don’t let disorganized and uninformed customers get in the way of doing a good sales job. It would also help if the company expected the candidate to come prepared to sell themselves and gave them the tools (good job description, time in the interview) to do so.
Even with passive candidates, at some point the passive candidate has to step up and show motivation and interest. They can do so by preparing to sell themselves well. If a passive candidate is not willing to make this effort are they really appropriate for the job?
A serious mistake job seekers make is assuming the interviewer is competent or properly trained in how to conduct job interviews! The article points to specific complaints that I believe reveals a significant level of unqualified job interviewers. “Turning interview into a cross-examination”, “Appearing unprepared for the interview” are great examples of incompetence. In my experience as an employment mediator the complaints, “ “Asking questions unrelated to the job skills” and “Asking personal questions” have been the best examples of ill trained interviewers.
The one thing that has been consistent is the inconsistency of job interview questions. Job seekers should understand that the person doing the interview may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. He or she may not have been adequately trained. Job interviewers routinely ask illegal or improper questions either out of ignorance or deliberately with the intent to discriminate against certain groups. That makes learning to give good job interview answers and asking good job interview questions so important. The questions asked at job interviews often hide what the job interviewer really wants or needs to know! One of the things in the job interview process for the applicant involves discovering what that is. As a job seeker, why am I being asked these interview questions?
For example, the interviewer asks, “Have you had challenges working in various cultural workplace settings?” From my experience, here is what the job interviewer is really asking. “Have you had trouble dealing with different racial groups?” When preparing for a job interview spend time investigating the business. You should learn about the company’s history and what it does for the industry. Review the company’s website and its about us page. I would be looking at how well it treated its employees with things like salaries, benefits and promotional opportunities. Ask the interviewer questions such as:
“What are the company’s goals?”
“Where does the company see itself in five, ten years?”
“Why is the company a good fit for you?”
“Why will the company be a good fit for me?”
Try to find out how well the company is doing financially. It would be to the job interviewee’s advantage to know if the company is going to be around for a while. You could do some research with the Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau. I would make inquiries with local, state and federal consumer advocacy groups for any complaints filed against the employer.
Is it on the verge of layoffs that could include the position applied for?
Is the business going to be sold in the near future?
Are their any bankruptcy issues?
Does the organization have a history of employment complaints on file with state and federal agencies?
Are there any employees that you know personally, who could give some insight into the “culture” of the organization and its management?
Interviewees are not just interviewing to get a job; they should interview the company and job to get them!