Kimberly almost chuckled. “What do you mean, I have power? I’m the one being interviewed for the job. How do I control that?”

“Actually, it’s pretty easy,” I said. “And understand this is not through some trickery or fancy technique, but by doing two simple things.” Kimberly was all ears.

“Since most people who conduct interviews don’t know much about hiring, you have an opportunity to help them make a better decision, and, as a candidate, it usually gives you a leg up.”

“So, what are the two things?” Kimberly prompted.

“First is to find out what the decision criteria will be based on, what knowledge, skills and abilities will be required for the job.”

“How will I find that out?”

“Ask questions, direct questions about the processes, how things work and what is expected.”

“Okay, I think I can do that,” Kimberly said confidently.

“The second thing is to draw the conversation back to specific examples of what you have done, in the past, related to those skills and abilities.”

“It sounds too simple,” she protested.

“Indeed, and it’s what the interviewer should be doing in the first place. Only by defining the specific skills and behaviors for success and then supporting those with real past experience, can the interviewer make an effective decision. And, as the candidate who helped that process along, you will have the upper hand.” -TF

The time you have spent preparing for this interview has taught you more than most interviewers understand about the hiring process,” I said.

“Why is that?” Kimberly responded.

“Most managers are too busy with important adult stuff, so they don’t have time to think about hiring. Here is the way most managers get pulled into the interview process.

Hey, Joe, we have a hot candidate for that new supervisor’s position. A couple of people have talked to him and they are really impressed. Say, could spare fifteen minutes, go meet him down in the conference room, and see what you think?

“So, tell me, Kimberly, what chance does Joe have of conducting an effective interview that will give him the proper information to make a hiring decision?”

“Well, I suppose he could just see if he likes the guy.”

“Exactly, with no understanding of the job description, without sufficient thinking about the specific skills required, with no opportunity to think through effective questions, Joe will have no other choice but to make his decision on whether he likes the guy or not. One of the biggest hiring mistakes is making the decision based on gut feeling.”

“So, as a candidate, where does that leave me?” asked Kimberly.

“Armed with what you now know, you have more power than you think.” -TF

As my eyes scanned the page, I fell on a question that was particularly troubling. I was working with Kimberly, a recent transplant to the city, looking for a job. A head hunter asked her to prepare responses to a list of anticipated questions.

Why would I want to hire you?

“Kimberly, the problem with that question is that it invites candidates to make stuff up or outright lie to the interviewer. Most responses will be trite clichés loaded with meaningless crap.”

“So, how should I respond?” insisted Kimberly. “The head hunter said this question will likely be asked.”

“And he’s right, so you need to be prepared. Remember, the interviewer has an expectation of what an acceptable response would be. He is playing a game trying to get you to guess what he is thinking. Guess wrong and you lose.

“My philosophy is, always try to pull hypothetical questions back to your own real experience. It might sound like this:

Frankly, I can’t tell you why you would want to hire me without understanding the criteria you are using to make this hiring decision. But I can tell you why my last employer hired me, and it is related to something very specific to your job posting.

My last company had also just installed some computer software, but no one was using it. Everyone had finished the training, but still no one was using the software. My first task was to design daily administrative routines to get people started immediately. I then designed reconciliation routines to make sure the data was accurate going in. Finally, I developed a schedule of reports so other managers could make decisions about their departments. Within 30 days, we had moved completely off of our manual systems. Which part of that transition would you like to hear more about?

“Remember, Kimberly, a hypothetical question is a trap. Always move the question back to your own real experience.” -TF

Kimberly was preparing for the interview. She just moved to town and was earnest in her job search. The headhunter gave her some questions to help prepare responses in advance.

What sets you apart from the other candidates applying for this position?

“Kimberly, the problem with this question is that the interviewer has no idea how this will help make a proper hiring decision. He could be playing amateur psychologist, to see how you view your self esteem issues, perhaps he could detect an arrogant attitude. I don’t know what information he would be looking for with this question. It is likely the interviewer doesn’t know either.

“So what do I do?” asked Kimberly.

“I would rephrase the question, change it to a better question that will give the interviewer tangible information on which to make a good hiring decision. It might sound like this.

I can’t answer that question because I don’t know the other candidates or their accomplishments. But I can tell you what I have done related to the core skills outlined in the job description. One primary responsibility, you said, is to handle change orders through your system. At the ABC Company, we had a problem with change orders, so I created a short checklist of the major problems created by change orders. There were only eight things on the list, but by watching those critical items, we reduced unscheduled shutdown from seven hours per week to 28 minutes per week. Would you like to see the list?

“Always try to move the interviewer back to specific things you have done in the past related to the most important core skills. Stay away from opinion and hypothetical responses. Your opinion might be different than the interviewer. And I will guarantee your hypothetical solution will be different than what the interviewer was thinking. Either way, you lose. Describe your real past experience. The interviewer can’t argue with that.” -TF