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I'm a male in the retail management industry and I have an interview coming up with an action-sports apparel company. I'm going to be interviewed by a female, whom I assume is either the general manager of the store, and this worries me because from my experience in retail, whenever I'm interviewed by a female I rarely get the job and when I'm interviewed by a male I almost always get the job. I'm very confident, proactive, talkative, and am good with both customer service, crunching sales numbers and forming strategies to meet sales goals. I try to get this across in my interviews and males seem to dig it but for some reason I never get calls back from the females. What are they looking for? How should I approach this interview?
Like an interview. I am guessing the reason you don't get jobs when interviewed by a woman is that your attitude when being interviewed by a woman comes through.
Do you know whether other male applicants got called back for the interviews when you were not? Were other male applicants hired when you did not get the call back? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, thebunny is probably pointing you in the right direction.
Your "attitude" may be inappropriate in any of many different ways when you are interviewing with a woman. One issue that might be a problem is if your experience with male interviewers has been to establish quick rapport that allows for casual interaction. Establishing that kind of comfort level can be an easy path to a favorable evaluation of your interview by a weaker male manager who does not recognize why that kind of conversation was inappropriate. When a female manager is interviewing you, the exact same kind of conversation may not be viewed as chummy and comfortable but instead as flirtatious and unprofessional. Take stock of your past interviewing techniques, and adjust them if necessary to insure that your ability to establish rapport with your interviewer remains on a comfortable but professional level. In a short interview, you cannot earn the friendship level even if it seems that way based on the comfort you felt with prior male interviewers.
Your "attitude" may be inappropriate in any of many different ways when you are interviewing with a woman. One issue that might be a problem is if your experience with male interviewers has been to establish quick rapport that allows for casual interaction. Establishing that kind of comfort level can be an easy path to a favorable evaluation of your interview by a weaker male manager who does not recognize why that kind of conversation was inappropriate. When a female manager is interviewing you, the exact same kind of conversation may not be viewed as chummy and comfortable but instead as flirtatious and unprofessional.
since i need a job i got in this thread. what do you mean by this? getting too friendly too fast? not keeping the interview professional? i dont do this, but just kidna confused what you're saying here.
since i need a job i got in this thread. what do you mean by this? getting too friendly too fast? not keeping the interview professional? i dont do this, but just kidna confused what you're saying here.
The kind of conversation you might have with a friend while drinking beers and talking about old girlfriends is probably marked with different kinds of words, body language, and vocal tones than the kind of conversation you have with a boss while trying to resolve a problem in front of a customer. In both cases, you can be completely comfortable with either the boss or the friend, but there is a big difference in how you conduct yourself. An interview for a job is a lot more like having a work conversation in front of a customer than a casual conversation where no one important is listening to you and your friend in the bar or at the backyard BBQ.
Like an interview. I am guessing the reason you don't get jobs when interviewed by a woman is that your attitude when being interviewed by a woman comes through.
This. You should be interviewing like you would with anyone, male or female. You may not even realize it, but it's obvious you have some issues with comfort (and respect) levels around women - and perhaps with having a female boss in general?
I'm a woman in a female-dominant profession, so I may not be the best one to judge... but the thread's title alone caught my attention, and had me thinking "misogynist red alert!!" We can read those attitudes very quickly, even if it's not something you do consciously. Just treat her like you would any professional employer, and pretend she's a lesbian if that helps any.
oh well then i definitely dont do that. im not gonna say anythign about my strong preference to white skinned blondes to my female interview who's a black woman with black hair lol
this seems obvious to me. i hope the op knows better than this
P.S. It could also just be coincidence, in terms of your success with male vs female interviewers. Isn't that possible?? I've never kept track of these things myself, so I have no idea if my track record is better or worse with men... and the mere fact that you HAVE noticed is kinda suspect.
oh well then i definitely dont do that. im not gonna say anythign about my strong preference to white skinned blondes to my female interview who's a black woman with black hair lol
this seems obvious to me. i hope the op knows better than this
At the extreme ends of the spectrum it is obvious. The skilled interviewee, however, knows how far to go on the comfort and friendly part without getting out of the professional conversation zone.
[quote=gizmo980;24837485] the thread's title alone caught my attention, and had me thinking "misogynist red alert!!"[\QUOTE]
If OP has been interviewing for jobs for several years or more, I would agree. But I am betting this is a fairly young person relatively inexperienced with interviewing. His post actually shows recognition of a problem and a desire to correct it. That is hardly misogynistic.
Of course, I agree that the interviewer should be given the same respect regardless of gender. But I think that OP may be doing just that, and being inappropriate in both cases. He may just be getting away with it when he interviewer is a male because the dynamic in the room is different, and OP cannot get away with the same inappropriate conduct with a female interviewer. So improving interview skills for his interviews with BOTH men and women will probably help.
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