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Recently did two back-to-back out of state interviews. One was for a job I know I was qualified for, the other more of a reach position for me. Got rejected from both. I know my downfall is interviewing. On one hand, I feel I do great at interviewing. I do a phenomenal job at phone interviewing. In person, I’m all the things one should be - I’m professional, personable, educated, polished. I always remain positive and ask questions. I always make it a point to ask interviewers about themselves. Mostly questions I feel are rather safe, like “what do you enjoy about working at this organization?” On the other hand, I feel I am terrible at interviewing. I can’t explain why I feel that way. I guess it’s because most of the interviews I’ve had in my life (and there have been quite a few of them because I always like to market myself...) go absolutely nowhere. The few times I’ve gotten job offers, it’s like something monumental happened that you never expected to happen. It’s like a major Earthquake in a place where no one ever dreamed of it happening in.
The recruiter for the reach job said they felt I wasn’t quick enough. Not sure what they meant by that, exactly. From my perspective, I felt there was never a dull moment in any of the conversations I had with those folks. The conversation kept moving, questions asked on both sides. I had plenty of examples to offer for those more detailed questions that required more “illustration.” Not really sure how much quicker it could have been! What did they expect/want this interview to be? Interviewing on speed? I view this feedback as a little bit ridiculous.
The second recruiter contacted me by phone and said really nothing more than they went with another candidate, sorry and good luck. That recruiter had earlier promised me feedback, so I wrote her a polite follow-up email asking for actual feedback. I thanked her again for arranging my interview. I said I would be thankful for and really value feedback of any kind, that I always strive for improvement - and I always strive for the best! Not sure if she’ll respond, but it’s the polite thing, even if feedback is negative. If I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t ask.
Alright, so for now, I have to just assume that my interview “skills” probably need some kind of work/refinement. I’m considering paying an insane amount of money to meet with a career coach because maybe that might help me in some way. But before I go to such extreme lengths, I’m wondering if anyone out there has maybe done something cheaper like read any interview “self-help” books and whether they found value in that. (Any book recommendations???) Maybe I’m hitting the panic button just a little, but I need to nip my interview problem in the bud NOW because I may be in a situation where I’m relocated without a job and I want to find one as quickly as possible.
Has anyone out there felt helpless when it comes to interviewing and what have you ultimately done to overcome that and achieve success in your career search?! Thanks for any suggestions!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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You cannot say that you are terrible at interviewing just because you didn't get one of the two jobs that you went for. When I get 30+ applicants I always narrow it down to the best qualified based on the resumes to interview and keep it at 4-6. There could be 3-4 or even all 6 that do very well on their interviews, but still only one is selected, because I only had one opening. You might have done very well, but just didn't convince them that you were the best. Based on what others are saying here, it could take many interviews before getting the job. In my case when looking in 2008-9, I only applied for positions that I was well qualified for, paid well with good benefits, and were a reasonable distance to commute. When I was hired here it was my 4th job interview, the first 3 made for good practice, and this one is much better. I like Mr_Geek's suggestion. You must have a friend or relative that is a hiring manager somewhere who would be willing to help you with a mock interview. It's better yet if your friend or relative gets their associate who you don't know to do it, so it's more like the real world being interviewed by a stranger.
I agree with Hemlock. Have you read "Knock 'em Dead" by Martin Yate? He has some good tips on how to answer interview questions and the interview process in general. His books have served me well.
Maybe also try recording any mock interviews as well if possible.
My nemesis question is: "tell me about yourself"
Are you an older person by chance? Because if you are, be prepared to do more interviews.
That's a very low number to say you are terrible. If you want practice, go to career skills workshops and meetups. That's what I have done in the past.
Thanks for the tips! I saw that book on Amazon, but I opted to start with another one first.
I'm in my 30s, so I wouldn't consider myself an "older person" just yet! When I say I'm terrible at interviewing, I'm not basing it on these two interviews alone. I'm talking the collective interview experience I've had since, well, being in college. There has only been ONE time in my life where I've had two offers on the table and had to decide between the two. I've done a whole heck of a lot of interviewing. I've lost count. Roughly, I've probably been on hundreds interviews. Getting that interview has never been an issue. Nailing an interview has almost always been an issue. In my current field, which I've been in for over 10 years, I have had exactly 6 job offers, one of which I declined. The rest of the offers I took because I wanted to (in a few cases I needed to). I get it, you can't get EVERY job you interview for, it's impossible. But I know there have been countless jobs I've missed out on because of mediocre interviews.
I always research companies, I always have questions prepared. For these two recent interviews, one company was fairly established, the other pretty new. I researched both of them as much as I could. With the new one, it was a bit difficult since they just went public and didn't file their proxy statement yet (proxy statements are very useful in my particular specialty).
I'm happy to say I DID have an epiphany about this whole thing. I'm working on formulating answers to some of the more common questions that pop up. I read one thing on line where the question "tell me about yourself" should NOT be a regurgitation of your resume (which is right in front of the interviewer anyway). Tell me about yourself should be used as a way of selling yourself right off the bat. So, moving forward, that "answer" for me is actually going to tell them very little about me, more about my experience and key traits. I'm reframing that open-ended question to really answer the question "So, SELL me!" That's what I've maybe been doing incorrectly this whole time. I'm pretty good at selling myself in writing. I'm pretty good at doing that over the phone. Once I can make that happen in person, BINGO. I should hopefully have an offer in hand if all the stars align. I'm taking necessary steps to better formulate common-question answers so I can be ready to answer at the drop of a hat as opposed to thinking as I'm speaking. I'm going to take a more structured approach to interviewing because that might work better for me. All I'm looking for right now is ONE job offer. Just one. When I get it, I'll take it, and if it's not ideal, then I'm going to keep searching. My friend does that all the time.
I'm on a mission, and I can't wait for my next interview to try this out!
Well, I am a senior analyst in HR. I’ve worked at larger, mult-national, publicly traded organizations. The company I am at right now is a bit of a smaller company in a more specialized industry. My actual job is generic enough where I can work in any industry. Private companies (unless they are large) would be less likely to have jobs in my actual specialty area. I actually kinda dislike the specialty area I am in and would rather be doing HR generalist work (where you touch all areas like recruiting, benefits, employee relations, etc).
The two jobs I just interviewed for were in my specialty. One was only an analyst job, which, you know, would have been a step back. One was a manager role, and while I am qualified, it was just beyond my reach. They clearly wanted someone who was already in a management role. It’s not in my job title, but I do have management in my role - process/project management. What I’m missing is people management, although I have done some training and work delegation on projects.
Ideally, I want a HR Generalist/HR Manager position. So my ideal situation is being able to go from the one area of HR I am in to a role that touches every area. Getting a job offer for what I do right now is probably more realistic, but there are less of those jobs to go around in the area I’m heading to. I’m working on “spinning” a version of my resume that’s maybe a little more HR friendly for the jobs I truly would love!
Hope that bit of detail helps shed more light.
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