A Few Best Practices for Interviews

Greetings and Salutations my beloved audience, whoever/wherever/whenever you may be...

So I've been interviewing a bit more lately (3 in the last week) and been improving each time -- but unfortunately, learning a lot from a lot of my own mistakes as well.  My biggest weakness seems to be when the interviewer takes the conversation away from subjects I prepared for -- or asks me a question about myself that I wasn't expecting to answer.  That's a great technique from their side, because it forces the candidate to think on their feet which is where their true character really goes on display. I'd like to think I've handled these situations fairly well, but at the same time, I can definitely improve in that area.  On that note, I believe that anyone on the job-hunt taking interviews can benefit from the cultivation of a few best practices, which I have outlined below:

1- Memorize the names and roles of the people interviewing BEFORE you go to the interview.  Say them out loud beforehand - the night before and/or the drive over - as it's definitely appreciated and expected. Speaking from experience (AKA: mistakes) remembering names is one of the most important things about being a professional, if you don't seem like you care enough to remember someone's name then, bottom line, their not going to like you all that much -- never mind offer you a competitive job opportunity. And while memorizing them before you arrive is a great tactic, there will also always be surprises at the interview, you just never know who else will be in the room, so memorizing names the moment you get introduced is so important.  This can be tough when you're trying to stay focused on the topics/areas of the interview you've practiced for... but that's why tunnel vision is not the best approach.  Anyone can play the role of the great candidate and your potential employers realize that, they''ll be trying to throw you off your "script" to see how you react on your feet, which leads me to...

2- Research is great, but writing-out potential answers to questions that the interviewer will likely ask is GOLDEN. This one speaks to the writer in me, but I think anyone can benefit from a little bit of this sort of creative preparation. While I'm not saying to think about your interview as a performance -- as I alluded to earlier, you want to allow the conversation freedom to move organically because no one wants to hire an actor (unless that's what you're going for, in which case, good luck) -- it's a great idea to put your inner scriptwriter to work before the interview. If you take the time to really think it over, there's likely a lot of things you want to express about yourself and how you see the job in question, but in order to get it all out in an articulate and natural manner, it helps to try and write out your ideal interview beforehand.  If you're like me, after a first draft you'll probably find yourself editing your wording down and thinking of better ways to put things. This way, you won't leave the interview thinking "why didn't I say that," or  I could have worded that much more clearly."  There is no virtue in being a Costanza, unless you're doing it ironically (and even that is probably a turn-off at the interview stage if you ask me).

3- Get their early, but don't show off how much time you have on your hands.  If you're unemployed, that's not a secret, but if you don't act like your time still matters it comes across negative and you've worked too hard to get to this point to let that happen. I had a tough experience the other day where I arrived very early for an interview, with a plan to eat a relaxed lunch and go over my notes while acclimating to the campus before signing in -- but I made the mistake of parking within their campus and ended up having to sign in with security -- which, as you probably guessed, lead to my interview happening right then and there. While I definitely came across as punctual, it was definitely not the foot I wanted to get off on -- and it also caused me to have less time to prepare than I would have. Tough lesson, but lesson-learned -- my recommendation: stick to signing in as close to fifteen minutes early as you can and don't risk getting into the building/campus any earlier than that. I had hoped to acclimate myself to my surroundings by eating lunch/reviewing my notes there before my interview -- and maybe taking a walk around -- but in hindsight I was foolish to think that I could do so without sending out a signal with security. But mistakes are part of the process, and every lesson you learn pays dividends down the road, which leads me to my next best practice (which should be an obvious one)...

4- Dress to impress. This one is getting more fun all the time, whether it's just that I've lost a lot of weight recently or that I miss wearing suits -- but knowing that I put my best possible suit and tie combination together makes me feel a lot more confident and prepared for my interview. There's also a lot that can be said for looking the part, both internally and externally, and this is something that's expected across all industry borders. While there's always room for improvement, this is one best practice where effort is mastery -- so long as you know you've got the right materials and allocate enough time to put it all together  -- which leads me to my next best practice...

5- Wake up early, no matter what time the interview is happening.  This is something I would recommend to anyone in the middle of a Transition Period -- waking up when you're body does might be fun at first, but after a while it starts to send yourself the signal that you're days don't have much potential. And that can have some nasty after-effects. But that's just my perspective, some people are natural early-birds and getting a little extra rest for a while can actually help them in the long run. But anyways, with any interview, it's imperative that you're alert and cognizant of every detail by the time you're in the building (or campus, as it were) so waking up bright and early and using your time to get dressed thoughtfully and study at a comfortable pace is a big favor you can do for yourself. In addition, I think it also helps to fit a work out in so that you can feel more confident and relaxed come interview time. Finally, if you complete all you preparation with time to spare, you can take that last hour or so before the interview to let your mind wander a bit, which can help make the interview process feel like a natural (dare I say fun) conversation and helps you avoid tunnel-vision.


So those are my recommendations, and I am by no-means an expert.  I'm also sure that there will be plenty more lessons as I continue my professional career, but I feel like my experiences have informed my philosophy and that I am getting a lot better at the process. That being said -- as I'm sure you've noticed -- a lot of these best practices can carry-over into your professional life once you land your dream job, so it's a great idea to start practicing them now as an interviewee so you're already experienced come day one.

That's it for this edition of The Transition Period, until the next time I feel compelled to share my plights/musings with a blank page and hypothetical audience -- keep on truckin' my true believers.