Lousy interviews

I was helping a Chief Operating Officer who is an expert at process optimization.

He specializes in identifying the problems and gaps, and fixing them. The companies are much better off after hiring him.

During one of our calls, he told me that he had had a screening phone call a few days before with a recruiter. The company seemed like a good fit. The job seemed to be perfect for him. He had done the necessary company research, and he was on his game. He came to the interview with a list of questions. The conversation was flowing.

… And then things went awry. The recruiter couldn’t answer any of his questions.

Why? The recruiter had no experience in his sector. She admitted it immediately on the phone.

What do you do when you’re talking to someone during the hiring process and things go awry? What happens when you conclude quickly that the person you’re talking to is underqualified? What if they ask you a question and it doesn’t make sense? What if the person seems to have no idea what they’re talking about?

Here’s what you do: Stay the course.

If you have worked with me, then you know to simply answer the questions with as much value-add and leadership impact as possible.

The inexperienced interviewer may be simply a contractor. He / she may be a friend of the boss. He /she may be cheaper because this is not their industry. The initial screening calls may simply be part of a favor owed: Will you please take care of the first round of interviews, and we’ll take it from there?

Or … a company will ask someone who is very good at their job to interview candidates. But just because someone is an expert at data analytics doesn’t mean that they know how to interview someone for a data analytics position. And yet this happens all the time.

Bad interviewers are definitely frustrating when you’re an expert in your field, you’ve done your due diligence and your research, you’re ready to rock and roll, the job looks great, you’re psyched … and then you end up talking to someone who sounds clueless.

I worked with a client years ago who was so angry at the apparent ineptness of the hiring process, starting with the bad job description, that he called the company to complain. While I completely understood his frustration, I don’t think that was the best use of his time. You could spend your time yelling at the company for all its flaws, or you could just move on.

Make lemonade out of lemons. When you’re having a difficult time during an interview, there is nothing you can do except make sure that you show that you are clear on what the company needs, and then express as much value-add and as much leadership impact as possible to address those needs. Keep your side of the conversation steady and make your point, regardless of what’s going on at the other side. The interviewer may be inept, but your answers could still make the difference between going to the next round and being rejected.

And then you have a decision to make: Are you going to ignore the icky feeling in your stomach from that interview?

You’re going to have to decide after the bad conversation if the job is really worth the next 2-10 interviews that might follow. The interviewer may or may not reflect how wonderful the job is. There is no way to make this decision except to have more conversations about the position.

Some interviews go badly and you still get the job. My clients know this.

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Get a better job, sooner.

For a free resume review, or to schedule a complimentary discussion on how you can leverage interviews better to maximize potential and transform to lead a balanced, impactful and significant life, please contact me at coach@maximizeu.life

Live, Work & Lead with greater Freedom, Power & Peace of Mind.

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