Job Interviews in this day and age...

Though companies and managers (including HR) may perceive to have an upper hand when recruiting candidates, but they fail to understand that they are the first touch point invariably leaving a lasting impression of the organization and the brand in the minds of candidates. While there are hundreds of podcasts, thousands of books and millions of blogs and articles on how to ace a job interview, it is hard to find articles that teach etiquettes and best practices to interviewers. Here is a real-life incident shared by a close friend.

 

Don’t flip-flop: Like many of us, John too had applied for a job announcement on LinkedIn and to his surprise he promptly received an acknowledgement along with the job description from the HR of the organization. John being a meticulous guy, did a lot of research on the organization. He started following them on the social media the same day and he even set up Google alerts to stay up-to-date.  As promised, the HR got back to him in 3 weeks and confirmed that his resume was not shortlisted by the panel. Though John was a little disappointed, he courteously closed the email thread leaving the bridge open for future, but continued following them on various social media channels. And three months later, John received an email from the same HR guy, who used the same old thread confirming John’s candidacy for an interview.

 

Though John was excited, but his excitement evaporated when he poured over the job description. Upon seeing no change in the job description from the earlier one, John’s mind was filled with questions: Why and how did I make the cut this time? What made them go back on their decision on my candidacy? Not sure if this was a faux pas or if someone who accepted the offer backed off or someone in the panel had reconsidered John’s candidacy, shouldn’t HR explain the reason to John? Though John was tempted to write back to the HR asking these logical questions, but he remained non-confrontational and confirmed his interest in the job and availability for an interview. 

 

Respect the time of the candidate: Since John had applied for a senior position, the HR quickly came back to him asking for five interview slots with various stakeholders in the organization. That day John had three back-to-back telephonic interviews. As a part of his interview preparations, he spent time reading the vision, mission, philosophy of the organization, tracking the latest news items and also equipped himself with financial and management information. John even found a few outdated facts on their company’s website, but decided to keep this to himself. While the first two interviews started on time, John spent 20minutes waiting for the third interviewer (HR Head) to call him. At the end of 15 minutes, John courteously shot out an email to his contact in the HR team asking if the interview was delayed or rescheduled. While it would be unacceptable for a candidate to show up late for an interview, is it okay for a HR Head to show up late for an interview? But John confirms that the interviewer was apologetic, well-mannered, and soft spoken that made the interaction pleasant, despite the late start.

 

Say no to question banks: As John’s role will be part of the support function that touches various business units, he had interviews lined up with senior leaders in various streams. Given John’s penchant for preparation and attention to detail, he accessed their LinkedIn profiles to know more about them and to see if there was something in common between them. To John’s surprise the only common thread between them were the questions thrown at him during the interview. During each of the 45minute interview slots, all of the interviewers asked him to share his career highlights, strengths, weaknesses and career aspirations. “Either they must be sharing the same question bank or they must be testing the integrity of my answers,” quipped John.

 

“I had rehearsed in a big way to share my story, but they killed my creativity and enthusiasm with their canned questions. Moreover, back-to-back interview slots were getting too monotonous and none of the interviewers wanted to discover or understand me beyond my 3-page resume," said disappointed John.

 

Handle questions with poise: I was curious to know if John’s interview marathon was a one-way interrogation or if he had opportunity to ask questions that he prepared for each of his interviewers. John confessed that one of his interviewers didn’t have the courtesy to introduce herself. Though he was given a chance to ask questions towards the end of the call, but it seemed customary and some of their answers seemed honest.

 

I grilled John to find out more about the questions he asked them. To prove his honesty and attention to detail, John pulled out the job description and asked me to focus on one of the key performance index (KPI) defined in the role description and how it didn’t make sense and relate to role. When he posted this question to the Head HR, he realized that it was a copy paste error, but turned defensive and went on to convince John that it is a part of the KPI for the role.

 

Before closing my conversation with John, I asked him if there were any other questions that were posed to him that he considers discriminatory in nature or made him feel uncomfortable. “All the India based interviewers wanted to know if I were married and were beating around the bush by indirectly asking about my family. I lost my patience and proudly announced my single status to end this rigmarole,” fretted John.

 

We live in the age of digital where communications and human emotions are conveyed at the flick of a finger and first impressions are made from social and professional networking sites. But that doesn’t take away the responsibility of organizations and individuals in position to represent the brand treat candidates with respect and leave them with a lasting impression. Sadly, most of us are treated like commodities before we get into an organization and once we join we get treated like an numeric digits; there is very little respect for our skills and professional experience. 

 

Though John was very enthusiastic when he first saw the job description and subsequently followed up with his research, the interview experience certainly put him on the back foot. Will John unfollow the organization on social media? While we wait to hear about the direction of John’s wheel of fortune, let’s think about how we must not interview. Hopefully, the interviewers will exchange John’s responses to find out how they’ve used the same question bank to ruin their organization’s brand image and first touch experience for John.