she who speaks

Note: this post is not directed at any single company in particular, but was inspired by a few recent experiences that I’m considering outliers.

Interviewing is a bit similar to public speaking — not everyone is well suited to the task and some attempts only make you cringe. Having been both the interviewer and the interviewee, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about potential candidates, but there doesn’t seem to be as much scrutiny upon the interviewers themselves. So now I’ve gotten onto my tiny soapbox to suggest a few pitfalls to avoid:

1. Not being prepared: I don’t expect for a company to memorize my resume or even necessarily remember my name at the time I go in. Recently though, my sole interviewer wasn’t even sure what position I was applying for. There was also the awkward instance in which an interviewer stared blankly at me, clearly at a loss for things to ask, even though we’d been scheduled to chat for an hour.
   • If you’re forgetful or nervous, come up with a small list of questions in advance and bring it with you. Don’t feel like you have to go through all of it; just have the list handy as a fallback and steal glances as needed.
2. Being distracted: The hiring process can be grueling; you often have multiple people to go through and a limited amount of time to spare. Being inattentive and/or unfocused only hurts both sides, as you waste the applicant’s time and your own. The worst case I’ve encountered was when the company CEO continually rushed me through questions and kept calling me “Ella” even though I politely corrected him each time.
3. Asking for a complete resume walkthrough: Or for design jobs, asking for a complete portfolio walkthrough. This is tedious for the interviewee and just comes off as being lazy — even if you didn’t have the chance to look through everything beforehand, you have the resume/portfolio link on hand to peruse at your own convenience. Instead, ask for a brief background summary and ask about favorite/most challenging projects.
4. Forgetting the “sell”: While appropriate, a “business overview” spiel generally tends to be too dry to get me excited about potentially joining the company. On the other hand, genuine enthusiasm goes a long way and I love when employees tell me in their own words why the place is awesome.
5. Not having personable interviewers: As you evaluate the candidate, he/she is doing the same thing to you. That means that you not only need interviewers who are knowledgeable about the position, but ones who can positively convey the company culture. It’s utterly disappointing for me to enter an interview excited about the product and exit feeling let down by the team/environment.

There’s a large chance I’m merely preaching to the choir here; by no measure do I consider my own interviewing style to be remotely close to perfect. If any of these are part of your regular process, however, it’s probably time to reevaluate the approach.

Tagged: bad interviewers, interviewing