Did you know that your questions are more important than your answers when on interview?
“I was disappointed I was not offered the job as I was able to answer all the questions”.
As a headhunter I have often received this disappointed reaction. The flaw is where the candidate understandably interpreted the interview as a ‘question time’ session. The more questions they answered correctly, the more likely they would be short-listed for the role.
But stand back for a moment and rethink the process. When I invite a candidate for interview, I have read your CV in detail. I am aware of your technical ability, your education and experience and I have decided that all these attributes match the profile of my job description. But what I don’t know is your personality. Are you friendly, truculent, articulate, talkative, relaxed, nervous, ambitious, confident, arrogant, focused, distracted? These are a selection of the common traits we demonstrate consciously or accidentally whilst being interviewed.
An experienced interviewer will have identified the particular personality qualities needed to successfully perform the duties and responsibilities. For example, if a software engineer manifests a quiet, reactive persona then that would be regarded, by the recruiter, as compliant with the personality type they are seeking. If I am seeking to recruit a Business Developer, I would expect them to be conversational and highly interactive.
But however taciturn or outgoing you are, it is important to ask intelligent and relevant questions about the role, for example the key tasks, duties and responsibilities, the major challenges and perhaps the scope of the role. The quality and relevance of your questions demonstrates your understanding of the role and, by implication,your ability to successfully perform the tasks.
I have devised a unique interview coaching template which capitalises on this important emphasis and looks at interviewing from a different perspective. I redefine an interview as an opportunity to perform rather than a situation to be tested. This new approach has achieved an over 80% success rate for many thousands of candidates who received job offers.
The Interview Coaching Template is outlined on the jobcoach.org.uk website.
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