Karate (Interviews): September 2007 Archives
WARNING: If you have ever conducted a number of interviews in a given day, or for a specific position over a number of days, you may not want to read this. The experiences described herein may evoke facial twitches, blinding migraines and instant balding due to flashback. You have been warned. Your hairline is in your own hands now.
Let's talk about big picture interview strategy. You've got your resume polished to a mirror shine, your suit looks like something from which Giorgio Armani might draw inspiration, and when you smile the daisies bloom. Great. Your visual and preemptive presentation are dialed in. Feel good; you deserve it.
So how about the interview? If you're as prepared as Johnny (or Janet) On-The-Spot here, the smart money says that you've also been practicing your interviewing skills. Here's where it gets important. These skills probably include responses to specific questions dealing with your position. If you're lucky (or a tricksy little Career Ninja!) you may even have come across a copy of the exact questions you will be asked. Excellent!!!
You have, however, never been in greater danger.
Why, you ask? Because the Ninja that spars with the same opponent each day will be dealt a sore blow the first time he is thrown a new blow. This is doubly true of your interview. I have seen this happen to a number of my clients, ranging from a entry-level college near-graduate to an interview for a Vice President position within one of the largest news networks in the U.S. You walk into the interview with A++ answers to the ten questions that you're sure they are going to answer, and you walk out with C- answers to the 8 questions they actually asked. Devastating.
The key is to practice concepts, not specifics, and to have five very specific examples ready, each of which could apply to a few different ideas. It's the difference between Erica (candidate A) and Angelina (candidate B)
Candidate A: Prepared for the interview question, "Please provide a specific example of a time in which you motivated a team to improve less-than-projected sales numbers while simultaneously focusing on morale." Erica has an extremely well thought-out description of the example situation and has rehearsed the answer to this specific question to near Miss America-level perfection.
Candidate B: Prepared for interview questions that involve specific concepts such as leadership, driving morale, motivating sales, and diversity. Angelina has sat down and laid out five clearly though-out examples of times in which she shone through each of these key managerial challenges.
If (when) the interview question changes, even only slightly and in the wording, there is a good chance that Erica will be the deer and the interviewer will be the semi, if even for only a moment of perceived panic. Angelina, however, having practiced in a medium of versatility, will have been anticipating only that she cannot anticipate the question, and will be much more relaxed and prepared in her answering of it.
Focus on preparing your responses around concepts, not specifics, and you will also be able to calmly and effectively answer question that are more peripheral. The candidate that prepares for questions involving leading teams will be able to seamlessly segue into an answer about how individual affect the team dynamic, and vice versa, by discussing many of the ideas covered by the initial preparation.
Because, after all, the successful Ninja knows that you cannot know where the blow will fall until it is thrown.
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