Kathy Phillips is
trying to find a job in Philadelphia as an attorney with a
family-law firm. She’s well-respected in the legal community
and earns interviews, but isn’t getting any offers.
"I think I’m too honest," she says. "I know I don’t have as
much experience as other candidates, so I tell interviewers
that I’ll work harder." While Ms. Phillips wins points for
candor, she doesn’t stand out in interviews from the
competition.
Not making a memorable impression on hiring managers is a
critical mistake. Of course, if you fail to develop rapport
with an interviewer, there’s little you can do. And there are
lots of other interviewing gaffes from which recovery is
almost impossible, ranging from not making eye contact and
giving monosyllabic responses to having an open zipper or
wearing clashing plaids. People who truly bomb in interviews,
however, tend to recognize their mistakes and try not to
repeat them. More serious problems arise for candidates who
interview passably, but never seem to earn offers – and don’t
know why.
Mike Horton, a benefits administrator with Dun & Bradstreet
Corp. in New York, says he volunteered to help a candidate
recently who was frustrated at his inability to generate job
offers. Mr. Horton peppered the candidate with questions about
the value he might add to the company and why he wanted a
sales position. The man was tongue-tied, then quiet. He shyly
smiled that didn’t know how to answer such point-blank
questions. "If you can’t tell me why I should hire you, you’ve
lost your chance," Mr. Horton told him.
Are you
Nondescript?
If you’ve had lots of interviews but no offers, you may be a
so-so interviewee and not know it. In fact, you may even enjoy
interviewing, since hiring managers usually are pleasant
conversationalists. But that doesn’t mean they’ll hire you.
Never mistake a meeting in which an interviewer listens well
for a good interview. One candidate recently left a company
euphoric about her interview. She was positive she’d be
selected for a challenging position with an international
shipping firm, since the interviewer appeared to be genuinely
interested in her. Soon after, the hiring manager said the
applicant failed to make the cut because she didn’t exhibit
leadership qualities. Instead, she focused on her accounting
skills, a talent not relevant to the job.
The candidate’s misstep could have been avoided if she’d
thought about the position from the interviewer’s perspective.
She didn’t make a case for why she should be hired, nor did
she consider whether she’d really be happy in a job that
didn’t involve accounting.
"Claims on your resume of having a skill are no longer
enough," says Paul Mattioli, an assistant group manager with
Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. in New York. "In a nutshell, show
me, don’t tell me."
