Bound for Success Interviewing- Chapter 6

To start the New Year we will be posting our frequently asked for series on interviewing. It will be broken down over the next six postings. The breakdown will be:
1- Preparing yourself for the interview
2- Doing practice interviews
3- The most often asked questions at an interview
4- What you should bring up at an interview
5- The dynamics of a job interview
6- Understanding the stresses facing the interviewer


STRESSES FACING THE INTERVIEWER

On a job interview, the hiring manager is often seen as holding all of the cards. Since the power to hire rests with the manager, it is easy for you, the job aspirant, to feel intimidated. Just anticipating the interview can generate a high degree of tension. It is valuable, therefore, to diffuse this stress by looking at some of the pressures that are bearing upon the person making the decision.

A common source of pressure and tension facing the manager is the calendar. Most of the time, they have a deadline to meet. As much as they might like to wait to find the perfect person for the position, it is seldom possible. They are obligated to find the best possible candidate for the job by a certain date.

It is also easy for selection “mistakes” to come back and haunt the interviewer. If a manager hires someone who turns out to be a disaster, they are going to end up looking very bad in the eyes of their co-workers and superiors.

Hiring a “mistake” can cost a manager a promotion. They have demonstrated bad judgment, and this bad judgment is now having an adverse effect on their company due to the addition of this inappropriate new employee. Employing the wrong person for a position can cost a company thousands of dollars. First, orientation and training costs are enormous, then there is the lag time between the point where they are functioning and when they literally start contributing, and finally there is the cost of mistakes, lost business and poor judgment that can cost literally millions of dollars. If the employee does not work out, the costs of training have to be spent again, and the losses show up on the bottom line.

In one or two interviews it is possible for a manager to hire someone who impacts poorly on a company, to cost the firm a great deal of money, to lose their own possible promotions, to be called to account and in general become eligible for a whole new set of troubles and problems. It is a very big challenge and decision.

So, keep in mind that while you may be nervous about your interview, there are very real pressures confronting the interviewer as well.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

A THANK YOU LETTER.
Often, the person who sends a thank you note gets the job, as the simple courtesy makes them stand out from other job applicants. Sending this letter is one of the most essential steps in the whole job-seeking process, and the most frequently overlooked. Use the letter to restate any positive points you want to make about yourself (or to include any important information you may have forgotten to emphasize), and again express your interest in the position.