If the past is a predictor of the future, then each new year
should start with an abundance of career choices, giving both job candidates
and hiring executives numerous opportunities to get acquainted.
Think “Audition” not
“Interview”
Too often, people treat interviews and introductory meetings as exceptional experiences with unique and artificial rules. This kind of thinking creates superficial grounds for discovery. Instead, think of what can be gained by treating first encounters as offering representative samples of behavior rather than platforms for persuasive arguments.
Both hiring executives and candidates need to discern
quickly what it might be like to work with the other person.
Candidates Beware
Given today’s climate of talent wars, candidates who are too
taken with themselves because they know they are in demand can end up tripping
on themselves.
Upon first introductions, it can be all too easy for
candidates to move into their worst evaluative postures as they meet potential
colleagues. It is important to be aware that those who immediately begin
critically sizing up the potential employer will telegraph a negatively-charged
“purchasing agent” mindset rather than presenting a positive, consultative
selling posture.
Instead, candidates fare better entering into each
introduction as though they are already happily on the team. Candidates should
be auditioning how they naturally function at work on a daily basis, showing
that they can comfortably share the same side of the desk with their new employers.
This means entering the interview as allies of the hiring team, imagining a
layout of the field of challenges spread out before them.
Next, they should collegially explore the organization’s
current situation, what previously transpired and what can be anticipated in
the future. That way, prospects will “audition” using a very natural and
inviting approach rather than acting with an artificial “interview-like” flair.
Vantage Point of the
Hiring Executive
Let’s also take a look at these encounters from the
standpoint of hiring executives.
Interviewers can learn much more by soliciting questions
from the candidates rather than simply quizzing them about their employment
histories. By their very nature, questions raised by candidates tend to yield more
valuable information about behaviors and perceptions than do their answers to
questions asked by interviewers.
We’re on the Same
Team
To skilled professionals, all of this may sound obvious. The
reason for reinforcing these observations lies in the stilted nature of the
meeting called an “interview.” The process is greatly improved and more
rewarding when all involved decide that this gathering is a familiar, common
event. It’s just another garden variety meeting, rather than a hurdle that
needs to be crossed. The best exchanges occur when both parties presume they
are already working on the same team.
Imagine the changed outcomes if candidates and hiring
executives would look forward to greeting friends at the table. With this
mindset, there is much to be gained and little to lose. This way, if
participants should decide not to proceed forward, at least they will have made
a new friend.
And one can never have too many friends.
