142: The Art and Science of Interviewing with Jenn Smith

Welcome back to the Career Clarity Show! Jenn Smith, Career Clarity coach and your host for today’s episode of the podcast is talking all about the art and science of the job interview, specifically how to conquer your next interview with poise and purpose. Jenn is going to walk through three things: how to view interviewing, the different types of interviews and how to prep for each stage, and finally, applying frameworks towards your next interview.

Show Notes:

• Top 3 Most Common Interview Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
• Phone Screen Advice
• Prepare for a Second Round Interview
• LinkedIn: Jenn Smith
• Instagram: Flourish Careers
• Roadmap to a Fulfilling Career eBook

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Transcript

Lisa Lewis Miller  0:04   

Welcome to the Career Clarity Show. If you want to create a career path you’ll love, you’re in the right place. I’m Lisa Lewis Miller, career change coach, published author and your host, and each week, we’ll bring you personal transformation stories, advice and insights from experts about how you can find a more fulfilling, soulful and joyful career.

Jenn Smith  0:30  

Welcome to the Career Clarity Show. I’m Jen Smith, Career Clarity Show coach and your host for today’s episode of the podcast. Today, we’re talking all about the art and science of the job interview, specifically how to conquer your next interview with poise and purpose. So I’m going to walk you through three things. First, recognizing that interviewing is a combination of mindset and strategy. Then you’ll learn the different types of interviews and how to prep for each stage. And finally, we’ll wrap up with the applying the frameworks we talked about today towards your next interview. Before we dive into the content, I wanted to share a quick story that leads to one of the reasons I love this work so much. And this story is particularly tied to my own personal experience. So this interview experience was for my first job post college graduation. I have to say that this was a fantastic organization and some of the best leaders that I’ve ever worked with in my career up until this day, although their hiring and onboarding process at the time was more like what not to do. So this particular job was in a manufacturing facility in Binghamton, New York. It was for a frontline supervisor in a manufacturing facility. I’m from Buffalo. So Binghamton is about three and a half hours away. Just like most interview processes, we started with a phone screen. And I remember this like it was yesterday, I was in the house I grew up in I’m standing by the phone waiting for it to ring ready for my first phone interview. I answered the phone when it rang. And the first thing the gentleman on the other end said to me, was, you know, the sun never shines in Binghamton. And I thought, oh, my gosh, what am I getting myself into? And my response was, Well, the sun never shines in Buffalo either. And apparently, that broke the ice because I made it through that first initial phone interview. Although I will say it was definitely felt nerve wracking and intimidating right from the start.

From there, I was invited on site for an all day interview. So I drove out to Binghamton, and I call this interview the survivor like interview. So there was about 15 of us recent graduates from all different schools from all over the country. And we started our interviews exactly at 8am. And it started with a presentation about results, results results. There was a gentleman up in the front of the room, and he was almost yelling at us about how we have to get results. And I thought, Oh, my goodness, once again, what am I getting myself into. And then, after the presentation, we broke off into one on one interviews kind of like a round robin, we all went with somebody different. We came back to the hospitality room for lunch. They interviewed us over lunch put us in small groups. We had a talk about what we would do in different situations. And then after lunch, we went back into round robins. And by the end of the day, there was two of us left. So literally as the day was going on, they were letting people go or getting voted off the island as the day went on. And by the end of the day, there were two of us left. And I said gosh, if I get this offer after this entire day of interviewing, I feel like I have to take it. So I did. I took the job and I moved to Binghamton, New York. Binghamton is a lovely place to live and raise a family. Although there isn’t so much for a recent college graduate, especially around the area of finding an apartment. So there was not a lot of apartments for someone like me to live in. So it took a while and I eventually had to work with a realtor to find an apartment. But my apartment wasn’t going to be ready for when I had to start my job. And as a recent college graduate, I did not have extra money to stay in a hotel for a few weeks. So my realtor buddy offered for me to stay in her spare bedroom. This was before Airbnb was ever a thing, and I’m a pretty introverted person. So this felt exceptionally uncomfortable. So starting your first job is hard enough, let alone living with a stranger. So this whole process was a rough start to my career right out of college. Nonetheless, I started my job. I moved into my apartment when it was ready and it all worked out. But my goodness, it was a rough time. So from this survivor like interview process to a lack of corporate housing that led to living with my realtor throughout my first week, I vowed to make the hiring experience much more welcoming for jobseekers, if I was ever provided the chance, and as luck would have it, that opportunity presented itself over and over again, throughout my career. As both an HR leader, a talent acquisition leader and a career coach, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and coaching 1000s of people at this point. And personally, I think interview prep is one of the best ways to leverage a career coach, which is why I’m so excited to share this information with you today. So again, my objective is to provide you with three lessons to ace your next interview with poise and purpose. What I’ve learned through the years interviewing 1000s of people is that interviewing is an insider job. It is a combination of your mindset, which is the art and strategy, which is the science, I know that the experience of interviewing can be very intimidating and awkward. But if you take the time to both prep your mindset and your strategy, the experience can be much less intimidating, and maybe even enjoyable. I recently did a poll on social media and found out that 91% of people that responded would more likely go to a dentist appointment, then an interview. I get it. Interviewing is not something most people look forward to so much though they would prefer to go to the dentist over an interview. Although we all know that interviewing is necessary to landing your next best role, not unlike going to the dentist is essential to maintaining good health. So let’s start by getting clear on the goals of an interview from both the employers perspective, as well as you as a job seeker.

So the employers goal is quite simple out of an interview, they want to know two things. One, can you get the job done? So an assessment of your skills, abilities and knowledge? And then two, how are you going to work with my team are you going to be able to come in, roll your sleeves up, jump in and solve all of our problems. So there are a number of ways that the employer will assess this. And we will talk through this as we go throughout this episode. As a job seeker, your goal is simple, two things, one for the employer to see you as a future colleague. And then to you should be evaluating the company and the team. As much as they’re evaluating you. You want to make sure you are going to feel comfortable and feel fulfilled in this work environment. It’s kind of like dating. So when you go on an interview, it’s kind of like going on a first date. It’s really just an initial meeting between two people. And it’s really an effort to get to know each other. Just like a date should be a two way conversation. And interview should also be an engaging two way conversation. It is not a solo performance with a spotlight on you. You should be evaluating the company as much as they’re evaluating you. So step one in transforming your mindset is to notice, what are you telling yourself before an interview? Do you have an inner critic? Or do you have an inner coach, I met with a client for an interview prep coaching session. And before he even introduced himself to me, he kicked off the conversation by sharing 10 Plus reasons why he’s allows the interviewer and how he’s never going to get the job. Trust me, if you approach the interview with 10 Plus reasons about why you’re not going to get the job, you are not going to get the job. So conquering your interview will require you to transform your mindset. And you can kind of think of one of your favorite coaches. So I grew up playing softball, and my coach was always there cheering me on, I would get up to bat and he would tell me to knock it out of the park. He’s not going to stand up there and tell me to strike out. A coach is not going to tell you how terrible you are and how you’re not going to pass the interview. So instead of approaching your interviewer with the mindset that you’re going to strike out, try resetting your mindset and about approach it as a business conversation, you should be interviewing the employer as much as they’re interviewing you. So step one is noticing whether or not you have an inner critic or an inner champion. And if you do notice that inner critic, switch it over to an inner champion, or an inner coach or an inner cheerleader. Step two, in preparing your mindset is to lead with a service mentality. So a lot of times I talk with job seekers, and I asked them what they’re looking for in their career. And they tell me, they want to help people, they want to make an impact. And so what better way to showcase this then in an interview, so you can approach the conversation with a service money mindset, thinking about how you can make their lives easier, what are you going to do to support the team? How are you going to close that gap that they’re experiencing right now, as they’re trying to fill an open roll. So approach it with that service mentality about how you’re going to roll up your sleeves and help the team. Step three in preparing your mindset is to position yourself as a high value hire from all your initial touch points. So this starts with your intro emails, even back and forth with a recruiter throughout the interview process. And in your follow up, you consistently want to show up and leave the impression they need you on the team. So showcase a fresh and new perspective, bring enthusiasm and bring creativity throughout the process. As a recap of preparing your mindset, your goal is for the employer to see you as a future colleague, your employer’s goal is to assess your skills and ability for the job. You want to reset your mindset by turning your inner critic into an inner champion. You want to approach the conversation like a business conversation and evaluate them as much as they’re evaluating you lead with a service mindset and position yourself as a high value, hire throughout the process, showcase enthusiasm, bring that fresh and new perspective. So now we want to get into the strategy.

Having an awareness of each stage of the interview process is critical to make the most use out of your time when you are interviewing. So when job seekers get interviews, I know they get super excited. And it just turns into kind of like this tornado, and they feel like they have to do all the things all at once. But really, you can break it down depending on the round of interview and the stage of the interview process you’re in, in order to use your time wisely and strategically. So typically, there are at least three rounds of interviews. It starts with a phone screen. This is the gatekeeper, you must take it seriously. Sometimes I work with folks and they think oh, I just have a 15 minute call with a recruiter no big deal. Let me tell you, this is a big deal. This is what’s going to get you past and into the first round of interviews. So take it seriously. It’s typically a 15 to 30 minute phone discussion, usually conducted by a recruiter. And they’re going to ask you very straightforward or standard questions things like why did you apply for the job? Or what is your availability to start? Maybe some standard questions like What are your strengths and weaknesses, they might ask about salary requirements. So you want to be prepared for those standard types of questions in this initial screen. After the phone screen, you will move to a first round interview, you are one step closer. And so this is usually a much more detailed discussion, usually lasting 45 to 60 minutes. And typically it’s conducted by a hiring manager, otherwise known as your future boss or some other decision maker, they are going to get deep here. So they’re going to ask you behavioral or situational based interview questions and you want to be prepared with your stories and we will talk about that next. second round interview is the real deal. So this is a in depth discussion, usually lasting an hour or it could be a series of interviews. These are usually conducted with a panel of team members, decision makers or the hiring manager. And they’re going to get into detail about how you would perform on the job. So very specifics around if you are in a technical role, it will be very technical. If you are not in a technical role, it most likely will be again situational or behavioral. And then finally, the third round or the final round is the decision making route. So this is Usually when it comes down to two or three candidates, at this point, you should have gained in depth knowledge about the company and the culture. This could potentially be a face to face meeting if you haven’t met folks face to face. It’s also an opportunity to meet other co workers on the team. This is usually another situation where you’re going to be asked behavioral questions or detailed information about what you’ve done in the past as it relates to the job. And again, you want to make sure that you get all your questions answered and be able to make your final decision around whether or not you want to move forward with the with a potential offer. And then finally, you have the decision, the job offer. And so typically, this is contingent on a background check, or a drug test. And you want to make sure you get it in writing to review all the details, and make sure you have a chance to negotiate. And that includes everything that you were hoping for. Of course, depending on the job, there could be other things included in the interview process. So there could be assessments, or presentations, or tests or key studies. This is just the typical, these are just the typical stages. For the face to face or phone interviews. The types of questions you might get asked are probably not going to be the same for each stage in the process. And I found it best to share some examples. And so that’s what I’m going to do here. I’m going to give you a quick example of three of the most common types of interview questions. So we have standard questions, situational questions, and behavioral type questions. So if I was interviewing for a talent acquisition leadership role, standard questions might be things like, how many years of experience? Do you have leading talent acquisition teams? How large are the teams that you lead? How many hires did your teams have per year? What locations were those hires, and maybe some soft skill questions like What is your greatest strength? Or what is your greatest weakness as well?

situational questions are literal situations that you might encounter on the job. So again, if I was interviewing for a talent acquisition leadership role, they might say something like, imagine you’re leading a 15 person Talent Acquisition team, and everyone is at max capacity, you’re informed that there are 50, new requisitions being entered into the applicant tracking system right now. Walk me through your upcoming week, including before, during and after the requisitions are entered and ready for distribution. So you can see this is a very real situation that a talent acquisition leader might encounter. And they want to know how you would handle that on the job. The third type of question, and probably the most common are behavioral type of questions. And these usually start with, quote, describe a time when dot dot dot. And the reason these are the most common is that folks understand that past experience is an indicator of future performance. So if we go back to this town acquisition leadership role example, they might say, Tell me about a time when you demonstrated exceptional conflict management skills and talent acquisition leadership capacity, what was the conflict? And how did you resolve it. So again, past experience is an indicator of future performance. So this is why you want to come up with really detailed story responses, to walk them through how you’ve done these things in the past, or how you would handle these particular situations. And I’ll share with you in a moment, a framework on how to do that. In the spirit of preparing, I wanted to share a tiny bit of information on virtual interviews. So virtual interviews are a thing and they will continue to be a thing. And I always say that just because your interview is happening over zoom or WebEx doesn’t mean it’s not a real interview. So you want to plan just like you would for an in person interview. And that starts with your outfit. So you want to dress just like you would for an in person interview from head to toe. Make sure your outfit looks good on camera. Sometimes the specific color or the way that your outfit is showing up on camera. The way that the frame looks could be different than it might look in person. So make sure you check that in the camera before you start your interview. You also want to make sure your setup is optimized. So watch the sunlight in your situation. So if you’re in a room with a lot of lights, depending on the time of day, you could have weird Sun reflections coming in. So I worked with a client and we hopped on zoom right at the time of her interview 24 hours before her interview. And there was very strange stripy lines going across her whole face during the interview. So she had to put curtains and sheets up and all the things to make sure the sunlight wasn’t going to be a distraction. Obviously, you want to have a quiet space and minimize disruptions. If there is a chance you’re going to get interrupted. Because we are all working from home, you can totally let the interviewee or interviewer know. So if you are going to have a puppy, if you have a new puppy, and there’s a puppy in the next room, and it might start barking, just let them know ahead of time that you have a new puppy and they might hear it barking, it’s totally fine. And it will also help minimize your nerves by letting them know ahead of time. Make sure you have optimal eye contact, I can’t tell you, I have seen all the things when it comes to video interviews, I’ve seen people looking sideways, I’ve seen people looking down up all over the place. So make sure you know where your camera is. And you have optimal eye contact. I know it can be weird talking into a you know a laptop camera or a webcam, you have to make sure you know where your camera is, and that you’re coming across in a very professional way. If you are nervous about the tech, you can always ask somebody for a phone number, just in case the tech doesn’t work. And this will also showcase that you’re proactive and will help position you as a high value hire. So just ask your recruiter or point of contact for a phone number just in case things don’t work out.

And of course, especially with virtual interviews, you want to practice in order to cut down on any technical difficulties. You know, take the time to familiarize yourself with the platform. Make sure you know the basics. Record yourself, make sure you know the eye contact situation how you’re going to look. And all of that comes across as professionally as possible. So as a quick recap, typically phone screens are three rounds of interviews plus the decision phase. The types of questions you could plan for are standard questions, situational questions, or behavioral questions. If you have a virtual interview, you want to plan the same way as you would an in person interview. So now that we’ve prepared our mindset, we’ve planned for the different stages of the interviews and the types of questions, it’s time to practice. So going back to this notion of presenting yourself as a high value hire, you want to figure out how you can bring the impression that you are going to solve all of their problems. And the best way to do this is to dissect the job description and figure out what they need and how you can support the team. Research the company find out what they’re looking for. I know some job descriptions are not written the best they might be very general. So if you’re in that situation, ask the question, find people that work there and find out what they’re looking for. If you’re interviewing via word of mouth, and there is no job description, it is up to you to get the details of what that day to day job is going to entail prior to the interview. You can also follow key leaders on social media. Some companies have social media handles where they share very specific job information. So I know Pepsi has at PepsiCo jobs, so you can get out there on the internet and find out as much information as you possibly can before the interview. And once you know what they want or need. You want to prepare and practice accordingly.

So what are the differences that you bring to the table? What differentiates you Why would someone hire you? What are things that you get celebrated for what are the biggest problems you’ve solved for your past employers? So thinking through all of these things, as it relates to the job you’re interviewing for, is going to help set you set you up as that high value hire. Now I want to talk about the elevator pitch because the question the dreaded question that trips people up all the time is the tell me about yourself question. We know that this is likely going to come up at some point in the interview process. Personally, when I interview people, I used it, I used it as an opener it helped break the ice. But what you want to do is make sure your response to this dreaded question is short and sharp and again positions you as a high value hire. You are not regurgitating every single thing you’ve ever done in your career. You are not going to give a play by play history of your career. So the best way I know how to do this is the three is a three parter. formula that we talk about and Career Clarity Show. So it starts with who you are, which is a bold statement about why you’re interested in a particular company, a particular role or an industry. Then it moves to who you are, which talks about your transferable skills or the skills that you’re bringing to the table in the role. And then finally, what you’re looking for. So it’s a three part formula of who you are, what you do and what you’re looking for. Quick example, former client, Jacob was working in the food and beverage manufacturing industry as a quality control technician. And he wanted to move into the outdoor recreation industry as a team leader. So with this formula, this was his elevator pitch. I believe people, especially children spend too much time indoors behind a computer screen. As a quality control technician, I specialize in making smart and thorough business decisions, and leading others through the day to day operation. I’m working on shifting my career into the outdoor recreation industry to support more people and safely and easily spending more time outdoors. So you can hear short and sharp who he is bold statement about why he wants to move into the outdoor recreation industry, a quick overview of what he’s currently doing, and that he shifting his career into the outdoor recreation industry. He also included some of his transferable skills around leading teams and making thorough business decisions. So this is your value proposition. This question can present you as a high value hire as you want to do throughout your interview. and putting the time and effort into preparing and practicing this elevator pitch formula will present you as a high value hire. The second main part in conquering your interview is planning and practicing your stories. Storytelling is powerful, you want to paint the picture with your responses. Storytelling is 22% more memorable than just stating facts. Storytelling connects people to each other, and then invites conversation. So there are many ways to think about your interview stories. There are star stories, there are car stories, my favorite is the O A R version of this. So it’s the objective, the action and the result you achieved. One of the biggest mistakes people make in interviews is talking in generalities instead of storytelling. So I’m going to share an example here using the OCR approach. So I’m just going to use a standard question. And let’s say that I’m a customer service representative. So if someone asked me in an interview, what my greatest strength was a generic response would be something like, my greatest strength is my customer service communication skills.

An example story response starts with the objective. My greatest strength is my customer service communication skills. And then it gets into the actions. For example, when I worked for a tech company, we were on the verge of losing one of our long term customers due to some issues with inventory. I happened to be the customer service rep who answered the phone, when they were particularly upset with us. I spent 30 minutes on the phone, listening to them, letting them get all of their concerns out. From there, one by one, I addressed their concerns and acted immediately on one specific concern that got us a quick win. As a result, my ability to listen and effectively communicate saved us from losing this long term customer. So you can see the difference between the generic response and the story response. The story really elevates you as a candidate for that job. Okay, so finally here. As we wrap up, I wanted to share a note about asking good questions in an interview. It is such a letdown when I hear the same questions asked over and over. Or even worse, when I save time at the end of an interview and someone doesn’t ask any questions. It just makes me feel like they’re not interested in the job. So if you are going through an interview process, and maybe you’re meeting with multiple people, you can always think about the types of work that person does and then ask targeted questions based on their job. So for example, if you’re meeting with your future boss, ask about their leadership philosophy. Or if you’re meeting with human resources, ask about the performance review process or about the company’s retention strategy. If you want to know about company culture, figure out what you really want to know about the culture. Don’t just ask a generic question like describe the company culture. Ask about something more in depth, like maybe something like what makes you proud to work for this company? Or, you know, what are organizational politics, like, you know, what happens when somebody fails? So asking these really pointed questions will get you a peek under the tent, and help you make the most informed decision on whether or not you want to work for the company. And it’s also going to elevate you as a candidate. I have been in 1000s of debrief meetings, and every single time somebody says, Oh, they didn’t ask very good questions, or wow, I was really impressed with the questions that this candidate asked. So asking good questions will help you be memorable. In summary, to conquer your next interview with poise and purpose, you must prepare your mindset, which is the art and build a strategy, which is the science. And you do that by planning for each phase in the process and the types of questions you might get asked. And then finally, you want to practice by perfecting your pitch, and practicing your stories in detail prior to the interview. Showcasing energy and enthusiasm will position you as a high value hire. My favorite interviews are conversations. They are two way discussions where the candidate shows as much enthusiasm for the role as I do about hiring for the role. So you should feel competent to present yourself as someone who will bring more to the table than they ever imagined. So that brings today’s episode to a close. If you found this helpful, I pulled together some resources and we’ll make sure that they are in the show notes. And that’s a wrap for today’s episode. So thank you again for joining us on The Career Clarity Show. As always, you can find the notes from today’s episode at get Career Clarity show.com/podcast. Talk to you next time.

Lisa Lewis Miller  32:14  

And that’s a wrap. Let us know what you thought about today’s episode. Leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Because not only can your stars and words to help us find great guests and topics to future on future episodes. Your input also helps other people find the resources they need to discover the work that lights them up. And make sure to check out my book Career Clarity: Finally Find the Work That Fits Your Values and Lifestyle. For the link to order it go to GetCareerClarity.com/book And don’t forget to get your other tools resources and helpful goodies at GetCareerClarity.com/podcast. Thanks again for joining us for the Career Clarity Show today. And remember, if you don’t love your work, we should talk because life is too short to be doing work that doesn’t light you up. Talk to you next time.