Page 95 - John Kador - 201 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview-McGraw-Hill (2002)

INTERVIEW THE INTERVIEWER

bered? Right. The poor HR screener who missed the candidate’s signs of
pathology that, in retrospect, were as glaring as a Times Square bill-
board. The result? If an HR screener has the slightest hesitation about
you or your interview, she (HR screeners are overwhelmingly women)
will simply go on to the next candidate. Given the economy and the
large number of qualified candidates competing for each position these
days, HR people won’t hesitate to move on if you give them any reason
to question your desirability as a candidate.
So your first strategy is to not give them any doubt about your appli-
cation. To do that you must be immediately interested, positive, and lik-
able. Confidence is important, but avoid cockiness. Remember, your
starting salary will always be higher—sometimes dramatically higher—
than the salary of the interviewer. Don’t give the interviewer another ex-
cuse to dislike you.

ALLY WITH THE HR INTERVIEWER
Your second strategy is to win the HR interviewer as an ally. If you treat
the HR interviewer as an impediment rather than as a person, you con-
vey arrogance and rudeness. Your attitude also raises questions about
your ability to work with every person on the team. So in the interview,
you will make yourself look attractive by genuinely caring about the HR
person’s opinion. Listen thoughtfully and gratefully. Treat the HR per-
son with respect, knowing HR’s contributions as well as HR’s limita-
tions in the decision-making process. Don’t lay it on too thick, but if you
do it well, the HR person will tend to move your application to the thin
pile that says “maybe” instead of the thick pile marked “no way.”
In other words, your strategy in interviewing with HR is to satisfy
your interviewer that if he or she passes your file to the hiring manager
and you subsequently get the job, there will be no possibility that you
will embarrass him or her. To do that, you need to persuade the HR per-
son of three things:

• That you are qualified to do the job
• That you want to do the job
• That if given the job, you will fit in

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