Tips For the Job Seeker

By Julie Adamen

We spent some time earlier this year discussing professional success through recognizing and acting upon opportunity as it presents itself. A part of being able to act upon opportunity in the job market, naturally, has to go through the process of interviewing.

For some people, interviewing for a job is right up there with root canal and childbirth in terms of painful experiences. Most of this seems to be a fear of the unknown, at the least, a fear of the “seldom experienced.” But you interview so seldom, how do you prepare or practice for the interview process? Here are some basics on interviewing, and then some thoughts on how you can feel more comfortable when it’s your turn to interview!  

The Interview and Professional Confidence.

Know your stuff. If you are applying for a position, which should be considered a lateral move, you should already know your stuff, and the stuff they expect you to know. What you don’t know, be ready to answer why you should be considered for this position. Knowing your stuff means you have the right experience and designations for the job. That means professional education because it keeps you current.

Know About Them. Learn as much as you can about the association or the Management Company or vendor to whom you are applying. Know as much as you can about the position for which you are interviewing. Know about the company or corporate culture of the firm, and decide whether or not you think you would be a fit. Learning about other firms or associations is networking at its best: Information to be used when you need it most. Remember, you are an asset to their firm because you know what you bring to the table, and you know what’s on their table.

Professional Confidence is gained through experience, education and networking. Staying within a carefully structured comfort zone seldom gives people the professional confidence they need to nail an interview.

The Interview and your Presentation

For women: Suit or slacks/skirt and a jacket. Skirts should be just above the knee, please, and no shorter. No low cut tops, and please nothing screamingly loud. If you have long hair, put it up or tie it back. If you have anything visible that is, or are, pierced besides your ears (and only one hole, maybe two) it’s not something you want to draw attention to, and, if you get the job, you may never want to draw attention to in the workplace. If you have hair that has some odd colors in it (like big chunks of red, blonde, green, purple), you may want to re-think your fashion statement. Make-up should be simple. Bag the heavy eye shadow and heavy perfume. Really long fingernails painted blue with decals on them are usually not recommended for interview.

For Men: Suit or sport coat and tie. Beard/mustaches neat and trimmed. If you have long hair, tie it back. Regarding visible piercing, hair colorings and heavy cologne usage, see above.  Once you have the position, you will be able to determine what, if any, of your fashion choices are appropriate to your particular workplace.

For Everyone: Remember that you do not want your “look” to compliment you, not overpower you.  Any mode of dress or personal fashion statement that speaks louder than you do is not in your best interest while interviewing. Let’s face it; we should “look” the part as you dress for success.

Are you current? (Not to be confused with ‘trendy’).  Just a thought for us middle-aged men and women: As we get older, sometimes we get so busy with jobs, kids, spouses and what have you, we forget to take care of ourselves, or, we lose sight of the fact that “HEY! I really don’t look that great in low rider pants anymore!”  As far as appearance goes, ask yourself: Do I look current?  Now, I don’t mean you have spiky hair (or a nose ring, see above!), but more of an inventory of your personal presentation such as: Have you changed the style of your glasses in the past 10 years? 20 years? Do you have the same hairstyle you had when the movie “Purple Rain” came out? Is your best outfit one you purchased in 1989?  Get thee to a stylist, optometrist or the mall!  Although we are not an ageist business, if you look as if you aren’t keeping yourself up, how does an interviewer think you will be able to keep up with the industry?

Appearance boils to being professional enough to understand appropriate personal presentation. How many times have you attended an industry function, luncheon, or educational seminar and seen a colleague dressed in an inappropriate manner? Maybe the skirt was way too short, or they were in jeans and a plaid shirt when it should have been khakis and a golf shirt, or a sport coat and tie?  When you regularly network with your peers, you develop an understanding of what may or may not be appropriate in terms of attire.  But, in our business, when in doubt, be conservative in your appearance.

The Interview and Your Attitude

Aside from you appearance, the first thing interviewers notice will be your attitude and physical demeanor.  Are you engaged in the interview, and in your profession? Are you open to the questions, answering in a positive manner and asking complementing questions? Are you upbeat about your profession? Are you upbeat about your current or past employers? Are you professional in your questions, and your responses to their questions? Is your attitude that of a valuable resource to this company or association, or one that indicates you might be a liability? Your body language and attitude in an interview says a lot about what type of person you are, and gives the interviewer distinct clues and insights in to who you are and whether or not you “fit” with their organization. A few specific tips:

• Introduce yourself to each interviewer. When you walk in to the room, give a firm handshake with eye contact to each interviewer[1] and state your name. Smile.

• Sit with confidence. Feet on the ground or crossed at the knee. Take up space; don’t try to sink in your chair. Chin up, ready to go. Relaxed and sure of what you bring to this interview.

• Don’t play with hair or body parts. Don’t bite your fingernails, or pick at your hands, ears, face, clothes, shoes, or anywhere else. Men, leave your mustaches/beards alone. Ladies, DO NOT TOUCH YOUR HAIR. These actions are distracting to the interviewer. Most of these behaviors are nervous habits; however we must deal with them. Keep your hands folded on the table or your lap, if you must. 

• Take three seconds before answering questions. You know, a little dead airspace never hurt anyone. Allowing yourself even this short amount of time before firing off an answer will 1) allow you to think about what you are going to say, 2) make you appear (and be) more thoughtful in your answers, 3) keep you from speaking at a breakneck pace (a problem with many women, yours truly included), 4) allow you to focus and make eye contact with the interviewer(s).

• Use your “newscaster” voice. Actually this goes across the board in the business world. Listen to good, professional newscasters, male and female. When they speak, they always allow their voice to go lower towards the end of a sentence. It’s comes across as professional and serious, but not stuffy. If your statements sound like questions because your voice goes up at the end of each sentence, you sound somewhat akin to a 13-year-old girl, not someone being hired to manage millions of dollars in real estate.

Being able to present yourself in a professional and cognizant manner is crucial to having a successful interview. If you think you don’t get any practice at this, think again: Every time you go to a Board meeting, you are (or should be) presenting yourself in just the way you would at an interview. In fact, each Board meeting can be construed as an “interview,” what you have done, where you are going, and what you bring to the (ultimate) employer – your Board.

If you want even more experience – start speaking on a more public basis. Join Toastmasters, provide your firm or association with a training session led by you, and speak at a local CAI event.  The more experience you have, the more self confident you will feel - and will not only appear to be engaged and upbeat, you will be engaged and upbeat.

What to bring.

It’s ok to bring your “stuff” to an interview. Extra copies of your resume and references, samples of your work like spreadsheets, newsletters, Board packages, etc., letters or emails commending your work, certificates showing your designations and the like. If it’s appropriate, you can hand them out, if not, you may leave them in a packet with your interviewer(s).

The unexpected.

Well, it happens. You think you are going to a regular, straight up, one-on-one interview, and it turns out to be three or more interviewers, they make you take a personality test and then “role play” where you have to be a Barca Lounger. I find most of this stuff pretty ridiculous, but if it happens to you, be flexible and relax. There is nothing you can do to stop it, and if you walk out, you for sure won’t get the job.  You have nothing to lose, and you may learn something about yourself, or about them, or about how you will want to conduct interviews in the future.

The realization that interviewing is something for which you can prepare isn’t something we usually think about. Everyday, we are given the opportunity to pay attention to our peers, participate on a higher level in our industry, and gain professional skill and confidence in our presentation and ourselves. Everyday, we can choose to accept those opportunities and hone our skills not only for the interview process, but also for our own professional development. Who knows? It may result in a great performance review and get you that promotion you have been wanting!