Why job interviews are a two-way street
It's Saturday and as reluctant as Brandon Reviere and myself are to be working away in the office, we both have decided that this is what we needed to do to find the next 'Marketing Eye'.
Brandon is our incredibly talented Art Director in Atlanta and is instrumental in deciding who the two new team members in the Atlanta office are going to be.
We have done a few interviews over the past day, and there are a few things that we both would love to share.
Interviews are a two-way street
If you have taken the time to come to a job interview, be prepared. As much as you want to learn about us, we want to learn about you. "By the questions you ask, you learn more about the company and yourself than about the interviewee," says Brandon Reviere. "You find out what you want in that person and how your company presents itself."
Brandon is our incredibly talented Art Director in Atlanta and is instrumental in deciding who the two new team members in the Atlanta office are going to be.
We have done a few interviews over the past day, and there are a few things that we both would love to share.
Interviews are a two-way street
If you have taken the time to come to a job interview, be prepared. As much as you want to learn about us, we want to learn about you. "By the questions you ask, you learn more about the company and yourself than about the interviewee," says Brandon Reviere. "You find out what you want in that person and how your company presents itself."
Ask questions off the cuff
If you are well-prepared, it is sometimes more telling if you ask questions off the cuff that are unprepared, than sticking to a line of questioning. Allowing a conversation to flow and take its own direction gives more breathing space to allowing the person your interviewing to share their thoughts, aspirations and personality.
What someone doesn't say, says more about them than what they do
After a telephone interview where the conversation was disjointed, we realized that perhaps the person may not be the best person for the job. In marketing you are required to communicate and often when meeting with clients or prospects, you are forced to fill in the gaps. If you are unable to communicate effectively in a job interview, then perhaps communications is not your strongest point. Body language is always pertinent to any job interview. Many HR directors and business owners have invested in learning how to cold read people, so if your body language isn't talking the same language as what is coming out of your mouth, often the interviewer can see straight through it. Vice versa, if the person interviewing shows disinterested body language, it can throw the entire interview into disarray.
Have your game face on
Last night I was talking to my friend Doreen and she mentioned that she was seeing a tennis coach to assist her with her professional skills and ensuring that she is psychologically prepared for business meetings. What a great idea! The same method of preparing for game day as a professional athlete, and being pscyhed to produce your best performance is a skill that also can be utilized in job interviews. From a company perspective, we are presenting our brand to a potential brand ambassador that will hopefully create positive word of mouth marketing for Marketing Eye whether they get the job or not. It is imperative that we communicate our brand, our message and our company culture in its best light. Likewise, an interviewee is presenting their personal brand. How they answer questions and whether or not they get flustered or unsure of themselves when asked the hard questions affects what the people interviewing them thinks of their brand. Always good to remember.
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