I know I didn’t first start thinking about this topic when I was interviewing a long time ago. I even forgot about during some of the “test interviews” I did for this information I am sharing with you. But, it really is important to consider why a company is actually interviewing you.
So, where were you on the
night of May 1st, 1997?Think about it, it costs them a lot of time, money, and resources to dedicate 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, or several days on determining whether or not you’re a good fit. Now, they have to prove to everyone along the chain that this effort is a good return on investment (ROI). There are thousands of dollars sunk on an employee within the first couple of weeks of hire in training, setting things up, and getting things working right.
They really do have to make sure they pick the right candidate because it can either make or break a position. If the company is particularly small (
So, understand that if you don’t know the four reasons why a company is interviewing you, you just might be setting yourself up for failure. Let’s go through them so you can succeed.
1) To Test Your Qualifications
If you are applying for a position that requires specific knowledge in a certain type of electronics or mechanical doodad, but you don’t specifically have experience with it, chances are when they ask you about it one, you won’t be able to answer their question in detail. Also, you’re probably fumbling around with the words and you just won’t be able to prove, “hey, you’ve had legitimate experience with that particular hardware.” At some positions this might not matter, but it’s a great way for a company to screen for people that aren’t actually experts on a particular product line.
In some industries it’s very important and for others it may not be as critical to have a PhD expert. But testing for qualifications on those specific types of questions is one excellent way that an interviewer can screen on the phone or in person.
2) Communication Skills
I’ve had many interviewers on the phone and in person say one of the reasons they actually just want to get you on the phone is so they can test whether or not you can communicate well. This is especially important if it’s a very important skill for the position, like sales, technical support, or any customer/client facing position.
If you can’t communicate to the interviewer well in a nervous, high stakes, and basically unknown condition, chances are you might not be able to do it with clients very well either. So they test this and this is a perfect setting to prove whether or not you can communicate well. If you can’t communicate well, practice. If you can, you’ll shine — congrats!
3) Behavioral Response
Be careful when they throw out questions like “what’s your best quality,” “what’s your worst quality,” “what’s one lesson that you could’ve learned by doing x,” and these kinds of things. They’re not always entirely interested in the content of your answer, but they are definitely interested in how you respond and where the story leads along the way.
If it’s in phone it’s a little bit more difficult to read body language, expressions, and the routine you go through to get your answer. But in person, it’s especially telling when they ask you these difficult, soft skills type questions. It’s for them to see your response and to figure out is this response typical to someone that we’ve had in the past or a type of person that won’t be successful in this position?
If so, might not be a great fit. These are things to think about. There may not be anything you can do directly and immediately about your body language, but just know that you shouldn’t flip out at these behavioral questions. Just stay calm, practice some of the more difficult ones, and have a good short four to five sentence max response to things that would normally trip you up.
4) Overall Interest
If you just fly through the questions that they’re giving you and you don’t seem too entirely interested or aren’t really paying attention to the things that are going on, then they’re going to be able to tell. Whether that’s just kind of a ‘mhm’ or ‘uh-huh’ every 30 seconds or so or you’re nodding off to sleep.
It’s just not a way someone that’s enthused or interested in a position goes about showing that interest. If you meet a random person that’s telling you about the most awesome thing to you in the world, chances are you’re going to react in an excited, interested, and happy manner that shows, yeah I do care about what you’re saying and what you’re offering to me. This becomes very evident during an interview, so keep that in mind.
There’s No Need to Fail — Now You Know
Knowing the four main reasons why a company wants to interview you will set you up on the path to success for your next interview. If you keep in mind that they are using an interview to test your qualifications, test your communication skills, test your behavioral response, and test your overall interest level, then you’ll be well on your way to being prepared. This is applicable to phone interviews, in-person interviews, panel and group interviews, and just about any type of situation where someone is offering you a very large portion of company involvement.
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