Max Bottaro

Most college aged students have had to deal with interviews at some point during their life. After college, they most certainly will. Whether you seek to be an employee, go to grad school, or take the entrepreneurial path, there will be interviews: with the typical corporate employers, university recruiters, and even potential business partners.

Most people have a negative - or at least non-supportive- schema of interviews: they think “the purpose of the interview is to make the interviewer like me enough so that maybe I can get the job offer”. Sound familiar? Until recently this was pretty close my internal monologue going into an interview. Not only is “trying to get someone to like you” (i.e. trying to impress them) extremely stressful, it is also counter-productive! The purpose of the interview is not to get the interview to like you, it is to explore the possibility of you being a good fit with the company.

When you go into an interview with the notion that “I must to impress the interviewer” you will come across as either desperate or insincere. Neither of these are attractive traits to an employer. Employers look for two things: 1) can this person bring value to the company/university/team 2) Do they fit in with the culture here.
If you try and say whatever you think the employer wants to hear, you are going to lie, bend the truth, or say things that you don’t really believe. It’s strange, but when we say things we don’t really believe, a little conscious bug in our brains starts yelling at us “You liar!” — this little voice is so distracting that we start to sound weak and unconvincing. Our tonality and prosody changes; we use vague terminology. On the other hand, if we believe what we are saying, we can say it with confidence; and confidence sells. The best salespeople in the world believe in their product. In an interview, you are the product: believe in yourself and what you are saying.

Aside from sounding confident, the other benefit of being honest in an interview is you won’t sound like you are trying to impress the recruiter. When you try to impress someone, be it a group of friends or a hot date, it comes across very clearly. Either consciously or subconsciously the other person will pick up on this needy behavior and slot you lower in the social hierarchy chain (remember: if you have to suck up, it’s because you are below). It is very possible to get a job by sucking up, but chances are this will be a job with little responsibility. Moving up the ladder later on will be difficult: once you slot yourself lower than someone else in that initial first impression, it’s hard to change that person’s view of you.

Here is a more productive approach to an interview: ask not what you can do for the company, ask what the company can do for you. If you are going to be spending a large portion of your life at an institution, make sure it’s right for you; don’t be so focused on if you are right for them. I give you permission to be selfish. This mentality will help you alleviate anxiety as well. “Today I am interviewing Wells Fargo”. This kind of approach will set you in a confident, serene, and empowering mood. You are now ready to meet your company. Just remember, if you don’t fit in with the company’s culture, and you aren’t qualified for the job, would you really want to be there?

If you were going to feel out a company, asking questions is the way to go. It shows you’ve done your research, you are engaging, and you actually care about where you work (you don’t just want any old job). Here are some good questions, and the reasoning behind them

- How did you get to where you are?
This builds rapport, opens new topics to discuss, shows you are interested in moving up in the company, and people really do love talking about themselves…

- Can you give me an example of a time you felt totally alive and passionate about your organization?
Shows you want to feel excited about your work, and you want to know if this place can offer that. Now the momentum has shifted. This is a hard question. Shut up. The pressure is on them.

- Can you give me a time when you felt a bit embarrassed or ashamed to be a part of this organization?
This shows you have moral values. And Chutzpah. This is a ballsy question to ask an interviewer—make sure you do it right: look them straight in the eye and speak with confidence. Then shut up. Don’t be afraid of awkward silences; they are emotionally powerful.

I would research a company before hand too, www.fdcareer.com has a great job database. You can talk to people who have actually had the job you want and see if it is right for you.