FYI Candidates – April 2009
How to Prepare for the Ultimate Interview:
A Guide to Preparing for the Full 360J
by Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC, Vice President
Landing an interview is a great step toward your new job. However, don’t be surprised if the company uses tag-team interviewing instead of the traditional one-on-one interview approach. According to HumanResources.About.com, many companies are putting such an approach to good use; and, in so doing, gain insight into your ability to interact and work with others. Another advantage is multiple people who are employed for a company can contribute to the hiring process by aiding in the selection of the candidate that is the best fit for the job. The team interview approach allows the interviewers to gage your skills and your personality.
How It Works
A team interview occurs in one of two ways. First, several team members take turns meeting with you individually. After each interview, the interviewers provide their insight on the interview. For example, let’s say you are interviewing for a position as a claims processor with a health insurance company. On Monday, you would have an interview with the department supervisors. Then, on Tuesday, you would have an interview with the departmental manager. Finally, on Wednesday you would have an interview with the medical director. After each interview, the supervisor, manager and medical director would forward or discuss their conclusions about you as a candidate for the claims processing position.
The second method is to have all appropriate team members interview you simultaneously. In this case and using our previous example, the supervisor, manager and medical director would interview you during the same time and location.
Preparing for the Event
So, how can you prepare and survive a team interview? Here are a few tips and tools for success:
- Maximize Your Responses. If you are scheduled for multiple interviews, discover ways in which you can vary your responses to the interviewers’ questions. For example, on four separate days, you are scheduled to interview with Acme Corporation’s recruiter, hiring manager, branch manager, and project manager. Each interviewer asks you to describe a situation in which you used leadership skills. You don’t want to tell each interviewer the same story of how you led a group of nine people to raise $50,000 in donations. Instead, tell each interviewer about different applications. This may include examples such as: increased customer satisfaction by 10%, turned a $5,000 deficit into a $25,000 profit, and led a team of 15 people to decrease production by 8%.
- Personality and Fact Finding. Just as the interviewers will observe you during the interview, you want to study your interviewers and determine their personality type. In doing this, you can find a way to connect to the interviewer and reveal ways in which your personality meshes with the group and the company’s culture.
- It is Okay to be Nervous. During a team interview, interviewers will fire questions at you one after the other. This rapid interview process does not leave you with much time to think about a response. Keep in mind that interviewers understand that the process can be nerve-racking, and it is part of their evaluation of you to see how well you react under such conditions. Always take time to listen carefully and ask the interviewer to repeat the question if you do not understand. Also, it may help if you restate the question to the interviewer to ensure you understand. If you are not ready to answer a question at the time it is asked, politely request that you are given the opportunity to think about the question and either come back to it at a later time or if you can follow-up after the interview (always within 24 hours).
- Practice and Role-Play. Practice will help develop your talent at team interviewing. To help you prepare for the team interview, invite friends and/or family members to ask you questions in groups of at least three at a time or separately. Also, ask them to give you feedback and point out areas where you need improvement. You may also want to use a recorder and tape yourself answering a series of behavioral questions.
- Know Your Strengths. Develop a list of your top five to 10 traits and skills that the position outlines and prepare scenarios to show how your skills match the position.
- Ask Questions. Make sure that you learn facts about the company so you can ask job specific questions. For example, tell the Acme Company you understand they have an office in Italy. Then ask, “How do you handle time zone differences when working with offshore staff members for the delivery of time sensitive information or products?”
Remember, a team interview is not limited to a company learning about you. You can use this time to ask questions, gain a feel for the people around you and determine if the company has the type of environment in which you would be comfortable working.
About the Author
Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC, is Vice President at Dick Wray Executive Search and author of “Hitchhiker in the Corner Office: Avoiding the Top-10 Potholes So Your Employees Don’t Hit the Road.” With nearly 20 years of experience in the restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industries, Orrick consults executives and companies in recruiting, hiring and retaining human capital for their organizations. He is also a contributing writer to Nation’s Restaurant News’ JobPlate.com website. Visit the Restaurant and Foodservice Blog to read more of Orrick’s blog relating to the restaurant industry.