Senior Communications Specialist for Insperity Recruiting Services, specializing in employment branding and recruitment marketing.
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Throughout the course of their career, the best-case scenario employees can hope for is to land a job (or multiple jobs) just above their experience level. Then, with the proper dedication, training and mentorship, they can gain the necessary knowledge and experience required to grow into the role and excel. For most, a successful career consists of several jobs, each preceded by one or more interviews. These interviews are typically conducted by hiring managers or recruiters, some of whose jobs may also be above their experience level.
There is a difference between inexperienced employees who have been given an opportunity and are working hard to learn and prove themselves, and those who are incapable of or not interested in performing their job duties sufficiently. Unfortunately, when the inexperienced employee is the one conducting the job interview, their talent and work ethic make little difference to the interview’s outcome but can have a huge impact on the course of the job seeker’s career.
For this reason, it’s in candidates’ best interest to learn to recognize when a manager or recruiter may lack interviewing experience and how to tailor their responses accordingly. Let’s look at a few ways job seekers can improve their chances of a successful outcome with an inexperienced interviewer.
Take The Reins
Some interviewers have friendly, outgoing personalities and may prefer socializing to talking business. While these people are often fun to work with, as interviewers, they can make it difficult for candidates to convey their interest in the role and highlight their knowledge and skills. If left unchecked, the interview can turn into a social visit with no opportunity for candidates to set themselves apart from dozens of other qualified applicants.
In this situation, candidates should gently guide the direction of the interview by asking questions about the position’s responsibilities and requirements, then following the interviewer’s responses with examples of how their background and experience relate to each and could benefit the department and company.
Use The STAR Method
One sure sign of interviewers who are new to or uncomfortable in their role is not interacting with job seekers conversationally. These individuals may ask simple yes/no questions without leaving any room for elaboration. Or, they may work off of a list of various hard skills and requirements, asking candidates if they have each one before quickly jumping to the next. Unfortunately, this leaves little opportunity for job seekers to expound upon their level of expertise in each area and how they’ve applied each skill in previous roles.
Whenever possible, candidates should try to answer questions using the STAR method (situation, task, action, result). By explaining a specific situation from their past, the task they were faced with, the action they took to solve it and the resulting outcome, job seekers can add context to closed-ended questions and better illustrate their fit for the position.
Stay Positive
Occasionally, job seekers may encounter interviewers whose inexperience shows in their lack of respect for those they’re interviewing. These individuals may show up late, appear distracted or unprepared, or just appear unfriendly or inconvenienced at having to take time out of their busy day to conduct an interview. The first thing candidates should remember is to not let the interviewer’s behavior negatively affect their attitude or responses.
If job seekers do become defensive or respond in a negative way, they give the interviewer the upper hand, allowing their poor attitude to dictate the outcome of the interview. However, by remaining upbeat and professional and doing their best to end the interview on a positive note, candidates retain control of the outcome and can decide later whether they want to continue to pursue an opportunity with an employer that makes such a poor first impression.
Document If Necessary
In addition to not knowing what questions to ask to properly determine a candidate’s fit for a role, inexperienced interviewers may also be unfamiliar with what questions not to ask. These may include a variety of non-EEOC-compliant inquiries involving age, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, number of children or any other protected information. Job seekers should not feel obligated to respond to such questions. Interviewers who don’t realize that asking about these topics is problematic probably won’t realize that, in most circumstances, it’s also unlawful to disqualify those unwilling to discuss them.
Candidates who encounter this should politely let the interviewer know that the question is not appropriate and that they are not comfortable answering it. They should then write down notes immediately after the interview for potential follow-up with the company’s HR department.
Summarize Your Fit For The Role
As the interview comes to a close, even the most inexperienced interviewer should allow job seekers a chance to ask any final questions. After doing so, candidates have one last chance to tie it all together. They should do so by spending the last 60 seconds of the interview summarizing the role’s main functions and how their skills and experience are applicable. Not only does this serve to fill in any information gaps about the job seeker’s background that the interviewer neglected to ask about, but it ends the interview on a high note, with the candidate’s interest and fit for the position being the last thing the interviewer remembers from the meeting.
Everyone lacks professional experience in the early stages of their career, and some take longer to gain it than others. Hiring managers and recruiters are often job seekers’ first point of contact with an employer, and though not all are experienced interviewers, the positions they’re looking to fill may be an ideal fit for those they’re interviewing. The responsibility then falls on candidates to communicate their expertise to interviewers who may lack the skills needed to inquire about it. Those who do this effectively stand the best chance of turning a negative interview experience into a job offer.
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