Scripted or Unscripted?

How many books out there promise how to ‘ace the interview’ or guarantee a job offer with a few well crafted phrases? Maybe you have a couple of these titles on your bookshelf or Kindle. There is an industry that thrives in times of high unemployment, publishing books that promise success with little effort. Unfortunately, as the job opportunities become more competitive a candidate needs to put more effort into the process. There are no shortcuts.

Some of these books provide answers to commonly asked interview questions. Others suggest you develop a ’script’ to sell you talents. At what point does your personality disappear as you prepare for an interview? Remember, the employer is seeking a potential colleague who will join a team and be productive. Throughout the selection process a recruiter is trying to get an accurate assessment of who you are and what you will contribute – in your own words.

I have encountered candidates who have memorized answers to questions and cruise through the first five minutes of an interview only to impressively implode on the unexpected. Here’s the thing; we are human, both interviewer and interviewee. We will act in unpredictable ways. The interview is not an exception. You need to expect the unexpected and not panic.

A recruiter may be working from a script of questions to ensure there is consistency in the interview process. As the candidate, you need to customize your points to the needs of each individual employer. Do your research, look at your resume and think about what you want to highlight to this particular employer, but don’t get so tied up in what you want to say that you totally miss what the employer is asking.

The most important thing to do in an interview? Listen. Observe. What is the employer relating about their organization in both questions and non verbal behavior? Use these cues in your responses. And be yourself, in a professional way.

Acting through an interview may get you to the next step in the audition, but rarely will you get the lead.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 11:32 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.