Is This the Perfect Job Interview Close?

One of the greatest frustrations with job search is the black box.

You send a resume, make the contacts, follow up, but for the most part, you don’t see what’s going on within the hiring process. If you’re eliminated, you don’t know why. If you move forward, you may get more feedback, but perhaps still not enough to replicate your results with future applications.

The mistake that many job seekers make is assuming that the process is always organized and rational. Sometimes, hiring is just plain messy.

The hiring process ain’t perfect

Lots of organizations invest time, money and resources in creating repeatable hiring processes. But lots of others don’t, and even in those that do there can be issues.

An article earlier this week on the Trusted Advisor blog called “Buyers are Liars. Wait, What?” by Charles Green highlights one of the issues that job seekers come up against in their search. The article’s context is sales, but the fact is that hiring managers exhibit the same behaviors.

Take this quote:

Clients have not been to buyers’ school. They don’t know what to ask, but are afraid of being flim-flammed. So they resort to what feels low-risk—asking the seller to recite their qualifications and testimonials.

Most managers aren’t trained on effective hiring. This discomfort with the process of uncovering talents as well as foibles in potential employees leads to an over-reliance on qualifications, especially in the screening process. Things like “5 years experience” or “PowerPoint proficient.” In an interview, untrained hiring managers are less likely to ask the tough questions about an individual’s career trajectory, or dig into their stated accomplishments, or think outside the box about how a candidate can benefit the organization.

Hiring managers also often have another motive for tentativeness–self protection. Rarely will a company tell you the real reason that the position is open, at least not in gory detail. If previous incumbents have had challenges in certain arenas, the manager will be looking for red flags with you that could indicate similar tendencies, but they probably won’t tell you that’s what they’re looking for.

It’s easy to feel like you’re at the will of the interviewer, but you can shift the dynamic in the discussion to a more two-way street.

Creating a two-way job interview dialogue is essential

This quote from Green’s article is also apt:

The trick is to get to that place of mutual admission that there’s something each can bring to the party.

Are you a passive job seeker? Or a proactive one? You may cede your power in the process, believing your role is only to answer the questions. What you should do is take advantage of opportunities to learn more about the company, the interviewer, and their thoughts on your candidacy.

You can break the hiring process out of the black box.

Seal the deal and get market info: Great interview questions to ask

If you can establish two-way dialogue during the interview itself, all the better. But if you find yourself approaching the end of the interview and you don’t know how you’ve done, here’s one method to learn what you’ve done well, where you’ve missed the mark, and how you can fix any problems and advance to the next round.

When it’s your turn, here are some great questions to ask in your interview:

1. What was it about my resume and qualifications that you found attractive for this role? The answer to this question will tell you something about the hiring process, your resume, and what’s important to the interviewer. Plus, it helps carry your best qualities to top of mind as the interview closes. As they share your strengths, you can add brief additional commentary, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of listening. “I’m particularly proud of that project, and the way that we were able to turn around a challenging situation,” or “That’s an area I’ve worked hard to develop, because I know how important it is to delivering results.”
   
2. Based on our discussion today, where do you think I could make the strongest contribution? Some of this question may be answered as a follow up to the first question–as a hiring manager starts to discuss your qualifications they may naturally follow this train of thought. But if the interviewer doesn’t speak to how you might fit into the organization, this is a great follow-up question to get a clearer idea of their vision for you. Again, you have a chance to editorialize here. “I agree, my background in this area will definitely give me head start in taking charge of this department,” or “That sounds like a fantastic challenge. I’m so excited for the opportunity to come on board.”
   
3. Are there any concerns you have about my candidacy at this point? If you’ve been building good rapport, you may get very valuable information from this response. Whatever they say gives you the opportunity to correct any misunderstandings, provide additional information, or if it’s something that may not be able to be overcome, you can look at ways to address that concern in the future–things like professional development or other ways to shore up your experience.
4. How will the hiring process proceed from here? This is a question you always want to ask. It’s important to know the timeline and players involved so that you can determine how to follow up and if there are other avenues to reach decision makers inside the company. If you’ve been able to adequately answer objections, you may find yourself with a verbal commitment to proceed to the next stage, which is a big win.

What do you think? How do you think that this interview close would work for you? If you’ve hired, would you be open to this approach? Let me know what you think in the comments!

photo credit: Aidan Jones

Related posts:

1. 5 ways to know how your job interview really went
2. Your Kick Butt Job Interview Guide: Best of the Blog 2009
3. Interview Question of the Week: What would your last supervisor say about you?
4. The Do-It-Yourself Behavioral Interview
5. Interview Question of the Week: Are you considering other opportunities?