4 Interview Styles For the Job Seeker to Prepare For

by Kelly A Smith

Welcome reader! By opening this web page you are basically opening the doors of human resource and hiring manager offices across the USA. As a corporate recruiter consultant, for over twenty years I work closely with hiring managers, human resource professionals and of course job-candidates.

My job has me working anywhere from 3 months to 2 years at a single company then I'll move on to the next company to help staff people to fill their open positions of employment. My career has allowed me to work in many different H.R. departments across the U.S.A. I've witnessed first-hand what a company both wants and needs in their next new employee. I've also learned that there are different ways to interview a candidate during a face-to-face interview. Step into my office and I will tell you about the four most common face-to-face interview styles. In learning about these interview styles you will also learn how to prepare for them thus gaining greater self-confidence and a greater chance to secure the position from the competition.

Obtaining a face-to-face interview is always a good thing...even if you end up not being selected for the job. Meeting with someone that represents the company allows you to properly sell yourself and get a foot in the door for future opportunities.

Not all interviews are held in a stuffy human resource office, some are held in a stuffy hiring manager's office. Some interviews are conducted over a meal at a local diner or in a large conference room where several key players have gathered. If you are fortunate you might be told in advance what type of interview you can expect. Being organized and prepared will help you be relaxed and make the entire interview process flow smoothly.

Traditional Interview- Traditional interviewing revolves around asking a series of questions which typically elicit straight-forward answers centering on education, qualifications and the experiences of the candidate. Traditional interview questions are excellent for laying a foundation of what to expect from the candidate. For example, in a traditional interview the hiring authority can discover that a candidate is a Registered Respiratory Therapist with five years of clinical experience; with this knowledge the interviewer will expect the candidate to be able to have a shorter new-hire ramp-up time than the Certified Respiratory Therapist with six months home health care experience. Most traditional interviews are conducted in an enclosed room in a one-on-one setting.

Following are some traditional interview questions:

• What are your major strengths and weaknesses?
• What is your favorite web site?
• Who do you turn to for help in making decisions?
• Where do you see yourself five years from now? (Personally I despise this question and I wouldn't fault the fool that says they see themselves on a beach in Hawaii sipping Mai-Tai's. If you are unfortunate enough to be challenged with answering this mind-numbing question try to answer in terms of skills or experiences you hope to learn.)
• Why are you interested in working for us?
• What would you do if you won the lottery?

Panel interview- This type of interview can be highly efficient and yet rather nerve-racking for the candidate. I remember my first panel interview where I was seated at the end of a very long table as 15 people began to announce their name and title. "Mary, Director of E.R.. Bob, Director of Laboratory. Sam, Director of Oncology. Dr. Danforth, Director of Nursing..." By the time they got to me I wanted to blurt out, "Hi, I'm Kelly and I'm going to need one of you as soon as I faint from a severe case of intimidation." I managed to make it through the interview and get the job. Once I got over the willies I found the process to be an effective way to exchange a great deal of information, with a lot of different people, in a short amount of time.

Some corporations prefer the Panel interview as it embodies their culture of team-work, or perhaps it embraces their non-hierarchical approach. Whatever the reason, the Panel interview is not only an efficient use of time but a great way to see how the candidate handles stressful situations as well as witness how they interact with peers and superiors.

Behavioral interview - Behavioral interviewing has been quite the rage for the past couple of years. Behavioral interviewing emphasizes past performance and behaviors thus indicating predictable future behavior. A candidate will not be able to prepare a canned answer for the behavioral question. This method of interviewing seeks examples of how interviewees have behaved during certain situations that are important in the position. For example, "Describe the last time you had to handle an angry patient."

Following are some behavioral questions:

• Decision Making and Problem Solving
Give me an example of a time when you had to keep from speaking or making a decision because you did not have enough information.
Give me an example of a time when you had to be quick in coming to a decision.

• Leadership
What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from?
Have you ever had difficulty getting others to accept your ideas? What was your approach? Did it work?

• Motivation
Give me an example of a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty.
Describe a situation when you were able to have a positive influence on the action of others.

• Communication
Tell me about a situation when you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get a point across that was important to you.
Have you ever had to 'sell' an idea to your co-workers or group? How did you do it? Did they 'buy' it?

• Interpersonal Skills
What have you done in the past to contribute toward a teamwork environment?
Describe a recent unpopular decision you made and what the result was.

• Planning and Organization
How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time?
What do you do when your schedule is suddenly interrupted? Give an example.

• Other Behavioral Questions
Give a specific example of a policy you conformed to with which you did not agree.
Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and tell me about your success in reaching it.
Describe an instance when you had to think on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation

The key to answering behavorial-based questions is to provide clear, concise yet detailed responses where the interviewer can understand how you played a role in the situation.

Mass interviewing - More commonly referred to as a 'Job Fair'. When an organization has a large amount of the same type of job to fill within a short amount of time then a mass interviewing event may be the best way for them to go. One large corporation that I was hired to assist with their recruiting department needed to hire 100 RN's within a four month time span. A marketing firm was hired to spread the word about the special day where all hiring resources would be available. In order to catch the RN's that had different shifts to work the event lasted from sun-up to sun-down for two days. This corporation was very wise in not calling it a 'Job Fair' but a 'Hiring Event', this way the RN's knew that the company was serious about extending offers on the spot. This event was a tremendous success netting over 60 new hires to fill the vacant RN slots. Mass interviewing events more commonly are arranged to hire call center and customer service professionals.

Dinner interview - There are generally three reasons why an interview is conducted in a public place while dining. One reason is flexibility with time and/or location is a necessity in getting the interview accomplished. Reason two is that the interviewer is trying to please or impress the candidate. The third reason is that the interviewer wants to witness how the candidate might interact in this setting as dining out with clients is going to be part of the job that the candidate is vying for. The interviewer will watch to see if the candidate orders alcoholic beverages, do they use proper table manners, what do they order from the menu, do they talk with their mouth full, are they polite to the staff? If you are invited to interview while dining out it is without question your hosts' responsibility to pick up the tab. Be sure to thank the host for the meal and their time.

The dinner interview should have a more informal feel to it where perhaps the interviewer might get to know you on a more personal level. Types of questions asked might relate to your educational experiences, your reasons for choosing your career path, some of your outside interests or what are your greatest passions in life. The dinner interview isn't the proper setting for a strong set of behavioral-based questions.

No matter how informal the interview setting the interviewer should never ask you questions pertaining to your race, age, religion, whether or not you are pregnant or disabled. If an interviewer blatantly or mistakenly asks you a question relative to one of these topics, simply respond with, 'I'd rather not answer that question' and quickly change the subject.

Thank you for visiting my office. Now you have the necessary information to open the door to your next interview. Best wishes job seeker!

Kelly Smith is a Corporate Recruiter Consultant. Kelly works alongside human resources and hiring managers to source, screen, review resumes, interview, negotiate and extend offers to thousands of candidates throughout her more than 15 years in staffing. Visit Kelly's web site at http://KellyStaffingExpert.com see her blog, view jobs, and visit her store to buy her book, The Recruiter's Hiring Secrets. Also, in the store link you can send Kelly your resume for her to review and to make recommendations from her corporate recruiter perspective. Happy Job Hunting!

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