Interviews: a tedious process

Interviews, of course, we have all went on at least one or two in our lifetimes, but a question I wonder about is: How many interviews do you go on before you change the way you do things?

I remember one time I applied for an Account specialist position with American Express a few years ago, strangely I went on not one, not two, but three interviews with the same interviewee! Now I have been through a phone interview, then face to face interview with an HR representative, then an interview with a hiring manager. But this was one of the most frustrating strings of happenings among many of the times I was looking for employment. 

So near the end of the third interview when the interviewee made it known there would be a fourth interview, and at he looked forward to talking with me again, he wanted to ask one final question. That question was “What is your pet peeve?” I told him that, “…going on too many interviews because they are very stressful...” of course, after that day I did not hear from him about the position again. What I did there was made my intentions known that I could not go to a fourth interview, there were other opportunities that were offered at the same time and I had a lot of difficulty scheduling other interviews around the AMEX interviews.

Making your intentions known during interviews is not something that you should shy away from, that way you can see if it is the right opportunity for you. This was something I learned to do since then because it freed up my schedule for looking into other opportunities including those which lead me to pursuing my education in Organization Development. Changing the way I approached interviews has evolved since then, I have created a set of standardized questions to ask during interviews, I have made sure that if there is a second interview I had another suit ready to go and that was of articles of clothing that was totally different than before. I have been able to “see” now if the positions I have applied for are right for me with more clarity than ever before, just by changing up the way I approached the interview process.

From an Organization Development standpoint, a candidate who comes in asks questions about the organization, the position, and states what they are looking for right off the bat is a godsend. It means that the candidate is serious about the process, serious about their interest in the positions and makes filling that position with the right candidate so much easier. Every Hr representative or hiring manager should be looking for someone like that, why would you hire someone that is counterintuitive to that?