A study, by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Gender Studies, published in the journal Philosophy and Technology, found that AI robot interviewers discriminate while making hiring decisions.
Initially, AI entered the recruitment arena to create a fairer, and faster way, to hire new staff members. This tech came out fighting with successes across sectors. Global companies such Amazon, Google, Starbucks, Hilton, Ikea, and many more are known for their use of AI in their recruitment processes. In fact, some research shows that 99% of Fortune 500 companies have adopted AI tools for recruitment purposes.
The benefits of AI recruitment software along with the boost in their use during the pandemic where in April 2020 46.6% of employees worked from home, led to an overall acceptance for being invited for an AI bot interview.
Even though many job seekers had an increase in job interview anxiety when being interviewed by a bot instead of a human, applicants also liked the benefits of the AI recruitment process: being able to choose your own date and time of the interview, short and snappy interview questions and the ease of being interviewed from their own home.
Do AI Robots Make Wring Decisions?
A large number of AI-powered software companies claim that the robot hiring managers will lead to a more diverse workforce and the hiring of staff that fit the culture of the company. Importantly, the sales pitches explain that AI won’t bring unconscious bias into the recruitment process, something humans cannot achieve.
The study by the University of Cambridge disagrees. The data found that minor details such as the interviewee’s clothes, lighting, and background influenced the interview outcome. The study also found that the AI bots favoured backgrounds with art or bookshelves, applicants who wore headscarves and judged applicants wearing glasses as less conscientious.
It seems apparent that interview technology hasn’t been effectively tested which will result in many changes over the next few years. In March 2020, HireVue discontinued the facial expression reading element of its recruitment algorithms after controversial concerns about AI robot assessment process and a complaint to the federal trade commission.
At the same time is clear that virtual job interviews are here to stay, with many believing that the evolution of recruitment will find job hunters involved in an interactive hiring process in the metaverse.
Chris Delaney
Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
For an activity that is so regular, many job seekers fail to prepare for the job interview.
A lack of preparation results in common, and avoidable, mistakes being made that often result in a job rejection.
This article will explain the top 5 common job interview mistakes and how to avoid them.
Believing that all interview questions are the same
A common misunderstanding is that interviewers across all job sectors ask the same interview questions.
This is why searching for ‘job interview questions’ is more commonly searched (around 1-10k per month Source Google keyword planner 20/22) than, as an example, ‘job interview questions for engineering’ (around 100-1k per month. Source Google keyword planner 20/22).
There are a few commonly asked job interview questions, that we will list at the bottom of the article, but in the main, recruiters ask specific questions relevant to the job role and company culture. As an example, a teacher job interview will be filled with questions about lesson planning, classroom management, and preparing for Ofsted visits. Whereas a manager job interview will feature questions on financial planning, leadership skills, and project management.
That much is obvious. What isn’t as obvious is the difference in interview questions for the same, but in different organisations. A misconception is that all (sector) employers ask the same questions. This is true to an extent. A retail interview, for various retail outlets, is likely to feature a job interview question relating to customer service. This doesn’t mean that every question will be repeated with each employer.
With the retail example, one interviewer from a food retail outlet may focus questions on stock rotation, dealing with spoiled food, and food contamination. A second retail recruiter, from, let’s say a clothing retail store might ask questions on communication, fashion knowledge, and dealing with returns.
The first rule for a successful job interview is to identify the job criteria. Review the job specification, read the job advert, research the company culture, vision and values. In fact, researching values and company culture is highly important as more employers use ‘value interviews’ and ‘strength-based interviewing’ as part of their recruitment process.
Only using examples from your current role
The most popular job interview is a behavioural interview, part of the structured interview process. The behavioural interview asks for examples of how the candidate has previously acted in past situations.
Example behavioural interview questions include:
Give me an example of when you have collaborated with stakeholders?
Have you ever had to deal with competing deadlines, what did you do?
Describe a time that you have influenced others to agree to one of your suggestions?
Most behavioural interview questions can be predicted. The key common tasks for the new role, in most cases, will be discussed in the job interview in the form of a set of behavioural interview questions.
The problem comes when a candidate is nervous. An interviewee’s anxiety level affects their memory professing. The increase in cortisol, the stress hormone, results in memory loss. It becomes harder to recall details, such as answers to interview questions, or remembering the details of the experience the job candidate planned to discuss during the recruitment process.
The interview stress problem results in the overuse of one example. The interview panel ask an easy-opening interview question about a generic skill, teamwork or communication, and the applicant gives an example of using the required skill. The second question becomes more specific “Tell me about a time you used (required skill or knowledge)?” The nervous applicant struggles to find a suitable example, so reverts to using the same example from question one: “As I said, when I was…(previous example)…I used (required skill)”
From the interview panel’s perspective, the repetitiveness of the same situation doesn’t showcase enough variety, experience or knowledge for the recruiters to see the value of hiring the nervous applicant.
This is a very similar problem to only using examples from the current employer. In a job interview, when anxiety is often higher, it is easier to recall information from the current role. This is fine, often expected, for a least one or two interview questions.
Using only one employer example has one key barrier – the candidate can only highlight the skills and knowledge from that particular role, rather than showcasing a diverse set of skills, knowledge and experiences, that is gained by sharing examples from various roles and positions.
To prepare for a job interview, write down at least 10 behavioural interview questions that are likely to be asked. Next, reflect on 5 situations from at least 3 different employers.
The situations will become the examples that will be embedded into the interview answer. The ideal situation is one that required multiple skills and knowledge to create a successful outcome; teamwork, communication, leadership, industry knowledge, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, etc.
This allows the savvy interview applicant to reframe the example and situation depending on the interview question and the required skill or knowledge the employer is looking for the applicant to discuss. Remembering 5 examples that can be used for multiple interview questions is much easier than having to prepare 10-15 single-use interview answers.
Believing the interviewer is psychic
There is a myth that interviewers are superhuman.
The nervous interviewee believes that the employer is highly confident when interviewing, in fact, many are just as nervous as the job applicant. Some organisations allow their trained HR team to conduct the job interviews, which means they are skilled in interviewing but not always with the sector technical know-how.
The biggest misconception is that the interview panel is psychic. A high number of career professionals fail to mention key information during their interview answers. As an example, the applicant will describe a problem they faced and the actions they took to overcome the problem. On the face of it, the interview answer format sounds positive. In reality, the interviewee will delete essential information from the interview answer:
Decision-making skill
Reasons for declining an option
Creative thinking process
Time management
Communication skills and stakeholder relationships
Work ethic and commitment
The list can go on and on. It is important, therefore, to give as much detail that relates to the interview question as possible. In fact, some research has found how the higher number of words per interview answer increases the likelihood of a positive interview outcome.
A more basic problem for internal interviews is not understanding the impact of an interview scorecard. In a structured interview, each interview answer is cross-referenced against a set of job criteria recorded on the interview scorecard. The criteria includes skills, qualities, and experiences. Each interview question is scored on a scale, for example of 1-4. The interview panel can only score an applicant high if they reference all the criteria on the interview scorecard. This is why ‘identifying the job criteria’ is of the most importance.
Because the applicant, in an internal job interview, knows the interviewer has seen their work, they will naturally miss out key information. This lack of detail only results in a low-scoring interview answer.
To overcome the missing information problem 1) identify the job criteria 2) be a self-promoter 3) communicate confidently
Disclosing irrelevant information
If you this next common interview mistake you must stop straight away
One of the worst errors an interviewee can make is the self-discloser of weaknesses. Time and time again candidates will randomly disclose a weakness even when they haven’t been asked.
When asked a technical question, it is easy to let slip out ‘I’ve never worked on something like that’ Instead it is better to confidently communicate your knowledge on the subject. Discussing knowledge will create a stronger interview identity than explaining that you lack experience.
Other negative slippage includes ‘I prefer working on my own initiative..’ to questions about teamwork. Or, ‘Others in my team focused on that area of work’ when asked about a particular skill.
The interview isn’t just about past experience, its about potential. Negative slippage ruins a positive interview identity. The barrier here is that career professionals don’t even know they are leaking negativities. When I coach career professionals to pass a job interview, I will record and list all of their negative communications – verbal and non-verbal, and most applicants are unaware of around 95% of the negative communication that is affecting their chance of winning a job offer.
Not being ready for the basics
Understanding the job interview format creates familiarity, familiarity increases confidence.
Failing a number of job interviews have a secondary gain, the applicant becomes familiar with the interview process, which in turn increases their self-esteem during the recruitment process.
You don’t need to fail to win. A little research and some mock interviews are enough to become more confident. By understanding the format and preparing for commonly asked interview questions (as well as sector-specific interview questions as discussed above) helps reduce interview anxiety.
Most job interviews last around 45 minutes. The interview panel is made up of around 3 staff members, often including a HR manager. Interviewees will be told about the interview process before being asked, on average, 8 questions, including sector-specific questions and a few of the generic questions recorded below.
The 10 most commonly asked job interview questions:
Do you have any questions for us (asked at the job interview end)
Tell me about your experience
What are your weaknesses
What do you know about our organisation
Give me an example of using (skill/knowledge)
Describe a time that you worked well within a team
How will you manage your time when you have competing deadlines
Explain how you would (deal with a future duty/task)
What are your salary expectations
Give an example of developing your skills or knowledge
Chris Delaney
Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
Everyone, at some point or other, will attend a job interview. In fact, most people will attend 20-50 job interviews over their lifetime.
These 10 amazing job interview facts will help you to better understand the interview process and help you to land the job of your dreams.
The first job interview ever was conducted by Thomas Edison in 1921
Job interviews are conducted every day, for every job role, in every job sector, and in every country around the world.
Why are job interviews so popular and how did they originate?
In 1921 the New York Times headline read: “Edison’s questions stir up a storm” To gain a better level of employees Edison created the ‘Edison test’ – the original job interview.
There were hundreds of questions that could be asked, with people complaining that you needed to be a ‘walking encyclopaedia’ to be hired.
After being interviewed, Edison would take successful candidates out for dinner to be tested by eating soup. The famous ‘soup test’ was simple; Edison would watch if the candidate would salt the soup without tasting the soup first. This is because Edison wanted to hire ‘curious’ people and felt that people who salted the soup without testing it – as Edison didn’t want to hire people who replied on assumptions to make opinions.
Since the pandemic, 86% of recruiters have been conducting virtual interviews
Prior to the pandemic recruiters had stated to use virtual job interviews. Covid, which kicked off the work from the home initiative, simply sped up the use of video technology in job interviews.
Online job interviews include human-delivered Q&A interviews, online psychometric tests and AI bot interviews – being interviewed by a robot.
Virtual interviews save time, no travel is required but do require an investment in technology and good internet speed.
Many HR professionals say that virtual interviewing is the new standard with an additional increase in AI bot systems being a major factor in hiring decisions.
The average time for a job interview is 45 minutes
The interview process is in the process of change, especially for high skilled roles.
Previously one or two job interview rounds were enough to highlight enough of the job criteria to gain a job offer or rejection.
The structured interview, which is adopted by most employers, is the key recruitment intervention in the hiring decision. In a structured or formal interview, each applicant is asked a series of job-related interview questions within a 45-minute time frame.
In the main, the applicant is asked 8 interview questions, which are verbally answered by the applicant. Each answer, on average, lasts for around 3 minutes. Some research shows how the longer the duration of the answer the more likely you are to score higher on the interview scorecard, as long as the answer is relevant to the job criteria.
Interview identities, with a high position on the confidence axis, are more likely to give a self-promoting and detailed reply.
Most applicants expect to hear back from an employer within 5 days of the interview
We have all been to a job interview only to wait days, weeks and sometimes even months to hear back from the employer.
There are numerous reasons for a delay in response; multiple interview rounds, staff sickness, and job offers need to be signed off by senior leaders, to the requirement of a DBS check.
Currently, with an increase in job vacancies due in part to the great resignation, job seekers are becoming restless – they want a quick turnaround.
In fact, the late response is affecting the recruitment of first-choice applicants. First-choice applicants, those candidates who are offered multiple job roles won’t hold out for job offers, even for recognised brands.
The average time for hearing back from an employer following a hiring round is 1-2 weeks.
When hiring, employers need to evaluate sector knowledge, level of expertise, and essential soft skills needed for the advertised position.
The structured job interview is proven to be the best way to predict job performance. Two common types of interview questions, within a structured interview, are behavioural and situational questions.
Situational questions are based on future scenarios and behavioural questions are based on previous behaviours in past job roles. These questions include the famous opening: “give me an example of using X skill”
This type of questioning does have a downside. The best way people learn is through making a mistake. Also, job maturity changes the way a person would approach a similar work base situation. The framing of the question in the past can limit how the applicant responds and promotes their skills.
On average 250 applicants apply for every advertised job
If a future me were asked how many job applicants apply for every advertised position, I would likely say 500, 1000 or even 5000.
These large figures may sound ridiculous. But it wasn’t that long ago when the average number of applicants was around 25 per position. Further, we have already seen some companies receive over 25,000 applications for a job role.
The number of applications increases because of two key reasons. One, technology and globalisation are allowing people around the globe to apply for roles. Two, it is much easier and quicker to upload a resume, CV or application than it was to hand write an application as was previously required.
60% of skilled workers will quit in the middle of an application if it is too lengthy
Applications are boring! The biggest killer of talented and high-skilled applicants is having a long and boring application process with various steps, assessments and uploads.
These days job seekers want to apply for lots of jobs quickly. Ideally by uploading an application, CV and Resume for various positions.
Some large organisations have already recognised this barrier to recruitment. Companies like the NHS allow a job seeker to upload one application that they can then send off for various NHS roles – each application can be edited if the applicant prefers.
Other research shows how having a count down ‘only two questions to go’ or ‘page 2 of 3’ can keep candidates engaged, as they know the application process is soon coming to an end.
The top 2% have what it takes…to write a good application.
The problem with job hunters wanting a quicker application process is that the targeting of individual applications is highly reduced. A reduction in targeting, and therefore meeting the job criteria, reduces the perceived value an applicant can bring to the company which results in a higher number of rejection letters.
The acceleration in AI bot automated tracking systems, where the AI bot scans an application searching for job criteria before deciding whether of not to offer the applicant a job interview, has a big impact on those job seekers who use the same generic application for all roles and for various organisations who have their own specific criteria based on that company’s values and vision.
Recent research found that 98% of fortune 500 companies now use an application tracking system.
Only, around, 8 applicants receive a job interview. This means competition is high. Some sectors will have a more flexible approach to recruitment as there is a need for staff but in others, where recruitment is less of a problem, a generic application just isn’t good enough.
40% of employers decline interviewees who show no enthusiasm during the recruitment process
The logical hiring process, scoring interviewee answers against the interview scorecard, isn’t that logical.
All logical hiring decisions are influenced by the emotional section of the brain. It is this part of the mind that uses unconscious bias as a starting point in the recruitment process.
The research for the interview prediction grid model – a framework to reflect on how an interviewee is perceived during a job interview and therefore the outcome of the recruitment process, states the importance of confidence within a 1-2-1 or panel interview.
Confidence creates likeability and is associated with other positive attributes; being enthusiastic, intelligence and teamwork.
It is clear then that a lack of confidence during the interview reduces the chances of a job hire.
90% of people who use an interview coach get a job offer as twice as fast as job seekers who don’t prepare
More and more people are now booking job interview coaches. This is especially true for high-skilled roles where competition for positions is high.
Interview coaches increase confidence through role plays, feedback and sharing job interview techniques.
The main reason why job seekers turn to professional interview coaches is that public speaking is cited as the number one fear in the world.
Chris Delaney
Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
The number of online job interviews has rapidly increased over the past two years and only seems to be becoming ever more popular. In a recent Indeed poll, 82% of employers said they are using virtual interviews.
A virtual interview, from an employer’s perspective, is quicker, easier, and cheaper. The convenience of being interviewed at home also has similar advantages for the potential employee – no travel required, saving transport costs, and having to put time aside to travel. But it also has a downside, the hiring manager gets a glimpse at the applicants’ private lives.
This sneak peek is a peephole into an applicant’s personal life. Just like a face-to-face job interview, where the candidate’s clothes create an unconscious bias, the background of a virtual interviewee can influence the employer’s hiring decision-making process.
Background Matters
Many online platforms offer fake backgrounds; a beach, a beautiful countryside, or an office setting. These backgrounds either look fake, seem inappropriate for a job interview, or create a ghost effect – where the applicant’s body has a white shadow around it.
The number one rule for a virtual job interview is to use a real background.
3 Background choices
With a real background there are three obvious choices:
Clean space (often a white wall)
Single item (plant)
Full view (able to see the whole room)
It is common for interviewees to choose a clean space, a close-up camera that captures the applicant’s face with a blank background – a painted wall.
The camera position is highly important as discussed in our ‘online interview tips’ article. But a blank background can be boring. A white wall doesn’t say anything about the candidate’s personality. Some hiring managers may even feel the applicants are hiding something.
If a blank wall is chosen, use a coloured wall. Ideally blue. Blue conveys relaxation, calmness and as discussed in Very Well Mind, blue is associated with stability and reliability.
Your Background Shows Who You Are
The background an applicant chooses says a lot about them, often speaking to the employer’s subconscious decision-making process.
Having one or two items in the background makes the who image a little more interesting. Too many items make a ‘busy’ image that can be distracting.
The question is, what to choose to place in the background? A bookshelf filled with industry-related books can create the impression of authority or knowledge. But bookshelves can be overcrowded.
A few books on each shelf separated by an additional item can make a cleaner and more professional background.
Plants are ideal for an online interview background. Potted plants, especially in bloom, are pleasing to the eye. They look good in the background and help create a calming atmosphere.
Ensure the plant isn’t looking dried up, shriveled, or dead.
Whichever object is chosen should be to one side of the frame, not taking more space than 1/6th of the whole space.
Don’t Show Everything
A full room frame is bad for virtual interviews. One, in a full view, shot the applicant’s face is less clear which leads to less non-verbal communication, facial expressions.
In addition, a full view of the room will either show too much – which is distracting, can highlight mess which doesn’t create a good impression, or has lots of clear space, which is seen as boring.
Camera, Lights, Action
Finally, think about the essentials of creating a video. The virtual interview setup is similar to setting up a space for a video or film.
One of the most important elements of being on camera is the lighting. Some candidates will set up the camera with a large window behind, where the sun blinds the interview panel, hiding the applicant’s face.
Others will set up the video call in a dark room with little like creating dark shadows that create a horror film type of environment.
If a job seeker has the equipment, they can set up lighting behind the camera facing the interviewee which lights up their face. If not, a cheaper option if to have the camera in front of a large window, facing the job candidate, allowing the sun to naturally light up the room.
The idea is to find a well-lit clean room where the job hunter feels relaxed and calm. Ensure the room is clean and add one or two small items in the background, a flower or book.
Most job applicants fear the job interview. Some, who are highly anxious, will even go as far as turning down an interview offer due to excessive low confidence.
This fear is real. In fact, the fear of speaking in front of strangers or in public – also known as glossophobia, is the number one fear in the world.
The job interview can double the impact of glossophobia and many candidates put an ‘all or nothing’ association on the job they are applying for – “if I fail this job interview, I will always be stuck in a job I hate”.
An article on Psychology Today explained how confidence comes from experiencing achievement in a task. There more you are successful in a task the more confident (in that task) you will be.
Most people fear public speaking, job interviews, or talking to strangers because of a previous negative experience. The experience of failure increases anxiety and fear.
As an example, a job hunter will fear being invited to an interview for a job they truly desire because of a past memory: when they were asked to read out a text in front of their classmates in school or their first public speaking experience that ended in disaster.
The job interview should be easy. Interviewees are asked questions about something they know well – themselves. Job applicants’ confidence should be high. If an application has resulted in a job interview offer from one company, it should then result in a second interview from another organization. This means a failed job interview can be a learning point that will increase future job interview performance and the applicant’s interview identity.
These 7 ideas will help you improve your interview confidence and interview performance.
People buy what they like.
In the psychology of sales, the ‘liking principle’ is quoted as one of the key determinators in persuading customers to make a purchase.
It works through creating a likeability association. As an example, many brands will use celebrity endorsements to sell their products. Example: The audience likes George Clooney, so they will like a coffee brand if they see Clooney drinking that coffee brand in a TV advert – even though the audience knows Mr. Clooney was paid to star in the TV commercial.
Tupperware famously embedded likeability into the sales of its product. Rather than have their products in retail stores (they tried this approach and it failed) they created Tupperware parties. A host would invite friends and family round for a party and promote the Tupperware products. People purchased the products, not because they were good or they needed them, they made purchases because they liked the host – their friend or relative.
To improve your interview outcome, you can create likeability.
Likeability can start prior to the job interview. We know from recent data that 70% of employers check social media before a recruitment day. Create likeability through a second persuasion law – authority. If an employer views an applicant’s LinkedIn profile and the feed is filled with relevant industry insights, sector-related intelligence, and positive opinions the employer will create a halo effect that will have a big influence on the interview outcome.
Research has also found that commonality creates likeability. By disclosing information that highlights commonalities with the hiring manager a positive impression will be made. Commonality can include, well anything: same interest or hobbies, attending the same university, or living in the same town.
Which interview timeslot to choose
Timing makes all the difference. The interview timeslot allocation given to each interviewee makes seem unimportant. In fact, the timeslot can change the way an employer scores the applicant.
The timeslot is related to the hiring manager’s confidence in conducting the interview, the interview panel’s tiredness or alertness, and if you become the baseline applicant.
Research has found that the first interviewee becomes the baseline applicant – following interview scores for other candidates are influenced by the original scores given to the initial interviewee.
The final applicant of the day is often interviewed by a panel of hiring managers who are tired from a full day of recruitment affecting how they view the last interviewee. And post-dinner candidates are affected by biology – the process of digesting food affects a person’s decision-making processes.
It’s the second or third interview time slot around 10:30-11:00 that is the ideal interview timeslot.
What we see we feel
Whatever the mind focuses on the body feels. A person looking forward to a holiday, a networking event or a job interview will feel positive. Whereas someone who fears flying, is anxious about meeting strangers or someone who hates talking about themselves will have a negative response to a holiday, networking event, or job interview.
If what you imagine you feel, you can feel positive about a job interview by imagining yourself being successful in a forthcoming recruitment process.
To have a lasting impact, the process has to start with a relaxed state. Taking deep breaths or imagining being in a relaxed place; a countryside or peaceful beach helps to calm the mind and body. In this peaceful state imagine by relaxed during a job interview, then imagine being confident in a job interview, and final imagine being charismatic in a job interview. Make each visualisation vivid; see yourself confident, hear yourself being confident, and feel confident.
The repetition of the visualisation creates new neuro-pathways that create a positive association: job interview = calm and confident.
The hands have it
A little technique to help improve the first impressions is to manipulate the hands.
Anxiety kicks off the fight or flight response which sends oxygen from non-virtual parts of the body (hands and feet) to essential organs. The redirection of the blood cells leaves hands feeling cold and clammy.
At the initial introduction, where a welcome handshake is expected, the first impression is weak as a damp and cold handshake has a negative unconscious bias.
To be viewed as confident requires a warm and firm introductory handshake. When you arrive for the interview, either accept a cup of coffee (and wrap your hands around the warm cup) or visit the bathroom and hold your hands under the warm water for a few seconds, to warm the hands.
Turn off your phone the night before
One sleep study showed how using your phone three hours before you plan to go to bed can disrupt your sleep.
In addition, many people charge their phones overnight in the bedroom. If the phone is left on small LED lights will be on display. The brain is trained to stay more awake when there is light. Charging the phone in a different room, and having thick curtains to cut out any streetlights allows for a deeper sleep.
Deeper sleeping restores energy, increases blood supply, and improves cognitive ability. All this helps the brain to respond to tricky interview questions.
Create high status
How we view ourselves, as high or low status, is leaked through our language. The language used in a job interview is subconsciously filtered by the hiring manager creating a ‘gut feeling’.
As an example, a low status would use weak language such as ‘try’ – ‘I would try my best’ compared to a high-status person who uses assertive language ‘will’ – ‘I will achieve the task’.
One experiment found that writing a letter to yourself that assertively states skills, strengths and abilities increase self-worth, creating high status. The letter must use positive language, be true, and be assertive.
Get good at asking questions
The tip to improve a job interview outcome seems a little odd, it’s to be good at asking, not answering questions.
Obviously, in a job interview, the ability to confidently communicate competencies within a job interview answer is essential. But what makes a person stand out is their ability to ask the interview panel questions.
Questions create a conversation. Conversations improve likeability. Likeability, or rapport, increases job offers.
Also, the ability to ask questions relaxes the interviewee and helps them to clarify the required content of the interview answer.
At the interview start, the applicant can ask the interview panel questions about their day or the company.
During the questions, the candidate can ask for specifics to generic questions and can ask the employer’s opinion or an aspect of the interview question.
Towards the interview end, the employer will allow the interviewee to ask any questions to help clarify the company culture and job role.
Asking questions shows confidence, and confidence is a quality that all employers want staff to possess.
Questions, or their answers, also allow the applicant to decide if the employer is one they want to work for.
Times are changing in the world of work with an increase in remote working, workplace artificial intelligence, and the decline of low-skilled jobs. Changes are taking place, not just in the workplace itself, but in the recruitment of employees.
The pandemic, that led to the great resignation, and the increase of applicants per vacancy, which is at an all-time high, has created a demand for a new style of job interviews.
We are now in the midst of change, the evolution of the job interview.
The evolution of job interviews
In time gone by our ancestors, the hunters and gatherers, either hunted or gathered with evidence showing how these roles weren’t just determined by a person’s gender – women hunted and men gathered, and vice versa.
From a survey of over 170 ancient socialities, it was found that men, rather than women, were mainly employed as the tribe’s big game hunters.
By the time farming was commonplace, new jobs arrived. There were farm laborers, of course, who harvested the crops, but farming changed the hierarchy of job roles.
Farming created towns. People no longer needed to travel across great distances to hunt and gather, instead, tribes became villagers who sowed the seeds, domesticated wild animals, and yielded the harvest.
Towns created jobs. By the time ancient Egypt was well established, there was a need for skilled people. A bowl, axe, or pick had to be made by hand. Skilled laborers were required and could demand more payment for their skills (in ancient Egypt, payment was original made in beer and bread, and then copper coins were introduced).
As towns grew so did the demand for other types of jobs. Architects and engineers were needed to design buildings, and military leaders and soldiers were required to stop neighboring towns from attacking and stealing the crops. Doctors treated ill citizens and priests prayed that the crops wouldn’t fail.
These new job roles changed and created a hierarchy that led to a King overseeing the distribution of work and gathering of a tax, a percentage of the crops, to share among the non-food producing roles.
History of Job Interviews
The training of an employee on the job is known as an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships can be traced back to medieval times; a young person would be taught the skills of a trade at a young age. Often apprentices were family members, a son or daughter, this way a family became the experts in that trade.
Many family surnames are derived from their association with a trade:
Baxter = Baker
Bowyer = Made bows for archers
Fuller = Cloth worker
Hooper = Maker of hoops for beer barrows
Reeve = Churchwarden
Spencer = Despender of medicine
Thacker = Thatcher
Wainwright = Wagon repairer
Walker = Cloth worker
Families, especially those without children or with a growing business would take on other people’s sons and daughters as apprentices, creating job openings that people could apply for.
The industrial revolution, in the 1900s, changed the face of the world of work, for the first time hundreds and thousands of people worked together in one building or factory.
The introduction of the railways allowed skilled workers to search for job positions in other places than the area or village where they grew up.
The movement of labor and the demand for workers changed recruitment forever. 1917 saw the Woodworth data sheet – a personality test to screen WW1 recruits for potential shellshock.
By 1921 Thomas Edison had written a test, the first job interview, to evaluate the knowledge of job candidates. One test was Edison’s famous ‘soup test‘ Edison would give applicants a bowl of soup to eat while he observed if the candidate would add extra seasoning before tasting the soup.
Edison rejected pre-seasoning applicants because he didn’t want to recruit staff who relied on assumptions and was looking to hire employees who were more curious and would ask questions.
Current Job Interview Processes
Today most employers use a variation of the structured job interview. A structured job interview asks a set number of questions to each applicant and compares their answer to skills, qualities, and duties required for the advertised position.
In addition to the standard formal job interview, employers will also request applicants to attend on average 4 additional interview rounds (for high-skilled positions) which can include:
Psychometric testing – which has its findings in Woodsworth datasheet
Skill test – a practical test to evidence skill
Technical interview – a knowledge-based test/interview
Values interview – to find an applicant that will fit within the culture of the organisation
Traditionally, all job interviews were held face-to-face, with the exception of a telephone screening interview.
Just as the industrial revolution, with its big factory employers that required high numbers of staff and trains that could move skilled workers around the country, changed the face of employment in the 1900s, new technology is changing today’s world of work.
Artificial intelligence will soon be embedded in all job sectors
Remote working, allowing teams to be made up of staff from around the globe, is here to stay
Online applications create the highest number of applicants per vacancy that has ever been recorded
The decline in low-skilled jobs and growth in high-skilled job roles such as STEM
Virtual reality being used in recruitment
The Future of Recruitment and Job Interviews
2 million people apply for a job at Google each year.
The high number of applicants created a problem in the recruitment sector. Humans simply couldn’t handle the volume of applications.
The answer was to introduce artificial intelligence into the recruitment cycle. Within a short period of time, HR artificial intelligence is able to design a job advert, schedule interview dates, and deliver a live online job interview with a candidate before deciding which applicant is to be offered the position.
As with all technology, some original bugs were found. In 2018 Amazon ditched its application reviewing programme after it found that the system discriminated against women.
With 9 out of 10 companies now using some type of HR artificial intelligence in their recruitment processes, AI in HR is here to stay.
The future could see large numbers of staff, being recruited from around the globe, without any applicant having any face time with a human recruiter.
The interview process is changing
Human interviews may happen, but just not as you know it.
Is the face-to-face interview dead? Currently not. With two out of three employers favoring the face-to-face interview, there is still some way to go until all recruitment become automated.
Face-to-face interviews might not be face-to-face. The pandemic saw an increase of 67% of employers using virtual interviews with half of the employers saying they will keep on using the online interview process.
45% of employers agree that the virtual interview process is quicker and cheaper than conducting a traditional in-office recruitment process.
Virtual Reality Job Interviews
The evolution of hiring may see the traditional ‘ask and answer questions’ interview disappear.
The increase in virtual reality in the workplace will also see an increase in VR in recruitment.
The future of the workplace will be a mix of virtual reality, home working, and the physical workplace itself.
CNBC reported that: “A PwC report last year predicted that nearly 23.5 million jobs worldwide would be using AR and VR by 2030 for training, work meetings or to provide better customer service”
Virtual reality is already being used in recruiting. The British army uses VR headsets to show applicants what driving a tank would look like, KFC uses a VR “escape room” for their chefs, and the head of talent acquisition at Deutsche Bahn talked about the use of VR in recruitment: “within a matter of seconds can experience a job in a very real-life atmosphere” in CNN article.
Show and Tell
The virtual reality job interview will be about showing, not telling.
Current interview processes ask competency-based questions. The barrier here is that even a good answer doesn’t show the applicant’s decision-making processes, problem-solving skills, and how they work under pressure. It doesn’t take into consideration the applicant’s personality and how their temperaments would affect the wider team.
Virtual reality and augmented reality job interviews can put the candidate in a real workplace situation, working with (virtual) team members, and their many personalities, to complete job-related tasks. A surgeon, as an example, may have to perform an augmented reality surgery on a virtual patient creating the feeling of ‘real’ pressure.
A project manager might be asked to resolve a dispute between stakeholders, with the VR and AR characters re-acting to the applicant’s tonality, volume, assertiveness, and logic.
Virtual reality job interviews will be designed to stop deceitful job applicants from gaining job offers and to support employers to higher high-performing teams.
Chris Delaney
Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
A recent poll of recruiters found that the average number of job interviews required to secure a job offer is three.
The magic number, three, does have a practical reality to it. Let’s say that a job applicant has decided to take a career sidestep or a promotion. This candidate has a vast array of transferable skills, lots of relevant qualifications, and some experience, but not a like-for-like experience as the applicant is applying for a new role, rather then the same position within a new organisation.
After an average of 4-5 hrs of interview prep, the nervous career professional attends their first interview that results in a ‘thank you, but no thank you’. A failed first interview for a new role is common, graduates also fall into this same pitfall, as do applicants searching for a big job promotion.
The reason behind the first failed interview is a lack of job understanding. When an experienced employee applies for a similar role in a new business, even if the interview is their first interview, the unexpected questions aren’t that unexpected.
The employer, following a structured job interview process, ask questions and score answers against a list of job criteria that are needed to complete business-as-usual tasks. The experienced applicant, even if they haven’t undertaken a lengthy period of interview preparation, can easily recognise the context of the interview question and present evidence that states they have the required experience.
A career professional wanting to climb the career ladder is applying for a new position. The first interview comes with a surprise, a list of unpredicted job interview questions and/or tests, presentations, and tasks.
Some questions asked may sound simple, and a good answer can be created in the moment by the interviewee, but again, without industry experience and a lack of context a low score is given for an interview question the applicant thought they answered well.
A confident applicant states they have the required skills, and sells themselves, but when an expert interviewer requests specifics to measure competence against the job criteria, the lack of experience shines through creating a deceitful interview identity.
Post job interview reflection is the key to success
Experience creates competence. The more job interviews a career professional attends the more skilled they become at answering tricky interview questions.
Creating a list of the interview questions asked during the first interview allows the skilled applicant to use industry research to help craft a higher-scoring interview answer, using examples that highlight how they meet the job criteria.
This is true when job interview technology is introduced. 98% of the top fortune 500 companies use recruitment automated software. Many shifting interview rounds are now conducted by AVIs – Asynchronous Video Interviews. The computer algorithms search for key terms that are then cross-referenced against the job criteria.
What is important, then, is to possess the ability to offer examples and interview answers that state enough of the essential skills, qualities, and experiences, to ensure a high-scoring answer.
Generally speaking, high-scoring answers come in one of three ways:
Being highly confident as this increases the number of words per answer
Having excessive experience that results in the nature spillage of job criteria
Attending a high number of job interviews relevant to the role to help craft answers that score well
Each job interview process, on average, is three rounds of interviews. Three recruitment rounds x three job interviews is a total of nine interviews. Each interview stage tends to last for sixty minutes, equalling a total of nine hours of interviewing.
Possessing at least nine hours of real interviews, plus a high number of interview preparation hours helps a career professional to become skilled at job interviewing.
Two is better than one
One interview alone isn’t enough.
The reflection after one single job interview isn’t enough for a candidate to become a first-choice applicant.
A list of remembered interview questions can be drawn up and new answers written in preparation for a second interview, which in itself increases the confidence of the interviewee. Once at the second interview, with a second employer, the now confident applicant can have the rug pulled from beneath their feet when 80% of the questions asked aren’t on their recently drawn-up Q&A list created after the first interview.
Each employer, even when recruiting for the same position, in the same sector, may have their own unique job criteria and therefore their own list of unique interview questions.
Over time, the new entry into a sector will find commonly asked job interview questions, which may be phrased differently, but underneath are designed to uncover the same skills, qualities, and experiences.
This is why more is better for applicants who lack experience (graduates, promotions, and entry into a new sector) The more interviews that a job seeker attends helps to improve the interview answers (and the prediction of the interview questions) for the next job interview.
Familiarity breeds confidence
It is the familiarity of the recruitment process that breeds confidence. Experienced candidates applying for the same position in a new business are more inclined to relax during the interview when they become aware that the tricky interview questions are really questions about their business-as-usual tasks.
From a job interview perspective, the lack of sector experience can, sometimes, be overturned, by being an experienced interviewee.
This is why at least three job interviews are needed to gain a job offer:
Job interview 1 – create a baseline of interview questions vs good/poor interview answers
Job interview 2 – recognise common interview questions/sector-related themes/job criteria to help shape interview answers
Job interview 3 – deliver high-scoring interview answers that increase the chance of an interview offer.
What is your interview identity?
Job offers are given to the candidate that the interview panel believes will be the best performing employee.
The content of the interview answers; the sector-related jargon used, relatable examples, industry knowhow, stating the job criteria including the required skills, qualities, and experiences vs the confident communication of competencies (verbal and non-verbal) create the candidate’s interview identity.
After each job interview the interviewee, to develop their interview skills must reflect on how they were perceived by the hiring manager – their interview identity. And make changes to improve how they are viewed in terms of predictable performance once employed.
Get Ready to Pass Your Next Job Interview
Chris Delaney
Chris Delaney is one of the leading job interview coaches in the country, helping career professionals to successfully pass job interviews. Delaney is the author of several job interview reference books including ‘what is your interview identity’
The structured job interview is a standardised way of interviewing a number of candite’s to reduce unconscious bias and to create a fair hiring process.
This article will help job applicants to gain higher interview scores by not falling into the subconscious trap of the structured job interview.
Structured job interview and time problems
Even though research shows how a structured job interview is currently the best way to predict job performance, the asking of pre-written questions ‘boxes’ in an applicant’s answer.
Behavioral and situational interview questions are designed to be specific to allow the interviewee to give a relevant example/answer. The specific direction given to the applicant traps the candidate into a box, where they can’t discuss other skills and experiences, they feel would add value to the role.
It is common for a career professional, post a job interview, to reflect on their answer and to feel annoyed because they didn’t mention a key skill or experience, they knew would have highlighted their unique selling point.
In an informal job interview, the hiring manager will allow the applicant to talk about what they feel is important. The openness of the informal interview can be detrimental to the outcome of the interview as the interviewee, without conscious awareness, can discuss irrelevant information.
The duration of the interview creates a second barrier. The hiring manager, asking on average 8 job interview questions over a 45-minute period, feels pressured to ask a question, record the candidates’ answers, before asking the next question on the pre-written list. This is true even when the hiring manager requires additional information – the employer knows the applicant hasn’t disclosed all of their skills, but on the other hand, the next interview should start in 10 minutes’ time.
The pressure comes from the hiring manager knowing that each additional question and answer can possibly overshoot the allocated time slot for each interview having a knock-on delay. This ‘time’ problem comes from many employers having a recruitment day of back-to-back interviews. A solution to this problem would be a one-interview per day recruitment process.
Trained job interviewers versus untrained hiring managers
How can a job applicant overcome the rigorous job interview questions and time pressure created within a structured job interview?
First, it is important to understand that not all job interviewers are the same. A key difference is between being interviewed by a trained or untrained interviewer. Some organisations insist on a candidate being interviewed by a trained interviewer, often an HR staff member or specialist recruiter.
A trained interviewer will have spent time selecting which essential job criteria the interview questions should relate to, and how the interview question should be worded (situational behavioral or strength-based interview question).
Trained interviewers are often more confident in the interview environment than a non-trained hiring manager. Confidence increases the number of follow-up questions asked during the recruitment process.
A non-trained interviewer, often the future employee’s line manager, is likely to use commonly asked job interview questions, rather than taking the time to ask competency-based questions.
Commonly asked questions are more generic:
“What are your strengths?”
“What can you bring to the team?”
“Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?”
Competency-based questions are more specific, to drill down to a specific skill or experience:
“How would you deal with a (problem/situation)?”
“Give an example of when you (completed job duty)”
“What is your understanding of (industry knowledge)?”
Follow-up questions can be asked by both trained and none-trained recruiters, but it is more likely that a confident and experienced trained hiring manager will ask for more detailed information, allowing the interviewee to state job-relevant information, and therefore score higher on the interview scorecard.
“What specifically did you do?”
“Why did you choose that option over another?”
“What was the long-term outcome?”
It is the same experienced hiring manager who will ask follow-up questions when a job applicant unwittingly discusses a skill within the wrong context.
“Do you have an example within a (job-related context) environment?”
“Can you tell me about a team task when you took the lead rather than being part of the team?”
“Have you worked on larger scale projects?”
Duration of an interview
High-skilled positions are often gained through being successful in a multi-stage job interview process. The theory is that being asked similar questions, relating to the job criteria, over 3-4 job interviews, ensures that the employer makes a hire with a realistic vision of the new employee’s potential job performance.
In a single interview, the job applicant might be viewed as skilled, but in reality, a single interview isn’t enough to confirm the candidate’s level of competencies for medium to high-skilled positions.
For most low-skilled job roles, employers will only have a single interview as ‘potential’ rather than experience, is a key decision in the hiring process.
The duration of the job interview doesn’t create pressure on the interviewee. The job applicant can give a long or short, detailed or vague, interview answer. In fact, most interviewees are unaware of the time during the job interview itself.
Research shows how the higher number of words per answer often relates to the number of job offers. This is because, on average, the more detailed the answer, the more likely it is that the answer references the criteria on the interview scorecard.
From the career professionals’ perspective, the delivery of a job-relevant detailed interview answer is a more important focus than the duration of their interview answer.
Overcoming the generic question problem
The real problem for a job applicant is knowing what detail to reference to the job interview answer, especially when asked a vague question.
First-choice applicants – career professionals who do exceptionally well in a job interview, have the confidence to ask for additional details before answering the question.
As an example, when asked: “Tell me about a time you worked successfully within a team?” The self-assured job candidate will clarify what experience the employer is attempting to uncover: “Would you like an example of when a led a team or when I was a team member?”
Asking for specific information ensures that the right example is used for each individual job interview question.
Importantly, each answer needs to reference the job criteria for each specific question. Employers use an interview scorecard that has the interview question and a list of criteria that are required to gain a high score. If the job criteria aren’t referenced during the interview answer, the hiring manager will have no choice but to allocate a lower score.
Interview preparation, prior to the job interview, must consist of identifying the job criteria, predicting job interview questions, and crafting high-scoring interview answers.
In the interview itself, when asked a competency-based interview question, it is important to quickly reflect on what criteria the hiring manager is wanting to hear. This self-reflection can help to identify which one of the prepared interview answers to use.
Even when a prepared interview answer has been chosen, the job applicant can cover all bets by giving a specifically detailed answer.
The delivery of a detailed answer is important. If an employer refuses to ask follow-up questions, to gain a better understanding of the candidate’s future job performance, the applicant is scored on the initiative, often limited interview answers.
It is true that a weak interviewer often makes the wrong hiring decision. Many organisations with a high turnover of staff don’t interview correctly. But the same poor interview technique can stop skilled employees gaining job offers.
Specific job interview answers
Essentially, a detailed job interview answer is an example (behavioral job interview answer) or future scenario (situational job interview answer) that is embedded with the answers to the hiring manager’s potential follow-up questions:
“What specifically did you do?”
“Why did you choose that option over another?”
“What was the long-term outcome?”
The specific and detailed answer does have a longer duration, requiring the interviewee to mindful of speech speed, pauses, tonality, and to use emotional intelligence to ensure the interview panel is still engaged and listening.
For a behavioral interview question, the most famous structure to answer the question is STAR:
Situation
Task
Action
Result
When the additional detail has been embedded for the structure of the interview answer is increased:
Situation
Long-term outcome if the situation wasn’t resolved
Options to overcome barriers, including pro’s and con’s of options
Reason for choosing options
Task
Role within the task
Risk assessments
Stakeholder engagement
Action – team actions vs own actions
Additional/unforeseen problems and how these were overcome
Highlighting personal motivation
Result – short vs long term
As each interview question varies, the detailed structure can be amended as required. What is important to remember is that not all hiring managers will ask for a specific criterion when the job interview question is stated.
Nervous or less experienced recruiters ask fewer follow-up questions. A structured job interview cross-references answer against the interview scorecard (job criteria).
Many failed job interviews come down to detailed answers being given that don’t reference enough job-related competency.
A hiring manager’s key objective is to determine the job performance of each job applicant. The interview, therefore, is a short window where candidates must make a strong impression that showcases suitability through the confident communication of competencies.
In the main, career professionals answer interview questions by stating knowledge, experiences, and skillsets – this includes skills, strengths, and qualities, allowing the interview panel to analyse each answer against the job criteria – a logical decision-making process.
Unknown to many job seekers, is the subconscious emotional decision-making process that influences the logical part of the brain – the gut reaction. The emotional brain – the amygdala, reacts much quicker than the logical thinking part of the brain- the frontal lobe.
This means that communication, verbal and non-verbal, produced by the interviewee initially triggers the emotional reaction of the interviewer – a generalisation ‘I like this applicant’ or ‘I dislike this candidate’ prior the interviewers logical decision-making process – a analytical choice ‘the applicant meets 5 out of 6 job criteria’s’ or ‘the candidate only has experience in only 2 out of 6 job criteria’s’.
A First Impression isn’t a Logical Process
Most employers adopt the structured job interview process as a means to fairly determine the job performance of each applicant, as research shows how a behavioral or situational interview is most likely to create a hiring decision based on the requirements to meet the job criteria.
The seven-second rule – ‘first impressions are made within 7 seconds of meeting an interviewee’ is incorrect, in fact, it only takes a tenth of a second. An article in Psychological Science explains: ‘A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don’t significantly alter those impressions (although they might boost your confidence in your judgments)’.
Instant impressions can be wrong. They are filled with unconscious biases and, initially, have no evidence to support the belief – ‘I can see this person being a good fit’ or ‘I don’t know what it is but I can’t see them as part of the team’.
Importantly, the first impression influences the logical mind. Imagine you wanted to get a bite to eat. As you are walking down a high street looking for a restaurant you see two establishments side by side. As you quickly scan your head your subconscious takes in a large amount of information: the restaurant name. The colour and font of the restaurant’s sign. How one has tables outside and another doesn’t. If one restaurant looks cleaner than the other. The number of people in each restaurant. The style of dress of the waiters.
Instantly you are drawn to one of the restaurants – ‘this place looks nice’. Once a decision is made – ‘I like this restaurant’ or ‘this candidate seems suitable for the role’ the decision-maker will remember their choices as better or more suitable than they were. This is due to choice-supportive bias. Choice-support bias is the tendency to remember a decision as better than it actually was, by attributing positive features to the first choice, and negative features to the choice not taken.
In the job interview, this would sound like: ‘The (first choice) has X experience which would be suitable for (task). The (second choice) didn’t mention X in the interview which is an important part of the job role’.
What Triggers a Strong or Weak First Impression?
As seen with the ‘which restaurant to dine at’ decision, the subconscious computes a large amount of data which is filtered through the decision makers filters (experiences, beliefs, values, emotional state). A person’s filters makes the decision making process personal, another person choosing a restaurant may have chosen the second restaurant due to their personal filters. Or one interviewer may preference one applicant, and a second interviewer a second candidate.
What is interesting is that external factors can influence a person’s choice. Social proof, as an example – one restaurant being filled with customers and the second restaurant being empty can influence the choice – ‘if everyone is eating in the first restaurant is must be good’. In a job interview, a weaker interviewer may be influenced by a high-status interview panel members opinion.
In an experiment by Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov on first impressions, a group of participants were shown photographs of faces for 1/10th of a second, half a second, and a full second, and asked to judge each person’s IE ‘is this person competent?’ The results were compared with a second group who completed the same experiment but without a time constraints. The experiment found that no matter the duration of the decision-making process, decisions that were made in 1/10th of a second were highly correlated with judgments made without time constraints
An employer’s first impressions can be influenced by the interviewee. Much research shows how a number of elements can help improve the first impression during a job interview. Negative impressions are often caused by anxiety. Feeling nervous affects non-verbal communication: facial expressions, gestures, and postures, and verbal communication: projection, tonality, and word choice.
Emotional Displays Influence Decision Making
A blank expression doesn’t create trust. A high number of interviewees will adopt a neutral facial expression during a job interview. Some, those with higher levels of anxiety, may subconsciously frown or have a look of shock – mouth wide open.
Both a blank expression, the look of shock, or even those who show contempt or anger will create distrust with the hiring manager. Even if the subconscious facial expressions are created due to the body’s response to anxiety, the employer will react from the initial negative impression. On the other hand, smiling and laughter, have been shown to promote affiliative tendencies in observers (Campellone and Kring 2012). Smiling improves trust, rapport and creates and more personal impression
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it
The advice given for job interview preparation is to prepare high-scoring interview answers. High-scoring interview answers are examples and data/facts that meet the job criteria on the interview scorecard.
Simply stating information isn’t enough. From a logical perspective, stating the required information should result in a job offer. As discussed previously, decisions are made and influenced by the emotional mind. Using varied pace, tonality and projection can improve the delivery of each job interview answer.
Anxious people will have a tendency to speak at a fast pace. The average rate of speech ranges from around one hundred forty to one hundred seventy words per minute. Speeding up or slowing down the pace of speech can help to reiterate a point. Speaking fast shows excitement and pausing before an important point helps an audience to know that they must listen. Speaking with emotion also conveys the desired message as the chosen words and voice match.
Speaking too slowly in a monotone voice can be detrimental to the success of an interview as a slow monotone voice can be hypnotic sending the interviewer to sleep, or at best into a daydream state where they don’t listen to the point being attempted to be made.
The Power of Physical Appearance
Science Daily shared an article that explained the mind – body cycle. Sitting up straight while writing why you are suitable for a job increases self-esteem, the participants were more likely to believe the statement compared to participants writing the same message while ‘slumped’ in their chair.
Much research shows that by standing/sitting in a confident posture increase confidence. Confident interviewees will have stronger eye contact, a straight back and head held high, chest out, and walk with a sway.
Anxious applicants look down, fidget, slump in the chair, cross their legs when giving an interview presentation and avoid eye contact.
By purposely adopting a posture, a job candidate can trick the brain into believing they are more confident. Feeling confident then improves posture creating a mind-body cycle.
Improve Your Job Interview Performance
To improve your job interview identity stop showing signs of weaknesses. The weak leaks come from negative facial expressions, monotone, and fast-paced voice, and slumped posture. Instead, smile and relax. Use emotions in your voice and pause when speaking. Walk tall with your head held high and increase eye contact. You are what you feel, feel more confident, become more confident.
As with any activity that is a constant, the more a person is skilled at the activity the more confidence they have when completing the task(s). The more confident a person is when performing an activity, the more skilled they will become at the task(s).
Job seekers in 2022 will attend more job interviews than their parents. This is due to a culture change from having a ‘job for life’ to a ‘job hopping’ mindset. Job hopping is seen as the quickest way to increase a salary and to gain promotion.
On average a career professional will have three separate careers in their career life-cycle and change roles once every three to five years. For each successful job offer and acceptation, a job seeker will attend around 6 job interviews with 6 separate organisations.
For high skilled positions the average recruitment process has 4 interview stages, including one with an AVI – asynchronous video interview.
This brings the total number of job interviews per person to 24 once every 3-5 years. Compare this to a career professional 50 years ago, who may have started out as an apprentice or graduate and worked their way up the career ladder internally, gaining a promotion once every 10 years – one job interview every 10 years, around 6 interviews in their lifetime.
The Recruitment Process is Changing
Previously an interview was a reactive process to requiring a new staff member due to, as an example, an increase in business or the replacement of a staff member. An old article in the Harvard Business Review on job interview strategies explained: ‘All too often, the inexperienced interviewer launches into a discussion only to find midway through that his preparation is incomplete’.
Recruitment processes have moved on and improved. It is well documented that the structured job interview is the best determinator of an applicant’s productivity. It is the asking of behavioral or situational job interview questions and their cross-referencing of answers against a logical scoring system that helps to create a hire from an analytical process rather than an emotional choice.
The distinction between analytical and emotional decision machining is an important one. Previously, in unstructured recruitment process ‘likeability’ was a key factor over ‘suitability’ for meeting the job criteria. Emotional hiring is filled with prejudices.
Currently, the hiring process is changing to deal with the larger number of applicants per position.
The average number of job seekers applying for an advertised vacancy is 250. For global and highly recognized organizations; Meta, Google, BMW, and Amazon, the number of applicants per position can be up to 25000.
Employers know that making the recruitment process easy and quick keeps the attention of 1st-choice applicants (candidates that often get offered job roles due to their experience/knowledge and confidence in a job interview – their interview identity)
An easy process for a well-known brand increases the applications to an extent that no human can process the volume of resumes and CVs that is received. This increased workload for reviewing applications has been passed to AI bots.
Application Tracking Systems (ATS) are used, and increasingly being adopted by a high number of businesses, to review the initial application – a resume, CV, and online application form. The AI bot scans the documents looking for industry-relevant keywords and experiences to check the suitability of each applicant.
The shifting stage of applications used to be completed by HR professionals but is now a fully automated process.
In four-stage recruitment process, the second stage – an online video is also fully automated using an AVI. The AI bot asked questions which are answered within a set time frame and again reviewed via the AI bot’s algorithm.
It is only when the hiring manager reduces the 25000 applications down to 6-8 do humans get involved.
Get Interview Ready
Today’s job seeker must possess job interview skills.
The high volume of potential job interviews across their career creates an urgency to upskill for a job interview. The three key areas of growth must be:
The identification of the job criteria and potential job interview questions
The ability to self-promote when stating interview examples and the use a strength-based language
The ability to confidently communicate to ensure positive messages are being received by the hiring manager
In addition, the modern job seeker must be comfortable when being interviewed by an AI bot – the AVI asynchronous video interview system. This includes being confident talking on camera within a set time period while stating enough ‘keywords’ to be granted an offer to attend a ‘human’ interview.
The ability to recall prepared high-scoring interview answers that give examples and data that meet the job criteria during the various interview stages is key to an increase in job offers. Public speaking, therefore, is an essential skill. Professional speakers have learned the skill of crafting a speech (or interview answer) that is engaging, interesting, and relevant to the audience (interview panel).
‘Winging it’ is no longer an option. Having a lucky day may have previously been enough to secure a job offer, but with the introduction of multiple interview rounds it is only a skilled interviewee, one with a positive interview identity, that can beat the competition round after interview round.
Confidence has always been an important part of the recruitment process. Now more than ever, confidence is the golden key to unlocking a new job offer. Confident candidates are more likely to give state the job criteria, give longer answers, use pauses rather than filler words, and to build rapport with the hiring manager.
For very few confidence seems like a natural skill. For most having confidence when being the centre of attention in a job interview, confidence comes from many hours of job interview preparation and practice:
Breaking down the job advert into potential interview questions
Writing, editing, and rewriting interview answers
Mock interviews and practice out loud
Public speaking practice, including storytelling
Researching the interview team to create familiarity – as this reduces anxiety
Preparing for common or cure ball interview questions
Gaining beliefs in ones own ability and experience
