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When You Go To The Interview - Part Two February 12, 2006

A couple of days ago, I wrote “When You Go To The Interview“, and I’m very happy, and lucky, that Mark Horstman of “Manager Tools” added two great comments to the post. For the folks that only see this stuff via RSS, I’m copying those comments below (with Mark’s permission), and then adding some more comments of my own at the bottom.

Gary-

GREAT POST! Really like your thinking.

I don’t know if I’ve ever made it really clear on our show, but I spent 7 years recruiting for major corporations. I have interviewed tens of thousands of candidates, and placed thousands. So, I come to my perspective honestly (and, frankly, painfully).

I am going to check out the posts on answers you’ve got, and see what suggestions I can add.

I do want to add one comment, regarding resumes. You mentioned that some of your readers may not “get along with” the one page resume idea. If they don’t, they’re indulging a mistaken personal belief that more is better. Folks, there’s just no way those second and third pages are getting read. PERIOD. Even for tech jobs, the number of resumes received is such that the decision is made in MOMENTS. And, for those of you hiring managers who might prefer them, remember - resumes’ purpose is to get the interview. The vast majority of resumes that are too long (>1 page) never get to you. This may make recruiters and HR bad people, but it doesn’t change the reality.

When I get a multi-page resume (and I get 50 resumes a week, unrequested), I IMMEDIATELY think two things: (1) uninformed job seeker, and (2), limited upside career.

One other thing: I LIKE multi-page resumes. Yes, you read that right. BUT, I like them for their ability to CAPTURE all that I have done. I use them to review what I’ve done and choose the best stuff to go on the one pager that I SEND OUT to companies/recruiters.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox! Watch those multi-pagers, folks - they’re hurting you and you don’t know it.

Mark Horstman
Manager Tools

PS: I’ll post again once I’ve checked out the sites!

OK - that’s the first one. Here’s the promised second post, from a little later that evening:

Gary-

Went to the answer sites you posted. The first site has some okay answers, and for someone who hasn’t ever interviewed, it would be helpful. If you’ve got 7+ years of professional experience and can only do that well, all the interview answers in the world won’t help you.

The way to answer weakness questions is patently offensive. Chocolate? Seriously - this is rude.

Here’s the right way to answer the weakness question. First, you should assume you’re going to get this question, and therefore have analyzed the job to understand what the core strengths are that are required. DON’T choose to talk about a weakness (we all have more than one!) that is a core job requirement.

Once past that, your answer should have THREE PARTS. (1) Qualify your answer, (2) State the weakness, (3) Describe what you’re doing to improve.

For instance: “On occasion (qualifier), I procrastinate (weakness). I’ll push a task back as long as it’s not critical, in deference to some other work. What I’ve started doing lately (improvement) is posting my project schedules, as well as setting up reminders to keep me on track.”

Or, “Every once in a while, I jump into a project to make early progress, rather than taking time to get a sense of the various issues. What I’ve started doing is simply adding tasks on the front end that are about level setting and relationship building, and that’s made a big difference.”

Their mouths will hang open, I promise.

One more thing - both sites have too many questions.

You really need to be exceptionally ready for TWO: “tell me about yourself”, and “give me an example of an accomplishment (which shows blank)”.

If you handle these two well (and btw, tell me about yourself should be 3-4 minutes long, not 1 minute), the others can be forgiven.

(Relatedly: be VERY careful about following ANY guidance from Haldane (cited on one of the sites). They’re a fee-based firm, and my experience with them is consistently unprofessional.

Hope this helps.

Mark Horstman
Manager Tools

Well, I think my first thought is that I hope I’m never in competition for a job with Mark! :) That said, some more thoughts and responses to the above.

Again - thanks again for the comments, Mark. I don’t want to over-do it, but I know (because you told me!) how much traffic you’re currently getting at your site, and how busy you are. Taking the time out to make such detailed comments is a great thing.

Now, I have to admit to thinking about your podcast again when I wrote that paricular piece of the post (”…not getting along…”), and I knew I was prevaricating a little in how I wrote it.

I’m almost there - maybe 80%, maybe 90%, in doing a one-pager. I’ve thrown away a couple of drafts, and I’m still working on it. I think I’ll make that my personal addition to your Development Challenge - to create a one-page resume that I’m comfortable with, this year. (I’ve got the rest of this year before I’ll need it externally (long story…), so it’s a good personal goal).

Part of both my unhappiness with a one-pager, and the reason I wrote the way I wrote is probably cultural - I’m a techie by history and a manager now, as my full resume (up at the top of the page) should show; we’re used to two or three page resumes with a lot of history, project details, training and certification histories, and so forth. I’ve definately cut down from the three- and four-page varities — I have a two-page one that I’m comfortable gives a good picture of me. Still work to do, clearly. I know it’s a widespread issue - only on Friday, I was part of a discussion with Doug where he was bringing his resume down to two pages from four, and couldn’t get a comfortable one page one. I know he’s listened to your podcast on the subject, and he and I have both recommended that to others, so we’re definately on-board with the concept, we just haven’t got our minds fully around it yet.

It’s definately interesting to get a recruiter’s eye view of these matters from someone that isn’t in that position any more. As an aside, I used to work for a software vendor/VAR, selling recruitment marketing software - it’s an interesting industry to be around.

To close out this particular thought, your comment “When I get a multi-page resume (and I get 50 resumes a week, unrequested), I IMMEDIATELY think two things: (1) uninformed job seeker, and (2), limited upside career.” is the one that I’m going to keep foremost in mind while I’m working on this. You’ve definately got my attention!

Moving on - the answer sites. I probably should have expanded in the original piece that I like to use them as a brain exercise, as an interviewer as well as an interviewee. When I’m on the employer’s side of the desk, I like to be just a touch “mean” - I’ll ask a technical question, then a personal or sociable one, then another technical one, and so forth. I’ll also throw out completely off-the-wall ones in the middle of all this - not the “solve this problem” type questions - although I use those too - but things like “Who’s your hero?”. I won’t be using that last one again, now, but it was interesting to see what people said, and also how they said it.

You started with the comment “The first site has some okay answers, and for someone who hasn’t ever interviewed, it would be helpful. If you’ve got 7+ years of professional experience and can only do that well, all the interview answers in the world won’t help you. ” - I think I made the mistake of trying to be too broad in my writing; I should probably have written targetted sections. I mentioned that I’d been counseling someone recently for the interview process, and he’s (with no insult intended) somewhat junior in the workplace and employment world, so I definately had that level running high in my mind; at the same time, I’ve been talking and working with folks that are more senior. Definately my mistake - I’ll be more specific the next time around.
You’re absolutely right about the weakness question and answer. I didn’t fully qualify that the lists weren’t “golden answers”, did I? They’re not, as you quite eloquently point out. I’ll be including your three-part answer approach in any planning I do in the future. As I say - reviewing the lists just to keep the brain working is a part of the approach that I use, and recommend, to avoid “panic by surprise” in the meeting itself.

There’s certainly no doubt that the two lists have too many questions overall - I think I’d be pretty concerned - and quite likely exhaused! - if someone was to ever use either or both as a checklist and work top to bottom!

I think I’ll wrap here - wonder if anyone’s still reading this far? This has been an interesting and productive conversation - looking forward to more like it, and thanks for letting it be “out in the open” like this.

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