Overconfidence: Interview Enemy#1!

Recently, I wrote a blog about the pitfalls of overselling yourself in an interview. In that discussion I laid out some suggestions on how to guard against overselling yourself and getting rejected or being set-up for failure.

This blog is about overconfidence, one symptom of which can be a temptation to oversell, but also where you have an inflated sense of your abilities to manage a situation. A certain amount of swagger is good when you are selling yourself, but when done out of complacency, a sense of superiority, or ignorance, it is tantamount to overconfidence!

This is a sure way of turning others off about your ability to sell yourself and to work with them! What works, instead, is understated competence, fortified by your leadership stories carefully delivered to resonate with the interviewer’s pain or their desire to conquer their vision! If you are able to provide a narrative of your leadership accomplishments that showcase your competence then what shines through is your ability to reach the heart of the interviewer through their head. An air of overconfidence, on the other hand, can raise doubts about the interviewer’s willingness to give you the benefit of the doubt! If your record speaks for itself then do not amp it up by embellishing it or by disparaging the pain that is expressed by the interviewer.

Overconfidence can be apparent through a variety of behaviors during an interview: petulance as displayed by a know-it-all attitude or by insolence through speech; finishing the sentences of the interviewer; interruption; assuming what the interviewer is going to ask; etc. Although many of these behaviors could be a sign of insecurity, anxiety, or eagerness to please, their impact on the interviewer is quite the opposite.

What are some of the manifest behaviors when one is overconfident (real or ersatz)? Here are some sample responses (most of the Qs below are from an interviewer):

Q: Tell me about yourself.

A: What specifically do you want to know? I have already given you my résumé!

Here the appropriate response is, I am an experienced project manager, who always delivers her commitments on time and delights the customer. Try not to respond to a question with another question, especially when the icebreaker is thrown at you. Unless you want some clarification, try answering the original question.

Q: What is your current salary?

A: “That is confidential!” Or if you are unemployed, “Zero!”

Here it is best if you decide where in the interview this question is being asked. If asked very early it is best to give a range for your salary and if they further press you for the salary you are looking for, it is best to say that until the job is fully defined it would be hard for you to place a number that shows your expected salary.

Q: The job entails doing the following: Here the interviewer gives their take on what the job really entails (beyond what is described in the job description)

A: That really does not interest me. I worked at that level over 10 years ago!

Here the appropriate response is to dig deeper and see what the real job is. If you are in front of a hiring manager (or recruiter) chances are good that they have calibrated your value from how you have presented yourself to match the job at hand. This is why packaging your résumé correctly is important. The best strategy is to decline the offer if the final job turns out be a menial job, but only after going through the process.

Q: The job entails (whatever the interviewer says). Does this interest you?

A: What else do you have? Or if I do this who is going to do that (whatever that is)?

Here the appropriate response is to understand fully how the job needs to be done and how you could add even greater value by what you bring to the job. Let the interviewer salivate over your enthusiasm to do the job at hand. You can then turn it down when the offer is made or re-negotiate the level at which the job needs to be done.

Q: A car is going at 500 MPH. What is its speed in Kilometers per hour?

A: No car goes that fast!

The appropriate response is: 800 KPH! Just answer the question. Do not make a fool out of the interviewer.

It is difficult to generalize this overconfidence malaise, but the above vignettes provide some insight. It is best to relax, be yourself, and authentically lay out your leadership plan to do a great job in the open position. Even though your anxiety and eagerness to please during the interview may be temporary, the interviewer does not know that. So, be yourself; always!

Good luck!