Individual Interview

The following checklist will help you with the process where it is a 1:1 interview:

1. Once you enter the room where the interview will take place, take charge. When asked sit comfortably in the designated chair with confidence. Put your briefcase down and not on the table or the desk! Relax. Pull the briefcase in your lap to get things out and place them in front of you. These things may be your note pad, pen or pencil, your organizer or calendar. Do not clutter the desk or table with more than the essentials. Your résumé should be part of the stack that consists of the writing pad and other material–a small stack!
2. Look at your host and smile. Breathe easy. You are naturally anxious. Do not show it by making solicitous comments: “Gee, I am really sorry you are catching cold” if you just saw your host sniffling. He may be allergic to something you are wearing and not really catching a cold!
3. Thank your host for taking the time for the interview. Ask politely how much time is set for the interview, who else might see you and anything else that is logistically relevant: “Is Tom coming here or I am going to his office?”  So that you are clear on the course of the activities planned for your visit.
4. Let this host launch the formal part of the interview with the first question–the informal interview began when you first shook hands! Make sure you understand the question. Generally the first questions are easier. But, do not assume if you do not understand something. The interviewer is nervous, too; use that to your advantage. For example, he may assume that the person who did the phone screening took care of certain preliminaries as the company’s expansion plans, overseas contracts, etc. Politely state the facts and ask for further information. You entire line of response may hinge on this critical information.
5. There are two things critical to the interview dynamics: the person asking the questions is in charge of the interview; the person doing the talking is doing the selling. You should not automatically assume that your host is in charge of the interview after the first question. They are just in charge of the arrangements for the interview and that is why they are your host!
6. One way to take charge of the interview without overtly showing that you have now done so is to first answer the question in a leading way. Then ask back a question at the end of your response so that the interviewer has to respond with a thoughtful answer. For example, if the interviewer asks why you see yourself as a good fit for the position, the best response is not to assume what the position is, merely after having read the job posting. A good response is to first advert your response to what is already on your résumé and state what you have done in the immediate past at the company you left or leaving. This is all factual. Then at the end of about a minute or so, pause, and ask the following: “Now that you know what I have done at H-P as a product manager, and I also have read the job description for this position, what is your perspective and what do you expect the new hire to do to bring value to you?”  This is not the same as asking what the job is; you should know that having come this far in the process! But, everyone has a perspective and expectations on how this position will be filled and what the new hire is expected to deliver.
7. Once the interviewer launches into an answer, take brief notes on what is critical in their response. Watch the body language carefully. Do they betray a discord in stating what is being said or do they really believe what they’re saying? Sometimes hiring managers or other interviewers do not buy into all open positions for political reasons. Your knowledge of this is critical. Once the person stops talking or you see a natural opening into what might be a longer answer (after about 60-90 seconds), interrupt politely and say “That is very interesting, John, because that is exactly what I do well!”  And, then go on to say, “Let me explain!” Now go on to those parts of your résumé that have supporting material to what was said and then build on it. Use the very language and the words that were just used to describe their expectations! Now you cannot lose! If you do not follow this simple script you are shooting in the dark and you have no clue if you hit the mark.
8. Once you have come to this point, you have probably crossed the tipping point in who holds the control of the interview. Now you can bandy questions and answers back and forth and you both are having a dialog and not an interrogation. Remember you have to ask about half the questions–starting early–and do half the talking. This way you are both selling each other, a perfect barter!
9. Throughout this exchange carefully watch the interviewer’s body language. See following section: Understanding body language for tips on reading the body language.
10. Do not make responses to anything based on your assumptions. Do not infer anything from what you know especially if it puts the company in negative light. Let the interviewer suggest rather than your insinuating something to make a point. This can back fire quickly and is very difficult to get out of!                                                                            For example, if you have done some research about how the company deals with its            customers by actually talking to them as a part of your research before going into the interview, do not factually state what those with whom you talked think or say about the company if it is negative and needs improvement that you can provide; it may sound self-serving coming from you. Wait for the interviewer to bring it up by your leading them that way. For example, in this case, rather than saying “your customers think that your sales people do not have adequate technical understanding of the technology and often end up providing inadequate or wrong solutions as a result”, ask how the company makes sure that during a sales call that there is technical representation so that the solution is sound. Then if the response comes in the form of something less than stellar, jump in and say: “I actually talked to some of your customers and what you suspect is shared by some of them and I know one way to mitigate that ….”                                             This approach to solving a problem only when it is presented and owned by the interviewer is far more appropriate than merely assuming that the interviewer already knows what you see as a major problems and that they is looking at you for its solution.      Never provide a solution to a problem that the interviewer does not know even exists or owns!
11. If you see the interviewer disengaging from the interview as suggested by their leaning back, showing distracted gestures, or looking at their watch, quickly recognize it and back peddle what you just said and see if you can recover. It is good to recognize early a potential derailment before it is about to happen than to wait for complete derailment or even a train wreck. (See Understanding body language, in the following section)
12. One clue on how the interview is going is to check the elapsed time. This is why asking up-front how long the scheduled interview is–item # 3 above–can be critical. If the interview is going really well, you both lose sense of the time. Good interviews that are really engaging go well beyond the scheduled time. If you see anything is getting in the way of that, it is your responsibility to make sure that you bring that back on track!
13. Throughout the interview take notes, if you do not have an answer to any arcane or unexpected question, despite all your preparations, make a note of it, smile, and politely say that you would get back with an answer. In fact, this strategy will help you reconnect with the interviewer in ways not possible otherwise.  Similarly, if you find a natural opening for showing your knowledge on some related topic by having read some relevant material in a journal or publication, state that observation and say that you plan to send that article upon your return. This also gives you one more chance to connect with the interviewer after the interview.
14. If the interview has progressed to a heart-to-heart dialog then it is safe to assume that you have aced the interview. You are not out of the woods yet. You got to establish yourself as the only and ideal candidate. The following is one way to achieve that goal: During the process where you realize that you have now taken control of the interview–without the interviewer knowing it, of course!–Asking the following question can give you more insight into how you stand vis-à-vis other candidates. Your mission now is to make you the only candidate by asking:                                                                                                  “If you were to bring on board an ideal candidate what would their performance look like in the first year?”                                                                                                                                              The response to this telling question is critical. The interviewer is likely to say something like: “we expect the candidate to do this and that.”  Once you get a grasp of what that means in terms of what you can do to achieve the same outcome, your immediate but studied response is how you would deliver that performance and how you have already delivered similar performance before. In essence, you have now made it known to the interviewer that you are that ideal candidate. When presenting this argument specific examples will help even further.                                                                                                               The other advantage this question provides is that now you can leverage this information during the entire interview circuit after this first round. You will not only impress the others with this knowledge and insight, you will plant in their mind, too, that you are it!
15. Since this is the first interview do not bring up any salary or similar information into the discussion if the interviewer does not ask you. If you are asked, politely say that this is your first interview and you would like to explore more by talking to others about this job and then decide how it is scoped. If you show haste in this step you are likely to come across as too anxious!
16. As the interview is winding down, be mindful of the time and make sure to ask questions so that not only you get answers to these but also, more importantly, make the interviewer think of the import of your questions. If you have done thorough research before the interview and know what the hot buttons are you should be able to pose some trenchant questions that will differentiate you. Often the most obvious questions can stump an interviewer and show that you are not a run-of-the-mill thinker. Also learn to leverage one question in an interview into another one!
17. Throughout the interview maintain eye contact and smile in a relaxed way. Feel empowered by what is happening in front of you; your body language should project this state. You should radiate confidence, control, and calm! The interviewer may be impressed by your aplomb!
18. As the interview comes to a close and you see things are winding down– you will sense the energy–ask, at an appropriate time what the next step is. This is a telling question on how well you have done and what the interviewer thinks of you and how you did. Never ask about how interview went. These questions show insecurity and put the other person in a position of power. The unspoken word says much more here than most realize. If the interviewer says that you should know in a couple of weeks as there are other candidates, you should quickly pull out your pocket calendar–the plastic variety–and say something like: “two weeks from today would be November 21, which is a Friday. Why not I call you on Monday, November 24 if I do not hear from you? What is a good time?”  By this exchange you have ascertained that if you do not get that call on the November 21, you are free to call on Monday to follow-up. This also puts you in charge of the follow-up process. In most cases you will not get that call on the 21^st as promised! This exchange also shows that you are good at holding people accountable for actions; a good attribute if you are seeking a program manager, sales, or similar position where accountability is central to your success!
19. At the end, once again thank the interviewer for the time and express how much you learned from this exchange! Also express that you are now even more excited about this position than before and would look forward to working for this manager.
20. On the way out make sure you pick up all your trash, put all your papers away in your case and leave everything behind as you found it when you entered the room. The interviewer will probably escort you to the lobby or to the next spot for the interview.

After the Interview

After the interview you are probably back in the lobby checking out and handing over the badge to the person who greeted you upon arrival and signed you in. Thank that person and tell them that you really enjoyed the experience. Remember the discussion about making friends with this person at the beginning: use this connection to get from the person anything you might need to close the loop after the interview. If you shook hands with someone during the interview but failed to record or register the name, this person is more than likely to give that information. Simply describe the person or say the name in any way that you remember; this person will look up and give you the details you need so that you get what you came looking for.

Also get this person’s contact information so when you return and you have something that you need in your follow-up, this is now your inside contact!

Upon your return from the interview, compose your notes into a coherent information resource. Reflect on the interview, does anything stand out as having gaps or holes that needed a stronger answer? This must all be done in the first 24 hours following the interview.

Compose a thank you note for electronic transmittal. This note should be brief and should make or two points about what could have been done better. Without an apology state your afterthoughts so that the interviewer appreciates your diligence in following up with a stronger answer. This further cements your candidacy! Repeat the timeline that you agreed at the end of the interview so that who calls whom and when are clear from this note.

A sample email thank you note is shown at the end of this section.

For an important target (“Gold”) also send a short Thank-you card in the Mail. The message here is brief and personal.