Interview Training For Handling Incompetent Interviewers

This information about interview training has been taken from my own experience and stands out as something that you should know about, but is rarely covered in any training courses or manuals.

I'm going to relate 2 short stories about how incompetent interviewers can ruin your interview success and what you can do to prevent this from happening.

The first part of my interview training will train you so you will know what to do when the interviewer you meet simply and unaccountably doesn't interview you or when you enter the room for the interview won't stop talking. When that happens how do you make your case for consideration?

The Right Interview Preparation

With all of my clients I cover the importance of job interview strategies; knowing what you have to offer and being able to discuss why you want the job and are the most suitable candidate for this particular job opening. In addition having the confidence to conduct the interview on an equal footing with the interviewer so you can make your decision about whether the job is right for you.

All of this depends on actually taking part in the interview of course and if the interviewer – through incompetence or other reason – doesn’t allow that, what can you do? What I’ve outlined here in this interview training article are two real interview situations (I’ve changed the names) where things were unusual, so if you come across anything like them you’ll know what to do when it's your turn.

1. The Interviewer Who Wouldn’t Stop Talking

This is an account of John’s interview and the interviewer who wouldn’t stop talking.

John came back from his interview appointment totally perplexed.

“I arrived 10 minutes early and was shown in to meet Mr Lowden, the Office Manager, exactly on time. I thought everything would go the way we discussed in our pre-interview talks and I knew I was fully prepared; the job sounded absolutely right for me.”

But it wasn’t exactly the interview he expected because once the introductions were made, the interviewer Mr Lowden started talking and didn’t stop until he said:

“Thank you for coming, I’ve enjoyed our meeting, I’ll let you know the outcome as soon as possible.”

So John arrived to talk it through with me. What could he have done?

Many hiring managers simply do not know how to conduct an interview - they would benefit from interview training - and it would be wrong to write off the job because of this manager’s ineptitude. Although quite unusual this extreme example of the manager who talks too much because they don’t know what questions to ask.

John had done his preparation very carefully and knew what the requirements were for the job and the successful candidate, so he had the keys to this dilemma in his hands.

The only way to reassert yourself is to break into the interviewer’s monologue by asking a question. This can be difficult without appearing too rude, but it can and must be done if you are to take part fully in the interview.

Break Your Eye Contact And...Interrupt

What you do first is break the eye contact – look away from the interviewer – then while you are looking away, you say “may I ask you a question?” and on the last syllable of ‘question’ you re-engage firm eye contact which will elicit a positive response. The eye contact is crucial for you to seize control at that moment.

This is a non-confrontational technique to ensure you get to say what you need.

You can then use your knowledge to ask a relevant closed question such as:

“Is it true that the most important area of this role is meeting monthly deadlines?”

A closed question is one that gets a 'YES' or 'NO' in response.When you have your response you must immediately say:

“May I tell you how I am able to meet this most important aspect of the job?”

You shouldn’t have to repeat this ploy as the interview will now open up; but you know what to do if this ever happens to you.

2. The Interviewer Who Wouldn’t Interview

The second interview training story is about the interviewer who sent my client, Chuck, away without any discussion whatsoever.

When Chuck returned, he was really down.

“I did everything right and I know I am the best person for this particular Field Sales role, but he just wouldn’t talk to me, and sent me away; what a waste of time!”

What happened was that when Chuck was shown into the interview room, the Field Sales Director barely looked up from what he was writing and just said:

“Thanks for coming – you’re not what we want, check with the desk for your travel expenses, goodbye.”

Most firms don’t intentionally waste your time, so you have to ask yourself what is going on.

What happened here was the Field Sales Director’s way of putting Chuck to an immediate test– how would he react to being rejected, which is a major problem for sales people?

Rejection is the greatest problem for Field Sales people to overcome, but Chuck never expected to encounter it at his interview.

What he should have done...

When I got Chuck to think about this he realised that he should have applied his sales skills to the situation to find out if there really was a problem.

So what he should have done was ask “What is it about me that makes you think I’m not right for the job?” This way if there was a genuine problem he would have the chance to deal with it, or if it was just a test he would have passed the first stage. This is generally known as ‘objection selling’ and is a powerful technique.

First identify if there is a real problem (objection) and then you have the opportunity to minimise it or make it go away altogether.

In this case Chuck would then be able to offer up some solid reasons why he was right for the job. And once he got started he would be on the way to securing the job he knew was right for him.

You wouldn't expect anything like these interviews to happen to you, but if it did, you now know what to do.

These two interviews may sound completely crazy, but they are genuine cases and something that you should know about in case you come across anything similar.

When the interviewer simply won't interview you you need to know how to play it because it has happened and there is an answer.

When the interviewer won't stop talking, you need to know how to deal with it so that you can make your case for consideration. I hope these two scenarios and the interview training that goes with them will help you in your next interview with an incompetent interviewer.

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