The Interview

Such an intense word set. Makes you terrified, doesn’t it?

It shouldn’t, and after this, hopefully it doesn’t.

I’ll just go right to the point. Interviewing is not them interviewing you. Or, well, not completely. I want you to think about it like you’re on a date with someone you were introduced to by a friend. A blind date. Not a Tinder match. TOTAL BLIND DATE.

You’re nervous and have no clue about them. They have no clue about you and are at least a bit nervous as well. You are at the beginning stage of getting to know each other, with the potential outcome of being a couple or more. You start with the basics of your life, where you are from, what you do, maybe some important background history. You come to the topic of interests and similarities.

You carefully explore the other’s mindset and see if it matches yours enough where you’re interested in further dates. With luck, you have that second date and the getting-to-know continues. Well, in interviews, it’s nearly identical.

Job interviews are not them interviewing you. Again. It’s not JUST THEM interviewing you. Can I say that enough? Once more. It’s Not. Just Them, interviewing YOU.

You are interviewing them too...

Got it? Ok. I want you to turn your brain around. You. Are. Interviewing. Them.

You are headed to this company to see if THEIR job fits YOUR needs. And they, in turn, are seeing if YOUR skills fit THEIR needs.

You are interviewing them to see if you can help their needs. You are also interviewing them to see if you can fit into their company.

Pay attention to the way the people doing their jobs look. Do they look decently happy, or at least normally going about their day without stressed or angry looks on their faces? How’s the energy in there? It may not be a bright and airy and new looking place, but is it decently clean and well kept? Are people being a bit social here and there, in a friendly way, saying hi or bye to each other as they pass by? Any “Hey Jim, how’s Bobby doing in soccer?” going around? That’s the good stuff to see.

You are valuable...that's why they need you.

You are just as valuable to them as they are to you. They aren’t hiring because they feel like it. They are hiring because they need someone who can do a particular set of tasks for them to keep them running efficiently, or to help them grow. Your job is to do those tasks to the best of your ability, and to help them grow as well.

Your job is to help them run efficiently or grow, and their job is to pay you an agreed upon wage for the alloted time per week given. The wage can be negotiated, in your interview, when the pay rate comes up. Be prepared for it, and be knowledgeable about what you should be paid for it.

Glassdoor.com is a wonderful resource for that. Look for the approximate job you’re interviewing for and look for the area you’re in. Compare salaries. Take an average, and use that as a minimum for your negotiation. As in, don’t accept much lower than the average for the position or you will feel pretty taken advantage of. Instead, add a few dollars per hour, or a few thousand per year as a start.

If they say “that’s great, we’re in agreement” then you may have just undercut yourself, but it’s still more than the average – you’re going to feel great about that pay for a while! Don’t worry though, next year you can renegotiate the terms at your review meeting.

Desperation downfall...

Desperation is a death sentence for job seekers. It can be smelled, tasted, felt by the interviewer. It’s a negative thing to them and will lose you the job immediately upon it being sensed. It’s important for you to recognize your desperation. Partly, with the step I mentioned above – You are interviewing them first and foremost.

Another part is recognizing that you will be OK if this job doesn’t work out. To do that, prepare yourself ahead of time emotionally, financially, mentally, whatever-ly to NOT get this job. If you didn’t have this interview, you’d be continuing looking. And getting more. Not getting THIS job won’t stop you from getting other jobs. An interview is not a life raft.

Don’t treat an interview like a life raft!

You don’t need a job so badly that you put yourself in a bad position for it. You’ll not end up in a better position financially, and you’ll be more stressed too. So remember – desperation kills jobs. You are interviewing them. You do NOT need this job if it’s a bad fit, you’ll find more and interview more, no big deal. You’ll catch the next one.

So, interviewing while trying desperately to not showing your desperation. How does one do that exactly?

By making friends, professionally. Imagine you’re talking to someone professional but NOT someone interviewing you. This person is also not famous. Think of an adult who you think has it all together. A captain of a boat you’re at a party with. Some CEO that’s a friend of your mom’s. Now, from that perspective, make friends.

They’ll ask you questions. You answer them truthfully but relaxed. No pressure at all. They go off topic, you follow and banter back and forth lightly till they go back on topic. You wanna see how they are in terms of personality, they wanna see yours too. It’s not one sided! YOU ARE EQUAL. You may be job hunting, but that does not mean you are lesser. You are equal to them.

Then what?

After your fantastic interview, where you’ve gotten a good sense of the company, like what you’ve seen and been told….what’s next but waiting for the call. Here’s the terrible part: The WAIT. It may take only days. It may take weeks. For some, it may take MONTHS. Wanna guess what you do while you wait?

Apply more. Interview more. Till you get The Call. Keep interviewing until you’ve signed a work agreement or have an agreement to start the next week. When an interviewer calls, you politely say thank you but you’ve already accepted another opportunity. That’s all you need to do!

Extras! Extras! Bits and blurbs that don't fit with other sections 🙂

Getting the upper hand in your yearly reviews

Now you have your skills list. That thing is gold to keep updated…especially if you have things you have done “over and above” your job. That’s the keyword. Over and above.

As your yearly review approaches, think back to what you’ve done that wasn’t part of your normal job. Things you helped your manager with. Things you made, coded, projects led, fixed, turned around, saved, money saved, time saved. Have that all ready to go and pull it out (in paper form, preferably).
Also, check out glassdoor.com and http://salary.com for jobs roughly your same. Take the high end, add 15%, and ask for that. That’s a standard ask in the industry (for the executives. Which you are one…in training.)

So go into that interview with a smile, go through the standard parts, and then bring out the paper. Read off the list with a “remember when I did X? Yeah, that saved you a lot! I also remember when I helped you with Y. That really made that project work. I hope we can work out something fair for the proof I’ve shown that I’m capable of far more, and I’m excited for next steps. I’ve done some research and found X amount might be a fair number to go to, but of course I’m open to negotiation.”

You’ll go from a $1 raise to a $10 (per hour) raise.