The following information is only good if you have an astute interviewer sitting across from you who knows what they are doing. But if you have someone who is not a good interviewer, consider that you probably have the advantage anyway. One way that you can tell if you have an amateur interviewer is if they ask you the following question: where do you see yourself in __ years? The reason that is a lousy question is because the interviewer cannot tell you where they see themselves in __ years, so they should not expect you to answer it. However, if they do ask that question, the correct answer is “I would hope to see myself in a position of additional responsibility and professional development.” The beauty of that answer is that you mean at any company, but the interviewer will take it to mean that you mean working there.
To a degree, you can control the interview by the way in which your resume is written, depending on your interviewer, of course. Most resume critique services tell you to cram your resume with “results” so that you will not seem like you are a doer. That is only half correct. You do want to place some results in your resume because you will want the interviewer to ask you “what type of actions did you have to take to achieve those results” or something similar.
By the same token, you will want to load your resume with actions so that the interviewer will ask you “what kind of results did you achieve from your actions” or something like that. If you can get your interviewer to ask you those kinds of questions, that will give you a chance to shine twice in the interview.
Oher ways that you can control the interviewer is to get them talking. Some people love to talk and the beauty of that is they think they are controlling the interview because they are speaking and in theory, in charge. In fact, with every word they say, you should be in a learning process, absorbing everything that they say to help you formulate your answers to them when they do ask you questions.
But you can also control the interview with what you say. You control how much information that you want them to have. If you are too brief with your answer, they will ask you to elaborate with your answer.
When it comes to the time where they ask you if you have any questions for them, and let’s say that they answered all your questions during the give and take of the interview. Get them to reiterate any the answer to any question that you might have had. This will let them know that you came prepared.
Arlen R. Crawford
arlenarcresumes@gmail.com
www.arcresumes.com
678-296-0909
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
Jeremiah 17:7
