Showing yourself to be technologically savvy and forward-facing are incredibly important in today’s job market, so it’s no surprise that job-seekers find themselves exploring the best ways to highlight their tech skills and comfort with technology. But there are potential downsides to bringing along “new and shiny” as you enter into a search process. This week, as we continue our exploration into interview ecology, we’ll explore the risks and benefits of introducing different variables into the job-search ecosystem and hopefully, help you make some intelligent choices about how you integrate these different variables into your search strategy.
The Risks of Bringing “New and Shiny” into a Search Process
I recently traded tweets with a job-seeker who was worried about whether bringing his iPad to an interview might seem pretentious to the interviewers. We had a great and wide-ranging exchange about the pros and cons of doing so, and this conversation kind of converged with another recent one with a client and my interests in person-environment theory and the environment, and resulted in this series of posts.
The Delicate Ecosystem of the Everyday Interview
Let’s return to some basics of this proposed “interview ecology” framework:
If the hiring process is considered as an ecosystem, what are the naturally occurring parts of that system? Some possibilities:
The populations served by existing people, programs and services
New variables, before entering into the ecosystem, are assumed to be neutral, and to pose no inherent impact on the environment.
Once a new variable is introduced into an ecosystem, whether it is beneficial or invasive/destructive is determined by the nature of its interactions with the natural environment, and the impacts on other aspects of the ecosystem (people, places, resources)
Variables that create harmony, or synergy and are seen as potentially compatible with sustainable growth and balance are deemed to be beneficial.
Variables that create anxiety or dissonance are seen as incompatible and said to be invasive or destructive.
The Impact of New Variables
Since conversation is the primary form of interaction in an interview, the impacts of new variables on the quality and sustainability of the conversation, and in the formation of assumptions about person-environment fit that derive from that conversation, need to be our main concern and point of discussion in an interview ecology model.
Ultimately, decisions about whether to bring a iPad (or any new tech) into an interview should be weighed against the possibility that it might upset the ecosystem of the interview and distract from the conversation.
Risks to consider:
Being seen as inattentive (if your attention to the tech causes the interviewers to think you are bored, then you could come across as elitist or pompous, and this will kill your interview)
Being seen as a someone who might not relate with the students you’ll be serving (if you are a “have” and your students are more likely to be “have nots,” will you be seen as an outsider?)
Being seen as more interested in technology than people (i.e., your interests aren’t a good match for their needs)
Perceived benefits:
An ability to take notes without using paper. (Seems pretty basic when you put it that way, doesn’t it?)
Being seen as innovative and comfortable with technology (The assumption being that you will bring innovation and a tech-friendly sensibility to the position and department.)
Showing your interest in sustainability (Giving the impression that you will wisely steward resources and consider the impacts of your actions on the work environment.)
Creating an impression that you are forward-looking and oriented toward progress and development. (Showing that you have a drive to achieve through innovation.)
Weighing the Benefits Against the Risks
Benefit
Risk
Being seen as innovative
Being seen as inattentive or bored
Showing an interest in sustainability
Being seen as uninterested in the people or environment that in the system, only interested in resources
Showing an interest in progress
Showing a lack of interest in people or the realities of the particular organizational culture
Other Options
So to mitigate any of these risks and the potentially negative impressions that might come with them, what are some other options?
Leave the iPad behind (no distractions)
Bring the iPad but don’t use it (not as distracting, in relation to attention on your part, and still sends out techie signals, but could still be interpreted in ways that imply inability to relate or interest in other things.)
Bring the iPad but only use it for the Q & A portion of the interview (your questions would be there) or any presentation you need to do, and/or for you to use during breaks.
So it really does come down to mitigation of risks and the benefits against the potential costs. In this case, would the benefits (taking notes and seeming tech-friendly and interested in sustainability–which might not be directly related to the job–and the risks all come down to “fit,” with the downside being that you don’t get the job because of a distraction unrelated to your qualifications and how you presented them.
Given this perspective, what do you think you would do?
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Supervision is hard. Developing a coherent supervisory style is even harder. And explaining your supervisory style in an interview? Really, really hard.
On tomorrow’s episode of The Grill, at 11 a.m. ET, John Mayo and I will be discussing how to approach questions about supervision and your supervisory style in a job interview.
As usual, we’ll throw a few typical interview questions on “The Grill,” and discuss:
What an interviewer is really asking (the question within the question–i.e., what they really mean)
How to approach answering the real question
Good ways to answer
Bad ways to answer
And then, hopefully, we’ll take your calls. Call us at 1 (347) 989-0055 to take a stab at answering the questions, and we’ll offer you a live critique and our honest feedback. If you’d prefer, you can also Skype in from the episode page on BlogTalkRadio, by using the Blue “S” click-to-talk button on the page. And whether you listen live or not, we’ll continue the discussions on the Cook Coaching Facebook page, where you can also check out past questions and try your luck at answering those, too. And a few times each day, I add some interesting posts there, and you can discuss any past articles from the website.
Since we did not have a live segment last week, anyone who listened to the previous episode, What Comes Easy and What Comes Hard, will be welcome to call in and give a shot at those questions. I had a few people express interest, and had hope to schedule a follow-up teleconference, but some other business details got in the way this week. So please feel free to call in and answer those questions, too.
Please join us as we throw this week’s questions on The Grill. We’re looking forward to talking to you!
Did You Enjoy This Post?
Please take my reader survey and tell me what you think about Higher Ed Career Coach. It’s 11 questions and shouldn’t take long. Also, SurveyMonkey will be selecting one recipient at the end of June to receive a $25 Amazon gift card. So give your feedback and get a chance to win!
In any job, some things come easy, and some come hard. This is definitely true for positions in higher education, even at the entry level, but even moreso as you move up the ladder. This week on the Grill, John Mayo and I will be discussing the right ways and the wrong ways to answer questions in your interview about what you think will come easily in a new position, and what will require a steep learning curve.
This weeks we tackle two thought-provoking and tightly connected questions that ask you to share your thoughts about how your strengths and weaknesses match up to the position you are applying for.
“Given your current level of education, skills and experience:
What part of the position will be easiest for you, and why?
What part of the position will require the steepest learning curve and how will you approach closing the gap?”
The show today is pre-recorded and due to a minor disaster here in Athens (see photo), we will not have the live call-in portion of the show, as a storm blew down a branch onto my house and cars and I am working on cleanup and insurance-claim-related stuff.
Do job interviews make you feel “dragged over hot coals?”
When preparing for an interview, it’s important to approach every question critically, and read between the lines. In “The Grill,” Higher Ed Career Coach Sean Cook and co-host John Mayo, Jr., Area Coordinator for Traditional Housing at Western New England College, will discuss the “questions behind the questions,” and help job-seekers plan their approach to common questions.
In today’s premiere episode of “the Grill” on the Higher Ed Career Coach show, Sean and John discuss the ever-popular first question: “Tell Me About Yourself.”
As we deconstruct this week’s question, we’ll talk about:
The Question (What they ask.)
What the interviewer really means or wants to know.
Ways that you can answer (that are probably wrong.)
Ways you might answer (that are better)
We’ll also take call-ins from listeners who want to take a stab at this week’s question. If you are still out there looking for your next step, call (347) 989-0055 around 11:30 a.m. Friday and we’ll listen to your answer, give you a critique, and help you refine your approach. Maybe you’ll even get heard by your next employer!
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Phone interviews are known to create anxiety similar to that experienced by teenagers waiting for an answer from a potential prom date. Symptoms may include sweaty hands, shortness of breath, confusion about what to expect from the conversation, babbling, long pauses, tangents, and the complete loss of reasoning skills. How you handle the conversation once you answer the phone may even determine whether you go to the big dance.
10 Tips for Setting Aside Your Phone Interview Hang-ups
Clean up. (Both yourself and the area where you will be while taking the call.) Take a relaxing bath or shower beforehand. You’ll feel better. Make sure the table or desk where you are taking the call is clean and organized. Be a little obsessive-compulsive: if you plan to refer to notes or your résumé, arrange them in the way you hope to refer to them. Use post-it notes or notes written in colored pen, or color-code text on the documents before you print them out. This is an occasion when over-compensating and over-organizing is easily forgiven, and when it’s okay to sequester yourself for a while and banish the cat and the kids from your immediate area.
Dress up. You’ll feel more confident and professional. While your pajamas may be comfortable, they are not business apparel. Treat the interview like a business meeting. It is one-a sales meeting. Would you buy stock in a company from a guy in bunny slippers who hadn’t shaved that morning? Yeah, I wouldn’t, either.
Stand up. Surely you’ve heard the term “thinking on your feet?” It refers to having the ability to speak extemporaneously in front of an audience. The phone interview is an improvisational dialogue, and you are center stage. You’ll feel more engaged, and standing will force you to stay engaged in the conversation. It may also give you more surface area to work with as you refer to your notes. You can tape your résumé, cover letter and notes up at eye level, and spread out talking points on a desk in front of you. You should get a headset (affiliate link) to allow you to move around and talk with your hands.Who doesn’t love that?
Speak up. If your phone interview is with more than one person, you should expect it to be conducted over a speakerphone. This isn’t always the case, but if the screening committee is vetting multiple people in a short period of time, scheduling a room and doing several interviews at a time makes sense. Since you don’t have any idea whether they can hear you well, speak clearly (a headset with noise cancellation can help quite a bit with this), ask early on whether they can hear you, and pace yourself. If you are talking with five different people, you have five different approaches to taking notes, listening skills, and filtering out distractions. Get feedback early on and adjust your volume, tone, and pace as needed.
Wait Up. (Sorry, bad grammar! I grew up in the South, and we “up” all sorts of terms. It drives my wife Sarah crazy, because she was raised near Detroit, and they say things like “wait” and “put that away” instead of “wait up” and “put that up.” She calls Coke “pop,” too, and well, that just ain’t right.) But, anyway…in this context, I mean pace yourself so you don’t lose your interviewer(s), pause periodically to take a breath, give them a second or two (or longer) to catch up. People comprehend after they hear and process. Allow them time for at least a little of both.
Shut up. And by “shut up,” I mean “be comfortable with silence.” You’re allowed to process, too. You don’t have to immediately answer each question. If you need a second to process, ask for one. If you can’t answer a question, ask if you can move on and come back to it later. Most interviewers will understand, and appreciate the opportunities they’ll have to cover required ground. If they don’t get answers to some key questions, they may end up liking you, but having no basis for inviting you to campus over another candidate. Don’t let wordiness scuttle your candidacy. Do yourself a favor, and enjoy the silence.
Listen up. Nervousness often compels people to spend too much time “in their head” rather than in the conversation. If you aren’t listening, you may be constructing the perfect argument to a question other than the one being asked. Listen actively and effectively.
Look up. In her wonderful Inaugural Poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” Maya Angelou wrote about having the grace to look up into the eyes of others to simply say “good morning.” There’s a powerful idea of kinship in that poem. It’s about greeting people warmly, appreciating our common bonds, and looking forward with hope. Do this, and you will likely have an open door and a friendly face or two on the other side if you ever cross paths again. Even if the interview didn’t go quite as planned, or you didn’t get the feedback you were hoping for (it’s hard to really know, without the visual cues you get from people’s facial expressions and body language), end the interview on a hopeful and cordial note. Sometimes an opportunity isn’t the right one, or a day just isn’t “your day.” You never know when the right opportunity will come up, or who will be on the other end of the phone line or interview table, when that opportunity arrives. End warmly and you will leave your options open.
Follow Up. How to do this the right way was covered in this previous article. So please read it and use the advice in that post guide you as you keep tabs on your opportunities.
If you have an upcoming phone interview, good luck!
If you still aren’t ready, one of the services I offer are customized mock interviews. I use both common questions and some tailored to your specialty and level of experience. The interview usually takes about 30 minutes, and I record the mock interview and the feedback session which follows (30-45 minutes) and send you some personalized feedback and tips, as well as an .mp3 of the interview. Please contact me if you would like to learn more or schedule a mock interview.
Work with Sean. I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance.
