Q: Of all the various things that can happen in a job interview, what worries you most? What’s the worst sign of all? I’ve had some funny experiences myself lately on the interview trail and I’m just trying to put them into context. Thank you. (DC, email).
A: It is difficult to generalise, but I will try: the one thing that consistently worries me is the short interview. Whenever I hear of a client getting a short interview, I tend to conclude that the job is already gone and just hope that my client is the favoured one, writes Liam Horan, Career Coach, Sli Nua Careers.
Liam Horan, BALLINROBE Tel: 094 95 42965
A short interview tends to prove very little. A candidate needs a chance to get into their stride. In a short interview, there is very little opportunity for the interview panel to develop or probe your answers – it strikes me that all they can do is ask a series of prepared questions that they ask everybody.
It does not conform to what I like to call a knowledgeable chat, where you, and the other people on the other side of the table, engage in a real discussion about the job, your experience and how all of this might fit together. If you find yourself in a short interview, there is very little you can do, because it will be all over before you know it.
However, you should still focus on trying to score as much as you can. This is through the first minute, the tenth minute and the last minute of an interview: so regardless of how long it goes on for, you should try to make every minute pay. It’s all you can do.
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