Career Peace

When you prepare for a job interview, theres one principle of human relations that you should always keep in mind. Regardless of the size of the company, always remember that the person interviewing you is another live human being. He has needs, wants, and emotions, just like you do.

And if you understand this principle of human relations, the better chance you have of coming out of the interview with a positive outcome. That principle is this: all humans have an ego. Some big. Some small. Some gargantuan. You must understand this and give that interviewers ego the special care it needs.

Now, dont take that to mean that you should slather insincere flattery on the interviewer like whipped cream on your morning Starbucks Capuccino. Even the most shallow of interviewers can see through that. No, you want to give the interviewer what Dale Carnegie says all humans want: you want to make them feel important.

How To Make A Good Impression on the Job Interviewer

Now, granted, the guy (or gal) who interviews you probably wont be the CEO of the company (unless its a very small company). He or she may be several rungs down the ladder in the HR department. But if you can connect with that interviewerand make him feel important, you increase your chances of at least getting to the next step in the hiring process.

How do you go about making someone feel important when you know very little about them? The late human relations expert, Dale Carnegie, did it this way…

“I was in line to register a letter in the post office and 33rd St and 8th Ave in New York and noticed that the clerk appeared to be bored with the job winning envelopes handing out stamps making change issuing receipts. The same monotonous grind, year after year.

So I said to myself, I am going to try to make that clerk like me obviously to make him like me. I must say something nice, not about myself, but about him. So I asked, what is there about him, but I can honestly admire?”

“So while he was weighing my envelope, I remarked with enthusiasm I certainly wish I had your head of hair. Well it isn’t as good as it used to be, he said modestly.

I assured him that although it might have lost some of its pristine glory, nevertheless it was still magnificent.

He was immensely pleased we carried out a pleasant little conversation and the last thing he said to me was ‘Many people have admired my hair.’ I’ll bet that person went out to lunch that day walking on air.”

Now, I’m not suggesting that you complement every job interviewer you see, on his nice hair, but the principle is the same. You know your interviewer is trying to put the companys best foot forward. Help him get that job done by complimenting his company.

Arm Yourself With These Facts Before The Job Interview

One of the best ways I know to do this is research. Few things impress an interviewer more than your coming to an interview armed with accurate background information about the company that he represents. What kind of information could you gain that might make a good impression on an interviewer? Here are a few ideas for you…

• The companys latest stock price if the company has an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP), the interviewer probably owns some shares and keeps track of it himself.
• The companys mission statement you can usually find this on the company website, probably on the About page, which most companies have.
• Recent feel good news stories about the company do a search on Google for news about the company youll be interviewing with. I just Googled Motorola News and came up with a letter from the CEO that recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal. This would be great information to talk about during an interview.

Companies love to have their ego stroked. Like individual people, they like to feel important. You can make them feel that way by showing the interviewer that his company is important enough for you to know about.

Do that youre sure to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Most job hunters wont do this. Im reminded of the MBA candidate who walked into an interview with IBM. The interviewer led off with the question what does IBM stand for? The MBA didnt know that answer. Interview over.