How to Always do Job Interviews Successfully
“Jedi Mind Tricks”
In one my classes in law school I had a professor talk about how the legal profession tries to avoid situations where the lawyer could unduly influence the regular people or non-lawyers. Jokingly, my professor referred to this phenomenon of lawyers being able to manipulate other people as “Jedi Mind Tricks”. I think anyone could learn from lawyers when it comes doing an interview because the goal of your interview is to direct the discussion to your strong points, and your highlights. In other words any great interview will take place because you were able to answer the interview questions in a way that focuses on your strengths and not your weaknesses.
Here’s an example.
Someone asks you the open ended question, “tell me about yourself”. The open ended questions are sometimes the most scary for people, but they are the easiest in my opinion because you control where the discussion goes. Use that question in a way that highlights the best parts of your resume.
“I graduated from X university and graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering where I was consistently on the Dean’s list and a scholar athlete. In my degree program I learned about fundamentals of engineering, biology, physics, and chemistry to understand how they work together to solve problems in health care. I had many projects that were similar in scope to what your company works on on a daily basis. My athletic background helped me to also be a better team player as well. After I graduated, I went on to get my graduate degree in biomedical engineering where I took additional advanced course work. After learning about your company and your values I decided I would apply for this position.”
Meanwhile as you go through what already should be on your resume they will ask you follow up questions, but it’s no problem because you are sticking to talking about your strong points. You are in a position of strength.
Even if someone one asks you a tough question like tell me about a time where you failed. That question is an opportunity to turn the dicussion back to one of your strengths. Do you see how this is kind of manipulative. You are saying this in a way that will spark further discussion about what you want the interviewer to talk about with you.
Example of the Star Method
This how I would answer “tell me about a time where you failed”. “Before I majored in biomedical engineering, I majored in computer engineering. In my coding class I had a term project that was worth 60% of my grade. It is safe to say that I struggled in the class and received a failing grade for project which greatly lowered my grade in the class. After that I rethought my major choice, and what interested me. I ended up deciding to change my major to biomedical engineering where there be more focus on biology. That was the best decision I have ever made, the rest was history and I learned that just because you are not as talented at one subject does mean you do not have strengths in other subjects. I learned it is important to try things out and figure what your strengths are in order to be successful. Most importantly, I realised when you get knocked down it’s important to get back up.”
Basically you want to use what is called the STAR method. S stands for situation, T stands for task, A stands for Action, R stands Result. I took it one step further by adding another R reflection. Through answering an interview question this way, you will be able to show them your character and that you are the type of thinker who learns from their mistakes. Reflection can also show that you have a growth mindset and are willing to adapt and change.
Preparation for Interviews
There is one aspect to interviews that pertains to interview performance. That is a skill that comes with practice. There is also an important aspect to interviews called preparation. This is where you research your employer, you learn about products, the executive team, the culture, and your department to better understand who you are dealing with. All companies have value statements or mission statements, and research is important for you to determine if the company stands for things you can endorse. It would be weird to work in corporate at Chick-fil-a if you are a vegetarian. Learning about the products shows that you are interested in what the company does. Another way to show interest is to develop questions for your interviewer and about your department which shows that you are thinking about what your colleagues do.
Another aspect that you need to wary of in the interview process is the human aspect. Some people may think that certain people in a company are less important than others, so when they go in for interview they are not kind or considerate to the office personnel or the receptionist because they think it does not matter. Oftentimes it does, and it just is not right to treat people like they do not matter. Maybe a simple compliment before your interview to someone at the company can make the difference in someone deciding to hire you. I remember my first real job as an engineering intern, I said after the interview that I would basically work as hard as I possibly could. That kind of stuff is genuine and will draw people to you who might not pick you otherwise.
Testing in Interviews
The last aspect that I want to talk about is if you are in a testing situation. Sometimes employers will test you to see if you are actually capable of doing what they require you to do. There are no jedi mind tricks here, you have to actually know what your doing. This is where again research could help you. If you could talk to people who have interviewed for your position before and find out about what sorts of things that they test, that could help you prepare. Let’s say you do engineering and you learn the interviewers always test computer aided design skills. You could brush up on your design skills before the the interview to give yourself a chance to be successful on that part of the interview. Sometimes there is no way to know, which in that case you have to trust your prior training.
One personal story is that when I was a college freshman looking for a summer engineering job, one interview I was apart of had a computer aided design test. I had to design a part in Solidworks, which I was unsure on how I would do on because I was not prepared. The college class I took that partly taught on some of the computer aided design was not very helpful. Thankfully, I had taken high school classes that used design software, but with a different program. It came back to me as I was doing the exam and I was able to do pretty well.
Conclusion
In short interviewing is about showcasing your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses. All that is meant by jedi mind tricks is the idea that you want to use interview question responses to talk about your strengths. Even when the question is designed to talk about your weakness, the question should be handled in a way the demonstrates your strengths. The STAR method is a great way to organize your response to an interview question, especially behavioral interview questions. If you add a reflection about the situation you are talking about in the response you will differentiate yourself from other candidates. Lastly preparation is the key to success in interviews, and when they test you prepare as much you can. Although, ultimately you will have to rely on your experience and training to pull you through.
