The worst mistake you can make at a job interview is not to displease your interview with a non-standard answer to a question, answer a question badly or even make a social error.
The worst — and most common — interview mistake you can make is to be a forgettable applicant, and to leave the building without leaving any impression whatsoever on your interviewer.
Managers are busy. They are overloaded with information the same way we all are. If you don’t make your mark in your job interview, all traces of you will have left your manager’s memory before you get home.
Noreen: So Diego, tell me about yourself!
Diego: For sure. I grew up in Texas and I’ve been up here for about five years. I finished my degree here and I liked it, so I stayed. Listen, can I ask you a quick question about the job?
Noreen: Sure
Diego:
Your recruiter Eliza told me that the job has a lot to do with supporting your installation people, but it isn’t a scheduling job. How will your new hire support your installers? That’s what I’m curious about.
Noreen: Okay, great question! We have an outbound and inbound sales team. They take orders and work with our clients. They set up the installations, but they don’t handle the back end.
There are a million details. If you come to work here you will be our Installation Specialist. It’s a job that coordinates the equipment required, the hardware and software and the specific needs of each customer, so it’s very detailed and precise.
It’s fast-paced because we get curve balls thrown at us, sometimes even on the day of the installation or the day before.
Diego: What kinds of curve balls?
Noreen: Here’s an example. A new customer called us on Friday. He had completed the pre-installation questionnaire but he got one item wrong and he didn’t realize it. He didn’t know his setup very well. Paula, who is filling in while we hire a new Installation Specialist, caught the error.
She said “There’s no way this is accurate. Something is wrong.” She got hold of the customer, who is out of the country. He wasn’t planning to be around for the actual installation.
Paula got him to contact the person who knows his setup and got everything fixed. You have to have an eagle eye.
What is Diego doing? He is asking Pain Questions to get a feel for the job — but also to get Noreen back in touch emotionally with the impact of hiring someone without the instinct and insight Diego has.
Diego has never done this type of work before, but he’s a good listener. He kept asking questions until he got Noreen talking about the Business Pain she is dealing with. Noreen went home after meeting Diego with one question in her head: “Diego is my new hire, if I can afford him. Can I afford Diego?”
Noreen can afford him if she brings her best offer to the table. She did not ask Diego about his salary requirements, but she has already asked Eliza to find out what they are, first thing tomorrow morning!
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