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Don’t make this common job interview mistake
UXers should know better. It’s not about you, it’s about being useful
If only more people would heed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s dictum to ’Be Useful’,* they might avoid an off-putting mistake candidates often make when interviewing for a job:
Focusing on how great they are, rather than on how they can be useful to their interviewer.
Of the many times I’ve sat in interviews for the jobs I’ve applied for, two come to mind.
The first one was early in my career. My CV was thin, and I was green and self-conscious about it. So, I shored-up my insecurities by making sure that I confidently highlighted all that — I thought — were my strengths and meager achievements thus far.
My interviewer promptly conked out a quarter into this litany featuring me, earnestly singing my own praises. To be fair, he had been sitting in a badly ventilated, windowless room braving through an all-day interviewing marathon, and I was the last person standing between him and Happy Hour. Nevertheless, I literally bored the man to sleep. So, let’s get this straight: Aside some exceptional cases, we are not really all that interesting. By focusing on myself so much, I did not manage to relate to my interviewer, nor the problems he was working to solve.
Not surprisingly, I didn’t get the job.
In the second interview that comes to mind, I ended the interview with a general sense of unease because my interviewer, the CEO, had done most of the talking, then time was up. This left me with the feeling that I hadn’t properly conveyed all of my wonderful capabilities.
Also, this time I got the job.
The Tables Turn
Sitting at the other side of the table, I’ve interviewed more candidates for positions that I, or my employer was hiring for than I can count. Oftentimes as part of a multi-interview, committee-based process. In such processes, a consensus rapidly emerges about who has a big ego.
And in case you are still wondering: No, he does not get the job. And yes, I’m sorry to report, it usually is a he.
