Introduction: Behind the Interview and What the Hiring Process Means to You

Adrian Wooldridge writes about the importance of job interviews when it comes to the elite and ivy league school graduates in his 2014 Schumpeter article, “How to join the 1%,” but regardless of status, the interview process is the same for any person seeking a job.  Knowing and understanding the position of the person doing the recruiting, and making sure you do your own adequate research before attending the scheduled interview, ensures a prepared experience between you and the interviewer, and creates you in a positive light with the employee.  We—Vika, Nelly, Cher, and Ryan—analyze Wooldridge’s article, understanding this vital piece in what someone should do when it comes to the preparation of what could be the last step in the employer deciding whether you get the job.  We realize however, that because Wooldridge’s audience are these specific elite graduates, that he doesn’t take into consideration of the rest—you, the common university graduate.

Vika concentrates on what is known as cultural fit—the center core values of a company and what their employees also follow and adhere to.  Nowadays, many interviews are conducted to scope out potential employees: Do you work well with others?  Do you prefer a busy, on-the-go environment or do you work better in quieter conditions?  While the interviewer may not ask these questions so bluntly, these are the qualities that help weed out those who differ from the ideals of the organization.

Nelly concentrates on what Wooldridge briefly touches upon as “the looking-glass merit,” in which the recruiter sees a little bit of themselves in you, the interviewee.  The employees who conduct these interviews only have so much time in their busy schedules to meet with you—leave a lasting impression that elevates you into good standing.  While previous knowledge puts you ahead of other applicants who lack the experience, your first impression can immediately decide the conclusion of your results with the interviewer before you even talk.

Cher concentrates on what both Wooldridge writes and what Vika delves deeper into—cultural fit—but how focusing on this cultural fit can narrow choices and can possibly segregate an organization’s population to be homogenous, despite similarities being helpful in working well together and with others.  While “nerdy” or “eccentric” are qualities Wooldridge states to avoid, again, he only addresses those who apply to standard firms and thinks of “professionalism” as a structured, strict business, when “professionalism” is different for each industry and each company.

Last, Ryan concentrates on what emphasizing your qualities, and playing on the confident attitude you should adapt when in an interview.  You want to show your potential employee that you’re willing to achieve anything and everything.  Play upon your strengths, but also take care to observe the reactions of the person who is interviewing you, so you can fit your answers and personality with what the current situation calls for.

Vika’s Take: Cultural “Fit”

    

The article, How to join the 1%, states: “The most important quality recruiters are looking for is fit.”  It adds: “Interviewers are trying to juggle their day jobs with their recruiting duties: they seldom spend more than a minute or so reviewing each application form.”  Of course experience is important, but it is not the most important quality you should have to get the job you want.

Not all jobs are “professional” per say.  A college graduate might have a hard time finding a new job with no experience, and a high student might have the same problem. It is not always about skills. A lot of jobs are looking for experience, and even if you don’t have the skills, they look for internships and other things that might make you a valid candidate. The importance is to stand out and to find a way for interviewers to remember you, as they will not spend a lot of time reading your resume.  A person should show his or her personality, making the interviewer feel like he or she is already part of the team and leaving a lasting impression that creates a distinct memory. The former advice is the same for a high school student.  If you are looking for a job at a retail shop and it’s your first job ever, what do you have to offer?  Just your personality.  Impress them with it; make it so they choose you–you stood out. According to the article, Interviewing for Fit, Christina Doss, human resource manager at E*Trade Bank, says, “If we can find a good fit who will work with other personalities in the company, getting the skills is easy.”

     

Every work place has a different environment, and every interview has a different approach.  During an interview, you might be asked to do a test or answer questions looking at a picture.  Interviewers want to see your way of thinking, how creative you are, or if you have any other talents.  In the article, 8 Ways You Can Still Land an Interview When You Don’t Meet All the Requirements, it suggests showing enthusiasm during an interview.  Ellen Fondiler states “Skills can be acquired. But enthusiasm is either there—or it’s not. I’d say, if you feel genuinely excited about a particular role or company, go for it! Apply! You’ve got nothing to lose—and who knows? The hiring manager might see that ‘spark’ in your eyes and decide, ‘She’s the one’.”  Avery Blank also advises to use transferable skills, especially if you think you can use those skills in a different aspect.

 

How do we know that a person is “the one” for a certain position? Jennifer Scott, a recruiter for culture fit, wrote an article Hiring for Culture Fit- My 3 Favorite Interview Questions, which can help pick the right candidate for a certain position. Jennifer says to first ask what their first thing they did to get paid was. Whether it was babysitting, dog walking, it doesn’t matter what the job was; what matters are the values they adopted as a result of their experience. Were they late? How well did they perform? With what mentality did they walk in to the job? The second thing Jennifer says is: “I’m going to give you a list of five things. While they’re all important, tell me the one thing that is most important to you in making your next career move. Is it money, recognition, stability, challenge, or environment?” If a person has been laid off many times, it would be reasonable for the response to be “stability.” See if the company you’re interested in is what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a peaceful environment and your company is fast paced and lively, you probably don’t fit thhere. Jennifer also suggests to ask to “Describe your ideal company culture. What five characteristics does it have?” To be able to find the right candidate, you need to know what your company’s five characteristics are; this will help find the right “fit”.

I worked at Panera Bread for almost four years. When I was in search for a new job, I had leadership and people skills. But working with food all that time made me nervous. I wanted an office job, with less hustle and running around. It took me a while to find one, but eventually I was able to accomplish my goal. I now work exactly where I want to, and that was because I did a good job during the interview. I showed myself in the way they needed. I dressed professionally, showed enthusiasm, and told them that I was completely hands on and ready to learn to advance myself. They thought I had potential.

It is important to know that not all jobs are looking for just qualities. They look at the overall you: how you handle yourself, the way you talk, and if you would be a great fit for the company. A business wants to keep that culture that it already has and doesn’t want to fail.We need to not be afraid of learning new things and challenge ourselves.

Nelly’s Take: Sell Yourself

There are views which dictate how elite jobs are born at elite schools. This may be true however, keep in mind that almost anything in life can be accomplished if an action plan is put in place. Being prepared, looking the part, being persistent, and engaging passionately with key recruiting decision makers is a great recipe in landing a desired role.

Adrian Wooldrige respectfully references Lauren Rivera’s textbook,” The Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs”, which explains the secret sauce in landing that “top 1% job” by having students attend top Ivy League schools to establish a network of elite groups/firms upon entering the job market. Per Schumpeter’s article and in agreement, there are other tactics in landing a great role, such as doing your homework before an interview, which is crucial. You must be familiar with the organizational culture and mentality, prior to the interview. Be sure to also be on the lookout for any similarities between you and the interviewer, since having a good personality is a main aspect employers desire when adding new additions on their team. For example, if you notice the interviewer attended the same university as you, this is a great opportunity for a quick bonding session. Recruiters will serve as champion advocates for you in regards to job placement once they see the well-rounded qualities brought to the table. In relation, the article explains how recruiters particularly want to hire people that can be their friends or so-called “fraternity of smart people.”  Ivy-League or not, indicating similarities among potential future colleagues at an interview can be vital.

From experience and having worked for a global Fortune 500 recruiting company, I collaborated with a myriad of recruiters from several divisions. First hand, I witnessed each division master twenty interviews on a weekly basis. Each candidate was rated during their interview based on four major factors:

A (Appearance)

I (Intelligence)

P (Personality)

P (Professionalism)

Therefore, showing up impeccably dressed and playing the professional part for your interview is what’s going to help you stand out, since there are usually several candidates who are competing against you in hopes of landing a job. Think of this as a sales pitch, since your first impression can make or break a recruiter’s decision. The article also explains how having a great personality can be better for an organization versus coming off only as being super smart. Following these suggestions will help you shine above other candidates and provide a possible invitation to the coveted second round of interviews.

Cher’s Take: Prejudice with “Fit”

Interviews have always been a key component to job seeking and career starting.  Most businesses conduct at least one interview to gauge potential employees, and from various visual and audible ques, people are chosen or rejected.  While many people understand this step in the hiring process, there is still the anxiousness of considering what kinds of questions will or would be asked.  While there are always the common questions, such as “tell me about yourself” or “tell me about your previous work experience,” some businesses—especially those of “the global elite,” as Adrian Wooldridge in his Schumpeter article, “How to join the 1%,” refers to the “management consultants, investment banks and big law firms . . . of white-collar careers”—turn to the creative route of questioning.  In Jacquelyn Smith’s 2015 article, “Here’s what Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and 22 other successful people ask job candidates during interviews,” top executives and CEOs from various industries, ask thoughtful yet clever questions that still provide significant answers to what the general cultural fit questions seek to find in interviews nowadays.  While Wooldridge considers technology firms “nothing like” this global elite of three, technology continues to rise, and marking them out as lesser than these business firms is a disservice.  Regardless of backgrounds, the hiring processes of top companies stripped bare are similar, and follow the same basic steps: 1) submitting a resume and a cover letter, 2) and the partaking in an interview or two.  These interviews, whether over the phone or in person provide surprisingly small details that an interviewee may not realize, and the answers provided are then scrutinized into two categories: functional fit and cultural fit.

While the former is straightforward—can the interviewee do the job they applied for because they have the knowledge and the skills—cultural fit is a bit more intricate.  The basic definition of cultural fit is that it is the core values, behaviors and personalities of a company.  They are beliefs, attitudes and priorities that both employees and employers view and hold themselves to as a group.  Questions such as “describe your ideal work environment” and “tell me about your preferred work style,” are only a few examples of what cultural fit illustrates.  Even if an interviewee has the skills to work the job, businesses would rather hire someone who will fit in, and Wooldridge states that it is this cultural fit that “the most important quality recruiters” look for.  Recruiters want potential employees to be “their friends as well as their colleagues.”

Despite the importance that cultural fit has taken in the hiring process, there are still criticisms that Wooldridge does not touch upon; he actually suggests “emphasi[zing] any similarities” an interviewee has with the interviewer, “eliminat[ing the potential hire] as a personal slight.”  Even though finding common ground influences the chances of the interviewee being chosen, too much similarity “lead[s] to complacency, overconfidence, and lack of creativity,” which Erika Andersen in her 2015 article, “Is ‘Cultural Fit’ Just A New Way To Discriminate?” calls “an excuse for hiring to fulfill existing prejudices.”  Claire Cain Miller addresses these same concerns in her 2016 article, “Is Blind Hiring the Best Hiring?” stating that “hiring for culture fit can be self-reinforcing,” linking to Google’s 2014 released data on its employee makeup where the predominant hired ethnicity was Asian and White (30% and 61% respectfully), and 70% of their employees was men.

Even Wooldridge’s elite falls into this homogenous trap—Miller continues: “a study of top banking, law and consulting firms found that similarities in things like leisure activities and personality were the most important factor in their evaluation of candidates.”  Race and cultural background alone, can ruin your chances of obtaining the job, as research showed that people with “white” names got 50% more callbacks than people with “black” names despite identical resumes and creditionals, and even more studies showed that “job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback [while] those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback.”

To combatant against this bias that is prevalent in the hiring process, some industries have turned to blind hiring, Miller writes.  A third-party program screens through the pool of applicants based on their skills and credentials, rather than having a person stare at their names—your names.  Eventually you will have to meet face-to-face in an interview, but the initial pick-and-choose process is less prejudiced than before.

Also, higher-ups who conduct interviews have gotten creative with their questioning.  Smith shares in her updated article originally written by Alison Griswold and Vivian Giang on what single question twenty-four top executives from twenty-four companies ask to determine potential employees.  Here are four different questions these executives ask their potential candidates:

1. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, asks candidates, “On a scale of one to ten, how weird are you?”  This question, despite the randomness, concentrates on the answer provided with some consideration of the number assessed; one is too straight-laced, but ten is too psychotic.
2. Oprah Winfrey asks: “What is your spiritual practice?”  She wasn’t however, “asking about religion—she was asking . . . about [candidates’] inner relationship with themselves.”  “What do you do for yourself?  What do you do to keep yourself centered?”
3. Ashley Morris, CEO of Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, a national restaurant franchise, asks: “What would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse?”  There’s “no right answer, [but it’s] to get someone’s opinion and understand how they think on their feet.”
4. Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal, asks: “Tell me something that’s true, that almost nobody agrees with you on.”  “It . . . tests for originality of thinking, and . . . tests for . . . courage in speaking up in a difficult interview context,” Thiel reasons during a 2012 interview with Forbes.

Presented in a fun way, these questions still produce answers that determine cultural fit.  They are not monotonous nor cliché.  They are “nerdy and eccentric,” a trait Wooldridge mentions to avoid.  There is the argument that Wooldridge only references the global elite, as he states early in his article, but these businesses are successful for a reason, and not all can be described as unconventional in terms of business operations.  Professionalism in general, is different for each and every organization.  Overall, interviews are still essential to the employee hiring process, but the questions asked and answers provided do not need to fall into an “unhealthy and exclusionary lack of diversity,” as Andersen puts it.

Ryan’s Take: Hollywood

Your job interview is your equivalent to a wannabee actor’s big break. You have a role to play and you can be whoever you want, but you’ll do well to be whoever the interviewer wants you to be.

“One candidate in Ms Rivera’s sample passed the interview by adopting the persona of a successful consultant that he knew at that firm.”

You don’t have to take it as far as the person referenced above if you think it’s a bit much, but I say go for it—put on a show.

Now in order to do this successfully, you’re going to need to do your homework. Scope out the company you’re interviewing with. Stalk the employees on Facebook and even in the streets if you must. Find out about the culture and the history of the company. Surf their website and read CEO interviews. Find out what the stereotypical version of an employee at your prospective company is and become an even better version of that person.

This new character should be charming and charismatic.

You must be able to adapt. Form yourself to this interviewer. By the time you walk out of that room the interviewer should be sending you a text asking you to be the best man/maid of honor at their wedding. The real key to making this happen is “the phenomenon of “the looking-glass merit.”  This is the idea that if the interviewer sees a piece of them-self in you, and in turn, they will become your fan. The second you walk in that office start scanning their desk and walls for anything that you two have in common. If there are no visual cues then pick up on the verbal ones. Don’t worry so much about how to answer a question about what kind of kitchen appliance you are. Your goal is to make a new friend on the playground.

James Foley, a project manager working for the company, Technica Corporation, claimed that the thing he’s looking for during the interview is whether or not the interviewee is a “cool guy.”  He said that if he thinks you’re weird, than the company’s clients are going to think you’re weird, and that’s something that isn’t going to fly. He went on shaking his head and saying that he’s interviewed so many technically gifted people who couldn’t explain what their job was to a customer.

But if you’re weird, don’t worry. Just pretend for 20 minutes that you’re not and you might have yourself a job.

Concolusion: Research, Prepare, Leave an Impression

Overall, although Wooldridge is concerned with the “management consultants, investment banks and big law firms,” his points of creating a lasting impression applies to all businesses and all graduates who are seeking any career, alike.  Vika shows that companies value not just a person’s background with the related job, but also traits that they hope to see in you—passion and enthusiasm to learn, grow, and develop.  Nelly, after observing her fair share of interviews while in a Fortune 500 company, gives you the essentials of what recruiters look for while you provide them the answers to what may seem like common, general questions.  Cher, while disagreeing with emphasizing heavily on the commonalities between you and your interviewer, and you and the company culture, acknowledges the importance to hiring on matching attitudes, and shares the different ways CEOs and other higher-ups hire with imaginative questions.  Ryan hits the significance of knowing the company and its employees.  Your research about the company, about the background of how the company came to be, the industry that your company works within, and most crucial, the basics of the job you applied for and in which you are being interviewed for.  Essentially, the steps you take to prepare yourself for the inevitable interview will only create you benefits; not only will you feel confident going into the meeting, but you will leave knowing you did your optimum best.

Afterword

The stylistic choices we made with our web publication was to engage a broad audience and since it would be a public piece, we wanted to focus on how universal our site would be.  Thus, we decided that making a blog style site was best suited for our needs.  A blog would be more intimate and a bit more personal, but would still indulge a reader’s curiosity and help interest the reader to continue reading on.  With social media having a considerable impact on not only the youth of today, but even branching into the mess of what is politics, technology—specifically cellphones and laptops—make social media easily accessible to everyone.  We understood that this was a group project and we helped each other through it: Ryan created the blog, Interviewing 303, forming its final layout, Vika started the writing that pushed everyone else to go, Nelly helped with lending and sharing her personal experiences in working with recruiters and how they operate on busy schedules, and Cher edited the group’s material and writing.  While we could have stuck with being formulaic with our information, we wanted to create a more humorous and welcoming attitude with our subject; people are already nervous about their upcoming interview—isn’t that why they found our blog?—why create more pressure and stress?  Overall, we decided to keep the posts individually, but we added an introduction to emphasize why we each created our own piece in the means of the article we referenced, Adrian Wooldridge’s “How to join the 1%.”  We wanted to specify the importance of the points we talked upon, elaborating on these thoughts, and how understanding these ideas would provide some insight for not only those who were ignorant on the subject, but to also benefit those who had a vague idea of the topic, but didn’t know how to begin the process of what to do.