How to manage a high-stakes interview

• A quick solution appeals to our sense of immediate gratification. But, with few exceptions, quick and dirty thinking creates a false sense of truth and can be outright dangerous, especially when a Tectonic Decision is at hand. A high-stakes interview is not a place for quick and dirty thinking.

• Quick and Dirty Thinking is one of the Seven Deadly Stupidities.

“We just don’t think you’re a match for the position.” Not the words you ever want to hear, especially if it’s a job you really want. You polished up the resume, got a new dress and shoes – you were ready for this interview. Why did it fail? There could be many reasons, but avoiding a quick and dirty approach would improve your odds.

Thomas Edison added the “soup test” to his interviews. While Edison was interviewing research assistants over lunch, he ordered soup for the table. If an interviewee added salt and/or pepper to the soup before tasting it, it was a tell for Edison.

For the Edison test, pay attention to the question, gesture, or action of the interviewer. Are you in a formal one-on-one situation? A group interview? A casual setting? What are they really asking you or, more importantly, trying to find out about you? Interviews are the last place for quick and dirty thinking.

Video: How to be a good interviewer — Look at it from this point of view to make you better in interviews.

Another method that is gaining traction in the interview world is a bit more scientific than Edison’s soup test.  Asymmetric Information Management (AIM) seeks to separate those that are telling the truth from those who are embellishing or flat-out lying. The AIM method of lie-detection has been championed by Cody Porter and he summarizes in Psychology Today:

In a controlled test by Porter, two groups of people were sent to do a project. Upon their return, each person sat for an interview about the project. Half the group was told to answer all questions truthfully and with as much detail as possible, while the other half was told to withhold information about the project and lie to create a story about doing something else. 

Remarkably, the AIM method identified those telling the truth eighty-one percent of the time.

As an interviewee, you may not realize the AIM method is being used on you. The trouble is that we are taught that “less is more” when answering questions, especially in an interview. The trick is how to determine when to prove you are a truth-teller. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I know I answered your question, but there is a bit more I want to add to color in my response.” 

I once interviewed a quiet and soft-spoken young woman (let’s call her Sally). I asked her to tell me something unusual that has happened to her recently. Sally proceeded in her pleasant monotone to describe how she and some friends were almost lost at sea when the mast on their sailboat snapped off, the boat capsized, and they spent the night clinging to the hull until help arrived the next day. Yeah, she was a truth-teller. Sally had command of the details and explained everything. After we verified her story, Sally was hired.

What did the school do? It changed its application to add language similar to the following: 

If there are other materials you feel should be submitted with your application so the school can get a more complete understanding of your strength as an applicant, please include. Such materials may include drawings, recordings, videos, or any other materials you deem appropriate.

I never did ask him how he handled his first job interview; but, given the level of preparation, creativity, and initiative he demonstrated on his college application, I may talk to him about his job interviews and turn that into another book. This guy knew how to avoid quick and dirty thinking and turn the tables.

It is always smart to do your homework before a job interview. There are many things you can do to prepare. One of them is not scanning the company’s website so you can parrot back company lingo. That would be quick and dirty. 

What should you do?

For example, if you are interviewing at a technology firm, go back and learn about a company from the 1950s called Shockley Semiconductor. Shockley was one of the first businesses in Silicon Valley. It made, well, semiconductors (materials made of silicon that form the brains of a computer). 

Shockley and two of his colleagues were awarded Nobel Prizes in the 1950s for their ground-breaking work in this area.

You say, “Dude, so what. The tech company I want to work for makes enterprise software.” Well, eight senior engineers left Shockley and started Fairchild Semiconductors (stay with me here). 

The “defection” led to the engineers being called the “Traitorous Eight.” This was big news. But the bigger news is that two of the eight went on to start a company named Intel.  

Intel dominated the semiconductor industry and has been the brains of billions of computers around the world for more than fifty years. There is a high probability that the tech company where you are interviewing is built on Intel’s technology.

Of course, go to the company’s website and read some bios about the people you would work with like all the quick and dirty thinkers will do, but do more. 

Why not do the extra work and splurge for the $19 to run full background checks on a few people at the company? There are plenty of firms out there that can tell you with a click of a mouse:

• Marital and family status

• Delinquent payments

• Fines and judgements

• Arrest records

And many more interesting facts, especially if you’re the nosy type.

Hey, the company is going to put you through the ringer of testing and background and reference checks. Why not do the same to them?

Another avenue to pursue is studying, not browsing, the employment history of potential bosses and co-workers. Take your searches deep. 

For starters:

• View a potential boss’s profile on LinkedIn.

• Stalk him on Facebook and other social media.

• Gather the list of his previous employers.

• Go to the websites and do searches on the previous employers.

• Go deeper on any lawsuits, controversies, and anything newsworthy about those previous companies.  Was he involved in any of this?

In doing these deeper searches, we are trying to uncover information that people will not readily share. If you were a vice president and had your own parking space and a corner office, would you want sexual harassment allegations filed against you ten years ago to be a topic of conversation with an interviewee? 

How you prepare for any high-stakes interview is a Tectonic Decision.