The Job Interview Blueprint
Don’t say you were not told. In the interview below with Aaron Mwewa, Professor Bill Smullen helps you to be the most prepared and most preferred candidate at your next interviews. Other candidates have done it and have succeeded. Why not you? It’s time to stop guess work. There is no magic involved and no secret either. All you need is to know what other successful candidates do and have done and you will be on you way to success in the next job interviews.
Professor Bill Smullen. Bill Smullen was appointed as the Director of National Security Studies at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in June of 2003. He is also Maxwell’s Senior Fellow in National Security and a member of the faculty of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications as a Professor of Public Relations.
Aaron: Some people who graduated early this year have attended many interviews, but still are not getting the jobs. What could they not be doing right?
Smullen: There needs to be in your approach a three part process to an interview. There is the beginning, body and end. The beginning is usually what sounds like ice breaking conversation such as: How is the weather in Syracuse? How do you deal with that weather? How did the basketball team perform last season? If you dismiss these as irrelevant questions, then you would be making a big mistake. If your answer to the question about the weather is a dismal, “I hate it”, you are probably setting yourself up for failure. Same thing goes with the question about the basketball team when you simply say, “I do not know how it has been doing.” The interviewer expects you to bring a positive attitude to the room. Answering the basketball or weather question well is just as important as the other questions because it sets the tone for the interview.
Aaron: In my mind, I would probably be like: “I have not come here for that chit chat. Can we get on to the real questions?”
Smullen: They are seeking an answer from you, which they can measure. Rather than getting impatient with them, be calm and respond tactfully. Remember that all the questions are part of the interview. The point is that they are trying to catch you off guard in order to see how you can handle a question out of the blue. Ice breaking questions in the first five minutes as you walk to the interview room should not be taken lightly because they set the tone for the entire process. Then we move to the main body, which is about 20 minutes long. The first 15 minutes will have you telling the interviewers about you. Then 5 minutes about questions, which you might have about them and then the last 5 minutes could be more like throw away questions such as: How long are you going to be in town? What are you going to be doing after the interview? All these are questions which must be taken seriously. Remember that you are being assessed all the time that you are there. Then afterwards send a thank you note for having been given the interview. A hand written note ideally or email if that is how you communicated with them.
Aaron: What should inform the pitch for the job?
Smullen: Tailor your pitch, resume and E-Portfolio to speak to what the job you are looking for is seeking. Pay careful attention to what is being looked for in the job advert.
Aaron: What about the catchy questions, how does one deal with them? For example, what do you say when they ask how much you would want to get paid?
Smullen: Money should not enter the conversation for the first interview. You should not ask how much you are going to get paid. This is just a getting to know you conversation.
Aaron: What if they ask you what your going rate is?
Smullen: You need to know what the current pay for your job on the market is. You can conduct some research into that. The question about this would normally come in the second interview. The answer to this question depends on what the going rate is and also what you need to pay towards your student loans. You might also need to consider if it will enable you to support your family if you have one. You should not sell yourself short. The one beauty of graduating from Newhouse School is the respect which it enjoys in the business community.
When you walk into that door once you get that job offer, remember that making that good first impression is very important. You need to impress your employers to the point where they feel that they cannot leave without you.
Aaron: How does one do that?
Smullen: Arrive early every single day. Stay on a little bit later if you can. You should also volunteer to work on projects, which might take extra time and effort. The more you can do, the more you will show that you have a very high performance level and positive attitude. If you have that important job, you want to get a sit at the table as early as possible. That can only happen once you prove your worth.
