How candidates can set the tempo of the interview

Interview Tone and Tempo

Most candidates think the recruiter or the hiring manager is responsible for the interview tone and tempo.  Candidates think that the interview starts when sitting across from the person conducting the interview.  Rolling into the parking lot with music blaring? Declined. Walking out of the restroom without washing their hands? Declined  All of this happened before the first interview question was asked. The candidate set the interview tone before formal introductions were made.  

Scenario 1:  your first date 

If you are getting ready for a first date and, from your bedroom window, happen to catch your date pulling up in their car, you will take a moment and watch. Hopefully, your date will do the standard:  fix their hair in the mirror one last time, check their breath, and walk up to your front door. When you see them wait for your neighbor to pass on the sidewalk instead of cutting in front of them, extra points. Your date either knows you are watching or is considerate. The mood was already set if they graciously engaged your parents at the front door when you came to the foyer.

Scenario 2: your first and last date

The first date pulls into your quiet suburbia neighborhood with loud music blaring and kicking at the neighbor’s barking dog. We think twice when about Mr. or Ms. Potential (no more) with a grinning f’ing smile.

The same assumptions will be made when you drive through the parking lot at your first interview. You never know who is watching you.  The person you just cut off for a parking spot could be someone in your interview loop. You may have impressed your friends at the import car show on Saturday night, but here you are pure obnoxiousness. We aren’t here for a stereo competition or a fashion show. You are here to show you can get some work done.    

HR will check in with the receptionist

This is the equivalent of your parents answering the front door when your date knocked. First impressions are made. Was the receptionist treated with respect or like a rented mule?  Were they conversing and smiling, or were they cold and arrogant?  Interview tone and tempo were influenced here.  

I would argue that the interview starts when you arrive on the company’s campus. As soon as you hit the front lobby, smile. Try to convey you are a positive person and in a good mood. You are someone with whom others will want to work. I can’t stress enough how first impressions set the interview tone. As a recruiter, the two scenarios leave me with two very different impressions.

Scenario 1:

You are sitting in the lobby, professionally dressed.  You don’t have a frown, but you aren’t smiling either. I don’t get the feeling that this is someone I necessarily feel welcome about approaching. It may only take me 5 seconds to turn the corner and come across the lobby to the receptionist to find out who I am meeting with until I introduce myself and shake your hand. However, it is only human nature to size someone up in such a situation.  If multiple people are sitting in the lobby, I am either thinking, “Please let it be him,” or “Please don’t let that guy be my candidate. You don’t want me to think, “Please, Please, Please don’t let it be him”.

Scenario 2:

It’s the same professionally dressed candidate. The candidate is engaged in a conversation with the reception person, and they are both smiling or laughing.  As I turn the corner, I instinctively head towards the receptionist. The receptionist smiles at me and then introduces the candidate and mentions what they have found in common.  This is a MUCH different introduction and sets the interview tone and tempo for the next 2 minutes.

The following two minutes are from the front lobby to the interview room. This is a VERY CRITICAL to set the tone and mood of the actual interview.

I and the candidate walk to the interview room.  My job is to establish rapport over the phone. This way, I, HRNasty, the recruiter, have plenty to talk about for the next two minutes.  I am trying to set the interview tone so that the candidate is relaxed and they consider me a friend.  They trust me as a representative of the company and an ally helping them get through the interview process.  I keep the conversation going.

But if I haven’t done that, I am distracted. I might not know better because I am new to the job, had little training, or had a bad day. We then walk to the interview room in silence. We enter the conference room and although it isn’t awkward, it isn’t “easy”.

Candidates can set the interview tone

The atmosphere of the entire meeting is set as soon as you walk into that lobby. It is energetic and welcoming. You aren’t nervous. You are comfortable with yourself and easy to talk to.

The walk from the reception to the interview is a casual conversation that the candidate can easily drive.  Complementing the recruiter on the decor of the office is easy. Accessible parking or directions to the office will work.   Start the conversation and keep it lively.  Practice this if necessary, but you want to connect personally with the interview questions. 

The first two minutes

If you are a man, show some manners.  Let your recruiter go first through doors or upstairs. Act as if YOU are the host or the senior person. Take control of the situation.

Do not follow the recruiter; walk side by side.  If you are walking behind the recruiter, the recruiter can’t converse with you.  It says you are subservient and don’t have any initiative.  This is a “dead man walking” and a wasted opportunity.

You can engage the reception person by describing how easy the traffic was or the awards that are being displayed.  (the ones you read about in your research)

If you need to practice this, then do so.  Rehearse out loud in the shower if you have to. Every time you go into a store, make conversation with the cashier, compliment them on something. There is nothing worse to me than a flat interview where there is no connection or energy. Nothing is worse than feeling like I am trying to reel in a dead fish. You, as the candidate, want me excited about you, so take the initiative and set the interview tone and atmosphere. You want me running out of the interview straight to the hiring manager. I want to run down the hall, resume in hand, excited about you.  If you aren’t excited, I definitely won’t be.

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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