Recently, I was coaching a CFO-level client from another country to land a job in the US. Although he had worked in the US after getting his MBA from one of the top universities here he had spent most of his recent career in South America. He spoke fluent Portuguese and Spanish and had working experience from six other countries (outside the US).
Although he was confident about his technical knowledge of the role for which he was being considered he wanted to make sure that he came across as a C-level candidate to the retained search firm that was screening him. He also wanted to make sure that his use of the language reflected a C-level lexicon in English (US English) because his current role required him to speak other languages of that region.
So, our coaching session involved going through some of the more common C-level interview questions that such clients typically face and my guiding him on providing compelling responses so that he would be presented to the client for which the search firm was working. After going through some of the key requirements from the job description and coaching my client on proper responses to the questions I asked (as the recruiters proxy) the client was confident that he would be able to clear the telephone screening session with the recruiter from the executive search firm retained by its client company.
When the actual interview was set up and my client got the call on his phone he quickly discovered that the recruiter screening him was vacationing at a beach resort with his family. It was not hard to figure this out when my client heard in the background vendors peddling food, her kid screaming, Mommy, Jimmy is pulling my hair, her husband asking something else in a muffled tone, etc. To make matters worse, she pretended as if she was in her office doing this interview, ignoring the signals she was clearly sending my client as she was going through her script.
Of course she did not have my clients rsum in front of her. My client got the impression that instead of her laptop being on she had her bikini on. I am sure that she read his rsum some time back, along with many other rsums for this and other positions. The reason I say this is because she confused my clients background with some other mix of rsums she had read and was using that memory to calibrate my client as she talked to him.
The job required CFO and senior management experience in different countries, which my client clearly had, but her saying, Since you do not have any international experience in Finance I am not sure I can present you to the client shocked him. He tried to correct her by saying, as the CFO in Germany I was responsible for setting up their entire supply chain and as a Controller posted in Singapore I was also responsible for many operational duties. Of course, none of that registered; perhaps as she was watching her kids playing on the beach. Then she got off on some tangential questions just to report that she spent the requisite 45 minutes with the candidate.
One week later my client received an email of rejection from the recruiter.
Granted that this is an extreme case of distracted interviewer, but it is not uncommon. Often, on telephone interviews where interviewers are talking to the candidate and doing emails, reading magazines, or even shopping on line as they go through their interview checklist. To a keen person on the other end it is not difficult to discern what is going on, but you must know how to manage that when it does happen.
So, how to do you bring distracted interviewers back in synch with the process and create an outcome that is positive? Here are my tips:
1.As soon as you engage with the interviewer on your phone look for cues that may tell you their surroundings. Barking dog, or a ringing door bell (at home), traffic noise (walking or driving), hushed talk (at a doctors office waiting to be seen), sounds of cash register (at a super market checkout), etc.
2.Do not ask where they are because they want to pretend that they are in their office (as this recruiter did with my client despite the very obvious cues). Asking such a question may offend them. Just re-calibrate your engagement to fit the environment they are in.
3.Depending on the level of distraction you assess decide how to present your thoughts in a language that they will remember. If you see extreme distraction and short attention span speak louder with soundbites that are the messages you want them to remember. I LEAD A TEAM OF 15.
4.If you are making a key point keep it short and then pretend that you have a poor connection. This gives you a chance to ask them to repeat what they asked and for YOU to repeat what you just said. Practice this invaluable skill, especially when you do have a good connection.
5.Try to keep the interaction short with the hope that you get to reconnect with this person in a better setting at a later time.
6.Before you complete the call quickly summarize the points you wanted to make in that call in response their interview questions and emphasize what was important to them and to you to move yourself to the next level.
7.Do not assume what you said is what they heard, so take the trouble to write a short thank-you note with the summary of key points you want them to remember and to act on.
A distracted interviewer is unfortunate. But, do not let that misfortune impact your ability to move to the next stage by following the above tips.
Good luck!
| About Author | |
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Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader. |
Website: http://dilipsaraf.com/?p=2810
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