Looking for a Job: The Most Important 15 Minutes of the Interviewing Process!
So today is the day of the big interview, the day that your life is going to change for the better. You have done all your homework on the company and feel very prepared for the interview. You know exactly where the company is located, (actually you took a dry run over the weekend to make sure) and there aren’t any traffic issues today. You put on your best interviewing suit and the rest is easy.
You had a quick snack and leave for the big interview. You arrive 20 minutes early and you wait downstairs for 5 minutes until you feel it is ok to go up.
You greet the receptionist and now you are sitting in the reception area. To me the next 15 minutes are the MOST important part of the process:
- Is the receptionist friendly?
- Is there a lot of friendly interaction with co-workers?
- Is there a lot of hustle and bustle?
- What magazines are in the waiting area?
- What is the dress code?
- Do people decorate their cubicles with lots of personal items?
- Do they have any trophies or awards on display?
- Do they display a client roster on the wall?
I believe answers to all of these questions can help you in your evaluation process. Everyone wants a fun and thriving work environment.
- Does this office have it?
- Would you fit in?
If you arrive early and really pay attention you might be able to find out!
I look forward to reading your comments.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Also, treat the receptionist well. We didn’t hire someone here who wasn’t courteous to our receptionist. It’s common sense and common decency.
If the receptionist has done a lot for you or went above and beyond, (helped arrange your travel and car, with a lot of personal interaction with you), make sure to do an in person thanks. A CEO I placed who was really made to feel welcome by the receptionist, even prior to the visit, who also arranged a complicated travel schedule, received a box of chocolate and a bouquet of flowers by the candidate when he arrived.
It went a long way in showing the staff that he respects people at all levels can be kind. As they knew the new CEO would be making big changes, people were concerned. But his first actions on their turf made everyone comfortable and put him in a very positive light.
So yes Merrill, those first 15 minutes can be very important.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Marc,
Thanks for your comments. I am so glad to hear of a company not hiring someone if they aren’t courteous to a receptionist. Too many times, I am sitting in the lobby of a company and a person is short with the receptionist.
Merrill
July 25th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Hi Merrill!
It was great to see you the other day. My situation is a little bit different. For 28 years I have chosen the hospitality field of restaurateurship, though I fervently believe that a principle of the interview is important.
Each day millions of people go out to the fast food or fine dining world and anticipate a bad experience, further anticipating a server who will NOT know what is recommendable on the menu. In 28 years I have noted the following which I believe might apply in the corporate field.
My smile: When I greet you, I have roughly nine seconds to make an impression about my locale, my menu, my demeanor, my style! Of course there are things I must watchout for: Notebook computers, blueprints, style of dress, a first date couple, or an elderly couple on a fixed income. In nine seconds I am told is whether or not I have sold you or turned you off. Based on what I see I must decide in rapid fire time what I am selling and not telling.
I have also been told that the resume that I carry has exactly SEVEN seconds to make or break an individual! I am a fervent believer that the first impression stays with you long after you have been hired/terminated. In my industry being able to read the guest and sense the urgency of time and service is very important.
I believe the way to treat a person is the way you would treat a guest if they were to dine in your own home and you were forced to watch your wife make this guest your fave meal while you watched. What helps me is that I still enjoy what I do, guests can usually sense that and are provided reason to return…In short Merrill, I look for ambience, energy, overall mood of establishment, and the number of natural smiles under the guise of a one hour time limit at lunch, or dinner.
To those of you who aren’t in the restaurant industry, I share the following. If you want to find out in under five minutes who the good workers/bad workers are, who is dating who, which mangers are liked/disliked do the following: Sit by the well in a bar where servers go to pick up drinks or ring up food orders. You won’t believe the things you hear!
In short, I am not a corporate type per se, but the old school in me dictates that I strive to treat people today the way I want to be treated tomorrow.
I hope this perspective from a different avenue sheds a little light. Great topic as always friend. Talk to you soon!
July 26th, 2007 at 9:57 am
As someone who is going through this process at this very moment, I find Merrill’s observations very interesting.
These days recruiting is done via email or online. You send off a resume and a cover letter, and then you wait. Unless you have a personal connection with someone in the loop at the prospective employer, you may never know whether your application was accepted. There are people, including some I see writing on this blog, from whom I wish I could get at least an acknowledgment. A simple courtesy, even a “Received your resume. Will let you know.” would be helpful.
By the time the applicant gets to the in-person interview, he or she is more likely to be thinking along the lines of “I can learn to get along with anyone if they will just give me a chance.”
During the job search you hear all sorts of things. People in this industry are very nice, often like an extended family. Still you do hear a lot of gossip like “You don’t want to work for X.”, “We don’t work with recruiter Y any more.”, “People don’t stay there very long.” But after a couple of months in the job search when company X or recruiter Y lists a job and you think to yourself, “I’m sure they aren’t really that bad.”
I really appreciate the comments about the importance of courtesy and respect. I am searching both supplier and client side positions. If I get a client side position and have a say in selecting vendors, I am going to prefer suppliers who showed me respect as an applicant, even if they didn’t hire me.
I think that the experience Merrill describes as the first 15 minutes actually starts weeks before the interview.
(For anyone who wants to see my resume - stever (at) justaskthem.com. Thanks.)