Helping people who fail at interview
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It’s great to have team members who are keen to get on, and to do so they often need to pass a selection process. Sadly, some people perform poorly in selection processes and this is a blow to both their ambitions and morale. How can the manager help?
Failure at an interview is always a difficult time for an individual – they experience a certain amount of embarrassment and frustration and they’ll often wonder if they’re ever going to progress in your organisation. One person I was recently mentoring was struggling on two fronts – their CV wasn’t having the right impact and the way they were answering questions lacked technique. The process of applying for a number of roles and then being rejected was starting to take its toll – not least in terms of their self-confidence.
So, if a member of your team is struggling support them in the following ways:
- Focus on learning from the experience
‘Sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn – there is no downside’, so what can they learn from the experience? Spend time with them pulling apart some of the things that they found difficult and where they feel that they let themselves down. Be positive about it, because you want it to be a cathartic experience, but ultimately, they really need to get to the bottom of what didn’t work. - Ask for feedback
Encourage your team member to go back for interview feedback, and to ‘win’ by leaving a favourable impression on how they sought out and accepted feedback. (Note that they’ll get better feedback if they make an appointment for a quick call, so that their interviewer is prepared.) As their manager, you can also contact interviewers to get direct feedback on anything specific that your team member needs to address. - Sometimes it’s out of our control
For all of the reflection and self-recrimination that follows rejection, it’s helpful for them to realise that sometimes it’s just out of their control. Perhaps there was a candidate who’d been invited to apply because they had worked for the manager before, or that the (horrible phrase) ‘cultural fit’ just wasn’t there. Whatever it is, sometimes there are things that they just can’t do anything about. - Consider preparation
Help them to think about what preparation they did for the interview. Part of gaining the inside track at selection is to understand more about the role, to know who’s interviewing you, and to understand their perspective and priorities before you go into the interview. One easy way to do this is to phone them and ask – but many candidates don’t take the time to do that. - Look for red flags
Many people are tripped up by very obvious red flags in the CV which weren’t enough to stop them getting to interview, but which stopped them getting the job. Spend time with your team member looking at their CV and thinking about whether there is anything on there that makes them unlikely to get the job before they even walk in the door. What could they do or say next time to neutralise the issue? - Get the technique right
One of the most effective things I did with the person I was mentoring was spending time with them to answer mock questions. Do the same with your team member and consider how they respond. Did they focus on the day-in, day-out activity that they did or did they focus on the overall achievements that would impress interviewers? Did they structure their answers well, were there any answers or types of questions – for example negative questions – that they really struggled with? Help them to improve on anything that you spot. - Quality of answers
Do you think that the issue might be the quality of answers that they are giving to the questions? When I first started my career, I struggled in lots of areas. But my real challenge was that I didn’t have enough evidence to convincingly answer competency-based questions. With that in mind, spend time helping them to think about the kind of experience they’ve got that you personally as an interviewer would find convincing – and encourage them to showcase it in their answers.
Remember that when somebody is rejected following an interview it can be a really hard time for them – they’ll often even question their current position in the organisation. The more you can do to help them feel positive about the experience, and to feel confident they’ll do better next time, the quicker you will get them back on an even keel.