3 Unusual Insights How to Cross Interview Your Interviewer©

Article by Charles Ethos

You’re halfway there. In your last 2 steps you need to reach down and suck it up to the finish. No missteps, no dropped baton, and no mistakes. Many a job interview is won or lost down the stretch.

Step 3: Taking Control of the Interview by Asking Questions.

*Asking interview questions is the most unique phase of your job interview. It is permission driven. This the only time the tail wags the dog. Use it wisely. The interviewer is handing you control of the interview.

Take it!

If you fail to impress during the first 2 steps it unlikely the interviewer will view you as a colleague. Only colleagues share control. And colleagues are co-workers. Get it?

Insight #1: The Power of Overlapping Interview Steps

The more you can overlap Step 2 and Step 3 in your interview questioning, the more your interview shifts from an inquisition to a discussion or chat. A chat, in contrast to a hammering question-and-answer session, gives you an opportunity to slide into the driver’s seat.

Nothing is more natural than asking interview questions during a chat.

This is powerful because the interviewer has warmed up to you.

Insight #2: Let Perception Become Your Interviewer’s Reality

As I mentioned in Step 1, up to 93% of face-to-face communication is nonverbal. Like an Academy Award™, your interview is not won by your words but by the picture your words and body language create.

Asking the interviewer questions is a subtle art. How do you take control of your interview from the interviewer who controls you? And how can you convince the interviewer to stay relaxed?

Be convincing! Be so convincing in the first 2 steps that the interviewer will feel they just discovered an old forgotten colleague. Call it rapport; call it simpatico.

Notice that with every interview step your focus is to build momentum, credibility, and trust. Are you building momentum? So how can you prepare…?

Insight #3: The Power of Constructive Self-criticism

Fighting for a top job, you should be so well trained that if you woke up from a coma, your first interview question should knock the toupee of your interviewer. J

In Step 2, we talked about testing your verbal/nonverbal balance under stress. I suggested that your most effective feedback was to review your mock video interviews (I presume you filmed some). This is in contrast to a non-video mock interview in your kitchen or friends living room which can’t be reviewed and analyzed.

Relying on friends and family to honestly critique a live mock interview is like having the fox in the henhouse. It’s unrealistic for you to expect brutally honest opinions. Those around you will tend to hold back. It’s the “politically” smart thing to do if they want to stay friends. We’re all human.

So which criticism will you forgive? Your own!