Interviews - what to say¶
Such a great deal has been written about what to say in a job interview that you might doubt whether it’s worth adding any more.
Be warned that a lot of what you will find is really bad advice, and some of it is very thoughtlessly given.
Being prepared¶
Always tell the truth¶
Whatever you say needs to be true.
Don’t blur reality, and don’t mislead. Don’t make things up. Don’t embellish or exaggerate.
That doesn’t mean you have to say everything that is true. Candidates often reveal more than they need to.
Also, as every adult understands, when it comes anything but the simplest of cases no-one is in sole possession of the one and only truth. Even reasonable and fair-minded people on opposite sides of an issue can honestly see it in different ways.
All this makes it really important to adopt a thoughtful approach to what you are going to say, which means thinking ahead to what you are going to be asked and to your responses.
Speaking about negative things¶
A real challenge is how to speak about negative or problematic things. Be aware that whatever you say reflects on you more than it does about the people or things you talk about – even if that’s not really fair.
When an interviewer hears about a candidate’s disagreeable colleague, they will wonder: “What’s the other side of this story?” A candidate who complains about more than one problematic work relationship inevitably makes the interviewer think: “What is the common factor here?”
The more certain you are about the failings of others, the more burning your sense of something that was done wrong, the more effort you must take to avoid talking about those things in the wrong ways. Not only is there a risk that what you say will be interpreted as revealing something about you, there is a real chance that once you start saying it you’ll be carried along by your feelings and will find you’ve said more than you intended.
Positive framing¶
Frame dissatisfaction in positive terms, about the values you hold and about what you hope to find next: opportunities, advancement, challenge, expert leadership, and so on.
Don’t say that your current workplace is chaotic and badly-managed. Say: “I value planning, and I want to find myself working in a more structured environment.”
Don’t say that your work is boring and the challenges unambitious. Say: “I want to be challenged more, and work on more exciting projects.”
Don’t say that effort and achievement are not properly recognised where you are now. Say: “It’s really important to me to work in a context with an effective framework of recognition and reward, and I feel that could be improved at my current employer.”
Don’t say: “Management has no idea how to market our product, and it’s failing.” Say: “We have an excellent product that I am really proud of and believe in, but I am frustrated that we don’t have more success with it. I think we could take a different approach to marketing.”
You’ll notice that each of those statements hints at or even clearly acknowledges a problem, but doesn’t criticise anyone or or complain. In each case, it makes it about you, and what you care about.
All of the examples show that there is something you’re not satisfied with (e.g. “I’m frustrated that…”). It’s fine to show that you have a critical attitude (“I feel that could be improved”).
A positive judgement (“We have an excellent product”) makes any negative sentiments seem more nuanced and credible.
When you say “I am frustrated/disappointed/unhappy” you are acknowledging that you have a part in what it is, and that you are a human being with their own perspective and feelings. You’re not judging it from a distance or suggesting that it’s all up to other people.
And crucially, in every case above, you offer a positive way forward - no problem is stated without a constructive idea of what would be better.
Don’t say more than you need to¶
Know when to shut up! It’s hard to do that when you are nervous, but when you have said the thing you want to say, that’s enough. If they want to know more, they will say so, and it’s always better to leave people wanting more than waiting impatiently for you to stop talking.
If you’re in any doubt, “Is there any aspect of that you’d like to know more about?” signals that there is more, and that you care about what they are interested in.
The other advantage of not saying more than you need to is that you are less likely to say something that you shouldn’t, that gives away too much. If you’re already nervous, the chances are that you will do exactly that. You will add a qualification, introduce a doubt, reveal a weakness, undermine something you already said.
Adding more weakens what you’ve said so far; it rarely reinforces it or adds clarity. It makes it sound as though you didn’t say the right things in the first place, or didn’t quite believe in them.
Uncertain territory¶
The time you are most likely to let yourself down by saying more than you should is when you are not really sure of the answer. That’s when people tend to give vague, unfocused answers, and add more in the hope that the next thing that comes out of their mouth will magically bring the topic to a crisp conclusion - which it never does.
It’s especially a risk to say too much when you are being asked questions that ask about things that you feel ambivalent about (even more so than the ones you feel negative about).
It’s especially noticeable when a candidate is asked about what they really want, or what they are really looking for – such questions can unlock a candidate’s ambivalence, and they will reveal all kinds of things that had they only thought more carefully they would have wisely kept to themselves.
If the territory is in any way risky, or you aren’t certain how you want to talk about it, keep what you say to a minimum.
The questions you want them to ask you¶
There must be some questions you hope they ask, or topics you hope they will bring up, because you know that this represents a chance for you to shine.
What are those questions? Don’t just hope that you’ll be asked: make a point of bringing them up if the interviewer doesn’t.
Do you have any questions for me?¶
You’re almost certainly going to be asked if you have any questions: another thing to think about in advance.
Make your questions genuine questions. Work out what you want to know about the company or the job. Don’t worry that your question might seem naïve or unimpressive.
You’ll find a lot of advice offered about what questions to ask. Some of it’s good advice - but a question you are genuinely interested in is worth much more. There are no off-the-shelf questions that magically signal a candidate’s excellence.
Know exactly what you’re going to say¶
It’s often not easy to say the right thing on the spur of the moment. For each question where you know you’ll need to be careful about how you tell the truth as you see it, for each tricky topic that could come up, for everything that you feel ambivalent about, each question you hope they will ask: decide in advance what exactly you’re going to say, and have it written down.
Writing these things down is crucial; each one is one more thing you don’t have to think about on the spot.
There are always going to be surprises in interviews, but you can help yourself immensely by reducing their number through good preparation.
Say specific and concrete things¶
In everything you say, be specific and concrete. It gives what you say edge and detail that make it believable. It’s hard to grasp generic things.
Be specific about where and when. For example, if you’re talking about something you did, it helps to say “When I was at xxx, I …”. Now the interviewer can picture you at xxx (university, this this or that employer), working on whatever it was. Or: “In 2014, I …”
Be specific about whom. Not some vague “they”; “my manager”, “the CEO”, “my colleague Jane”.
Name things. “Postgres”, rather than “the database”. “django CMS”, rather than “our web CMS”. “I used Numpy for the xxx and Pandas for the yyy.”
Use numbers. “I had two other people in my team”, rather than “I led a small team”. Don’t be embarrassed that the numbers are small, or imagine that they aren’t impressive enough (candidates often feel that they should draw a kind of veil over small things by being more general about them – but an interviewer will notice that).
Being specific and concrete are ways of bringing clarity to what you say. Every time you are clear, you add trust and believability.