Too many times I see people talk about job interviews as a way to convince the prospective company of making an offer. While this is obviously critical if you want to work for that specific company, I think it is far more important to use the interview process to figure out if the company itself is a good match for you. Looking for employment should be a strategic process unless extenuating circumstances dictate you take the first job that comes along. If you’ve got the time and resources, the interview process is actually the point where the company should be selling you on why you should want to work for them.
Let’s face it, it’s pretty hard to make a serious judgment about someone based off of three or four one-hour interviews. Most people wouldn’t choose a spouse this way, and yet this is the very process the Boomers wanted us to use in choosing our employer for the next 30 years. It’s ludicrous. Instead, when I’m at an interview, I’m asking as many questions as possible to find out if the company can meet my needs. These needs might be as short-term as a three-year plan, where I then intend to leave the company for greener grass somewhere else (not that I would actually say this in the interview). Would the company be able to offer me the opportunity to develop the skills I would need to make the next career jump somewhere else?
Companies want good employees and good employees are always in short supply. A well-planned job search gives the interviewee the advantage. Ask me all kinds of questions relating to the projects I worked on, my accountabilities and responsibilities at my current or previous employer, and what I’m looking for in a career. However, the interviewer should be just as prepared when I start asking questions about employee turnover, company vision for the next five years, and financial targets for shareholder return.
A job interview is a two-way street: I hope the company will make me an offer, but at the same time, I have the discipline to reject those companies that fail to convince me during the interview process. In the end, don’t be afraid to turn down a position if it isn’t the right fit.