My mobile rang. It was the recruiter. He sounded happier than usual.

“You got the job.”  

Nice. 

I told Alex. 

"That’s amazing!" We opened a cheap bottle of wine and ordered a vegan pizza. 

It got me thinking about the stuff that makes and breaks interviews

I’ve seen lots on my path. All the applications, phone calls, meetings, interviews, follow ups, cases, assessments, negotiations. And done so much to make that happen. The lessons, coaching, reading, writing, experimenting. Not to mention the hiring I did and the people I turned away.

So many experiences.

So many things I stumbled across through trial an error. Some of it counter intuitive. Some of it surprising. Most of it the kind of stuff I wish someone had simply sat me down and taught me. Like a wise sage passing their wisdom to the protégée.

Only no one did. So I’m doing it now.

I made a list.

Maybe it will help you.

8 things I wish I’d known sooner about interviewing

1. Smile. Genuinely. More depends on it than you think. (Research shows a genuine smile can be heard even on the phone.)

2. A lot rejections have nothing to do with you. Really, in most cases there’s nothing more you could have done. It’s just plain dumb luck. An internal candidate. A change in the role. The role going away. A lack of chemistry (you can’t fake chemsitry). There’s no way to beat it. It happens. Don’t dwell and move on.

3. Don't fixate on the outcome. Fixate on the process. Have a habit of asking “Is what I’m doing moving me forward?” When you stop making progress, that’s a sign you need to change your process.

4. It's more effective to compete with yourself - like a swimmer beating a personal best - than with other candidates. We perform better on the task at hand when we ignore everyone else. Contrary to popular belief, competition is more destructive than constructive. Pretend no one else exists.

5. Entertain first. If your answers are boring to you they will be doubly boring to the interviewer. No one likes people who bore them. And no one hires people they don’t like.

6. Say less than necessary. It ignites curiosity and engages conversation. And conversations are more entertaining than monologues. 

7. You must stand out. You can get the offer despite inferior experience if you stand out. You will not get an offer with the best experience if you do not stand out. You must be remembered to get an offer.

8. You can stand out with the questions you ask. Or a nuance in your experience. Or a provocative comment. Or what you wear. Or the background on your zoom call. It doesn’t matter what you use as long as you stand out.

Do you ever sit down and reflect on everything you've learned in your own career development process? I got in the habit of writing a one pager on my experiences after every recruiter call or interview. Both as the interviewer and interviewee. I filled a small collection of little black Moleskin notebooks which, over time, became my best personal interviewing resource.

Being able to learn requires being able to reflect.

Being able to reflect requires reliable information to review.

Your memory is not reliable, especially for volatile experiences such as interviews. Even as little as a week after the experience your memory of it will have been reshaped into something either better or worse than it actually was, depending on your state of mind. Having your archive of one pagers gives you real information to refer to in the future.

One pager magic.

After every call or interview, try jotting down a page with all your thoughts. How you feel about how it went. How you prepared. What you said, what you wish you didn’t say, what you wish you did say. Good things, bad things. Regrets. What’s making you stressed or anxious. What’s making you arrogant and cocky. The prep you’re glad you did, the prep you wish you did. Anything that comes up. You’ll end up with an incredibly rich, data driven, personal career development resource. Over time.

⁠It also gives you an outlet to catch disproportionately negative or positive reactions. It can help you find balance faster and reduce the stress from the experiences.

We are all individuals with unique perspectives.

Leaning on the wisdom of others is good, but developing your own insights is better.

Final thoughts…

• Your interviewers are people. Understanding the basics of behavioral psychology will put you in good stead.

• Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow is THE book on judgement errors. You can find a great summary here. (No affiliation).

• Maneuvering around judgement errors takes skill and experience. Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power shows how you work around the judgement errors around you. You can find a great summary here. (No affiliation).

• Make your own notes and you will generate your own unique insights.

If you want to avoid the mistakes that can derail your next Amazon interview, check out our Premium resources.

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