Keep Focused

I remember sitting in my desk at school while staring intently at the standard-issue clock on the wall. The red minute hand seemed to be crawling around the dial. While my brain was still mesmerized by the clock, I heard a very stern voice call my name, not once, but twice. Before I could come out of my mid-day preoccupation with that red minute hand, I heard someone shout my first AND last name. Dragged back to reality, I found myself the target of my classmates’ stares while I failed to respond to the teacher's question, which I obviously was not paying attention to.

If you are not careful, your focus can quickly dwindle during a pre-employment assessment interview as mine did that day at school. This can occur especially when you find yourself packing in interviews for days on end. It is important to remain focused and ensure that you do not miss that perfect fit for the job. Here are a couple of tips that I find helpful to keep my focus:

• Story behind the story - People are really interesting. By focusing your mind on learning more about the person’s story, you will find the interview much more interesting. The story then helps to replace the methodical and boring items by painting a more interesting and accurate picture of the person. This, of course, will provide you with better insight into their fit to the job.
• Create a dialogue – Interact with them through conversational engagement. Try not to ask a question and listen to them ramble for 30 minutes. Set the interview up as a “back and forth” dialogue.
• Redirect if needed – Don’t be shy about confirming that the information they have shared is interesting, but what you really would like to talk about is… This also keeps you engaged.
• Encourage the use of props – Utilize resources such as white boards, drawings on a piece of paper, pictures, portfolios, etc. By interacting with other objects, you will be able to engage your brain in some interesting content.
• Bring a beverage – No, NOT that type of a beverage! (I am sure your employer would not appreciate that). I mean a cup of water or your favorite soft drink. This small distraction is acceptable in an interview; but more importantly, the beverage will allow you to move your eyes around comfortably and politely. That way you don’t lapse into the old, “I am looking at you but not paying attention” gaze.
• Take notes – I do it all the time. It is easy to forget specific pieces of information. Even worse, without my notes, I may start confusing candidates. Notes help keep all that straight. My favorite note pad is always in my hands, along with a hard copy of their resume. That way I have all I need at my fingertips.

Caution – Be sure that the techniques you deploy are not distracting to the candidate. As a candidate, I would hate to hear loud slurping coming from the straw in your empty soft drink cup. Additionally, take notes on only the job-relevant pieces of information.

Do you have other valuabel tips to share with our community? Please post your comments below.

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