Interviews

Throughout my short life, I have been a part of many interviews. These have taken place on both sides of the table. I have personally been interviewed in a formal setting as the applicant about six times. Outside of that I have been in meetings with potential coaches and trying to communicate who I am as a person and athlete many times. In my current position as Human Resources, I hold interviews frequently. For these, I have a specific script that my employer created that I use to guide the conversation. If I have other comments or questions, I can add them throughout. Mostly I strict to the script and clarify as needed.

The interviews that I have been a part of that I thought were more effective all seemed to include a specific wording of questions. For example, the interviews that felt most effective to me did not ask “what’s a weakness of yours?” they asked “if your closest friend was here what would they say you struggle with?” This is a type of question that seems to be very successful. Both when it has been used to ask me about myself and when I have asked others, this type of questioning seems to consistently show how critically an applicant can think about themselves and the situation. Asking questions in this way I believe adds some validity to their answers. This helps to get around the pre-planned answers that they practice in the car.

Something else that I have seen in effective interviews is the scheduling. If the applicant or interviewer is on time, stays on schedule, has a plan, follows through, and communicates well before and after, this demonstrates reliability. This is something that I personally look for no matter what side of the table that I am sitting on during the interview. I want to be able to trust the process and feel confident that the person I am engaging with is being real and genuine. Knowing that they are reliable can help to ease my nerves moving forward.