Two job seekers walk into a conference room, anticipating an interview with a recruiter for a technical position.
One job seeker has a presentation tucked under his arm. The other carries nothing but a worn-out copy of his resume and a nervous smile.
The former sits down in front of the recruiter, takes a deep breath, and dives into his lengthy presentation, which he created on InterviewBest.com. For about $30 (and only two weeks of access), a job seeker can log on to the site and create a personalized portfolio to present to the hiring manager, complete with opening and closing arguments and a 60-day plan the job seeker has written out about performance expectations.
The second guy doesn’t even stand a chance. Or does he?
Most HR reps I talked to hated this idea and said it takes all control away from the interviewer and allows the candidate to direct the whole process. And who has time to sit through twenty pages of checkpoints and data?
Some, however, did enjoy the idea of the candidate’s preparedness and informed answers as opposed to meaningless drivel.
I say it’s too expensive, and the presentation needs to be slimmed down quite a bit to avoid the look of death from the recruiter when one strolls in carrying a thick binder and asks, “Just how much time do we have, anyway?”
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November 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Perish the thought of the HR reps losing control of a candidate communication. Too funny.
BTW-I’d hire the third person who showed up with a flash memory stick and politely asked to make a brief presentation covering their qualifications and experience. It shows s/he’s not gullible enough to buy a dumb service like InterviewBest.com.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Vanessa, interesting concept. I think a straight presentation isn’t dynamic enough, but… it is also a much more fun way for a candidate to showcase his or her strengths. Who needs to the PPT though? Just bring in a one-pager highlighting your… oh wait! We already have them do that… it’s called a resume!
There’s too much death-by-powerpoint in business these days. I’m not concerned about “lack of control” issues or anything. I actually think the best interviews feel like a conversation, but also include standard questions so that you can truly compare apples to apples.
Lou Adler at ERE had a great series of articles called “In Search of the Perfect Candidate” in which he suggests having each candidate prepare a brief 10 to 15 minute presentation on one of their biggest value add projects, from start to finish, with lots of Q&A in the middle.
- Chris
November 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Though I do not agree with the presentation factor, I do think that something like that does offer a bi-product that could be quite useful for the candidate. Being prepared. It is a constant struggle as people are not professional interviewers, getting them to structure their thoughts and ideas to best present during the interview. To be able to quickly recall events and projects that are applicable to the interview, etc. With doing a presentation, that sort of data must be thought out to even produce this portfolio. In doing so, they are making themselves aware of what they know, or do not know.
TIP: Just leave the binder in the car.
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
I have been a psychologist and career coach for the past 20 years. InterviewBest is my first exposure to the wild and wacky world of the internet and it is a real education. I am finding I enjoy the opportunity to get expert feedback about InterviewBest and to engage in conversations about how to fix the interview process.
Recently there has been coverage of InterviewBest by bloggers and Business Week with I must say mixed reviews. Generally, people like the preparation it provides, don’t like the “taking control of the interview” the length, and think it is too expensive.
I am well aware I am trying to alter the traditional interview by empowering the candidate to provide more guidance in the interview. My belief is the interview is a sales process. I think it is important for a candidate be a good sales person and take responsibility for creating a conversation that communicates why they should be selected. The interview presentation is designed to do exactly that.
In addition, each section of the presentation is limited to only 7 items each of which is limited to 140 characters. The goals is to have the candidate use these items as visual talking points that create a conversation with the interviewer. The presentation portion of the interview can be done in 20 minutes or less which leaves enough time for the interviewer’s agenda. Thus, there is no hijacking of the interview and so far 100% of all interviewers have given permission for the candidates to use the presentation in the interview.
The whole pricing issue is a fascinating one. There are a number of people that say it should be free. There are others, mostly career professionals, that say if it is free it does not communicate it’s real value and I should be charging a lot more than I do. I think these pricing difference is based on delivering a service over the internet (it should be free) and the professionals perceived value of a career service which improves people’s chances of landing a job. Interestingly, a blogger who has written a book about landing a job thinks InterviewBest should be free (”no one should pay to land a job”) but is OK charging for her book. Both are job landing tools. To walk the middle line we are offering a 2 week free trial. After the trial people can decide the value for themselves and then subscribe for the period of time they need it.
Overall, my dedication is to helping people get a job they love and earn the money they deserve. Too many of my clients that were well qualified and good matches did not land a job because the interview process was broken. The 3000 interview books and the countless web sites with interview information has not fixed the 56 million interviews conducted in this country every year. I am hoping with time and refinement InterviewBest contributes to improving the interview process for both the candidate and the hiring company. I welcome any input and ideas people may have to improve the interview and InterviewBest.
Eric
November 30th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Hmmmm. I thought the best interviews with recruiters were just a brief presentation by the interviewee, along with superb, corporate, position-relevant questions that show the interviewee has a lot of street-smarts, intelligence, expertise and well-roundedness.
For example, one of my friends, who got a fabulous job at a biotech firm last year, told me that the interviewers said she got the job because she had superb questions….and great stories (in other words, she knew how to answer the questions asked her).