You should go into the interview wanting the job offer. At the end of the interview, ask for it! It is perfectly appropriate to let people know what you want during a job interview, just as you would at a business meeting.
Imagine this scene. You are completing four years of hard work in college. You really want to pursue a career in the retail industry, and you are interviewing today with Discount Luxuries, the second largest retailer in the country. It's about 28 to 29 minutes into the interview.
Interviewer: Well, our time is up. Thank you for coming in today to discuss a possible career with Discount Luxuries. Your reply: It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
What's missing in this dialogue? Despite your interest in the job, you simply leave the room on cue. Instead, you should close the interview by asking for the job. Let's reconsider the scene.
Interviewer: Well, our time is up. Thank you for coming in today to discuss a possible career with Discount Luxuries.
Your reply: Thank you. It was a pleasure meeting you. I want this job and I hope that you will invite me for a second interview.
Compare the two scenes. Which one will convince the interviewer that you are really interested in the job?
There are a variety of ways to close your interview by asking for the job. For example, after your thank-you, you can say, 'I want you to know that I really want this job. Will you be inviting me to a second interview? [Or, What's our next step?]'
It is a good idea to practice closing the interview with a statement of interest in the job; you will feel more comfortable doing it at the actual interview. Your interviewer will probably give you a noncommittal response (for example, 'you'll be hearing from us in about two weeks'), but that's OK. He or she will take note that you had the presence of mind and the desire to ask for the job and will therefore be more likely to invite you to a second interview. There are at least four good reasons why you should ask for the job:
- You show the interviewer that you are interested in the job. Your sincere interest encourages the interviewer to react favorably to your interview. This may seem elementary, but it is amazingly true. When I debrief interviewers at the end of the day, they often tell me that a student's expressed interest (or lack of it) was a decisive factor.
- Many people are uncomfortable with asking for something they want. That's only natural. In order to tell someone else convincingly that you want the job, you may have to convince yourself first. This can be an asset. By the process of showing yourself why you want the job, you will prepare yourself psychologically to show that desire throughout the interview, not just at the end.
- It is easier and less threatening to like someone who says, 'I like you,' first. Think about your own social relationships. Isn't it easier for you to extend an invitation to someone who, you know, likes you? Make it easier for interviewers to like you by letting them know that you liked them first.
- You show that you have an appropriate degree of gumption--a necessary ingredient for success in business.
Learning From Your Interview
Your answers have promoted your Positive Characteristics at your interview. Your questions have shown your seriousness about wanting the job and your ability to apply business sense. In closing your interview, you have asked for the job. Now you've finished, right? Not quite!
If you are interviewing for a sales position, asking for the job is more than important--it's critical. If you don't ask for the job, you won't get it. A salesperson has to ask for the order, not just make a presentation.
If you can't ask for the job, the interviewer will assume that you can't ask for the order.
Use phrases like these:
"I really want this job. Am I going to get it?"
"Did I get the job?"
"I want this job. When can we meet for a follow-up interview?"
Your goal at the interview is to be invited to a Site Visit. But you can also learn a great deal after your interview. As soon as you leave the interview room, find an undisturbed place where you can review the interview.
What do you want to gain from your review?
- Were there any questions that you found difficult to answer? Make a note of them so you can think about an answer for the next time they are asked.
- What did you learn about yourself from the interview? Because most of the questions had to do with you, maybe you saw yourself a little differently or became aware of something about yourself for the first time. Make a note of that quality so that you can think it through later.
- Were any topics discussed that seemed particularly interesting to your interviewer? Make a note of them; they may come up again at a Site Visit and/or an interview with another firm.
- How did your interviewer answer your questions? At the interview, you asked questions to help you succeed in being invited to a Site Visit. After the interview, review the interviewer's responses, to learn more about the job, the firm, or the industry. This information may help you succeed at a Site Visit later.
- When you asked for the job, what did your interviewer say? In many cases, the response will be a nondescript 'You'll be hearing from us in two weeks." Sometimes, the interviewer will say, "Here's my business card. If you haven't heard from us in two weeks, or if you have any questions, let me know.' Make a note of the two-week time frame, to help you keep track of your interviewing progress with that firm.
Hector Keeps Improving
Although Hector realized that no one response is likely to ruin an interview, he still wanted his interview to be as strong as possible. When he got home, he thought about what he might find unattractive in being a financial analyst and wrote out this response:
I know I would enjoy most aspects of being a financial analyst, like the analytical work and the array of things you need to take into account to do your job well. On the other hand, I know that there can be strict time constraints on completing a project. Although I have demonstrated good time-management skills and work well under pressure, I can't say I really find that aspect of a job attractive. No job is perfect and I'll enjoy the other aspects so much, I know I will enjoy being a financial analyst and will do it well.
Hector had now addressed the question (cited something he would find unattractive in the job) and minimized the possibility that his response would hurt him. Hector had showed that he was capable of succeeding in the face of something he didn't like (time constraints) and that what he liked about the job far outweighed what was unattractive. Therefore, he had showed that he was both capable and eager to be a financial analyst.
The Job Search Club Reviews the Experience
I encouraged all the JSC members to compile their notes by going through the interview question-by-question. What was the first question? What was my answer? How did the interviewer proceed? How did I feel about the question?
Alice followed through as I had suggested. She noted that her interviewer's first question was predictable enough: 'Why did you choose to attend Emeritus College?"' Alice thought about her response and felt comfortable that she had promoted some of her Positive Characteristics (academic excellence, self-reliance, communication, and leadership). The fact that the interviewer asked a follow-up question about one of her characteristics (leadership) confirmed Alice's feeling. It also helped her realize that her first response had set some of the agenda for her interview, just as she had planned. As Alice continued reviewing the interview questions, she was struck by her response to the second question about her Good Buy experience. In her response, Alice mentioned friendship as one reason her co-workers had cooperated with her. "My own capacity for making friends,'' noted Alice. "That's a Positive Characteristic I haven't identified for myself in the past.''
Right after his interview, David also sat down to take notes. He noticed two things. First, he had felt comfortable describing himself with adjectives, rather than with a historical narrative, the way his friend Lauren did. Second, the first follow-up question in his question-answer-question cycle was about interpersonal skills. This confirmed for David that interpersonal skills were important for his career in sales.
Hector was taken aback by one of the questions he was asked in the middle of his interview. 'Hector, what would you find unattractive about being a financial analyst?' Hector had been so psyched about the positives of being a financial analyst that he had forgotten to take seriously any negatives while he was preparing for his interview. 'I had a hard time answering that one,' he said to himself. 'I'll make a note of it now and prepare an answer for a future interview when I get home.'
In this article, you learned why and how to ask for the job before you leave the interview room. Observing some members of the Job Search Club has made it easier for you to learn from your interview experience.
Things are moving along nicely for you. You researched well and you wrote a good resume. Your resume earned you an interview (actually, many interviews). You learned the twin peaks of interviewing, how to research a firm, how to ask good questions, and how to ask for the job.
