Reading the Mind of the Interviewer

There are as many inept interviewers as there are inept candidates, and many interviewers fail both their employers, as well as deserving candidates, due to their incompetence. However, a job interview is not part of a democratic process, and while an employer would usually be left in the blind about the failings of the HR personnel, a rejected but deserving candidate has no means of demanding accountability. Consequently, the only option open to a candidate to survive and succeed in an interview is to successfully read the mind of the interviewer and respond adequately.

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To analyze an interview process correctly we need to study it from the angle of the recruiter, or the interviewer, in order to spot and satisfy his or her requirements. While surprises and exceptions will always remain in life, general functions will continue to follow logical patterns, and understanding and responding to the logic of a situation will remain the gateway of success.

A job interview is a widely discussed event or process and it has a logic and purpose. Trying to understand the process of an interview from the angle of both the “means” and the “end,” helps an interviewee to form the perspective needed to respond correctly to regular as well as odd questions. Whatever be the environment of an interview, the “end” will always remain the recruitment of a suitable candidate, and the “means” will remain throwing challenges at the candidate by means of either direct questions, or tests of different kinds, to assess his or her suitability.




When you are walking into a job interview, be sure that the recruiter is there only for one purpose - to find suitable candidates for recruitment. What a candidate needs to do is to find the logic and purpose behind each question or test, and answer adequately. Regardless of the means adopted to test the appropriateness of a candidate, general requirements and needs of an interviewer are pretty limited and will include:

• Finding whether the candidate's emotional intelligence matches the requirements of the job
• Finding whether the candidate's educational qualifications are sufficient to support a recruitment decision
• Finding whether the candidate's skill sets and work-experience are suitable for the job
• Finding whether the candidate's exposure to work culture matches the company environment
• Finding whether the candidate is receptive and obedient, or full of own ideas without space for anything more
• Finding whether the background of the candidate indicates a match or mismatch for the offered job position
• Finding whether the candidate's salary expectations match the allotted budget range for the job

Though educational qualifications are part of primary screening, still there are enough walk-in-interviews in low paying jobs, and myriad educational qualifications and equivalent diplomas or degrees that a suitable candidate can come up with. Really, the interviewer is more focused on finding the answer to the other questions in the mentioned list, and educational qualifications are considered last for supporting a recruitment decision, unless they are professional qualifications required to function legally in the job.

The usual mistake that candidates make is that they become too focused on selling their own brands and ideas under the misconception that impressing their personalities on the minds of interviewers would result in recruitment. But that is rarely the case. The recruiter is focused on his or her own needs and purposes and has scant time for unreceptive egoists, as candidates do appear to the recruiter when they try to impress out of turn. To win an interview, it is essential to focus on the needs of the recruiter and provide responses that help the recruiter to support a recruitment decision. To do that, you need to study the employer's background, thoroughly study the job requirements as advertised, and read the mind of the interviewer.

See the following articles for more information:

• 21 Major Interview Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
  
• The Best Way to Prepare for a Job Search and Interviews
  
• How to Talk About Other Interviews in Your Interviews
  
• How to Answer the Tell Me About Yourself Interview Question
  
• How to Answer the Do You Have Any Questions for Me Interview Question

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