Can job interviews be more “humane”?

I regularly hear from job seekers that they want to be genuine and authentic when they are job searching, but find that the ways in which some employers set up the interview process leaves them feeling like they have to put on perfectly polished persona and do their best salesperson routines.

So, when I saw a blog posting about “Humane Interviews” from Jessa Chupik, a career coach who is a former recruiter, I was really excited.

She describes an interview panel who, instead of intimidating candidates, or being distant or overly formal, were welcoming, warm, and genuine. By being genuine themselves, they let the candidates know that they were important, and that the interview was not a gruesome exam, but a pleasant conversation for learning more about them.

This “humane” approach seems to have created an environment that helped interview candidates be more genuine – and I can only guess that it must have been a pleasant and effective way for both parties to get to know each other better, and assess whether there was a good fit.

Humane Interviews – love that idea!

Have you had experiences with “humane” interviews? Did they allow you to feel more comfortable and authentic?

Authenticity, Interviews, Job search as sales & marketing Authenticity, humane, job interviews

“With competition for good jobs at an all-time high, candidates who conduct their job search as a sales campaign consistently win out over those who don’t.”

So starts an article called “Win Your Next Job With Three Essential Interview Skills.”

Now, if you’ve been reading my blog or book, you can guess my reaction. I don’t agree at all. There is nothing noteworthy about that -  all over the internet there are thousands of articles with similar arguments and content that I disagree with. What makes this one worth notice is this fascinating opening line.

“[C]andidates who conduct their job search as a sales campaign consistently win out over those who don’t” is quite a claim. Bold, assertive – very sales-like?

The biggest problem with this is that this is opinion presented as fact. There is NO evidence that this claim is true. There is no evidence for this provided in the article, and as far I can tell from my research, there is no evidence anywhere. Perhaps anecdotally many people feel that this has been their experience. And certainly there are legions of people who believe this to be true. But to present this as fact should require far more than anecdotal stories and beliefs.

Too often job search “experts” tell us the right way to do things. But a lot of this (if not basically all) is  based on opinion. There is nothing wrong with opinion - we should just be up front about it being opinion and not fact.

I’ll use the same analogy as used in the article in question. When you go to buy a new car, you listen critically to the salesperson’s pitch (and you know it is a pitch, you know they are using “closing techniques” and looking for your “hot buttons”). You try to step back and evaluate if the offer is really as good as it is presented as being. You know the job of the salesperson is to get the sale – which may or may not be in your own best interest. So you question all claims.

Let’s do the same thing when being sold on the “correct” way to job search. Question all claims. Beware of opinion masquerading as fact. 

Thank you to Christine Fader for sending me the link to this article – you were right  Christine– I did enjoy reading it!

Choice, Criticisms/questions, Interviews, Job search as sales & marketing job interviews, job search, job search as sales and marketing, sales