Navigating the Job Interview Disaster: From "Titanic" Moments to Unexpected Opportunities

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The Titanic. The Hindenburg. Chernobyl. Your last job interview. What do these events share? They were disasters, and while the first three have major historical significance, when you’re in a job interview that’s going south it feels just as significant as any boat, blimp, or power plant. Unfortunately, job interviews do not start with an attendant instructing you on what to do in case of an emergency water landing.

We’ve all had interviews that are indistinguishable from an episode of Squid Game. Everything seems normal at first, then bad vibes seep in, followed by confusion, awkward answers to weird questions, and then suddenly you’re being eaten by giant COVID-carrying rats.

Okay, that last part may be hyperbole, but when the primary interviewer leaves the room to put something in the mail and returns with just enough time to say goodbye (true story) it may be an ugly sign that your time, effort, hopes, and dreams have just been wasted. Cue the sinister music. Roll credits.

Good news: since a lot of interviewing is now conducted by uncaring, unfeeling, AI-driven machines, you really only need to worry about interviews going seriously wrong when you’re dealing with those pesky humans. Bad news: pesky humans are a dime a dozen and some enjoy feeding job candidates through a meat grinder for fun (true story).

Is it possible to turn a bad job interview around? Maybe. Can you pull the plug with dignity? Maybe. Has anyone ever gotten a job offer after a definitive interview calamity? Yes. Believe it or not, that happens. Let’s explore your options when the lifeboats drop.

1. Take a deep breath. According to that great sage Yogi Berra, “It’s not over until it’s over.” Once you’re sure a disaster is unfolding, remember that it could go on for an indeterminable amount of time. You’re in the room and you’re not going anywhere until they say the interview is over. You may have time to pivot. Don’t lose hope quite yet. Even if you slam into every hurdle, you can finish strong. 

2. The opposite happens, too. You may be confident you’re acing the interview but you’re not. You may be the frog slowly boiling in the water. Even if you believe things are going well it’s to your benefit to read the faces of the people sitting across from you. If they look like they’re in pain, or checking their Apple watches for text messages, it may not be going as well as you believe. Read the room and proceed accordingly.

3. Take a straightforward approach. If the energy in the room feels like a tree sloth taking a nap, try and boost it by meeting it head-on. Ask pointed questions that not only change the direction of the conversation but allow you to more accurately gauge your position. For example, “Can you tell me what your ideal candidate is for this job?” and adjust based on the answer. Or, if you don’t want to wait around for a job offer that’s never coming, “Am I a viable candidate for this job?” You may find you are viable and maybe even ideal. Or they may just say, “It’s not you,” and you can move on.

4. Let loose. What do you have to lose? If you really know you’re crashing and burning, experiment with your interview skills. Don’t pull a shaker out of your pocket and start whipping up martinis, but you can be more liberal with your approach. If anything works, it may soften the crashing and lessen the burning and you’ll have a great line, story, or point to bring out at your next and hopefully way better interview. If nothing else, it’s practice. Like an emergency fire drill.

5. You never know what is going to happen. Keep in mind – no matter how bad a job interview actually is, you have no idea what is happening behind the scenes. You may walk out of the building and want to throw yourself in front of a bus, but a week later you’re back in the room for salary negotiations. This happens more than you think and the reasons are usually simple: an internal candidate decides to remain in their current position; a seemingly preferred candidate fails the background check in spectacular fashion; someone accepts the job offer and then backs out; the new hire never shows up for their first day or any day after that, or, worse, they do show up and it’s clear to all a terrible mistake has been made. Bada bing, bada-boom, suddenly you’re at the top of the list.

6. You could get an offer for a different job. Once again, this happens. Your interview may have been lacking and, in fact, you may actually be lacking the requisite skill sets to perform the job, but you’re perfect for another open position down the hall. You’re unexpectedly called in for another round with new people from a different department and that interview turns into a big love fest.

7. Your catastrophic interview was a blessing in disguise. It takes two to tango. If the interview is a flop the fault may lie with the (pesky) people doing the hiring and not the fact that you couldn’t draw out advanced database architecture on a whiteboard (true story). If you’re treated poorly in an interview, think about how you’ll be treated when you’re collecting a paycheck. Sometimes it shouldn’t work out and life just allowed you to peek behind the curtain.

8. Something else may be going on. Your interviewers are people, too, and that comes with real people problems that may have them preoccupied. That person sitting across from you peppering you with questions may have just learned that their dog died, or that their son flunked out of school, or that their car may require a really expensive repair. You never know.

9. Exit with grace. Sometimes a job interview is a clunker and there isn’t anything that is going to make the ship float, the blimp fly, or prevent the reactor core from melting down. You have no choice but to accept that bad things happen to good people. Always take the high road. Be professional. Thank everybody and then go home and write them thank you notes. Take another deep breath and prepare for the next one.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Attack Of The Robots! How To Prepare For The AI Job Interview

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You may have seen recent headlines about Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven apps like ChatGBT or Chinchilla. Or maybe you're familiar with AI image generators like DALL-E2. AI is an exciting, scary, and imperfect game changer -- and it’s changing how people get jobs.

The machines seem to be taking over. You may have noticed that the number of digital walls (obstacles) during the job search process has quietly increased. Pre-interview assessments and automated phone screens have joined applicant tracking systems (ATS – employer recruitment software) to put more digital space between you and the recruiter or hiring manager. 

And now, AI is moving out of the shadows and onto the main stage. If you’re scared that you’re going to be interviewed by robots, then you’re not going like this next statement:

Prepare to be interviewed by robots.

AI-driven video interviewing has arrived and it’s inevitable that you will soon be one of its victims. Just like there is an ATS between your resume and a person, AI is now between you and a person. You’ve been demoted from person to inanimate object. Just like you must craft a resume to get through the ATS, you must learn how to get through a HireVue interview.

HireVue is a “talent experience platform.” You are the “talent.” The “experience” used to be called, “interviewing for a job.”  The “platform” is an AI wall that will interview you.

Think of a Zoom interview; now take away the other person – the course of your professional career will partially be determined by an algorithm. Welcome to the warm and fuzzy world of AI video interviewing, where software will be asking you some predetermined behavioral questions and having you play some logic games, then synthesizing your visual, verbal, and cognitive inputs to provide the recruiter and hiring manager with a recommendation about your efficacy as a job candidate.

You can survive a HireVue interview. Here are some general tips on how to get through AI interviews:

1.     The robot is assessing you. AI algorithms are hidden. Just like guessing what keywords will help your resume, you have no idea what data is being mined, assessed, and prioritized. Regardless of the details, the AI video interview approach is both visual and verbal. You must pay attention to every detail. 

2.     Visuals matter. The way you are dressed. The background. Your body language. While these are important factors during a regular Zoom interview, an AI interview reads visual data the same way an ATS reads a resume’s format. The data is quantified and the result contributes to your “HireVue assessment score,” “average rating,” and “average recommendation,” (Yes, No, Maybe). Stay focused on the camera, make good eye contact, and try to minimize unnecessary body motion. 

3.     Questions will be behavioral. Be prepared to answer behavioral questions like, “Please describe a time you had to change your course of action while working on an assignment,” (HireVue, 2023).  Computers are less forgiving than people, and there is less wiggle room than in a regular interview where charisma and a positive connection can overcome some difficulty. You must be ready to go the moment the light comes on. Remember how you answer a question is just as important as the answer itself.

4.     Be focused and succinct. To follow up on the previous comment, the AI records delivery as well as the content. The content is up to you. As far as the delivery goes, you want to have a smooth natural delivery that requires an extra level of polish that can best be achieved through practice. You don’t know what the questions will be but practice some common ones. You’ll want to minimize the appearance of uncertainty.

5.     You can’t make a machine laugh. There are people out there who are so extroverted and personable that they sail through every job interview and they get offers – qualified or not! They are the ultimate example of “winning it in the room.” HireVue is a filtration system. It’s meant to defer human decision-making to the late rounds of the job interview process. You can still win it in the room but now there is an additional obstacle to clear before you can get into the room. That obstacle is humorless. Save your brilliant charm for people. With AI, keep your answers focused, succinct, and all business.

6.     Make human contact. After your AI “talent experience,” take the opportunity to contact the recruiter and thank them. Your HireVue video interview is an assessment. It’s not a decision. People are still making hiring decisions and you can influence those decisions by acting like the professional you are.

7.     Nurture your professional network. Now more than ever, making a regular practice of nurturing your professional network may be the best thing you can do for your career so that you’ve cultivated an advocate within an employer. Getting around the machines is getting more difficult and it’s not going away. If you can circumvent the digital walls through actual human connections, you’ve already won half the battle.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

How Should I Dress for A Job Interview?

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Before the recent COVID-19 driven work changes, professional dress codes were fluid. For many years, even companies with stodgy traditional dress codes had "Casual Friday," which, somehow, was still more formal than other companies' daily requirements. It's all fashion and fun until management issues special memos reminding employees of the well-known long-term benefits of wearing shoes (yep, seen them). Job seekers believed it was apropos to match their dress for interviews with the company's dress culture – it wasn't.

After lock-downs, quarantines, work-from-home, masks, Zoom, and many other factors, the professional dress code has gone from fluid to fuzzy. And, yes, in some cases, fuzzy means slippers. Yes, fuzzy slippers are hilarious, but they are not professional (however, people interviewing for fuzzy-slipper-designer positions should be fine).  

Your job interview attire should be professional, formal, and job-appropriate. Your default position should be your "Sunday's best." You can always dress down, but you can't dress up.

Here are some sartorial tips to consider when dressing for a job interview:

1.    You can't go wrong with a suit. For almost every interview, a suit and tie (if applicable) are the best options. Being overdressed won't hurt you. If you're a creative type interviewing at a creative company, you can go with a more hip, edgy, flamboyant suit, but still a suit. If your interview is with a more traditional and conservative company, go with a Brooks Brothers/Ann Taylor style suit. In the end, you can't go wrong with a suit. Let's call a professional suit the Standard Rule. The beautiful thing about a suit is that if you get to the interview, and you are told you’re overdressed, you can probably take your jacket off without penalty.

2.    The Standard Rule applies to companies with casual dress codes. You've heard Company X has a casual dress code – i.e., "People wear jeans." You want to dress down for the interview to fit in with the company culture, but chances are that's a mistake; I’ve personally witnessed interviewers dressed in Levi’s and a tee shirt ding a candidate for not dressing professionally enough. That said, there’s always exceptions (and people being judgmental) – if you show up in a suit and tie, maybe they'll think you're an undercover narcotics officer and beat you up in the parking lot. The person who sets up the interview will know the most appropriate attire; ask them for clarification on what you should plan to wear. 

3.    Ask the person who sets up the interview for clarification. Still aren’t clear? You’re not alone – career professionals toss terms like "casual," "dressy," and "professional" around a lot, but they mean different things to different people and companies. Whether a recruiter, hiring manager, or somebody's assistant, the person who sets up the interview should know the internal expectations of job candidates' dress; ask them and do what they say. 

4.    The Standard Rule may apply for positions with casual dress codes. What if the position is a warehouse job, manual labor, or involves working outdoors? Dressing up can rarely hurt you, but use your best judgment. A suit and tie, if applicable, may not be the best option for the roles mentioned above. However, consider dressing up for the interview.

5.    The Standard Rule applies if you're pounding the pavement. Let’s say you’re applying for jobs at the mall; this often involves dropping off resumes in person. You're in front of someone for a brief time, and you make a crucial first impression on whoever accepts your resume. Dress to impress! In many real-world cases, looking sharp and professional is sometimes the difference between your resume going into the circular file (that's the trashcan) or the hiring manager's inbox.

6.    The Standard Rule applies for remote interviews (e.g., Zoom). In case you haven't heard the news, you can't go wrong with a suit. Treat a Zoom, or any other remote video interview, like an in-person interview. You're not going to show up for an in-person interview in fuzzy slippers, and the same standards for remote interviews should apply. You make an instant impression on video. It's easy for your Zoom interview to start on a positive note – dress in job interview-appropriate attire right down to the shoes nobody can see. Look professional, or you’ll convey a "don't care" attitude that's an unnecessary hurdle.

7.    BONUS TIP: Keep an extra jacket/blazer and tie (if applicable) in the car. If you start casual and arrive at the interview to see other candidates dressier than you, you can make a quick retreat and dress up before your interview begins.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.