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.

Interviewing For A Job? How to Tell If The Hiring Manager Is Bad News

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Looking for a job is like dating. After a date (job interview) or two, three, or four (or twelve), you still only have a rudimentary understanding of who the person (company) truly is. It’s a front-facing, window shopping ritual and you can’t see the whole picture. You can’t be sure what you’re going to end up with.

It’s not until you move in together that you know whether or not the match is going to work long-term. The primary differences between a marriage between individuals and a marriage to a job are that 1) you will spend more time at work than with your spouse, and 2) you’re not really married to your job. You’re married to your boss.

 Your business cards and paycheck may be embossed with your company’s name, but on a day-to-day basis you don’t report to your “company”. You report to your manager, and therein lies an overlooked vital component of how happy you will ultimately be in a job. A top reason for professionals leaving their jobs is an unsatisfactory relationship with their managers.

While far from foolproof, there are ways to gauge what life with your manager will be like at every phase of a job search – interviewing, observation days (if applicable, but still valuable information for everyone), and during the early days of a new job.

Interviewing:

• Time to hit LinkedIn, or any other resources at your disposal, to determine who the hiring manager is for the job you want and to whom you would most likely report. It may be the same person. It may not. Do your research. Learn what you can about the people behind the job listing.

• If you’re heading into an interview, tap your network to tap their network and see if you can get some first-hand information from current or former employees, or people who have worked with your most likely manager at any point. Ask around to see what their professional reputation is.

• Wondering what to say at a job interview when asked, “Do you have any questions for us?” Ask probing questions about staff hierarchy, and departmental and company-wide mobility. Is there a transparent and clear roadmap for advancement and promotion? The answers to these types of questions may give you a deeper understanding of the manager’s style. A supportive, servant-leader manager will mentor their workers and guide them toward their career goals. Other managers are a dead end.

Observation Days:

•  If you are invited to participate in an observation day, or work day, where you spend the day at a company to get insight into what it would be like to work there, prior to accepting a position, take advantage of this time. Get a sense of the vibes you get from your manager. Cordial? Abrasive? Demanding? Just a jerk? Try and get a read on their personality.

• Take special note of how the manager interacts with the other workers. Open? Defensive? With whom do they have a rapport? Why? You can’t know a person in a day, but if you’re given this opportunity, you should definitely extract what you can.

• For students, internships, which are essentially long observation days, should provide you with all you need to know about a particular company and field of work. Many people have positive internship experiences and end up working for that company post-graduation. If you do an internship, the same considerations apply. Take the time to absorb the way the manager runs things. If you wish to assume positions of leadership in the future, take note of what motivates people versus what brings them down.

The Early Days of a New Job (Yes, You Took Your Chances):

• As you’re talking to your manager, try and get a sense of their managing philosophy. If you feel they are open to it, ask point blank about their expectations. Can they clearly articulate what their vision is? That is the most direct approach.

• Listen to what your co-workers say. An indirect approach to be sure, but traditional and effective. Great managers don’t get a lot of press, but if your manager is an overbearing nut job who calls people ten times a day when they’re on vacation then chances are you’re going to hear about it. If your peers openly and honestly praise your manager take special note. That is hard-earned.

• If you’re a month into a new job and everything seems to be going okay, then suddenly your manager has an epic freak-out over nothing, what do you do? Find the workaround, if there is one. Is it fair? No. Quit or tap into however and whoever is the escape route.

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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.