“I just had a gut feeling about you” is what my former boss revealed years after he originally hired me; “and I was right” he followed up, with a smug look on his face.
I had applied for this particular job soon after graduating from college, so I had zero experience in such a role and hadn’t ever performed the tasks required of it. In truth, I wasn’t confident I’d get the job. So when I quizzed him further about why he hired me, my old boss said that out of all those he’d interviewed, I was the one he could picture best fitting in with the company. He told me that skills and experience were not all that important because these could be learned and gained respectively; what he was searching for was someone enthusiastic with a personality that matched with his own.
Fast forward to 2011, and I was about to make my first hire after setting up a business of my own. All of a sudden I found myself doing exactly what my boss had done all those years previous. Despite asking each interviewee identical questions, the content of their answers seemed to be fairly inconsequential. Rather than my logical head making the decision, it was my gut that was guiding me to the candidate I eventually hired. He just felt like the right person for the job.
Based on my experience on both sides of the recruitment process, I feel like I am uniquely qualified to give advice on how to spot an interviewer who hires based on instinct — and how you can do your best to leave him with that gut feeling about you.
Spotting a “Gut Feeling” Interviewer
A recent report by leading career site Monster reveals that hiring managers believe gut instinct is the most cost effective form of recruitment. This indicates that a large number of hires are made in this way.
But how do you know whether the person interviewing you is in this camp or whether they prefer a more structured decision-making process?
1. Their Questions Are About You, Not Your Skills or Experience
For those who rely on gut feeling when hiring new employees, the questions they ask tend to be non-specific to the role at hand and are instead focused on getting to know the interviewee. The reason being that, most of all, they want to hire someone who will fit into the company culture, someone with attitudes that won’t clash too much with the direction in which the company is going.
2. Their Tone Is Conversational
Based on my experiences on both sides of the interview table, when a conversational tone is used, it could well indicate the interviewer wants to avoid the stiff and formal interview environment that might prevent him from getting to see the real interviewee.
So consider how the questioning is taking place. Is the interviewer referring to a printout of questions, and are your answers being noted down? Or is the questioning more open and fluid — such as you would have on a date, say?
3. They Talk About Themselves Or the Business a Lot
Because of the conversational approach to interviews mentioned above, an interviewer who trusts his gut may often talk a lot about himself or the company. This may or may not be on purpose; some interviewers just like talking about themselves, while others may try to gauge your reactions to their comments as an indication of how you’d fit in.
4. They’re In a Management Position, Not an HR Role
While those who work in human resources will likely know many different techniques for interviewing candidates and testing their abilities, if you’re being interviewed by someone in management (which is quite often the case in small businesses), chances are they are far less practiced in the interview process. They may even have similar anxieties about the whole thing as you do.
Rather than try to use methods they’re not familiar with, a person in management might rely more on their instincts and the impression they get from talking to you.
If you’ve received an email from the person interviewing you, take a look at their signature to see what position they hold in the company. If this is not present, see if you can find it on the company website, LinkedIn, etc. If you can’t turn it up during your interview prep, then don’t be afraid to ask them at the start of the interview; it’s perfectly legitimate to want to know who the interviewer is.
How To Prime Your Interviewer With a Positive Gut Feeling About You
If you identify an interviewer who seems like he might base his decision on gut feeling, there are ways you can instil this very feeling into him during your interview:
1. Be Open
As I eluded to earlier, an interviewer who works on gut feelings wants to get to know you and not your resume. The best way to achieve this is to be more open about yourself than you might otherwise be in a more formal interview situation.
People are typically adept at working out when another person is being open and when they’re trying to hide something. As long as the questioning doesn’t reach an inappropriately personal level, letting your guard down slightly is often the best choice.
Confronting your shortcomings is a good way to garner trust because it shows you’re not trying too hard to be the perfect candidate but that you are, instead, a normal human being who makes mistakes. There are limits, of course, and I wouldn’t admit to any serious lapses in judgement if they’re likely to derail your chances of landing the job.
2. Agree With Them
Everyone likes it when someone else agrees with their views and opinions, and it’s no different in an interview. As long as it is done sparingly, agreeing with certain points an interviewer is making can cultivate a positive gut feeling on your behalf.
Imagine the interviewer has just mentioned how he sees the satisfaction of each customer as a company priority. You could respond with something along the lines of, “Oh, I couldn’t agree more with you there. A satisfied customer is a loyal customer, and these are the backbone of any business. The alternative is to spend far more money attracting a continuous stream of new customers where the initial relationship you have is far weaker.”
This way, you have the interviewer nodding along in agreement (either physically or metaphorically), and they’ll be able to see that you’re singing from the same hymn sheet as they are.
3. Don’t Worry If the Interview Seems to Be Getting Off Track
Because of the conversational approach I described above, the interviewer may drift away from questioning altogether. While many career experts recommend you try to bring the discussion back to yourself, this is not necessarily the best approach with a “gut feeling” interviewer.
Remember, what you say may well turn out to be less important that how you say it. Engaging in the conversation, no matter where it leads, will gratify the interviewer and show you’ll have no trouble fitting in with the company in general.
Think of your interview as a slightly curtailed date. (Click here to tweet this thought.) While questions are good if the conversation wears thin, the way you really get to know how compatible you are with someone is to just let the conversation flow naturally. As with a date, questions can go both ways, so don’t wait until the end to ask any that you have; they make the conversation more two-way and interviewers typically love to talk about themselves.
4. Do Your Research on Your Interviewer When Possible
Engaging in a conversation with someone is so much easier when you know a little bit about them. This is where LinkedIn is your friend; simply do a search for their profile and have a browse through it.
Maybe you went to the same university, or perhaps you have mutual connections you can chat about. Showing shared history or acquaintances is an extremely effective way to build rapport with someone.
Don’t go overboard, though, or your might start to sound like you’ve stalked your interviewer a bit too much. Simply mention in passing old “Jon Smith” and ask how he came to know him.
Researching your interviewer doesn’t have to take long, but it can really get you into their good books quickly.
5. Mirror Your Interviewer
This is an oldie but a goodie because psychologists have shown that mirroring someone’s body language can subliminally give them a more positive opinion about you.
But don’t stop at body language. So many people have quirky little sayings, and if you can pick up on one that your interviewer is using and repeat it yourself, it can be just as effective. My old boss likes to say “that’s really interesting,” and few conversations went past without him uttering that line. If you’re alert to such sayings, you can subtly use them yourself.
If you can’t spot any sayings, you can always mirror by repeating what the interviewer has said. This goes back to my advice on agreeing with your interviewer and how it can make it seem like you’re on the same wavelength and that you “get” what they’re saying.
You Can’t Win Them All
Just as with more structured and formal interview conditions where your achievements and experience might not be quite right, you won’t be able to engage with every interviewer in a way that nurtures their gut feeling.
The truth is that it’s impossible to actually get along with everyone, and even in an interview situation where you’re trying your hardest to do so, it won’t always happen.
Don’t get downhearted if this is the case; simply remember that if you didn’t resonate with each other in an interview, you probably wouldn’t have gotten on that well if you’d been hired, so it’s not worth crying over.
What are some of your favorite ways to build rapport during an interview? Share in the comments!
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