Interview Like a Presidential Candidate

By Melanie Szlucha

Please do reprint, but include my contact info EXACTLY as I have it on the bottom.  Thank you!

The presidential campaign, and any political campaign for that matter, turns all voters essentially into hiring managers for the elected position. 

The presidential campaign debate on October 15, 2008 was the last in a series of job interviews with the candidates.  Can you imagine having to interview for a job against another candidate in front of cameras tuned into your every move and in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, each of whom holds the fate of your career in your hands?  Given that, I don’t EVER want to hear that someone is nervous about what could happen on a job interview—hey at least it won’t be THAT!  

So putting political ideology aside for a moment—let’s talk about how each of the candidates performed, good and bad,  from a job interview perspective.  Each of them had very different styles and approaches to handling the debate. 

First, let’s take a minute to discuss to what criteria is typically used to evaluate candidates during a job interview.  A qualified candidate will be able to show that they can do the job they’re applying for, that they instill confidence in the hiring manager that they will act responsibly, exercise sound judgment, and actually show up.  Don’t think we have to worry about either of these candidates showing up, but we’re definitely assessing them on how well they instill confidence in their abilities to run the country.  They wouldn’t have gotten to this stage in the “interview” process if they didn’t have the qualifications on paper to do the job.  But how well are they conveying that to you in person?  

The other criteria that makes a job interview successful or not is the likeability factor.  If you were stuck on a plane for 6 hours with this person, would it be enjoyable, or would you want to throw your laptop at them to make them stop talking?  Little turning points like that make the difference.  Now, once either candidate becomes president, the odds are unlikely of you sitting out a layover with them, but likeability still goes a long way toward giving you confidence that you’re making the right decision.  Consciously or unconsciously. 

So let’s take a look at the candidates. Earlier this evening, I tossed a coin to determine which candidate I would talk about first.  Heads McCain/ Tails Obama.  Mc Cain came up first: 

Let’s talk about what I liked about Senator Mc Cain and his delivery:  Now remember, these candidates are being evaluated on their interview performance. I’m looking for things they did well or didn’t, and letting you know WHY they worked well, or didn’t, so you can use them to evaluate your own performance. 

First:  I liked that Senator McCain immediately used a real person—Joe the plumber—to illustrate his point about Senator Obama’s tax plan.  The story about how Joe wanted to buy his company he had been working at 12-15 hour days for many years—the American dream—made the issues seem more real.  You knew that he loved the business if he had invested THAT much time and effort into it, and STILL wanted to buy it.  You connected with his dream of small business ownership. 

For you:  in an interview, use real-life examples to illustrate your points.  Don’t simply say that you’re a team player or a good communicator, be prepared to back up each of your points with a juicy illustration.  Something with details that really paints a picture in the employer’s mind.  The point of Joe was the struggling plumber trying to realize a dream.  Your example should include details that make it interesting to prove your point.  If the point of your example is that you’re a good communicator, talk about a time when your excellent communication skills solved an actual problem between two co-workers.  Make the hiring manager feel the drama and the challenge you faced, and then how you resolved the problem. 

Second:  I liked that Senator Mc Cain had an agenda going into the debate, some definite points he wanted to hone in on, and made sure to get those across. Now of course he would have an agenda, but when you go into a job interview, do you have an agenda of what topics you’d like to discuss?  You absolutely should.  You should NEVER walk into a job interview and NOT know why you’re a great candidate for this position.  You should ALWAYS walk into an interview with concrete examples of your best work…examples that you want them to remember. 

A great job interview is a conversation, not an interrogation. You’re not a sitting duck just waiting for interview questions to be lobbed at you from across the table.  Just as with any conversation, you can politely introduce a topic that builds that case that you’re the perfect candidate.  An interviewer may not ask a question that would give you a perfect opening, but that doesn’t mean you can’t say:  “When I saw this position, I was so excited to apply because I knew my experience with X would make me a perfect candidate—and then launch into talking about X” to tell your story. 

Third:  I liked his closing statement.  He was definitely trying to come across as sincere. His body language and facial expression changed to almost a pleading/imploring look.  He used phrases that began with the word “we” 3 times, which is known as a parallel sentence structure, and then finished with the phrase.  “I’d be honored and humbled.”  All elements that conveyed sincerity, physically and verbally.    

What does this mean for you? How do you want to be perceived when you leave a job interview?  What is the closing statement you want to make—your best argument as to why you should get the job?  What do you want a hiring manager to remember about you?  Although you won’t have the opportunity to make as formal a closing remark, you know that the interview is about to conclude when the hiring manager asks “do you have any questions for us” your response can be:  “I do, and I’ll get to it in a minute, but I’d just like to say that I’m really interested in this position because…” and then hit ‘em with your best shot. 

Now, onto the things I didn’t think that Senator McCain did as well from a job interview perspective. 

First:  His facial reactions were a bit much at times.  I’m sure he wanted to convey energy and enthusiasm throughout the debate to counteract people’s concerns about his age, but I found his eyebrow raising, shocked looks a bit much to take at times, and a little juvenile. 

What this means for you:  First, don’t argue with the hiring manager to try to prove that you’re right. I know that in your mind—you WILL be thinking, “He’ll be impressed with my knowledge. So impressed that he’ll hire me on the spot.”  That is not what the hiring manager will be thinking.  He’ll think you’re a jerk, no matter how right you are, and that he doesn’t want to hire jerks.  End of interview.  So keep your facial expressions reigned in. 

Second:  There were instances during the debate when I felt he wasn’t giving me enough depth. You may disagree at this point, but this is what happens during a job interview—especially when you’re interviewing with different people, they’ll get different impressions.  For example:  He’s proposing a $5,000 healthcare tax credit that people can use however they’d like, but he did not outline for me, in that detail that I’d like—how it would actually work.  Is it a debit card?  Is it a place that I send my invoices for crediting?  It seems like a big hassle to me and something that would take quite a while to implement.  I just can’t picture it working.  Again on the healthcare topic he started to answer the question on healthcare reform by providing a shopping list of things to change.  I was overwhelmed and couldn’t see how they’d be implemented. 

In a job interview:  Don’t just start spouting things that are not relevant or tangible when you’re answering a question.  Take a minute if necessary, and gather your thoughts and provide a structured answer to the question.  Give one or two solutions and talk about how you’d implement them, or how you have implemented them in the past. 

Third:  He used a word that I didn’t know—Repudiate.  I got the gist of it from the context, it actually means to reject the validity of.  Not sure how well that word went over with reaching the English as a second language constituents or those voters without a college education.  

Your take away from this:  know your audience when selecting your vocabulary.  If you’re with people who will understand the big SAT words, then use them.  However, using those words when not appropriate can backfire on you and paint you as a jerk.  Definitely not the impression you want to give a hiring manager. 

Now—I turn my critical eye to Senator Barack Obama’s performance this evening. First the Plusses: 

His answers were very structured and detailed.  He frequently started answers with “verbal paragraphing” as I call them such as:  First, second and third when he was describing his economic plan.  These are mental touchpoints that speakers use to keep their audience focused.  As I’m sure many of you could relate to when watching the debates--and I watched them twice to put together this analysis—you mind tends to wander. An interviewer’s mind wanders. Keeping them focused by using a numbering system, or ending an illustration by saying “the last thing” helps them keep track of where you are and if you’ll be wrapping it up soon, or if they should hunker down to listen to you for a few more minutes.

Second:  He never lost his cool.  Senator John McCain was making some pretty bold accusations, and when he would not drop the issue regarding Acorn and Bill Ayers, I think if I was Senator Barack Obama I might have been pushed a teensy bit closer to the edge than he was.

So for you:  Interviewers will do stupid things to you as a candidate.  They’ll ask stupid questions, won’t listen to your answers, or ask you the same question in different ways.  Patiently giving them the same answer will score you more points than getting visibly upset at anything that they do.  Keep your poise at all costs. 

Third:  He demonstrated that he understood what the underlying concern was behind Senator John McCain’s questions about Bill Ayers and ACORN.   When he was talking about how he knew Bill Ayers, he told the whole story (even though he’s reiterated it probably a hundred times by how), from what Bill did when he was 8, to working with him 10 years ago on a board of directors.  He provided convincing details that didn’t lead me to question the truth of the story.  After providing similar details regarding Acorn—he went onto say that he would not be advised by these people.  He then went on to list the people who would be his advisors. 

He understood that it’s not who he knows that is the issue, it’s who he would be soliciting advice from as President of the United States that’s the issue.  Without being prompted, he simply went onto answer the underlying concern. 

Are there situations in your career that you are always asked about, where you provide the explanation, but still feel like it’s not enough?  Those are times when you can take that extra step and figure out what the hiring manager’s underlying concern is, and address the issue upfront.  Remember, you’re not a sitting duck waiting to get shot at in an interview.  You can control the situation and address their concerns. 

Now onto what I didn’t like about Senator Barack Obama’s debate/job interview style. 

First:  At times I was uncomfortable with how friendly he was acting toward the moderator Bob Schieffer.  When Senator Mc Cain was answering a question, and Senator Obama was requesting a rebuttal, he seemed to be too comfortable and confident—almost a sense of camaraderie with Bob Schieffer.  Now it’s true that I could only see Senator Obama and not how the moderator was reacting, but I didn’t see Senator McCain having a similar relationship, so it gave me the sense that it was one-sided, like Senator Obama and Bob Schieffer were sharing a private joke.    

For you:  It’s always a fine line between confident and friendly vs. overconfident and understated arrogance.  Always keep your place in mind.  You’re a job candidate—you don’t have the position.  You are a guest of the company who has been invited to their offices for an interview.  There’s a line of familiarity that you don’t cross with people you’ve just met who have invited you into their home.  Keep that in mind, and always respect whomever you meet in the interview.   

Second:  Is Senator Obama too perfect?  He never seemed to get flustered, or even misspeak as the evening wore on.  His soundbites of answers were detailed, yes, which made them interesting, but he lacked spontaneity. I don’t know if I have a sense of who he is as a person. He keeps the candidate persona on all the time.  I’m not sure that I’d feel welcome sitting down and having a cup of coffee with him.  It’s that likeability factor that I’m a little squeamish on.  I have heard examples as to why he’d do a good job, but I’d like to see more of the real him.

Although the debate didn’t necessarily allow it---you can always interject parts of your human side into a job interview.  When you’re walking from the reception desk to the conference room for the interview, talk about what you watched on TV the night before, comment on the color of the walls or artwork in the office, the fact that you’ve started taking dance lessons, anything that gives people a glimpse of what you’d be like to work with.  Keep it clean—but let them see your personality and who you are to make you more interesting. 

Third:  As with any debate, there are questions that are left unanswered in the minds of voters.  Senator Obama has frequently referred to providing uninsured people with access to the Government healthplan, but did not provide a range of what that cost would be to the average household.  True, it’s hard to know how many people would actually enroll, etc. but still, I’d like to hear a ballpark figure of what it might cost me.  He also never addressed or defined the issue of what a negative campaign was.  Senator Mc Cain confronted him about specific ads he saw during a football game, but Senator Obama never directly discussed the messaging of those ads. 

As the jobseeker—you need to make sure that any lingering questions the interviewer has are answered before you leave their office.  You can ask them during the interview if what you were saying was clear and concise, or if they’d like you to go over any of it again.  They may be reluctant to drill you with questions, thinking that it’s rude on their part to make you uncomfortable, so open the door to continue the conversation with them if they have any issues. 

So the next time you go into a job interview, be glad it’s not in front of a live studio audience. 

Melanie Szlucha is a professional Job Interview Coach, and Resume Writer. She's been successfully helping clients for over 4 years become better prepared for the job search process.  Her website, which includes a link to additional FREE job search tips articles, is http://www.redinc.biz.