The On-site Interview

The next (and you hope last) step in securing the position of your choice is the on-site interview. If the position is local, the company's human resources (HR) representative will contact you to schedule a time for your interview. The interview trip may last anywhere from one hour to several hours, but it will be completed within one day. If the interview requires travel, the company will contact you to arrange airline and hotel reservations. These types of interviews can last up to two days. In either case, your objective is to receive an offer of employment from the company. The company's objective is to evaluate your skills and personality to decide if they match with the organization's culture and goals.

During the course of your interview, representatives will be looking for you to demonstrate several skills. These include personality, appearance, enthusiasm, personality, technical proficiency, intelligence, communication skills, and personality. Many of these topics are obvious, but we have encountered people who need to be reminded.

You have established your technical proficiency and intelligence through your resume and the telephone interview; otherwise, you would not have been invited to visit the company. Your objective during the interview trip therefore is to strengthen the potential employers impression of these capabilities during your seminar. The effective organization and delivery of a seminar can be covered at great length, however, in general, your approach here is similar to the one you have for your resume -- show what you can do with the skills that you have learned. However, avoid the temptation to take longer than your allotted time to describe your work. Since this is such a broad topic, additional aspects of seminar preparation will be the subject of a future article.

The most basic, and therefore the easiest of the skills listed above to address, is appearance. This category includes manners, dress, cleanliness, and eating habits. While many people are probably shocked/offended that we would include this list on a page for professionals, you would be surprised at the candidates we have seen interviewing for senior level positions. We have been at dinners where candidates ate with their fingers, talked with their mouth full, and sprayed their dinner companions with food. We have talked with colleagues in other recruiting firms who had to FAX pictures of the correct clothing to wear for an interview - to MDs who were interviewing for positions in hospital groups. We have sent candidates (we are embarrassed to admit) into companies for director level positions only to learn that their vocabulary during the interview contained more profanity than science.

When interviewing, men should always wear a suit (charcoal gray or black), a pressed dress shirt (white or pastel blue), a conservative tie, black knee-length socks, and black dress shoes (freshly polished). Women should select either a conservative, tailored suit or a dress with a matching jacket and dress shoes (polished). Dress styles which include chinos, an open-front Hawaiian print shirt, cowboy boots (snake skin with rhinestones of course) are not recommended. When you meet with employees during the day, it is not a good idea to lean back in your chair and put your feet on their desk - this really sets the wrong tone for your meeting. It is also not a good idea to pull out your notebook and start interrogating the person interviewing you about their professional and personal life. Other practices to avoid during an interview are snapping gum during your seminar and telling the interviewer that your current boss is a raging alcoholic that doesn't know what they are doing and who doesn't appreciate your efforts. We wish we were making these up, but ... we haven't begun to detail some of the behaviors we have seen over the years.

The final area to be discussed is the most difficult to define and to practice - personality and enthusiasm. We have seen companies where two candidates with different skill levels have interviewed and the person with the better personality has been offered the job instead of the person who was more technically proficient.

Personality and enthusiasm can be expressed in a number of ways. Companies look for interest and excitement about the opportunities they offer. Read everything you can about the organization; look at annual reports, Web sites, promotional literature, etc. Be prepared with a short list of questions about the company, the group, and research projects. During the course of the day, augment your list with information you gather from the people on your interview schedule. Do not inquire about the financial status of the company with anyone on the list. If the company is public, this information is readily available. If the company is private, they have no obligation to disclose this information. Company benefits should only be discussed with Human Resources.

During the initial interview, it is generally inappropriate for the candidate to raise the issue of salary. Human resources will either ask your current salary and/or tell you the range for the position. It will be your choice to disclose your current salary. If you feel that the salary range is acceptable, you should make the HR representative aware of your interest in the position. If there is a discrepancy between the proposed salary and your expectations, this is the time to raise your concerns. Once a formal offer is extended in writing, it is unlikely that the company will modify it.

At the end of your interview schedule, the hiring supervisor will generally spend time with you to answer any questions and to "wrap-up" your visit. If you are interested in the company, this is the time to make sure they know you want to be there. It is also your opportunity to ask about the time frame for filling the position. In other words, the final three thoughts that you should leave with the company are: 1) you enjoyed the time spent talking with the company, 2) you feel that you can contribute to the company's goals and 3) you look forward to the opportunity to work with them.





   



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