Self-Awareness and the Job Interview

 

Beyond words…what else are you communicating?

 When Karen called to talk to me about her failure to obtain jobs, for which was qualified, we began a discovery process that had significant implications for her career success or failure.

 First step – examine Karen’s process

Did she research the organization prior to her interview?  Yes.

Had she demonstrated her understanding of the corporate mission in her discussion with the interviewer. Yes.

 Second step – examine Karen’s responses to the interviewer’s questions

One by one, we considered each response and each was appropriate and on target. She appeared to have demonstrated her ability to do the job and her skills proficiency level.

 Third step – examine Karen’s confidence level

Karen indicated that she felt very confident because, from her viewpoint, she was more than qualified for the position. In fact, as we continued to examine her situation, we both came to realize that Karen felt the positions were beneath her. As we examined that belief, Karen acknowledged that she had gone into the interviews with a feeling of superiority and that as she looked back on the event, she believed that the interviewer picked up on it. It was only in hindsight and with reflection that she realized this was the case. That important insight dramatically affected how Karen continued her search.

 Self-awareness, as described in Daniel Goleman’s work on Emotional Intelligence*, is a competency that includes the ability to recognize our emotions and their effects. It was clear to Karen, after further reflection, that she had not realized how her emotions were affecting her interactions with others. It was not what she said – she knew what to say – it was her overall demeanor, demonstrated in subtle but highly impactful behaviors. It had shown up in her non-verbal communication and her inability to make a personal connection with interviewers. She realized that she had “talked down to them”. That was the bad news. The good news was that Karen now recognized it.

 There are many theories about what qualities lead to career success and Daniel Goleman’s work is just one, but I believe that the Personal and Social Competencies that he describes are essential to career management.  TalentSmart (www.talentsmart.com) has produced white papers on the business case for Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and has developed an appraisal instrument for measuring EQ competencies. A google search will produce additional research results.