Before the big interview, do your homework

For best results, preparation should include role-playing sessions, too

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent, 1/9/05

Globe Staff Photo/Jonathan Wiggs Practice pays: Lee Sanborn (left), principal of a personnel agency for over 25 years, tapes a mock interview with human resources specialist Judy Webster.

Thanks to the still-tight job market, companies expect people they call in for interviews to be thoroughly prepared, having done research on potential employers so they can speak knowledgeably about positions for which they've applied.

Above all, applicants should be able to outline the abilities they can bring to a new job and exude a positive attitude and confidence, outplacement specialists and human resources officers say.

Not to be overlooked is the importance of dressing up, rather than down, for an interview. Being properly attired reflects professionalism, experts say.

These are all tall orders, but while brushing up on their interviewing skills, job seekers should keep in mind ''that no one gets hired without a good interview,'' noted Mike Jeans, a vice president of New Directions, a Boston outplacement firm.

And in preparing for a good interview, a candidate not only has to do homework, but must visualize how he or she will be perceived, said George Zeller, a senior employment specialist at Jewish Vocational Service of Boston.

A recent survey conducted by the service of 47 employers in Greater Boston revealed that companies and nonprofit organizations look for an interviewee to exhibit three qualities, Zeller said: the ability to articulate skills without exaggerating them, to answer questions directly, and to always make eye contact.

That is why outplacement firms and career coaches stress the importance of videotaped role-playing sessions.

''Role playing with a job counselor is essential because it helps a candidate prepare, for example, for the half-dozen or so questions that he or she might not like to answer,'' such as reasons for having been laid off or the ''trolling question, 'What can you tell me about yourself?''' said Jane McHale, a career coach in Newton.

And even the most experienced job candidates can benefit from role playing, McHale and others said. People like Lee Sanborn of Boston, for instance. Sanborn was a principal of a Boston personnel agency for more than 25 years.

''I still have things to learn about being interviewed -- pointers on how I can do everything possible to make that important first impression,'' said Sanborn, who is working with job specialists in the Boston office of Operation A.B.L.E., a nonprofit group that caters to individuals 40 and older who are trying to get back into the workforce.

Role playing can also help candidates prepare for the so-called behavioral-type interview, which is in vogue.

''This is all about questions that require answers on how a candidate handled certain job situations and problems in the past, and how he would address them in a new job,'' said Renee Gilson, senior vice president of Lee Hecht Harrison, an outplacement firm.

To answer such questions, she said, a candidate has to think of an interview as an opportunity ''to sell a product -- you.''

Two senior corporate human resources managers agreed with that prescription.

''We're interested mostly in whether an applicant would make a good cultural fit with us,'' said Weber Torres, vice president at Staples Inc., the Framingham-based office supply chain. ''So, we ask in-depth questions about a candidate's background, and expect all of them to be answered, which sometimes doesn't happen.

''For example, someone may be asked about his management abilities,'' Torres continued. ''If the answer is, 'A good manager of people,' the candidate had better be prepared to back that statement up.''

Answers to questions about a candidate's previous employers can also often be telling, he said. ''We ask these questions deliberately because if the responses are negative in any way, chances are that he or she would bring that negativity to us. And obviously we don't want people like that.''

That's also the case at EMC Corp., said Erin Motameni, human resources vice president for the computer storage company, based in Hopkinton. ''We're a get-it-done company, which means that we want applicants to demonstrate in interviews that they've been able to achieve results. In that regard, we want applicants to give specific examples about jobs in the past and how they would handle a new job with us.'' All job interviews, Motameni said, are conducted by four to six managers.

As with one-on-one interviews, candidates ''should listen carefully to questions and ask for clarification, if necessary, and then answer each of them concisely in under two minutes,'' said Virginia Lord, managing principal in the Boston area for Spherion Inc., a national outplacement consulting firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

''At the same time,'' Lord added, ''an applicant should be sure to maintain a straight posture and vary inflection rather than speaking in monotones.''

Whether it's one interviewer or several, a candidate has ''to connect with each and every one of them,'' said Jeans. ''And to do that, he or she has to exude passion and energy, as successful business people do.''

And making a good connection is nothing more than ''creating a dialogue, a good give-and-take,'' Gilson said.

But don't exit an interview without asking final questions that have been rehearsed, said Michael Neece, a former corporate human resources manager and owner of the website interviewmastery.com. He is also a business consultant in Hopkinton.

''One of the worst mistakes an applicant can make is to say 'no' after being asked whether he or she has any other questions at the end of an interview,'' Neece said.