The preemtive question
This marvelous question, recommended by Irv Zuckerman in his book Hire Power, lets the candidate effectively seize control of the interview in a way that many interviewers find reassuring. Here’s a typical exchange (with comments) between an interviewer and a candidate:
INTERVIEWER: Thank you for coming. Can I get you a cup of coffee?
CANDIDATE: No, thank you. Perhaps later. (Leaving the door open softens the refusal to accept the interviewer’s hospitality. Avoid anything that might spill. Also you will need your hands free for taking notes on the important information you are about to receive.)
INTERVIEWER: Well, then, make yourself comfortable. Can you tell me about yourself?
CANDIDATE: I’ll be glad to. But first, may I ask a question? (Always ask permission.)
INTERVIEWER: Of course. (You will never be refused. The interviewer is now curious about what you are going to ask.) CANDIDATE: My question is this: By what criteria will you select the person for this job?
I NTERVIEWER: That’s a good question. CANDIDATE: Is it all right if I take notes? (Always ask permission.) INTERVIEWER: Of course. Now, let me see. I think the first criterion is…
Now listen. When the interviewer is done reviewing the first criterion, ask about the second. Then the third. Pretty soon you will have a list of the interviewer’s hot buttons, a recipe for the ideal candidate for the job. Your challenge is to underscore how your credentials and experience just happen to fall in perfect alignment with those very criteria.
Let’s back up a minute. Notice what else you have accomplished by asking this marvelous question. You have seized control of the interview. Suddenly the interviewer is working according to your agenda. The question-by what criteria will you select the person for this job-is designed to put you in the driver’s seat. Play with the wording at your own risk. Look at how the question parses:
By what criteria. This part of the question focuses the discussion where it belongs—on the job and its requirements, rather than your education, experience, age, gender, etc. What the hiring manager really wants is someone who can do the job and will fit in. Are you that someone? Can you prove it? That’s your goal in the next phases of the interview.
will you select. This acknowledges the authority of the decision maker. It is critical for you to know if, by chance, you are talking to someone who is not the decision maker, but merely a gatekeeper. In either case, you need to focus on the action verb in the clause and what you must provide in order to be selected.
the person. Only one person will be selected for this particular job. You want that person to be you. One of your jobs in the interview is to remind the hiring manager that you are a wellrounded, likable person who will fit in with the other people in the organization.
for this job. This phrase underscores the idea that the subject of this conversation is a job that the interviewer needs to fill because a vital organizational function is not being done. Furthermore, the ideal remedy for the problem is available and ready to start.