In our previous article, we explored all the internal factors that could impact your job interviews and leave you shaking in your boots. Let’s turn that around to look at external factors.

What are external factors?

External factors are beyond the candidate’s direct control, such as how many people will be on a panel interview or the company’s hiring procedures. While you may not be able to change these factors directly, there are steps you can take on your end to ensure that you perform at your very best.

Impersonal procedures

Without a doubt, the impersonal interview and hiring procedures definitely impact and dishearten job seekers. From sterile applications to automated rejections, it is easy to feel that employers don’t really care about job seekers. In truth, employers are handling such crushing numbers of applicants that they must rely on some automated systems to deal with the flood.

Unfortunately, those formulas also apply to the interviewing process. Perhaps these issues have affected your morale.

Recorded interviews

An increasing trend in hiring is the use of recorded interview questions as part of the early screening process. Rather than meeting with a person, the candidate is given a question, and then their 30- to 60-second response is recorded and becomes part of their application.

If the job seeker is lucky, they may get a chance to practice or re-record their response until they are happy with the result. If not, they must nail a perfect answer on the first take.

How to improve:

• Practice answering questions before you run into the recorded interviews.

On your computer or cell phone, get used to answering questions within the 30- to 60-second restrictions. Be sure to watch the videos! Yes, that is the hardest part of this exercise. Look for ways to improve not only your answers but also your performance based on your tone, pacing, body language, and even the stuff that shows up in your background. Bonus points if you are brave enough to share the videos with your colleagues or trusted advisors.

Anonymous Zoom panel interviews

Zoom interviews are the standard for modern professional jobs, including pulling in several panel members. However, when some of the interviewers refuse to turn on their cameras, the candidate is left with a severe disadvantage.

How to survive:

• Focus on the people you can see.
• Position the Zoom window to have it under your camera.
• Maintain good eye contact with the camera.
• Practice recording your responses.

If you are already practicing your recorded interview questions, that skill of performing to a non-existent audience will help here as well. Hopefully, you will be able to see the main interviewer. Focus on that person when answering questions. For everyone else, be sure to look at the camera to give the illusion of maintaining eye contact.

Extremely long interview processes

Nobody likes infinite job interviews. Unfortunately, some employers will force a candidate to conduct anywhere from four to seven rounds of interviewing. That’s a lot!

How to survive:

• Be patient and responsive.
• Understand that this might be a red flag about the employer.
• Keep applying to other companies.

For higher-level positions, it is not uncommon to conduct multiple rounds of interviews. However, if this job is not in management or a highly technical position, it might be a red flag about the employers themselves.

If you feel that you are being strung along, you just might be. Employers who demand a really long process may, in fact, be incapable of making the final decision. If you find yourself in this interview loop, take a good, hard look at the company. Is this opportunity really as good as it sounds? If not, you can stop playing their game at any time.

Even if you are still interested in the job, keep applying for other opportunities. After all, you may land an even better job while this company drags its feet.

Lack of feedback

HR is there to protect the company. Therefore, most job seekers never get any feedback on their interviews or their resumes.

How to handle it:

• Watch your metrics.
• Gain expert opinions.

We know that 99% of the time, HR will not provide feedback. You need to look at other key performance metrics (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of your resume. For the full list, check out my article, “The Smart Way to Treat Your Job Search Like a Job.” https://www.personaltouchcareerservices.com/blog/treat-your-job-search-like-a-job

Here are two of the most important metrics:

• You should land 1-3 interviews out of every 10 applications.
• If you receive an automated rejection in less than 72 hours, the computerized Applicant Tracking System (ATS) has screened you out.

If you are not hitting these numbers, get some expert feedback on your resume and overall job-searching techniques.

Looking for a reliable and relevant expert opinion? Please schedule a complimentary consultation with our career coaches at the Personal Touch Career Services for a free resume review:

https://www.personaltouchcareerservices.com/contact