Nonprofit Performance 360 Vol 4 No 4

ANTHONY F. CAPRARO, III Featured Personality

The Interview

T he interview is usually a first step in your quest to place yourself properly in an organization. It is also the object of the organization to deduce if you are the best candidate for them. It is, at best, a contrived situation that few people enjoy, and of which many people misunderstand the value. It is a two-way street. Treat it that way. Although the thought of an interview might give you enough butterflies to lift you to the top of the Empire State building, here are some tips that might make it a little easier. Go prepared. Read the organization’s website so you won’t ask easily-researched questions. When I was doing consulting, I went to the then-new, monstrous IBM structure in Westchester, New York. On my way out, I asked the vice president who had interviewed me, “How many people does the building hold?” He answered, “Our President, Mr. Watson, would rather have you ask, ‘How many people work in this building?’” I asked again as Mr.Watson would have wanted.The VP answered, “Oh, about half.”We smiled over Mr. Watson’s answer. Lucky me, I had asked a dumb question and landed on my feet. Ask intelligent questions that introduce a topic that you want the interviewer to know about you.The key is to distinguish yourself in a positive way from other applicants.

The interview is your chance to enhance yourself. Most people take an interview rather than help conduct the interview. Interview the interviewer by asking intelligent questions. Act like an attorney: never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer. Remember your research and don’t passively sit there, allowing the interviewer to ask all the questions and direct the conversation. Assume an active role. A thoughtful candidate will show three important qualities in a successful interview: interest, initiative, and maturity, solely by taking partial responsibility for the content of the conversation. Guide the conversation to areas where you feel most secure and accomplished. Use your genuine feelings to react to the information you hear. If you are delighted to learn of a certain future program, show it in both your facial expression and your words. If you are curious, ask more questions. If you are disappointed by something you learn, try to find a path to a positive answer and consider yourself lucky that you discovered this inadequacy in time. Nervousness is absolutely normal. The best way to handle it is to admit it to the interviewer. A friend from a Fortune 500 company relates this story to his apprehensive candidates: an extremely agitated young applicant sat opposite him for her interview with her legs crossed, a

20 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine