Job hunters fear the ‘Are you interviewing with other companies?’ or ‘Are you applying for other roles?’ job interview question.
This article will teach how to use the ‘other positions’ interview question to create desire, increasing job offers.
First, it is important to know that the applicants perceived level of sector knowledge/experience vs their level of interview confidence creates different job interview identities.
A job interview identity, is how the applicant is viewed by the employer.
Second, only certain job interview identities are viewed as hireable!!
This means to be offered the advertised position, applicants are required to communicate their competencies confidently.
When is the ‘Are you interviewing with other companies?’ interview question asked?
The ‘other company’ interview question is asked for two reasons:
- Employer slippage
- As part of a structured job interview
Employer slippage happens when an employer is impressed with how the applicant has presented themselves during the recruitment process.
Candidates come across well when they:
- Show confidence through strong eye contact, clear communication, and a friendly but professional personality.
- Give work-based examples that reference numerous job criteria.
- Embed their skills, knowledge, and experiences into the job interview answers. In short, the applicant is a self-promoter.
Employer Slippage.
Have you ever wanted something so much that you can’t stop talking about it? This is the same with recruiters. If the view an applicant as a valuable asset they will have an impulsive reaction to hire them.
Due to the process of a structured job interview, the employer who desires the applicant cannot offer a candidate a job during the job interview. Instead, they have wait until the end of the recruitment process when the interview panel collectively discuss each interviewee.
Knowing that they cant simply give the role away to an ideal candidate, an employer will sometimes, without thinking, blurt out ‘Are you applying for other positions?’
Structured Job Interview.
A structured job interview is a widely used recruitment technique used across job sectors.
To simplify the structured job interview process, employers will ask 8 job interview questions and mark each of the candidate’s answers by cross-referencing them against the job criteria on the interview scorecard.
One of the eight prepared job interview questions could be ‘Are you interviewing with other organisations?’
In this situation, rather then the outburst scenario, the applicants answer will be marked and allocated a score. In this sense, it is important to give a high-scoring interview answer.
How to deliver a high-scoring interview answer.
The natural response to the ‘other companies’ job interview questions, for a high number of career professionals, is to want to say ‘No’ as they believe that an employer is looking for loyalty.
Employers do want to recruit an individual who wants to work for their organisation, rather than just simply wanting a job. The reason for this mindset is staff retention.
On the other hand, interviewers are fully aware that a highly skilled and experienced applicant will have other job interviews lined up.
Psychological experiments show how people want what they can’t have.
This same psychology can be used during the recruitment process.
Prior to the job interview, a highly experienced applicant will create the halo effect through a descriptive application that showcases their unique selling point – what the candidate can bring to the team.
The halo effect creates the first level of desire. Imagine a TV advert shows a new brand of chocolate bar that makes you want a sugary snack. As you go into the shop wanting, at this point, any (tasty) sugary snack, you notice the last branded chocolate bar that you saw on the TV advert.
Being the last chocolate bar increases desire. At first, you way up if you should purchase the new chocolate bar or if you should buy another snack. While you are deliberating, another customer comes in and grabs the last chocolate bar of the shelf. Now that you know you can no longer be the proud owner of the final chocolate bar, you want it. You want it more than anything else in the world. You even consider offering the other customer double the cost just to taste the smooth silky chocolate.
Returning to the job interview.
An interviewee can use the ‘scarcity’ rule to increase desire in them the candidate.
When asked ‘Are you interviewing with other organisations?’ the employer is really asking ‘Is one of our competitors interested in recruiting you?’
If the answer is a ‘yes’ the employer first thinks ‘What is it that our competitor sees in this applicant?’ or ‘If we let this applicant slip through the newt, will we regret our hiring choice?’
It is the same reason why house prices rise. When buyers, in one location, struggle to find vacant properties the price increases due to supply vs demand.
To create demand in yourself, an applicant can answer the interview question by saying:
‘Yes, I am currently applying for several vacancies. I was recently offered a position with (add company name)….
Another psychological trick in the recruitment process is ‘reciprocal liking’ which when someone likes you because they know that you like them.
The second stage of the interview answer, once scarcity has been established, is to create desire through liking:
‘…but I wanted to attend this interview as I have always wanted to work for a company with your reputation for (add a reason for wanting to work for this specific company)…’
You can be a little cheeky here and explain how you want to work for a particular person (the interviewer) as their reputation precedes them.
