A common bias in play is gender stereotypes; males are often viewed as strong and dominant and women as emotional and caring, which can, unconsciously, create a job interview bias.
Not only that, evidence indicates that equally qualified males and females are not viewed as equals and, once employed, can receive varying salaries. In 2017 the UKs equality act came into force, making organisations with 250+ employees to report their gender pay gap figures.
The BBC, one of the largest UK organisations, in 2017, became embroiled in controversy when it published a list of its highest earning presenters. The report showed that around two-thirds of presenters earning +£150,000 annually were male presenters, with all the top 7 biggest earners being men.
Job gender stereotypes and attraction are linked. The ‘beauty is beastly’ stereotype shows how an ‘attractive’ female applying for a ‘masculine’ job role can be rated lower than an ‘unattractive’ female with the same skill set.
For masculine or feminine roles, if the applicant fits within the job gender stereotypical (IE males applying for masculine positions and females for feminine roles), and are viewed as an ‘attractive’ applicant, they will be perceived to be more qualified then less attractive counterparts. Additional research shows how overweight females are viewed less favourably than overweight males.
Currently, much of the ‘beauty is beastly’ stereotype experiments have been conducted in the laboratory not in the field, meaning more research is required to fully understand the subconscious decision based on job gender stereotypes and perception.
What we are learning from this research is how the career/gender schema affects the interviewers’ view of each candidate and how bias has an underlying, often inaccurate, cause-effect; ‘obese’ employees are less worthy then a ‘healthy’ applicant or that an ‘attractive’ applicant possesses certain positive characteristics.
Where does this leave applicants? We know stereotypes exist. It is clear that schemas affect the recruitment process. Does this mean that all obese or unattractive applicants fail to gain employment? Clearly not. As discussed in earlier articles, commonality increases likability and for high skilled roles, an applicant’s level of knowledge/experience, when communicated confidently, is one of the key factors for a successful interview outcome and can override the ‘beauty is good’ stereotype.
To understand how your level of knowledge/experience and level confidence changes the employers perspective of you in a job interview read the Interview Prediction Grid article.
A job interview bias found to influence the selection process is ‘attractiveness.’
Much evidence confirms that most people have a “what is beautiful is good” stereotype; the more physically attractive an applicant is, the more they are perceived to be job worthy – even for job roles that don’t require a ‘beautiful’ employee (manufacturing, administration, etc.)
To test the attractiveness bias, the same ‘average’ level CVs were graded for a potential job role. Half of the CVs had attached to them a photograph of an ‘attractive’ applicant and the other half was sent without a picture.
The experiment concluded that the additional ‘attractive’ photograph assisted those candidates in gaining a job interview invitation. Interestingly, for different levels of skill sets, one applicant meeting the job criteria more than another, the lack of ‘attractive’ image for the more skilled applicant did not hinder their chances.
Also with high-skilled jobs, attractiveness of a candidate was mainly insignificant. This shows that ‘attractiveness’ creates a positive bias, but having a high level of knowledge/experience when applying for a professional position trumps this schema.
Being physically attractive strengthens the interviewers likability of the applicant and increases sympathy towards them, improving the interviewees overall chances of being hired. The schema – ‘what is beautiful is good’, and for all other prejudices, creates the initial bias that proceeding answers are filtered through.
For positions that would benefit from an ‘attractive’ employee (customer service roles, TV presents, etc) the ‘what is beautiful is good’ stereotype has a stronger preference or filter, increasing how an ‘attractive’ interviewee is viewed by a recruiter.
This is because attractiveness has an association with other positive traits – we subconsciously believe attractive people to be mature, sociable, friendly, well-adjusted and happy. But attractiveness alone isn’t enough to secure job offers, rather it just creates a positive bias at the interview start.
Interestingly though, recent research showed that recruitment decisions were influenced more by ‘attractiveness’ for unstructured job interviews compared to structured interviews. Structured interviews use a score system based on job criteria, and even though ‘good looking’ applicants have increased likability, they are still required to have a certain set of skills, showing the importance of self-promotion in the job interview for candidates with high levels of knowledge/experience.
The interviewer listening to the self-promotion of a strong candidate is consciously analysing the answer against the job criteria. During an informal job interview, the interviewer does ask questions but each question is spontaneous, based on the conversation created in the moment, rather than the pre-set questions of a structured interview.
The theory of the free-flowing style of the unstructured job interview is that it allows the interviewee to relax, and therefore open-up more, showing their true self, allowing the interviewer to gauge an accurate view of the interviewee and their potential job performance.
Without a scoring system, though, it is hard to compare one candidate against another creating a logical hiring decision. Instead, the conversational style interview results in a ‘gut’ instinct decision making process. For an emotional decision making process, schemas such as ‘beauty is good’, are more prevalent.
The interview perception, formed at the interview start, creates that all important ‘first impression’ which acts as a ‘selection filter.’ The interviewer’s involuntary opinion is filled with errors, prejudices and stereotypes. This automatic thinking comes from assumptions based on the interviewers own experiences, values and beliefs.
If, for example, you believe that an interviewee who is late for an interview will be a terrible worker, you will act from this viewpoint rather than challenge the status quo.
In psychology they refer to an involuntary opinion based on experience as a ‘schema.’
Once you have created a mental structure (schema) even if the concept is incorrect (not all late applicants will be terrible workers – their car may have broken down) the schema creates an effortless pathway from a cause to effect (lateness = bad worker).
In life these schema’s or short-cuts are very useful, as they help to organise and interpret vast amounts of information, but when making expensive hiring decisions based on projected job performance, an instantaneous snap-judgment formed by intuition, not facts, is rarely helpful.
Any schema, positive or negative, can affect the interviewers judgement of the interviewee. This is because schemas influence what information is noticed and remembered; if the interviewer believes that a late candidate = poor performance, the interviewer, subconsciously, will search for evidence to reinforce this belief.
Imagine in a job interview where a candidate, who has been judged for being late, is asked a question. Before answering they hesitate, and then detail a story relating to the criteria referenced in the interview question. The answer highlights several key strengths and skills but also highlights one weakness or area of development. The schema, in this example: late candidate = poor performance, creates a funnel where the interviewer, without conscious awareness, filters the ‘hesitation’ as a sign of a lack of industry knowledge and focuses on the one weakness/area of development, instead of their strengths.
Now, imagine the same scenario but this time the same interviewee had arrived early (their car didn’t break down) activating a different schema (early arrival = high work ethic) this time the same interviewer positively filters the ‘hesitation’ as a sign that the applicant considers questions before replying, and focuses on the interviewees strengths and skills, not their one weakness/area of development.
A single trait, such as lateness or being obese, is enough to become the main emphasis for the judgment of an applicant.
Interview impression formation is a process where different pieces of information are combined, instantaneously, to create a summary impression, even when the information is irrelevant to the job role.
Several experiments show how stereotypes affect the recruitment process. In one example, two identical application forms were sent to organisations recruiting administrators. The only difference was the attached photograph sent with each application; one displayed a ‘average’ weight individual and the second, an ‘overweight’ applicant. The research showed how an ‘overweight’ applicant was less likely to receive an interview offer than an ‘average’ weight candidate even when both applicants had the same experience, skill set and qualifications (the experiment used the same CVs for both the average and overweight applicants)
The structured interview process is the principal intervention to make a decision on which applicant to offer an advertised position to. It is the asking of standardised questions of job-relevant criteria and a numerical scoring mechanism of the interviewees answers that results in the assumption that the best candidate is offered the advertised role.
The structured interviews ‘fair’ scoring system does not take into account bias. Evidence shows how perception disorders affect judgement. Two people seeing the same stimuli can attach different meanings to it.
A common ‘unconscious bias’ in the job interview is the ‘affinity’ bias – we gravitate towards people if we believe they are similar to us. When recruiting a new team member, interviewers will often have a natural stronger preference for an applicant who they feel is the ‘right fit’ for the organisation.
The ‘right fit,’ when the ‘affinity’ bias is in operation, is the interviewer having a stronger desire to recruit an applicant who they see as having a similar personality, attitude, value(s) and belief(s) as themselves. Not to be confused with an interviewee evidencing that they meet the organisational values, the ‘affinity bias’ perception disorder is an intuitive ‘feeling’ that influences the interviewers decision making process; they remind me of me.
The subconscious association here is; Interviewer has a strong understanding of self: Interviewer identifies similar attributes between themselves and the interviewee: Interviewer associates their character with the applicant: Interviewer increases likability of interviewee.
This whole process happens instantaneously at the subconscious level. A second interviewer, who does not find any common ground with the same applicant, is likely to score the candidate lower then the first interviewer because the ‘affinity’ bias isn’t in effect. In fact, an interviewer may take a dislike to the applicant if they don’t bond due to a lack of similarities. This ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ is emotional, not logical, and created so rapidly that the interviewer does not question the prejudice.
Similarities can be as basic as having attended the same university, sharing a forename or supporting the same sports team. It can also be something deeper; a belief or attitude. Many attributes can increase or decrease likability; an interviewees weight, ethnicity, sex, age or how a person communicates, dresses and even a candidates handshake all create an interview perception disorder.
The interview perception, formed at the interview start, creates that all important ‘first impression’ which acts as a ‘selection filter.’ The interviewer’s involuntary opinion is filled with errors, prejudices and stereotypes. This automatic thinking comes from assumptions based on the interviewers own experiences, values and beliefs.
The brain is designed to create short-cuts to reduce the time it takes to complete each task. It is this fast-thinking part of the mind that uses generalisations to make rapid decisions. If, for example, you believe that an interviewee who is late for an interview will be a terrible worker, you will act from this viewpoint rather than challenge the status quo.
It is important to understand the mind’s cognitive processing system: Simplifying the complexity of the brain, humans use two operating systems; system 1 and system 2.
System 1 is the fast-thinking mind, creating opinions quickly and intuitively. The brain is always operating using system 1, making decisions that you are not consciously aware of – an interviewer judging an applicant as they arrive for a job interview.
System 2 is a slower analytical mind that requires mental effort to solve complex computations. It requires concentration to make a conscious choice – an interviewer referencing a stated answer against the scoring criteria.
Each of us use both (conceptual) systems but due to system 2 requiring effort (the brain prefers to use less effort) it will use system 1s shortcuts as a starting point, such as having a bias based on an unconscious opinion or belief.
The structured interview process is the principal intervention to make a decision on which applicant to offer an advertised position to. It is the asking of standardised questions of job-relevant criteria and a numerical scoring mechanism of the interviewees answers that results in the assumption that the best candidate is offered the advertised role.
The structured interview is seen as ‘fair’ as candidates are individually scored on each interview question, which is asked by the same interviewer(s) in the same order. The scores allocated for each answer is rated, as an example, between 1-4; 1 = negative, 2 = good, 3 = effective, 4 = expert, with each employer having their own numerical scoring system.
The rationale for the structured job interview is that interviewees will answer questions by giving information relevant to the advertised job role. This relies on the applicant being able to identify the job criteria. Being able to identify criteria and embedding the stated criteria into the job interview answer should, in most cases, result in either a 3 = effective or 4 = expert scoring, spending on your level of knowledge/experience. Research has shown that the ability to predict job criteria, therefore having a high level of sector knowledge/experience, accurately predicts job performance (the objective of the job interview process), compared to when the criteria is explicit prior to the job interview.
‘Giving too much away’ prior to the job interview, in terms of explicitly explaining the job criteria, allows an interviewee to prepare an ‘expert’ answer even if their industry knowledge/experience is low. Evidence shows that sharing job criteria prior to the interview start makes it more difficult for interviewers to accurately predict a potential employees job performance during a job interview, as the ‘expert’ interview answers are in contrast with their actual level of knowledge/experience.
It has been argued that in the job interview, the interviewee presents the ‘best’ version of themselves. This distinction between the ‘best’ version of an applicant and actual performance once employed has an impact on the organisation’s output. As an example, job interviews often test people’s potential ability (knowledge/expertise not their characteristics IE work ethic, time keeping, etc). The structured interview, therefore, is asking candidates what they are ‘likely’ to do, not what they will ‘actually’ do once employed.
What employees ‘actual’ do in the workplace comes down to their level of motivation. In ‘real-life,’ rather than the fictional scenario discussed in a job interview, the employee makes choices which affects output. Choice could include effort, acting on distractions, responding to external forces IE the characteristic or mood of a manager. In the job interview though, the applicants answers are based on their competencies, framed as ‘typical’ day to day approaches but answers are often examples of the candidate performing at their best.
To counter the distortion created by interviewees presenting a high performing examples, some recruitment campaigns hold all-day interviews which include structured interviews, assessments (to test knowledge/experience) group work activities and informal discussions (to view temperament), with the idea that an applicant, due to the duration of the day, will show their ‘real’ selves and therefore the interviewers can see the candidate as they would act/perform once employed.
Here we see another problem when searching for the ‘best’ applicant. All day interviews often include a ‘teamwork’ or ‘problem-solving’ activity to view characteristics. In a job interview, applicants are highly motivated to act outside their ‘typical’ working style as the ‘activity’ will be for a short duration allowing the interviewee to put in a high amount of ‘energy’ and ‘effort’ which, in a typical working day, wouldn’t be sustainable. In this sense interviewers view applicants at their best, not their norm.
The applicant’s job interview level of confidence can also alter reality. Some ‘high level of confidence’ candidates will use the interview activity to showcase their abilities – actively promoting themselves, whereas a ‘low level of confidence’ interviewee, with the same level of knowledge/expertise will unconsciously self-disclose weaknesses and conform with other, more confident, applicants in team tasks.
Temperament also affects the employers perception of the interviewee, especially the extrovertism and introvertism trait. These two characteristics have nothing to do with confidence, rather it’s about being ‘expressive’ or ‘reserved.’ In team tasks, the expressive individual feels at home as they gain ‘energy’ from interacting with others and thus appear confident, which can help them to stand out in the interview activity. Reserved individuals will think before talking and can be viewed, by some, as being less confident than their extrovert counterpart. This ‘thinking’ before speaking can benefit the introvert in the structured interview as they way-up their answer before replying, ensuring that each answer is relevant to the job criteria. Extroverts, who will often ‘speak’ before they ‘think’ and can, at the worst, interrupt an interviewer or answer without truly understanding the meaning of the question.
All interview formats create a stressful environment making it difficult to see the interviewee as they would ‘typically’ act in the workplace. Some applicants respond well to the ‘challenge’ of a job interview, whereas others act uncharacteristically, due to the stress of the situation. The only way to view an employees typical workplace behaviour is to evaluate an employee when they don’t realise they are being observed. For a recruitment campaign this is an impossible scenario.
It is clear then that the more a confident applicant understands the job criteria and therefore gives high scoring answers, the more successful they will be in a job interview, but not always in the job itself. It is for the interviewer, not the interviewee, to create an interview process that uncovers the applicants work ethic, motivation level, knowledge/expertise as well as to understand which interview answer is based on their maximum performance, and to question the interviewee to understand the applicants ‘typical’ work based behaviour.
The interviewee has one goal; to be seen as an authentic and strong applicant. With a subgoal if deciding if the organization is one they want to work for. As you will learn, to be seen as authentic and strong, the candidate needs to show high levels of knowledge/experience and high levels of confidence.
There is nothing at all wrong with being a door greeter at Walmart. However, that’s not for everyone. If you’ve found yourself retired and bored (or struggling to make ends meet), then the jobs below can fill your days as well as your pockets. The best part is that they are all flexible, meaning you can work when you want and relax when you don’t.
Insurance Sales
As an adult with decades of life experience, you already know the benefits of having life insurance. Insurance sales is an excellent way to share your knowledge and help people protect their family’s financial future. You don’t need sales experience, but you do need a driving passion and a willingness to get to know your products before you start signing contacts. You’ll also want to research insurance companies to get an idea of the culture and salary you are walking into. As an agent, you can expect to make a median income of just more than £25,494, but you could earn much more if you put the work into it.
Consultant
If you worked before, there is a good chance that you have all the experience necessary to become a consultant in your former industry. A consultant is not a full-time employee; instead, you are your own boss and sell your skills to others. If you were a policeman or detective, for example, you might work as a consultant in loss prevention or private security. The possibilities for this line of work are virtually endless.
Working as a consultant may offer you the opportunity to work remotely from home. One of the most effective ways to locate consultant work is through online job boards like Upwork. These boards list both short- and long-term job opportunities in areas like sales and marketing, customer service, and administrative support.
Substitute Teacher
Do you love kids? Becoming a substitute teacher is one of the best ways to make a difference in your community while enjoying all of the hugs, smiles, and laughter you could ever want. Swing Education notes that you can set your own schedule and choose which classrooms you want to teach in. You probably won’t make a ton of money, but you will have an opportunity to meet many local families. Just make sure you get your flu shot before your first teaching gig.
Rideshare Driver
Ridesharing is one of the great inventions of the Millennial generation. But just because it’s the 20- and 30-somethings using it does not mean that seniors don’t appreciate companies like Uber. In fact, according to some surveys, more than half of on-demand drivers are 61 years or older. It’s an excellent part-time job for seniors, particularly if you live in a populated area.
Tour Guide
Out of all the jobs we’ve listed, this one has the potential for the most fun. As a tour guide, you get to share your home town — or even the world — with people from all walks of life. Live in London? Grab a microphone and narrate an architecture tour. Additionally, ghost hunting and historical walking tours are one of the most popular attractions. Many museums also have plenty of volunteer opportunities available for seniors who are interested in historic conservation. These often are reimbursed with tips, only but it’s a wonderful experience.
Again, if you want to work behind the cash register or bag groceries during retirement, there’s absolutely no shame in that. However, if you are a little more adventurous or feel called to share your life experiences, the positions discussed above all have excellent availability. So, clean up your resume, brush up on your interview skills by utilizing the many helpful tips found on Influence the Interview, and set to work!
To influence the job interview outcome you first need to determine the level of position you are applying for as each job level requires a different type of answer for the asked job interview question.
Thirdly, by understanding the level of job and your ‘interview identity’ you can create a perfect job interview answer relevant for the advertised role.
What Job Level are you Applying For?
Generally speaking, there are 4 levels of job roles; voluntary jobs, low-skilled roles, medium-skilled positions, and high skilled jobs. Each level of position requires a different job interview approach, which is referenced in the answers to the job interview question.
Voluntary jobs – charity shops, befriending, soup kitchens
Medium skilled positions – middle managers, skilled laborer, medical staff, engineer, career advisor, teacher, other degree-level positions
High skilled jobs – chief executive officer, specialist doctor, senior engineer, head-teacher
Job Interview Prediction Grid
The decision of where you place yourself on the IPG depends on two key factors; your level of K/E and LoC. Remember the ‘interview prediction grid’ needs to account for your behavior in a job interview, not in the workplace IE you may be a productive worker but if you struggle to communicate your work ethic in a job interview you will be perceived as having low K/E.
Each of the two axes is on a scale of 2-8; 2 represents low K/E or LoC, 4 is sufficient, 6, medium (required for roles degree level and above roles) and 8 high (expert level) For a detailed breakdown and to check your specific ‘interview identity’ click – Interview Identity.
Job Interview Question – what is your experience?
How to answer the commonly asked job interview question – what is your experience? Depending on your interview identity, formed on the IPG, choose one of the following job interview question answer templates:
Low/Low Employee
In the main, low/low employees have little experience and need to focus on their skill set, personality and any part-time/work-experienced roles. With low confidence it can be difficult to reply to questions, using a 3 step structured process can help them to deliver a strong answer.
Example Job Interview Answer Template
“I am a (add quality), (add quality) individual who enjoys (add skill). When in school I (add work experience/club position/roles of authority) where I (add duties/responsibilities) The reason I am applying for this position (explain why you have applied for this role).
Example Job Interview Answer
“I am a kind, caring individual who enjoys customer service. When in school I was the head prefect where I was responsible for organizing the prefects timetable, organizing the end of year ball and feeding back to teachers. The reason I am applying for this position is because of the high standards of customer service your employees have”
Low/High Employee
As low/high employees possess high levels of confidence (but low levels of experience) making rapport with the interviewer through storytelling can increase likability and job offers, as the stories highlight your expertise and unique selling point.
Example Job Interview Answer Template
“I have over (add years) experience working in (add company name/sector/job role) as you know (add sector related problem) To achieve this I (add solution/unique selling point) an example of this when I worked at (add company name), where I had to (add situation). To solve this issue I (add actions you took) which resulted in (add outcome)”
Example Job Interview Answer
“I have over 2 years experience working in retail, as you know the key to success is maximizing profitability in a competitive market. To achieve this I use my psychology degree to improve my teams awareness of the psychology of sales; an example of this when I worked at Tesco where I had to push an end of line product after the Christmas rush. To solve this issue I taught my team how to embed the psychology of scarcity by using a ‘last few products left’ sign while only displaying a few of the items (which we replenished one by one as a purchase was registered) which resulted in 2 things; selling all of the products and being the areas highest profitable shop for 3 months in a row”
High/Low Applicant
The lack of confidence can create difficulty in communicating your answer. Using models, theories, abbreviation and sector terminology allows you to communicate a high amount of information (inferred details) without physically saying to much.
Example Job Interview Answer Template
“As a (add job role) I use (add model/theory). My success comes from (add strength/unique selling point) I’m skilled at (list several key words related to the job role/industry)
Example Job Interview Answer
“As a project manager, I use the ‘prince 2’ methodology. My success comes from my analytical ability and being able to predict potential, high cost, project problems and communicating this to the customer prior to the initiation of the project. I’m skilled at writing work packages, quality control measures, setting scope, presenting updates in board meetings, risk management, negotiation, trouble-shooting and end of project pass-over.”
High/High Applicant
To create awe, answer questions by giving multiple examples and/or possible situations to help the interviewer understand your level of expertise.
Example Job Interview Answer Template
“I have spent the last (add duration) (add power statement) As a highly experienced (add position) (add specialism/unique selling point) (add result/outcome). Not only can I share my expertise and wealth of knowledge, I can also share with you (add 3 hooks)”
Example Job Interview Answer
“I have spent the last 25 years turning around organisations on the brink of bankruptcy into highly profitable businesses. As a highly experienced consultant I have a track record of implementing ‘lean’ techniques in failing supply-chain management organisations, which has resulted in consistent successes. Not only can I share my expertise and wealth of knowledge, I can also share with you my client list who only hire me as their consultant. I also worked with several logistic companies and suppliers who I have negotiated terms with that help me reduce overhead cost for our customer base and I can promote the organisation on my social media channels where I have over 1.2 million followers.”
You will learn how to ace a job interview using 5 key psychological principles
Each link will take you to one of 5 job interveiew pychology artciles. Embedded within the techniques are pyschology researcher paperps to help you better understand the subconcious actions of job interveiw panels
The job interview is one of the most nerve-racking experiences you have to face.
The reason you fear the job interview is down to the psychology of the interview process.
In this series of ‘job interview psychology,‘ you will learn 5 psychological processes that are in play, that effect your job interview success, without you even knowing about it.
Job Interview Psychology 4 of 5 – effects of positive moods
Alice Isen and Paul Levin (1972) completed an experiment on the effects of good moods.
In a shopping mall, they left money in the coin return slot of a telephone booth to boost the moods of the lucky shoppers who found the cash. After the subject left the phone booth, another shopper (part of the experiment team) ‘accidentally’ dropped a folder a few feet in front of the shoppers. 4% of people who didn’t find the change in the telephone booth helped the man who had dropped the folder, but a staggering 84% of the people who did find the change, and as a consequence were in a good mood, helped the man.
The results clearly showing that if you feel good you are more likely to help others.
This ‘feel good, do good’ effect is a powerful tool in a job interview. The timing of your job interview also plays a key role in the success of the outcome of your interview.
Contrast bias is the process of comparing one thing; a weight, experience or a job interview applicant, to another recent experience in the same category.
The first interviewee to be interviewed becomes the baseline and all other applicants are compared tothis initial interview performance.
As the baseline interviewee, you can never surpass the benchmark because you are the benchmark.
The timing of your interview, therefore, has a direct impact on your success rate. When possible never choose the first interview slot or you will become victim to contrast bias. *in addition to the job interview this same interview psychology has an effect on your salary negotiations.
Job Interview Psychology – likeability
If being the first interviewee has a negative effect on your job interview outcome, should you apply for the last interview slot? No! And the reason why is decision fatigue – the quality of decisions deteriorate after a long period of decision making, and deciding on the best candidate after a long day of decision making is very tiring.
Compared to the ‘feel good, do good’ theory, if the interviewer is in a negative mood they ‘feel bad, do bad’ The interview panels emotional state, therefore, has a direct impact on their decisions making ability.
To increase job interview success your task is to make the interviewer feel good about themselves. Your goal is to create an altruistic interviewer.
One contraction to the ‘feel bad, do bad’ theory is the ‘negative-state relief’ theory. Guilt creates an internal motivation to ‘do good’ as we believe that ‘a good deed cancels out a bad deed’
Also, sadness can increase ‘helping.’ The reason guilt or sadness influences someone to help others is because people will help others so they feel good about themselves, to relieve their guilt or sadness.
In a job interview, effective storytelling can induce sadness. We see this all the time on TV talent shows, where a sad backstory affects the votes of the judges
But as with the above audition, talent also plays a key role. ‘Talent’ in a job interview is your ability to influence the interview panel, not the talent of completing job tasks as you only need this skill once you are employed.
Humans like to be consistent, it makes us feel good as our actions are in line with our values and identity.
If you want to predict the type of interviewee that will be offered the job role, look at the type of person who was last recruited by the same interview panel.
If you create an association between the previously hired person, through identifying similarities, you are more likely to be hired “he’s like X, we hired X, let’s hire this person”
A study with students where they were given a cup with the university logo on it, worth $6. In a trading game the owners of the cup requested items of $5 value (on average) for the cup trade, but other students who didn’t own the mug, only believed the mug value was worth around $2. It was the sense of ownership that increase the value of the product.
In recruitment, people believe that internal candidates have a better success rate for internal job roles then external candidates because the company embraces internal mobility.
The truth is, an organization wants to hire the ‘perceived ‘best person for the role (internal or external). But, organisations have a feeling of ownership to their employees, and see them, initially, as a higher value (until you can influence them that you are the strongest candidate)
This is why volunteering, being an intern or an external mentor for employees – anything to link you to the ‘team’ gives you an advantage; you will be seen as being owned by the company – “she is one of ours”
Positive moods in the interview panel created from the association, the sense of ownership or comparison, can support you to achieve job interview success.
If the interviewer is feeling good (interviewing in the middle of the day – but not after dinner time, as eating food makes you tired, helps with this) they are more likely to see you in a positive light.
To increase happiness in others is relatively easy. And through association, what the interview feels, will be projected on to you – they feel good = you must be good.
If you smile you feel good. I suppose you cant always deliver a well-rehearsed comedy set in the job interview to make the panel laugh, but you can smile.
Mirror Neurons
Humans use mirror neurons to perceive how other people are feeling. Neurons activate when you need to complete a specific task (scratching your face as an example) these mirror neurons also activate when you see someone else performing a task; seeing someone scratch their face activates your ‘scratch my face neurons.’
In an experiment, two subjects had to look at and openly discuss a number of photographs.
In fact, one of the subjects was in on the experiment and would complete a subtle behavior; scratching their face or tapping their foot.
The experiment was about behavioral influence, (and had nothing to do with the pictures) the psychologist wanted to know if the subject would copy another person unconsciously?
Yes, they would and a lot. Mirroring is a natural rapport-building process.
Mirror neurons have the same effect with emotions. If you smile (and feel good) the interviewer, with mirror-neurons, will feel the same happy thoughts.
You can take this further, and have open body language, sit with confidence and your job interview panel will, with unconscious awareness, copy your behavior and feel good about you, which we know through unconscious bias, creates a positive effect on the job interview outcome
Finding common groundincreases likeability, complementing people makes them feel good and seeding the idea of a good interview “I can see that this will be a good interview” will increase the likelihood of the job interview actually being good
But most importantly – people respond well to charismatic authority. Being confident, extrovert, humourous and knowledgeable, while showing interest in others (the interview panel) will create a powerful liking bond that will help you secure your next job offer.
