The Pitfalls of Mistaking Presentation Skills for Your Interviewing Skills!

I often work with senior executives in transition. Some are out of work as a result of an M&A activity, and some are just looking for a better opportunity outside their company. Regardless of the client’s station, I have a fairly well defined transition process so that clients can leverage this transition into a more appropriate landing; in the process they learn some skills that will serve them throughout their lives. Typically, when clients engage with me they go through three distinct phases of activities: Building and positioning their message; developing their campaign, and managing it; and interviewing and negotiating.

Although I get no resistance from them in providing help in packaging their message and in marketing it, when it comes to getting ready for an interview many balk at having to go through an interview coaching process. Most grumble that as senior executives, making presentations is their stock in trade and they got where they are because of their exceptional presentation skills. Since interviewing is much like a presentation exercise, they speciously reason, they do not need to waste their time and money getting coached on that skill!

Wrong!

The most recent and vivid example happened with a client, who as a VP of Services of a $4B/Yr. high-tech company lost his position when a much bigger competitor acquired his company. He came seeking my guidance, after which we went through his résumé building, setting up his LinkedIn Profile, and even working on his campaign. When he got calls from companies that were interested in him, I strongly suggested to him that we do an interview practice session, where I video record a session with my client and walk them through the body-language traps, messaging follies, and the interaction dynamic. He not only declined my proposal, but made some invidious comment about his esteem with me and how wrong I was about his abilities to interview well! I did not argue his point, and I waited.

Nearly six months later he came back and said that he went through several interviews, but was not able to land an offer, despite “good interviews.” At that point I asked him if he would take a short test with me to explore where he might be misfiring. When he agreed, I asked the dreaded interview icebreaker, Tell me about yourself!

His response was rambling, incoherent, and long. It took him nearly five minutes to get his answer out, and at the end of that I was confused, despite helping him with his résumé earlier. Despite the fact that we had been working on this verbally in his résumé and LinkedIn Profile exercise, we did not practice it as an oral exercise, because of his refusal to accept that need. So, bluntly I told him that his problem was not his résumé, marketing, or his ability to network to get action, but his problem was his interviewing skills. He was mortified, especially because now he realized that perhaps it was his inability to ace an interview that he did not get an offer after the myriad interviews during the past six months. He was too proud to accept that possibility, especially after what he had told me earlier—and he remembered it!

After his defeats during the past six months my client was now ready to show me that his interviewing skills were NOT the problem in his securing any offers from the companies that interviewed him. While pleading his case I realized that he was merely protesting, but, at the core, he knew what was really needed to move forward. When he finally agreed, and after we did the video interview simulation, I was appalled at his lack of basic interviewing skills. Even though I could see him as a great presenter of information, he needed much help in creating a strong interview presence and in finessing an interview.

Here is what I found in that session:
1. His “I am a …” statement was too long and confusing (instead of being about 30 seconds long, it was almost five minutes)
2. His responses to my specific questions were general and vague
3. Some of his answers were not on point
4. He merely answered my questions; did NOT ask me any
5. He appeared stiff and uncomfortable
6. He did not tell me ANY story
7. He often used “we,” not “I,” leaving me confused about what he really did and who was this “we”?
8. He often mumbled
9. He talked as if he was in a hurry to get out
10. His body language—physical vocabulary—did not inspire confidence in me; he was clasping or wringing his hands throughout.

So, at the end of our simulation, which lasted about 25 minutes I asked him, as I ask all my clients, how well did he think he did (on a score of 10). I was surprised when he said that he did a “7.”

Once the interview was over, I showed him the video on a large screen and walked him through each misstep. He was not aware of most of them. Once he owned his mistakes, I asked him to score his performance again, and I felt vindicated when he re-scored himself at a “2” or a “3.” I am sure that this exercise was a wake-up call to him to understand that interviews are very different from run-on-the-mill presentations using PowerPoint and speaking to an audience in a “one-way-street.” Besides, when one is giving a stand-up presentation it is because they have already mastered their topic and are there to woo the crowd, and not get questioned much.