I, unlike most people I know, like to interview. I find joy in meeting new people and hearing their story. I consider that the company needs to sell themselves to me as much as I to them. Every interview is a chance to meet someone and learn something new. If it doesn't work out, it wasn't a failure, it just wasn't meant to be.
Getting ready for an interview happens long before the suit blouse is ever pressed or I hit the shower, it starts with researching the company and the participants. Google is great for this, so is LinkedIn. Reading people's bios on LinkedIn can give hints on their personality and what's important to them. It also gives ideas for targeted questions that can be asked. A new player to me in this space is Glassdoor.com, which allows a person to get an idea of the culture, pay and interview experiences at a company. Keep in mind, these are all opinions and the source needs to be considered. However, if there are hundreds of reviewers and the majority lean one way, there's a good chance the reviews are accurate.
One thing that helped me get ready for an interview was to re-read my annual performance evaluations. One of my weaknesses is that I forget what I've done. This becomes a major problem when I am supposed to tell strangers how wonderful I am going to make their work life if they hire me. Reviewing my accomplishments helped me remember the stories that would eventually become interview answers. Help also came when I was asked to write a reference for a previous teammate. I asked him what accomplishments he wanted me to highlight. Lucky me, more experiences I could talk about.
Pretty much every company starts with phone interviews. It might be convenient to interview in your 'jams and tidy up the house at the same time, but not being able to see the person's expressions is a definite downside. It also leads to talking over the other person and a lot of "I'm sorry". My 2 cats can be very demanding for attention and when they don't get it, vocal. They also don't like closed doors (it usually means they are going in the evil car). Early on, I would interview in the car inside the garage to ensure not only would they not bother me, but also that the interviewer wouldn't think I was torturing them. Not the most conducive environment, particularly during a heat wave. I've since decided to take a risk and hope they'll sleep through interviews, most of the time they have.
After the phone interview, waiting. . . . . and then the call to find a convenient time for you to come onsite. . . . . waiting . . . . . . an interview is scheduled.
The actual interview doesn't make me nervous, but that doesn't mean that I don't experience that emotion. The activity that produces the most anxiety for me is traveling to the interview. Some of my friends won't find this surprising as I insist on being annoyingly early to some activities (flights, the opera). Others will raise an eyebrow as I can also be notoriously late, inspiring under/overs on my arrival time (Sunday service call time). And sometimes I rely on friends to help me as I try to jam as much as possible into a short period of time and arrive just in time (signing up for a rowing class). Interviewing falls into the first example and when I recently had to travel 60 miles during morning rush hour, I arrived an hour early, prompting a visit to Starbucks to kill time. I won't arrive to the actual interview more than 15 minutes early as I remember how irritating it was when interviewees arrived 30 minutes or more earlier and announced their arrival as if I could rearrange my day to accommodate them.
You can tell a lot about a company by the receptionist. At one company, the receptionists were not only friendly, but told me it was a good sign I was there for a second interview and wished me luck. At each of the interviews at that company, I was not only provided bottled water, but when it was time for lunch, they didn't schedule an interview during that time and allowed me to spend time in their garden until the next interview began.
One-on-one interviews are most people's preference, after all, it's more like a conversation. Panel interviews can be intimidating, or not. When I used to sing solos, I would find one person in the audience that looked miserable and make it my mission to cheer them. I look at panel interviews the same way. I have smilingly called out quiet interviewers and asked them questions, forcing them to participate. I choose to make it a party rather than an inquisition.
Once the interview is over, I question every answer and think about how I could have answered it better and write thank you notes. And of course the waiting . . .
Peter and the Psalms say that to God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. Or for Whovians, it's like when The Doctor thought he had left Amelia for 5 minutes, but was actually gone for 12 years. Waiting to hear back from a company is a little like being Amelia Pond, except that I'm not sitting in a garden in my wellies and unlike God and The Doctor, the company doesn't exist outside of time, but has a billion other things to do; getting back to me is just another task on their list. I don't think they are being inconsiderate, I think it's just the way it is. This is a process; if it's meant to be, it will happen.
At the advice of someone recently landed, I have followed up when a recruiter didn't get back to me when they said they would, but mostly, I wait. I try to not to think about it and apply for other jobs, pray, meet folks for lunch or coffee, read, bake, engage in a household tasks, go to the gym, take pictures of the sunset. When someone asks me "How's it going?", I quote Tom Petty.
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