Survivre à un entretien d'embauche

So far from the controversies that have occupied us in these last two videos, which have taken us a little far, I am here to talk about how to survive a job interview. So what I am going to tell you corresponds to my vision or my experience in an Anglo Saxon country in England, in this case. On the other hand, with the globalization of business, I think, or I think I think that a certain number of things happen more or less the same from one country to another, because very often the companies are the same. Now, I am not a recruiter, okay? But I have interviewed a lot of people. Why is that? And that is completely normal. Because today, when you apply for a position, for a job, you are going to talk to a lot of people. The days are over when you talk to one person who decides whether or not to hire you. Today, when you apply for a job, you will sometimes talk to five, six, seven, eight or nine people, either together in a small group or individually. And in fact, to give you an idea, this corresponds to people who are in the horizontal and vertical positions of this position. What does this mean? It means that if you apply for a job, the people who will talk to you will be the one who will be your direct manager. Sometimes There will be 100 managers, depending on the company. Even without a manager of their own, some companies want there to be three hierarchical levels so that the decision can be made. So you will talk to people who are in the vertical and you will talk to people who are in the horizontal. This means people who will be your future colleagues if you meet this requirement. So you will talk to a lot of people. You're also going to talk to people who are sometimes outside of this cross that I'm drawing, this inverted T. People who are a little bit outside. This means, for example, a recruiter. A recruiter can be someone who doesn't necessarily work for the company. They're not even a member of the company. They might work for an external agency that has given them the task of recruiting and screening a little bit. Because the problem today is that when a company posts an ad, it can receive a lot of applications, and sometimes not always applications that are, let's say, suited to that position. So in order not to waste their time, people sometimes prefer to outsource this first screening phase. So what does that mean for you? It means that you have to be able to adapt because you're going to be talking to a lot of people. You're going to talk to this guy who's outside very often. Uh, I hope not. But often these people who are outside don't necessarily understand all the ins and outs of your job.

Okay?

They're recruiting, so to speak. In fact, they're not the ones recruiting. It's a client of theirs who's recruiting. It's a company that's recruiting. They have the job description, and sometimes they've been given a script, sometimes they've been given questions that they have to ask the candidate to try to gauge them. The problem with these people is that you can come across recruiters who are very knowledgeable in your line of work. You know, whatever your line of work, you can come across someone who's a veteran of that profession themselves, so they know the job very well. The risk, however, is coming across people who don't have the slightest idea. So you, you have to be able to adapt and get past that filter. Secondly, once you get past this filter, you're going to start talking to people. Uh, you're going to have to adapt because you're going to be talking to people at all levels. You're going to be talking to future colleagues. If all goes well, I hope for you. Who could be seniors? Most often it's seniors. That's not normally the case in a normally structured company. It's not someone who's been hired for two weeks who's doing interviews, although I've seen that happen. And sometimes you're also going to be talking to superiors, to people who are quite high up in the hierarchy who don't always understand your job. Even though you have to be careful. There are surprises. There are people who can be extremely precise when in fact they're quite high up in the hierarchy. Okay, that's the first point. Secondly, attitude. I'll tell you something personally, when I was given the opportunity to interview someone or do an interview, I, I wasn't particularly, let's say, keen on it. And very often the people who are going to talk to you are people who, how should I put it, don't do recruitment all day long. They have other things to do. They have other things to do. They're busy with other things. So practically speaking, coming to interview someone is an interruption in their workflow. So you have to put yourself in their shoes. There's already an interruption. You have to stop. You have to look at the person's cv, you have to read it, you have to find a time in your schedule to fit it in, all that. So there's this effort that has to be made. Secondly, something important, when you go to a company that's recruiting the people on the other Side aren't trying to figure out why not to hire you. When a guy comes. When a guy comes and I interview him, I'm not nitpicking. I'm not saying we're not going to hire this guy. I have to find out why. That's not the goal. I'd like to come back and give them some good news. I'd like to go to the people who want to recruit and tell them this guy's good. Right? That's what I sincerely and honestly want. However, it's not a decision I take lightly. Why? Because he's talking to me. Because I work in a company. The guy comes, you have a moment, you can go talk to him. Yes, of course. I'll take half an hour or maybe an hour and I'll talk to the guy, okay? I'm not the one who decides whether to hire him or not. I'm just one voice among many. It's a vote. I'll vote for it. I'll vote against it. It's happened that we've hired people for whom I've said no, don't hire them. It's also happened that we haven't hired people for whom I was positive.

Okay?

But I'm just one voice among many. But I'm very careful not to put my vote on the wrong candidate. Because it's a big responsibility. Because as much as we can easily hire, hey, the decision is there. The position is open. The contract is already there. HR has already written the contract and everything. It's ready. All we have to do is sign. The money is there. I mean, that's not a problem. That decision. That part of the decision is made. On the other hand, if it comes to recruiting someone, turning down other candidates, only to find out after four weeks or two months that you have the wrong person, I can assure you, it's really, really annoying. I've seen bad recruitments sometimes break the dynamic of a team. So it's a very heavy responsibility.

Okay?

So when I'm walking down the hallway to go to the office where someone is waiting for me for an interview, I can tell you I'm probably more stressed than he is. Because I have a dual responsibility. First responsibility. I have to talk to the guy, okay? And I have to honor the fact that he's looking for a job. So it's still a very, very important mission. I can't easily say no, Okay? I can't easily say yes either.

Okay?

Because if I say yes and the guy is a problem guy, don't doesn't have the level, doesn't have the skills, doesn't have the motivation. I'm going to feel bad about it. I'm going to feel bad even if no one comes to slap me on the wrist. But I feel bad for having said yes, for having put my vote for a guy who wasn't worth it. So just that stress while the candidate, he only has one. He, the candidate just wants to get the job. Okay, so that I'm trying to give you a little bit of the psychological picture that is very important to understand what it's all about. So when a company needs someone in a position, sometimes it needs one person, sometimes several. So there's an ad that's going to be rewritten. I just wanted to tell you to go back to the beginning of the process. You're talking about this ad. Very often this ad is a little too optimistic. Let's imagine that you're in Paris and they're looking for someone who speaks German and Spanish, or they need German and Spanish on their team because they have clients in those countries. Okay, write the wording like this. So they'll write German required and Spanish required. Okay, that's good or desirable if they're reasonable. The problem is that at the beginning, they're going to get a lot of people who speak either German or Spanish. They might start turning down excellent candidates because they're waiting for the pink unicorn. They're waiting for the guy who speaks both languages. Then after three months, they haven't found him. So what are they prepared to do? They're prepared to compromise. They'll say, well, yes, we've already wasted our time. We've interviewed 15 people. We've rejected candidates who were sometimes very good, whom we've lost to competition. And now we're in a bit of a bad way. We're going to have to lower our standards a bit, quote. So what I've noticed in general is that when the ad has just hit the market, the level of expectation is much higher than when the ad is getting old. That means that when. Why do I say that? Because I know that there are a lot of people who are in a dynamic job search. They're practically on the appropriate sites. They're constantly reloading every morning, and the moment the pitch comes out, they're writing. So it's good. I'm not saying not to do it. It's good to be among the first. But you have to know that it carries this risk that at the beginning, recruiters are often too optimistic and they moderate themselves over time. So it can start, for example, with Spanish and German required, and it can end three or four months later or more. Yeah, if he speaks French fairly well, we recruit him. Okay, Just to give you an idea. So that's the ad. Obviously, when there are several open positions, the. The entry threshold is easier, easier, lower. If we have to recruit five people, of course we're going to be much more tolerant. Right, because we won't find five pink unicorns. We're going to be more tolerant than if we have a person who's taxed with just one person. That's very important. So when we read the ads, we have to try to be a little open. A little open in the sense that we've never seen a candidate. I've never seen in my life. You. You know, over the last 10 years, I've interviewed a lot of candidates. I didn't see a single one who ticked all the boxes. And yet I had recruited a lot of them. Okay, so don't tell yourself, oh, I don't have that, so I won't go. You still have to try. You have to go for it. If you see that most of the boxes are there, go for it. Don't be afraid. So that was a very important point. Secondly, when you get to the interview, you know, there are lots of standard questions that you're going to get asked. Often there aren't necessarily right answers, but there can be wrong ones. Let me give you an example. Examples of questions that I ask regularly but without really believing in them. It's just to get the conversation started. What brings you here? Why do you want to work for our company? Why do you want to work for us in particular? So I don't expect the person to tell me, yeah, when I was a kid, I dreamed of working for you. Honestly, I don't expect that. I just expect a normal answer, actually. I just want to see how the person will develop their motivation. I'll feel that out. There's nothing bad about it, but there are bad answers. For example, one day I start like this. I tell the guy, this is why you want to work for us. And the answer is like this. Uh, yeah. So I have a work visa. It expires in three months, and I have to renew my visa, so I have to find an employer quickly. I mean, that's typically the wrong answer. You know what I mean? Of course, for me, I'm not going to bash a guy on one answer. Of course, of course. I'm not going to bash him for that.

Okay.

But I find his attitude towards That a little weird. We're not here for that. We're not here for that. Not here to facilitate administrative procedures. My God. We here to work. So what can you bring to us in that regard? Afterwards, the rest of the interview went badly because the guy, he didn't have the level anyway. So there you have it. But it's true that we should avoid this kind of approach. Another example, another example. A guy arrives. Uh, what brings you to us? Why do you want to work for us? What's the answer? Oh, well, listen, my company. My company is going to close down. This is news that we heard last week. It came like a bombshell. Which company? He tells me the name of the company. I say, wow, because we know them, we respect them, they are very respected. But I say, but you have extraordinary technology. Why? Yes, but. Well, that was something else. It's the market, it's. But in terms of technology, it's true that if I compare it to yours, and then without even noticing, we get into a very deep technological debate, practically without me asking you any questions. And in fact, the guy was great, solid. What's going to happen at the end of the interview, I go up to the guy who's recruiting and I say, listen, I'm going to send you an email later. On the other hand, this guy who's there doesn't miss it. He's excellent. And the guy was recruited. He was excellent. Okay, There aren't necessarily any bad. Good or bad answers, but anyway, there is a bad answer, but there is no good answer. That's what I'm trying to say. Ah, what did I mean? Attitude. Attitude is very important because when we talk in particular, there are people who will become future colleagues.

Okay?

So it's true that we're looking for someone competent, but we're also looking for someone we're going to work with, we're going to enjoy working with.

Okay?

So I would say that at least 50% of the decision will be made on human relations, what the person is like. That means that before we even ask the slightest technical question or even get into the guy's skills, we already want to know, is this person sitting there in front of me someone I would want to work with? Is this someone I want to see every day? That's a very important question because I can tell you that I've seen people who were good, technically speaking, who were skilled, but we didn't agree with them because the guys were too arrogant or. No, no, no, they don't have. They have personality flaws, if you like. They have flaws that make you think this kind of person you wouldn't want to work with. And I can assure you that the times when weak teams recruit the wrong person, you know, because he's good technically, but despite the fact that it's a bit of a mess in everyday life, it's true that. It's true, it didn't go very far. It's true that these are people who work well in some ways, but at the same time, all their personality flaws will have repercussions on the rest of the team. And that's not something we want. So it's very important not to be fake, you know, of course you shouldn't be fake. You have to be yourself somewhere, but you have to be the best version of yourself. That's important. Ah. Each person you meet during this process towards the position will see their style, Go see their style, and everyone is indifferent. One of the questions, for example, that I like a way that I like to approach the candidate, is that it happened to me once by accident, and then I continued to do it. It became classic. Once I had a. I had a job interview to do with someone, and I had received his resume by email the day before. I didn't have time to read it. I had too many things. And suddenly, you know, it's Rudol. When he opens the notification, he tells you, in five minutes there's an interview with so and so. I didn't have time to read his resume, actually. So what did I do? I went up to him and I said, you know, in all of this, I haven't had time to read your resume. Can you give me a brief summary of your career path? And the guy was a little bit of a student, but he gave me a summary of his career path. And then I really like that because I find CVs cold. I find CVs anyway, CVs aren't my job. CVs if I have to interview someone because they've already gone through other filters, so I'm not there to read without a CV. So what I started to do is not read CVs. I started to go sometimes with the CV in hand, sometimes not even. I come in, I sit down and say, how's everything going? Do you want a glass of water? Do you want a coffee? Something like that. We put him at ease. And then, well, that's it. Uh, you know, in all this, I didn't have time to read your. I didn't have time to read your cv. Can you roughly summarize what your Career path is, what was the last campaign you worked for? What exactly do you do? Questions like, that's, uh, what I'm trying to do. But each, what I'm saying is very personal. Of course, but I'm just trying to give you the perspective of someone who is interviewing, hiring someone else. I try to get the best out of the candidate, and yet I have a reputation for being difficult. I have a lot of colleagues who have told me, if I had come across you during the recruitment process, you would have told me not to hire me. And yet they are very good colleagues, but that's not it. Ah, I take my responsibility very seriously. That's all. I have a responsibility towards the candidate, a responsibility towards the company or the team that we're going to put this person in. So I have to be very careful. So one of the typical questions that I ask, I say, you, candidate, the following. Ah, I told him, you know, in our team, we are multidisciplinary, but each person is known for something. Every person has an extremely strong point here. I say, there's one, we go to him for this reason. There's that one over there in the back. We go to him for this reason for me, we come for myself, we come to me when we have this or that problem, okay? Now, I tell him, if tomorrow you're part of our team, why would I come to you? Okay, what would make me come to you? Why? And then I'll tell you something. For me, this question is crucial. A bad answer to this question, and I usually start to lose motivation for the rest of the interview because at that point, I'm already starting to wonder if I have the right person in front of me or not.

Okay?

Because when the person tells me, for example, I have faith in someone, it's a job, a fairly senior role anyway, and the guy tells me, yeah, I don't know. I'm ready to learn. I'm ready to take it. Okay, you want to say, listen, we're not in a school, you know, I didn't say that, of course, but that's what I think. Ah, things like, I'm ready to learn, just don't bring them up in an interview, please, unless you're asked. Unless you're clearly told, do you like learning? Do you already have experience, or have you learned something new quickly and all that. How do you do it? If the question really revolves around that, go ahead, huh? Spread it to death. Now, don't bring that up in a direct question about your skills, huh? Because, I mean, if you tell Me, I'm ready to learn. That means you're telling me that you come from the street, you come in here, you have no skills, but you're ready to learn on the job, huh? What am I going to answer you? That's not what we're here for. Huh? That's not what we're here for, you to learn on the job. We want people who are up and coming and who are quite professional.

Okay?

If you tell me I'm ready to take on the job, you're 17, you're 19, you're fresh out of school, you're a new graduate. I'm happy to listen to you. It's not a problem. On the other hand, this story about, I want to learn. And I know that a lot of people with little experience say it, be very careful. It can come across badly, especially if you're aiming for a level with these lords. So what else did I want to tell you? Be very careful. Be very careful with people who are in the hierarchy. For example, in my case, when I had to apply for a job, I spoke to people who were in the hierarchy. And in fact, I came across people. For example, the guy tells me, yeah, listen, I'm happy to talk to you, but don't consider this discussion part of the process when it is. Actually, I just want to talk to everyone, but I'm not the one making the decision. I delegate. If the team has decided that they want to hire you, I'll endorse their decision and everything, but I'll just talk to you, introduce you to the company and all that. It can go nice like that, like, I talked to the guy for 45 minutes. He'll introduce me to the company, introduce the team. That's it. Very nice. He'll ask me practically no questions.

Okay, that can happen.

And it's great. Now, it happened to me too, to talk to a vp, vice president. So he was far away from me. And in fact, the guy, he's an American, he says to me, do you have a piece of paper? He said, sure. Okay, so draw three big circles. Okay, I'll draw three big circles. So each of these three big circles will represent a network, okay? Each network will have this block of IP addresses. Write down the IP addresses, make connections, put a router in the middle, put this protocol between circle A and B. And in fact, for almost 20 minutes, he's going to dictate to me. I end up drawing a huge drawing. Then he's going to ask me questions about this drawing, when, in fact, I had already Passed. I had spoken to everyone. I had already passed several technical interviews and all that, so you can fall. And I found myself for an hour with this VP going into technical considerations and all that, when I didn't expect it at all. You know, I was. I was taken by surprise. So don't be taken by surprise if you ever talk to someone like that, because the guy could be a level head, you know, you can have a job that starts with a C. Okay? But at the same time, the guy was a guy who is extremely knowledgeable in your field, so he can really go into super detailed questions to see how you're doing.

Okay?

So of course, arriving on time, arriving on time, arriving here in England. I don't know how it works in France. It's a suit and tie for a job interview, whatever the job.

Even if.

You have the job, you know, I work in a job. Well, I wouldn't go to the office in that. But on the other hand, I work in technology. I don't necessarily deal with customers all the time. So if I'm not facing customers, I. I can show up in a T shirt if I want to. However, even if the guys are wearing T shirts, come dressed properly. If you have a problem, it can happen that the candidate calls us the day before, or I have a problem, I can't come tomorrow for an interview. Okay, that's fine.

Okay.

I've never seen a case where we've held that against a candidate. I prefer a candidate who comes relaxed, in a good mood and everything. Who comes, I don't know, for example, on a Friday. I prefer that he comes in a good mood on Friday, that he comes on Thursday or Wednesday, but that he's not feeling well.

Okay?

I prefer that the guy is well and any company is normally human enough to understand that your child is sick or that you've caught the flu. Anyway. Ah, anyway. What's the goal? To work with people who will understand one day if you have a problem.

Okay?

That's it. We're humans, we're not monsters. So if a candidate is scheduled to come in on Wednesday and then calls on Tuesday, they have the flu or something like that. Well, that happens. Okay, that happens. Now, if a company tells you there's no point in coming if you have the flu, you can't come tomorrow, you're not coming. Bye. Bye. Mr. Clapp, honestly. Honestly, that's great. I'm going to say something great for you because you don't want to work for people like that anyway. Because you have to know that a Job interview has two meanings too. It's also up to you to see how the company is doing. Huh? That's very important. You don't want to work for just anyone either. What else do I want to say? I've had a lot of things like that come to mind while I'm talking about it. The thing that's a deal breaker for me is taking the piss. If you ask a question, you're honest. Sometimes I interview candidates. I ask one question after another after another. The candidate doesn't get it right. I think to myself, maybe I'm not in his field of expertise.

Okay?

Maybe I'm wrong. It's not his field and I'm annoying him with this. So sometimes I tell the candidate, though I'm considered a pain, I'm considered tough. Honestly, look at what a flower I am to the candidate. I tell him, listen, he loves it. There are people and I have to convince them to hire you. I'm going to go to them. I'm going to tell you I should give them reasons to hire you. At this stage of this interview, you haven't given me any reasons. So now I want to know what your strengths are. Can you tell me what your strengths are? Give me something. Tell me something. Then the guy will tell me, I don't know, something. Come and give me an area where he is strong and what I am going to do. I am going to drop everything else and I am going to ask questions about his area where he says he is strong. On the other hand, I am going to be quite intolerant. Because why? Because it is a balance. I let him choose the topic. I give him the topic, choose the topic. He chooses the topic. Now inside, he says he is strong. He has chosen. I really want him to deliver. I really want him to impress me. I really want him to give me things. It comes from the heart, from the gut, for me to hear things.

Okay?

If in this area that he has chosen, I see that he is not delivering in general, I will then give an unfavorable opinion that is clear.

Okay?

Um. I also don't like people who are dishonest. For example, we have had to ask questions or do interviews over the phone. It happens sometimes. Um, I don't really like phone interviews, but it does happen. Sometimes I'm alone with the person, or sometimes there are two or three of us and we do what's called a conference call. We do a conference call and we call the guy and then one of them says, hello. It's so and so. I'M with you. There's a colleague. So and so. Hello, how are you? That's what it's like to talk to you and all that. And then we start talking about dishonesty. Dishonesty. Typically, we're talking to the client. I was going to say to the person. And we hear the person typing, okay? So we ask a question while typing. Ask a question while typing. We can see that the person is actually Googling while we're chatting. Googling.

Okay.

Huh? How do you hear that? Do you think that's right? So there's someone. We asked him a question, he started Googling. In the meantime, a colleague of mine started Googling too, clicking on the first link. And then while the person was talking, he was following. It's exactly the first Google. And it's clear that this is taking the piss. Huh? It's clear that it won't go very far. Uh, don't lie on your cv. Very important. Don't lie because you'll put yourself in embarrassing situations. Why? If there's something you don't know how to do or that you did 10 years ago, you put it that you did it 10 years ago. Right? Uh, you're asking me something. I'm being honest. I'm telling you. Uh, that thing. Yes, but I did that in 2005. Yes, at the time I was good, but since then they've released 15 versions. I don't know anything about it anymore. You see, you have to be honest. It's not a problem. Someone talks to me like that, I'm okay with it. I know. Because we're all like that. We're all human. Yes, of course. There are lots of things that I knew how to do in 2005 that I don't know how to do today. And the opposite. Dreaming. There are things that I know today that I didn't even dream of in 2005. Okay, fine. You have to be honest now. Dishonesty is not good because you expose yourself. If there's something you don't understand, or that you just saw or heard, or because it was in the ad, you put it there. You're really going to put yourself in a difficult situation because you're going to be asked questions about it. Then we realize that you put it there. You were very good at it, but you're not. So it's true that it's annoying. It's even embarrassing, I would say, embarrassing for you, embarrassing for the people who ask you questions and all that. So don't lie on your resume. It's Very important, because lying, you can always lie in such a way that you get to the interview. But will you survive the interview? No, because the interview will be based on a lie. It will be based on what was said. Ah. People also have attitudes that are. People who think they have to answer all the questions sometimes by making up nonsense in that. That can happen under stress. Sometimes there are people who do it. Like, you ask a question, he doesn't have the slightest idea, and it's obvious that he doesn't have the slightest idea. But instead of being honest with you, telling you that I don't know, but I'm ready to reason with you. I'm ready to start from what I know. I can try to, uh. The guy, no, he's trying to say anything, embroider anything, and it's obvious. But it can be insulting to the people who are interviewing him because it means that he thinks he's going to get away with it. He thinks he's going to tell them, and they have faces, they think that he has in front of him, faces that are going to accept the. That he's making up on the spot. That's very important. It's very important to be honest. To be honest. Honest. Honest. I remember one time I had a job there. I was on the other side. I was the candidate. Uh, and, uh, the interview dragged on forever. It's an interview with a board, you know, it's an interview with a board and all that, with a panel listening and all that. And then I was stunned, knocked out. The interview was supposed to last, I think, one hour. We had already spent two hours in the interview. Yeah. Another thing, you shouldn't believe it when they say 45 minutes, it can really get too long. Right. So get ready. At one point, one of them said something to me, a situation. I couldn't see how the situation he was talking about could be possible. And I even saw a colleague of his next to him. He said, no, you shouldn't have done that. Like, no, you shouldn't have done that. Okay, what did I tell him? I told him, listen, I'm going to be honest with you. The situation as you're describing it to me, I don't see how it could happen. I don't see how. However, I told him, you've been asking me very serious questions from the beginning. And if you ask the question, it's because what you're saying must be possible. But I don't see how it can be possible. But I'm ready to reason with you. I'm Ready to dig deeper with you. I have this table below. I'm ready. If you give me more information, I'm ready to dig deeper, to see how we can get there. In the end, we spent 20 minutes talking about this thing, and much later I was recruited. In that case, much later we talked. He told me that he had seen this situation once in his life, that it was something very special.

Okay?

But on the other hand, what surprised him, okay, is that every time that he had given this situation to the previous candidate in other interviews, and he said to them, is his situation possible? He describes. Yes, yes.

Okay.

Can you elaborate? Because you don't want to get away with it like that. Do you want to elaborate? And the person starts to embroider anything, and we can clearly see that the person was doing what is called in English, that means that they were talking nonsense, okay? And in terms of credibility, that ruins everything. So you have to be honest. I would say honesty, honest, authentic. Be yourself, the best part of yourself. Arrive with a clear, concise cv. Know what you want. Know the added value that you bring. Because we have just sold a service. Hey, what are you here for? An interview? What are you here to do? You're here to provide a service, to sell a service. You're selling it. I'm your client. What do you mean? Go ahead, sell it to me. Tell me what this service is. Be ready to have this pitch. Be ready to know who you are.

Okay?

Know your strengths, know your weaknesses and be able to bring them up immediately without false modesty, without anything. On this thing, I'm good. You have to be capable. Everyone has a strong point. You have to be capable. On this thing, I'm very good. There's nothing I don't know about this thing. About that. Yes, it's my left arm, you know, I get by like everyone else. But you have to be honest with yourself first and then with others.

Okay?

Good luck to those who are looking for a job. If you enjoyed this video, I'll think about other anecdotes, other things, other elements related to this topic based on my experience, and I'll make another one later. See you soon, my friends. Mister.