Being Aware of (Interview) Weaknesses
The nature of interviews is such that we only have one shot. This is very similar to what I imagine actors go through all the time. One small thing you say, or even things outside your control, causes you to lose out on the next big career opportunity.
For this piece, I will talk about what is within our control, not what is outside it.
Interview weaknesses (that we can control) come in three types:
Interview Only
Interview Accentuated
Technical Difficulties
Ultimately, things that undo us in interviews, from a delivery point of view, have always been with us; they just get over-emphasized on interview day.
Full Disclosure
Before I make you poke at yourself, I will reveal mine:
Anxiety
I have probably had it all my life but didn’t see it until recent failures in interviews on subjects I know cold.
I truly believe it is why I have been grossly under-leveled so much of my life. I haven’t had a job, outside of my current one, where I wasn’t bored within 3 to 6 months because I had been so downleveled. But companies don’t like to admit they got it wrong. The systems in place keep making me wait 2 years or move on.
Speaking Fast
I naturally speak fast, but when I am nervous and/or stressed, I speak even faster.
I wasn’t nervous for the last few weeks, but I couldn’t slow down. I realized the stress (my home is constantly under construction) has led to perpetual stress, and I can only slow down when the construction crews aren’t around.
Think Fast > Move Fast
I have had partners tell me I needed to wait for them to catch up. As soon as I grok an idea, I get ready to run, and others aren’t always ready to engage because they need to catch up.
Not Clarifying My Thoughts
See above, but not clarifying my thoughts as a matter of course compounds all (but the anxiety).
Great Storyteller
Good storytellers are notoriously bad at diving into the technical weeds when in a grove. And sometimes in product management interviews, the listener wants those technical details. Without them, they think I can’t do the job.
The irony is that storytelling is my superpower when working with technical teams. But it takes teams a while to see this because they want things they don’t need to be successful (in many but not all cases).
Out of Our Control
Things we can’t control include:
Technical difficulties instigated from in our environment or in the interviewers environment
Think neighbor doing demo work. Or kids crying in the background.
Competition
You don’t know the experience of the other candidates, it can be really close.
Recency Bias of the Interviewer
Recency bias is the tendency to overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or the latest information we possess when estimating future events.
This can take the form of a bad hire or even just a bad interview with an unqualified candidate.
Composition of Team
Maybe they need diversity of thought or experience that you don’t have.
Changing Requirements at the Company
Often, companies learn that they are looking for the wrong things when the candidate who meets all their requirements is sitting in front of them.
I have had this happen to me 3 to 5 times in as many years.
What I Advise
There are a few things you can do to start tackling these problems:
Ask friends and family about your weaknesses
Ditto for co-workers
Reflect: Think about times things went wrong. What patterns can you identify?
Ask a coach for candid feedback.
Listen to others tell their stories.
Research options
What I Am Doing
Anxiety
The first step was identifying the problem. I am currently looking to get help from a doctor.
Speaking Fast
I use Poised to identify the speed of my speech.
For example: The last 2 weeks I have seen my speech speed up. I have identified 3 possible triggers and I am slowly trying to test and tackle each one. (There may be a product solution out there. I will update if it helps.)
Think Fast > Move Fast
This is an ongoing problem. Poised helps by telling me in real-time when I am getting too fast and using words that might lose my listeners.
Not Clarifying My Thoughts
Getting feedback from others. I take feedback from anyone. I have often gotten amazing feedback from people many years my junior because they are just point-blank identifying when they can’t follow my thought process.
Great Storyteller
This was a new revelation. I had no idea that most strong storytellers aren’t great with the technicals. Once I heard that general rule of thumb, I reflected on a particular interview I failed where they said: You were an amazing storyteller but they didn’t think you were strong on the technicals.
It is a first impressions thing.
I am currently working to watch the technical details when telling my PM stories.
I am also working on tangents. I try to self-identify and rely on my audience to help me.
If you made it this far, I hope this self-reflection helps you and inspires you to identify where your issues lie. Your problems might be the opposite of mine. Or there might be a small overlap.
Just to loop back to the top three types of problems:
Interview Only
Interview Accentuated
Technical Difficulties
In my case, very few (if any) of my problems are “interview only”. All my identified problems exist in other parts of my life. It might feel like the problems happen only in interviews, but if you dig a little deeper, you will find these issues exist elsewhere. So, tackling the problem outside of interview preparation will help you improve at both work and interviews.
Stage fright or performance anxiety is accentuated by interviews, but it isn’t the cause, and it isn’t the only place it shows up.
I would list interview-only problems as those related to the format of the interview. Compressed versions of the real-life experience. The format of questions is read differently by different people. The inconsistency of grading across interviewers. These are interview-only issues. Mastering the format, which is probably how you found me, is how you tackle those.
As for the technical difficulties, the solutions include planning, and when the unexpected occurs, don’t be afraid to tell the interviewer: No, actually, I don’t want to proceed until we can sort out this technical issue because if I can’t hear you, I can’t perform at my best. I so wish I had done that the last 3 times I had terrible connections during an interview.
