It is the day of the interview, you turned up in good time and you have a plan, you have put your self in the interviewers’ shoes and worked out answers to all the questions they could possibly ask.

But, somehow despite all your preparation and your sparkingly polished shoes you still don’t get the job?

Be your own interview coach

Maybe you are thinking too rationally and expecting that the interviewer will be doing the same. This according to Jenny Rogers in her book Job Interview Success – Be Your Own Coach is the mistake that too many job candidates make.

Subjective not objective decision

Who is offered the job is often an emotional decision that is later justified with rational reasoning.

Jenny proposes that candidates should up-end the traditional theories of interview success of second guessing the potential questions and rehearsing answers, because this is a rational process that puts all the power in the hands of the recruiter.

Instead she suggests that candidates focus on understanding the emotional and psychological aspects of the selection process and developing the skills required to manage these aspects of the process.

Rational matching

With education of recruiters focusing on rational matching of candidates to job descriptions and personal profiles this may sound like an illogical stance to adopt. But as Jenny explains knowing what we know about human behaviour it makes sense to include management of these softer less tangible aspects of the interview relationship within your job hunting strategy.

Social Skills

As a candidate we need to be aware that our social skills play as important apart in the impression we create as the qualifications on our curriculum vitae or resume.

You have to think about the whole you, how you look, how you sound, how you smell even, and all impact the impression a recruiter has of you as a candidate and influence the decision that they will make about you.

Surprisingly Jenny says that this is not a skill that develops automatically with experience, and you are as likely to make as hash of it in the middle of your career as you are when you apply for your first job.