Jobless Corner

2. Getting Stifled

After going through the huddle of getting caught in a lie during an interview yesterday, today we shall look at what happens when you get stifled during an interview and if this has never happened to you just read on, you never know when it might happen.

It’s not very nice, but it’s certainly not unknown for interviews to start with a deliberate attempt to unsettle you by causing you to lose your temper.

The interviewer is armed with your CV and even a quick glance may provide a pressure point that will cause you to react. A candidate who realises he has raised his voice, when his interviewer has not, may struggle to regain his composure.

“The interviewer will put you under pressure to see how you react. Once you see that it is what they are driving at, try to keep calm,” says Mr Mitchell, of leadership consultants DDI.

For some interviewers, the choice of weapons may be something mildly insulting.

Apprentice Lucinda’s grilling started with “frankly, you are unemployable”. And Alex was nonplussed to be told early on that he was boring. But some interviewers in the real world may use something a little bit stronger to really spice up the start of proceedings. It is frowned upon in the world of recruitment, but it still goes on.

“It is absolutely not the way they should go,” says Mr Mitchell. “It is offensive to the candidate, it is bordering on illegal.

“It is legitimate to put people under a certain amount of pressure. There is a line over which it is difficult to see the validity and usefulness of crossing. No badgering and bullying.”

While it may be tempting to make a principled stand and stop the interview, the best course of action is to stay clear, calm, realise what your tormentor is trying to do - and no matter how strange it may seem, answer the question as best you can.

Thats it for today, come back for more tomorrow and in case you missed out on yesterdays article, you can read about it here.