Interviewee Protocol
Not only that, but the biggest challenges came from right here at the WF, with people that I sourced on a thread and contacted through PM, so I thought I'd post my thoughts on how to handle being asked for an interview.
After all, chances are many of you will be asked to do an interview at some point if you're good at what you do... so I want you to be prepared.
Here were the challenges:
1. Email "Interviews" Only
This one was more interesting than annoying, but two of the people I approached for an audio interview said they would only do it if it was an "email interview".
Of course, being an audio-based product, that wouldn't work.
I did appreciate the willingness to offer an alternative on their terms, but I just wanted to point out that an "inter-view" is, literally, an exchange of views. That can't be accomplished by sending a list of questions to someone, which is a "questionnaire", not an "interview". (Same thing with reading a list of questions over the phone).
An interview has to be a live exchange... and the only way to do that would be by sending one question, then getting the answer, then sending a follow-up question, and so forth.
And... well, of course, you can't really take an email script and make it into an audio.
So I'm sure it was just a polite way to say no, but I was intrigued that I got that answer twice.
2. Mind Changers
I had two people originally say yes, and then change their mind because they didn't want to reveal their strategies after all, or wanted to stay out of the spotlight.
Okay, everybody has the right to change their mind... but when it happens after the interviewer has already started researching you, it can be more than a little frustrating.
So please, don't say yes unless you're sure you want to do it!
3. No-Show
Alright, this one really gets to me. I don't recall ever having a no-show before that didn't come back with huge apologies, and either reschedule, or offer to do so.
One Warrior confirmed an interview, then didn't show up once. I contacted him through PM, and he was having technical difficulties. Okay, so I can deal with that... we went back and forth trying to pick a time that would work for both of us, and finally locked down a new time that he confirmed and said he was looking forward to.
On the second attempt to interview him, he just didn't show. I sent him numerous PMs and emails, right away and over the next several days, to see if something had happened, or if he had just changed his mind... I just wanted an answer.
But I got NOTHING! NO answer, no reply, no explanation. And that was 4 days ago.
Now, I'm sorry, but that's really unprofessional. Sure, he wasn't being paid to do the interview, but he was going to get promotion out of it.
All in all I spent several hours researching his tactics, reading his ebooks and his articles; and then I spent a total of 45 minutes between the two times I was waiting for him on the phone line.
Oh yeah, and more time to keep monitoring my WF PM in case he tried to contact me, and monitoring the phone system in case we figured the time change wrong and he dialed in at another time.
I think it's really disrespectful to completely disregard someone else's time that way, and I hope no one else reading this would ever do something like that.
If you are tempted... please remember this post, and think twice about it. A simple email with, "Hey, I'm really sorry, but I changed my mind" is better than a no-show, even though, as I said in #2, that can be frustrating too.
But nothing is more annoying than a no-show!
As for the people that I did interview, they were all fantastic and shared great information. So I'm happy with the outcome, even though it was a rocky road getting there.
Thanks for letting me share!
Heather
My other blog