As a Professional Recruiter for the last 25 years I’ve spent much of my time preparing candidates to successfully interview and secure a career opportunity. We cover it all; How to prepare mentally, How to prepare physically (standing up on a telephone interview, etc.) How to ask insightful questions to uncover the true client need and most importantly, how to ensure you communicate at a highly effective level (truly understand what they’re asking and they understand precisely what you’re saying). With that in mind it could be said I’m an “expert” in the art of interviewing. That said it makes it even harder to admit I myself fell into some of the most common interview traps when I was recently interviewed for an article, "IT Labor Shortage or Not, Gaps Remain" in Baseline Magazine.

This was the third interview I’d conducted by I.T. and Employment periodicals in recent weeks where we discussed my thoughts and opinions about the state of the I.T. employment marketplace and the trends and dynamics driving it. Like most professionals I began somewhat tentative but gained confidence as we moved through the interviews. By the second interview I was answering questions with great candor and somewhat “off the cuff.” What I had forgotten are the two golden rules of interviewing. Don’t answer a question until you fully understand what they’re truly asking and more important still; make absolutely sure you qualify your own answers to ensure they understand precisely what you’re saying.

Much to my chagrin I didn’t heed my own advice. The result? Statements like: “There’s a dearth of real talent in the IT management world, and the reason for that is that the best IT pros tend to stay out of management.” What I actually said was that there was a chasm between the present need for talented IT Managers and the existing Management Talent. The cause I explained was that for many years (1989 to 2002/2003 specifically) most IT pros refrained from moving into management because they were concerned they would lose their marketability if they lost their “technical skills.” Were my comments taken out of context? Yes. Was I “misquoted?” Yes. Is this essentially what happens during the debrief and decision making process after you interview with a potential employer? Absolutely yes. Decisions are made about you, your skills, motivations, etc. based not on reality but on assumptions based on perceptions gained through your answers to the Interviewers questions.

The moral of the story is that to succeed in the interview process we must assure we understand and our understood. Best summed up by David Byrne and The Talking Heads; “Same as it ever was, Same as it ever was.”