Interviewing 101 INTERVIEWING 101

I went to my first interview in an office building of 10 stories where one of the tenants was a prominent insurance company. I approached the interview feeling dead from the neck down as I was terrified of this meeting, never having been interviewed before. A friend had told me that the man who was to interview me was the son of the owner of this insurance company and with God’s sense of humor his name was Mr. Able. That thought only added to my trepidation.

The first thing Mr. Able said to me was that we were both people, and therefore I had no reason to be nervous. He went on to say that he did not have my destiny in his hands, which I found fascinating. Mr. Able told me that I knew more on some subjects than he did, just as he knew more on some than I did. Therefore, we were both qualified to meet each other.

My very first interview was the basis of being interviewed for the remainder of my working life.

In the minutes that followed, I was relaxed and extremely interested in anything else he might say. Mr. Able told me that I should think in terms of how I judged the person with whom I was interviewing. That thought had never occurred to me.

Not being frightened has an incredibly positive effect on those conducting the interview as they can relax as well. Later, while I thought about what had transpired, one statement stood out in my mind, “I think you have something in mind that would benefit the running of this company, but you are waiting for the proper time to bring this idea to your…