Shooting the Career Bullseye:
Three Tips on Navigating Multiple Job Interviews
Interviews By Isaiah DeLong
Purdue Fort Wayne Student and KB Search Team Recruitment Intern
$20 to Flip Burgers???
In today’s job market, demand for quality employees is higher than ever. Whenever I’m driving around town, my eyes are bombarded with “WE’RE HIRING” signs and jobs that are now paying $5-10 more than the pre-COVID rates. If you had told me 5 years ago that one of the local McDonalds in my hometown would be hiring part-time shift managers for $20 an hour, I would have said you were nuts.
For management, the pool of talent is smaller than ever, and recruiters and HR professionals are wading where there were Olympic sized pools of candidates before. It’s like putting your kid in a sandbox with his favorite toy truck. However now, there are 15 other kids with him in the pit and trust me they all want that truck for themselves.
The struggle isn’t just for the HR world and recruiting though. Due to the high demand, many candidates are now up to their necks in job offers, putting them in a pickle where there they may have too many options to choose from. Thus, I thought it would be useful to put together a list of three different things that a candidate can do when maneuvering and navigating multiple interviews to hopefully exit with the job offer of their dreams.
Inquire Before Hire
During any interview or correspondence between the company/recruiter and yourself, look to ask quality questions that can help you learn about the company and its culture. Many people when researching multiple job offers don’t take the time to study each job by itself. Instead, jobs and companies can get mushed together making it hard to keep details straight.
If you’re prone to getting confused like this, try to research each company’s website and the background behind the job opening separately. Take notes on your findings and record any questions that may pop up in your research.
- Was there a major leadership change or company buy-out recently?
- Was the person in the job before promoted or fired?
- How does this job relate to your current/past job positions?
- What is the career history for their leadership team?
Try to use social media outlets like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook to look at the company’s socials. Many times, companies will post celebrations, promotions, etc. on their media outlets. For some, company culture being either laid back or professional can be a determining factor in whether a company may seem like the right fit. Asking the right types of questions when doing your research is a great first start into determining whether a company or job offer seems appealing to you.
The Silent Interview Killer
During the course of an interview, words will be thrown back and forth between parties but something that many people don’t realize is that the words that aren’t said are just as important as the ones that are.
Most people have heard about the idea of nonverbal communication and the importance of nodding, smiling, and other active listening skills. Facial expressions and non- verbal signs can show the interest a company may have in your talents and their intent to hire. For example, if your interviewer is smiling and nodding to the points made in your discussions, this may show a genuine interest in what is being said. However, if he is looking around the room and keeps interrupting when you’re speaking, it may mean that he/she is less interested and instead more concerned about what they are eating for lunch.
But wait! There still may be a chance to save yourself! I know from my own experience it is important to give the interviewer the benefit of the doubt that they are just having a bad day. It is also important to have a quick go-to story or illustration that you can go to draw the listener back in. Many times if you are able to reel the interviewer back in, you can save your chances and leave the interviewer with a more memorable experience.
The Promise to be Honest
Of all the tips that I could have put down in this article and decided to list, this one is by far the most important one of all. When receiving a job offer, many individuals would be tempted to just take the highest paying offer, the flashiest deal, or the one with the company that everyone has heard of. In all reality these can sometimes be the best offers to take in. But at the end of the day, I believe to really enjoy your work, you need pick the offer in which you see yourself succeeding and doing your best work. You may get paid twice as much in one position or have more PTO in another but are you going to be happy in that job? Choose a job that will make you excited to get to your desk in the morning and satisfied when you leave. Psychology studies show that when an individual is passionate about their work, job retention rates skyrocket. Cultures may change and companies come and go but people will always be happier doing what they love.
The Closing Shift
Finding a job is hard. Really hard. Even in this market where you can feel like an item up for auction, getting the position that will really make you feel important and essential to the business can seem overwhelming. It’s never a good idea to accept an offer and then back out. Doing so costs both you and the company time and money that could have been used elsewhere in more productive means.
There is no set rule to find the perfect job and no wand that you can wave to procure the dream job. Hopefully using the tips and tricks in this article, you will be able to pick the right job for you all while hitting the mark on the first try.
Some Other Great Articles to Check Out:
Indeed Editorial Team. (2021, March 29). How to handle multiple job interviews: Steps and Tips. How To Handle Multiple Job Interviews: Steps and Tips. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/interviewing/multiple-job-interviews
Hays US. (2021, February 11). 6 steps to dealing with multiple job offers. 6 Steps to dealing with multiple job offers. Retrieved September 19, 2022, from
https://www.hays.com/blog/insights/6-steps-to-dealing-with-multiple-job-offers