Tips and Tricks for Nailing the General Interview: Remote Edition

The general interview is largely one that assesses a personality type and cultural fit for an organization. The point of a general interview, most of the time, is for an interviewer to understand who the candidate is, as a person, where they have been in life, what their life experiences have amounted to, and also how culturally competent the candidate is. Emotional intelligence and saving face during a general interview is highly important and critical for moving onto the next round and getting hired.

Because the nature of this type of interview is more broad—it might seem more relaxing and doable for candidates, but the open-endedness might pose as a double-edged sword—questions that are so broad invite a candidate to talk about whatever they want, but also risk a candidate exposing information that is not needed by the interviewer or information that hints at personality traits that might be undesirable for the position in question.

Personality traits and Meyers-Briggs

The Meyers-Briggs test has posed some controversy recently in terms of whether or not it is suitable to use for general interviews. Meyers Briggs personality types include the following keys:

• Extroverts— energized individuals who enjoy a variety of tasks, a quick pace, and are good at multitasking.
• Sensors— realistic people who like to focus on the facts and details They apply common sense and past experience to find practical solutions to problems.
• Thinkers— individuals that tend to make their decisions using logical analysis, objectively weighing pros and cons, and value honesty and consistency.
• Judgers— tend to be organized and prepared, and like to make and stick to plans. These individuals are comfortable following most rules.
• Introverts— like working alone or in small groups, prefer a more deliberate pace and like to focus on one task at a time.
• Intuitives— prefer to focus on possibilities and the big picture, easily see patterns, value innovation, and seek creative solutions to problems.
• Feelers— tend to be sensitive and cooperative, and decide based on their own personal values and how others will be affected by their actions.
• Perceivers— prefer to keep their options open, like to be able to act spontaneously, and like to be flexible with making plans.

While it might seem impossible for an interviewer to guess your personality type—that’s not really the point. The objective behind understanding some of these personality traits is that the interviewer is trying to gage which one(s) you might mark up closest to. When interviewers ask questions like “What prompted your interest in our organization?”, they are probably earnest about understanding what you like about the mission, but more importantly they are judging your tone about how you respond, and which life events you choose to answer what peaked your interest.

It’s important to understand that interviewers might picture the candidate they plan on hiring with attributes that evoke extroversion, perceiving qualities, and intuition, for example. Being honest with yourself before entering the general interview, and doing background research on which organizational personality style thrive in that setting, can really set up a qualified interviewer with confidence even before the videoconferencing begins.

Emotional Intelligence

Usually toward the end of general interviews comes the hard questions that are supposed to trip up interviewers and test how they deal with uncertainty in the workplace, and, even in the interview where they weren’t expecting a certain question. Maintaining an even tone of voice and saving face, are two important strategies for videoconferencing interviews. Interviews are supposed to look clean-slated, professional, embodying the type of appearance they would give off if hired for the position. Candidates who give off a certain negative affect in general interviews let the interviewers know that this candidate does not have a competitive EQ score.