My New Favorite Television Show, The Job Interview on CNBC

Many of you that know me, I am not a TV junky, but I have to admit I am hooked on this new CNBC Show, and you should be too, whether you are a candidate looking for a new position, or you are the hiring manager. There are gems in this show for all. To summarize the show - Its real people, going on real interviews for real jobs. And just like in life not everything works out even when a candidate says yes to the verbal offer. But I am getting ahead of myself. To quote CNBC "The Job Interview" takes an inside look at the world where the words you say, the clothes you wear, and even the expression on your face can mean the difference between success and failure. 

So why am I hooked on a show where the average salary that is being offered is about $40,000 per year, and 99% of the positions are not “professional”; the way I am defining professional requiring licenses, college degrees or even advance degrees as most of you have. The reason is that the same mistakes that are made by a person seeking a lower level position are the same mistakes,  or blunders that a professional will make. But the biggest take away is the candidates have no idea how they performed during the interview process. But an outsider, defined as television viewer clearly does see the faux pas.

So what can we take away from this observation? You need to be extremely “on”. You cannot let your guard down at all through the interview process. From the moment you exchange pleasantries until the final shaking of the hand. The interviewers on this show are very proficient at what they do. They ask very thought provoking questions that are meant to take the candidates out of their comfort zone. By becoming a student while watching these shows weekly you will start to hone your own interview skills. This will apply whether you are a candidate, or the hiring manager. Candidates have the habit of verbalizing one thing but when it comes to demonstrating their capabilities they are completely different. This show applies actual scenarios in real time to test ones capabilities at all levels. For example on one recent show they had an executive looking for his new assistant, and they gave them a list of activities that the executive does every day. The candidate had to prioritize the activities,  and then schedule the entire day. The candidate got so overwhelmed that they forgot to schedule lunch and the picking up of his daughter. Needless to say the interview was promptly concluded and they got in the elevator with the doors closing as you heard “going down”, a great metaphor for how they did in the interview

The last point I want to drive home is by watching this show you will learn to self analyze your own performance at a higher level. When you see the mistakes that are made, you will be more cognizant of how you handle interviews. And if you’re a hiring manager you will get to see if the candidate does in the end accept and start their new position. So far it looks like only 65% of those candidates that the firm makes offers to actually start. This I believe (which is off camera) is a matter of meeting everyone’s compensation expectations, a point to be well aware of during your pre-screening.

About Harlan Friedman, JD., Partner & Head of Capital Markets Recruiting Practice, Novum Group. Harlan is a thirty year veteran Public Finance Banker turned recruiter who specializes in the placement of all level Investment Bankers, Health Care Bankers & Advisors, Municipal Financial Advisors, Compliance Officers, FinOps and Bond Counsels. He can be reached at harlan@novumgroup.com or 760-477-1284