Last week, I spoke to a job networking group about Improving your ROI (Return on Interviewing). Normally, you think of ROI as return on investment. Does it make sense to make an investment in your career? I think so.

Many of the people I talk with have difficulty with interviewing. They get nervous because of question format or the interview process. Panel interviews pose greater discomfort and behavioral questions are tougher to answer because you have to be a quick thinker in a stressful situation.

There are many ways to prepare for an interview. If you have a process that you use to answer questions, you will be more confident about your answers and it will be easier to develop a connection with the interviewer.

The concepts I will share take PRACTICE, lots of practice. You will not master question answering without practice.

I shared with the job networking group my process for helping clients develop their answers using the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). Using the HBDI helps clients to figure out:

  1. What is your natural style of interviewing?
  2. Do stressful situations affect your interviewing results?
  3. What filters do you have when listening and responding to questions?
  4. How do you make subtle changes to answers you give and questions you ask to be more impactful?
  5. How do you develop killer questions to demonstrate your interest or help you figure out if this is the right organization for you?
  6. How do you connect more quickly with your interviewer(s)?
  7. Why it is important to approach your interview differently?

Using the HBDI as an Interviewing Tool

The HBDI is based on four thinking quadrants. When you take the HBDI assessment receive feedback on where your thinking preferences are in steady state and in times of stress.

Your thinking preferences may vary in different situations and that can affect how you communicate during an interview. That’s important information to know and to factor into your return on interviewing. To get the most out of this process, you should know your personal HBDI assessment results and customize your approach, contact me if you are interested in working together.

HBDI - 4 F's

Need more information on the HBDI? Refer to: The HBDI Question Series: Part 1.

There are several ways to describe the HBDI quadrants, for interviewing, let’s focus on the Four F’s:

  • Facts – blue quadrant
  • Form – green quadrant
  • Feelings – red quadrant
  • Future – yellow quadrant

No matter who interviews you, the interviewer will be looking for you to answer and ask your questions from at least one, if not from all four quadrants. Ideally, you want to answer questions with a “whole brain” approach – touching each quadrant in your response. When asking questions, the goal is to ask one each quadrant too.

Putting Return on Interviewing into Action

During our Return on Interviewing session, I asked each person to write the questions that they remember being asked in an interview and the questions they ask during the interview. Based on what they knew of the HBDI model, identify what quadrant the question was coming from.

As an option, if they submitted their questions to me, I would use them in a post and respond to what quadrant the question was being posed from. In the next post, I’ll go over any questions I have received and offer some analysis and feedback on how the HBDI model can aid in your return on interviewing.