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During interviews, each answer can enhance or hinder your candidacy for the job. Employers often ask candidates about their other job search activities to gauge the candidates' attractiveness in the marketplace and aggressiveness in searching for a job, as well as who their competition might be when it comes time to make an offer. As this issue of Career Tips & Tactics illustrates, "Are you interviewing with anyone else?" is a nuanced question that should be considered thoughtfully prior to going into an interview. Author Ian Christie shares advice on how to answer this challenging question most effectively.
-- Jennifer Zaslow, editor, Career Tips & Tactics
Are You Interviewing with Anyone Else?
By Ian Christie
In the realm of executive and senior management interviewing, the questions "Are you interviewing with anyone else?" or "Who else are you talking to?" might come up during the course of your meetings with a prospective employer. Responding to your advantage requires forethought.
Your response strategy depends on two things: your audience and your market position. I can firmly recommend not lying. In my experience with thousands of executive interviews, lying very rarely pays off, and usually backfires.
Desirability Calculus
Once the executive recruiter or hiring executive gets comfortable with your ability to do the job, he or she unconsciously mixes all the variables together about your candidacy into a subtle mental calculus. Who you have worked for and with, the image you convey, your real or perceived network power, how fresh you are to the market, how selective you appear to be, and how much they perceive other companies will want you all factor into the analysis. The answer to this equation is how much of a hot commodity you are.
Crafting Your Response
How you respond to a question about other organizations you might be interviewing with can directly enhance or damage your desirability as a candidate. In order to manage this question well, you first need to understand what is going on inside the mind of each decision maker with whom you will interview.
When the Headhunter Asks
If you are a fit for their client's position, then a good search professional can be your ally in the process. Most headhunters would want to know that you are close to an offer with another opportunity rather than be surprised and embarrassed in front of their client at the 12th hour. This is not a way of putting pressure on the search, but rather keeping them informed so they can manage the process better. Indeed, if the client is really interested, the search process timetable may be adjusted so that they don't lose you to a competitive offer.
When the Hiring Company Asks
You will find that some executives and corporate cultures have an expectation that they are your first and, at the moment, only employment choice. They will be offended by any suggestion that you are talking to other firms. In most organizations, however, this will not be the case. The tips below can help you tailor responses according to interview context as well as your desirability in the job market.
- Interviewing with your target company: Be more selective in your response when you have taken a particular interest in a company. After managing to land an interview, one response would be "Of course, I am selectively exploring opportunities, but [Company Name] is a great fit, and you are my first choice." Be sure to state the reasons why.
- How fresh: You are most desirable when you are employed somewhere else and just starting to look or have just entered the market. This is when your value is greatest in the marketplace. "I am connecting with my network and starting to have meetings, but as I have just begun the process, you are the first opportunity I have looked at."
- When you have been unemployed for a period of time: Unfortunately, the longer you are unemployed, the less it helps the desirability calculus. You do not want to convey that no one else is interested. At the same time, sending a message that you are indiscriminately interviewing will equally hurt you. The best strategy is to convey that you are active, but being selective. "I have had a few opportunities, but I decided they weren't a fit. I am currently exploring X opportunities."
- Interviewing with a competitor: This is a special situation and you have to tread carefully. Assuming that you are qualified and they respect your company, you have immediate credibility. I recommend that if you are seeking to work with a competitor, you communicate that while you are exploring your options, you are not on every competitor's doorstep and that they are one of the few places you would work.
Alternatively, the culture of your industry and your market position may be so strong, that playing neutral is the best way to go. "Of course, I am examining my options to see where the best opportunity is for me to make a difference."
- Other offers: When you are close to another offer, it can pay to be totally forthcoming – after they have indicated they want to move you forward in the process. The trick is in how you convey the message. Do not use the offer as an obvious lever. Rather, say "Yes, actually, I am close to an offer with another company. At the same time, this opportunity is interesting because ______."
Be Selectively Active!
How you respond can go a long way toward influencing your desirability as a candidate. In most cases, savvy candidates communicate and convey the impression that they are active in the market, but in a very selective way. Following-up your response to this question with some really good reasons why this specific opportunity is a good fit is a great way to solidify your candidacy.
Ian Christie founded BoldCareer.com to help individuals boldly manage their careers. A career coach, entrepreneur, former senior director at Monster.com and former retained executive search consultant, Ian is a recognized expert in the career and recruitment fields, with many published articles and media interviews.
Thank you's count. Nearly 15% of hiring managers say they would not hire someone who failed to send a thank-you letter after the interview, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey. Nearly one-third (32%) say they would still consider the candidate, but would think less of him or her. Although most hiring managers expect to receive a thank-you note, format preferences differ. One in four hiring managers prefer to receive a thank-you note in e-mail form only, while 23% prefer just a handwritten note. About one-fifth of respondents want either an e-mail followed up with a hard copy (19%) or a typed hard copy only (21%). Regardless of format, timeliness matters. One-quarter (26%) of hiring managers expect to have the letter in-hand two days after the interview, and 36% expect to have it within three to five days.
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