Dispatches from the Castle

A friend recently shared his perspective on a recent interview experience. He was particularly unsure of how to correctly answer the question of, “are you interviewing with others and do you have any offers?”

Used to gauge interest

This question is theoretically trying to gauge your interest in the job, your competitiveness as a candidate and your level of commitment to the company.  As both an interviewer and interviewee, I hate this question. By asking this question, this way, the interview quickly becomes awkward and uncomfortable.

Specifically, as an interviewer, I know I’m not getting the answer to the question I really want to ask, which is, “if we think you’re the best person for the job are we possibly going to lose you to another organization.”

Since I seem to be in the minority in this space and interviewers almost add this on as an afterthought to all interviews, my traditional answers are below. Now, obviously, this is career field dependent and there may be other factors involved, so take that into consideration when reviewing my usual answers.

Suggested Answers

If I am interviewing with other companies, I usually say something like, “My skills and experience are sought after and I am engaged in the interview process with a few other organizations. Ultimately, I’m looking for the best fit for my career goals in a supportive organization that has room for me to continue to grow as a leader and advance my skills.” You may want to bring it back to this particular position by customizing the bolded words if the interviewer asks this question to gauge how quickly they need to move in an offer to you. Use the other clues from the interview and any timeline they discussed.

On one hand, this response lets you indicate you are competitive and may make you more desirable to the interviewer and organization but it could also backfire, which is why I also advise to never lie.

If I am not interviewing with other companies, my typical answer is,  “I am actively seeking an opportunity that aligns with my career goals in a supportive organization that has room for me to continue to grow as a leader and advance my skills.” Again, customize the bolded words as you can to bring it back to the position and organization.

I hope this helps!

Bonus advice

When asking questions of the interview, find a way to ask a question along the lines of how important it is to you that this role be taken by someone with [skill you have such as eye for details, ability to manage multiple projects, etc.], ideally before the interview asks about other interviews.

As a hiring manager, if your resume and cover letter make it past the algorithm, I want to see that you can write. I want to learn more about why my organization over anywhere else is where you want to work. I want to see if your skills are a good fit beyond what your resume indicates.

That means I actually read your cover letter.

A supervisor once explained it to me this way: “I can teach a candidate how to use the tools to do the job, but I can’t teach the candidate how to write, get along with people or be curious.”

In a successful cover letter — that starts with why this job and this organization specifically — you are telling me you are not only looking for the title associated with the position but at my organization, which makes me curious and inclined to look closer at what you would bring to the role.

Here’s Why You Should Always Include a Cover Letter

1. You can show your potential employer what kind of employee you are.

Writing well is a skill that takes time, practice and a dedicated process. Often this tells me quickly what kind of employee the applicant may be. If the cover letter is full of run-on sentences, rife with typos and other mistakes, it will give me pause and make me look closer at other performance indicators.

A rushed cover letter isn’t an outright dealbreaker, but it does tell me the candidate didn’t take the time to proofread.

2. It’s a chance to brag about yourself.

A cover letter is an opportunity to showcase big wins and provide additional details about how and why you are the best person to do the job you are applying to do. If you can quantify this information, do so. Being able to share numbers even in a generalized way indicates you are able to quantify your work.

Use the space to highlight objectives achieved and goals accomplished with specifics. Providing details on the results of your work, even if you only had a small part in an overall project tells me you care about what happens after your work leaves your hands.

Better yet, tell me how you impacted your current employer and your designated goals and objectives. Did a process change because you observed an issue? Did you catch a small error before it turned into a bigger error? Did your work help your organization achieve a goal on time and on budget?

3. You get to prove that you’re the right person to join this team.

With your cover letter, you also have the opportunity to indicate you would be a good team and culture fit. My favorite cover letters tell me how the candidate made their current organization, team or process better. Maybe you revamped the script you use when answering the phone to be more conducive for routing the calls to the right person more quickly. Maybe you initiated a task tracking system for yourself or your team to better keep track of who is working on what, when. You have likely done more than your job description and a cover letter is a great time to expound on those job duties.

How to Write a Cover Letter Every Hiring Manager Wants to Read

At a loss for how to start crafting a cover letter hiring managers want to read? Find your current job description or rewrite your current job description.

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