Today, at this computer, I sat down and set out to write an article about useful interviewing tips. Not because there aren’t enough articles on the subject. There are. But the ones that are circulated throughout the year tend to repeat the same things over and over again. They tell you the importance of preparing for the interview and in particular they list a series of very obvious things you should not do or say. They have titillating titles like, “10 Things You Should NEVER Do at An Interview!” Stuff like that.Like a sucker, I always click on them hunting for that hidden gem of a tip. But it’s always the same. They tell you a list that is as obvious as the “Grizzly Man” is dead. And somehow sensing the insult you perceive to your intelligence, they preempt your objections by saying something like, “You would besurprised at how many people actually DO these things!” To be fair, I’m sure people really do come to interviews wearing bib overalls, or chewing gum, or answer their cell phones during the meeting. But those people are idiots. Rare. Outliers. Those are not the kinds of people who are going to read an article about interview tips, anyway. They are freaks. So there’s no point in writing an article like that to help them out.
I was pondering the answer to this question the other day while I was doing bikram yoga in the dryer. And I had a thought: maybe there’s some psychological value to presenting people with a list of things they already know. Maybe it’s been proven that when you tell someone advice that they already know to be true, their self-confidence improves. And when you’re more self-confident, you are more likely to perform well in an interview. Right? So, maybe those articles are genius after all.
And if they’re genius, then why am I fighting this? Who am I to blow against the wind? I want to write genius articles too. I want to improve people’s self-confidence by telling them stuff they already know.
Feel better? More confident? Then my job is done here. Go into that interview and knock them dead!
You’re welcome.