The Screening Interview

I had my first interview yesterday for a training position at WageWorks. In doing research on the company I found it to be a strong, well-respected company and a highly favorable one to work for. This first interview was a screening interview done on the phone. It took about 35 minutes and consisted of a lot of "Tell me about a time when you . . ." questions. These are typical questions screeners use to find out (in my opinion) 2 main things: Your preparation and your ability to think quickly.

To prepare for this phone interview, I researched the company on the web by visiting their website. This was a good place to start but a company website will ALWAYS favor the positive so to really learn more about WageWorks, I looked at other Google search results and found that the company was referred to and quoted by organizations like the LA Times and a US Congress related blog called "The Hill". I was unable to find anything negative about them at all, which is a great sign, especially considering WageWorks is a national company with offices in several states.

I also prepared by anticipating the types of questions the screener would ask. Back to those "Tell me about. . ." questions. I considered key situations from my past positions that would demonstrate my abilities to train individuals, work with difficult situations/people, and anything else that I've done that might be considered innovative or interesting.

As I mentioned above, screeners also want to see how quickly you can think. This is obvious because they don't send you the scripted questions they are going to ask you ahead of time. They want to keep you on your toes. I've conducted screening interviews before and asking these questions made it very easy to determine who had prepared and who had not. In one particular interview, I asked "What would be your ideal work environment?" The person on the phone paused a long time, which would not have necessarily been a bad thing except for the response that followed the pause: "Uhhhhh, well. I don't really think. . .uhhhh, I guess I don't know really." My response, "Ok, thank you for your time. Click!"

I'm happy to report that the interview went very well as far as I can tell. At the end of the interview, the screener gave me the opportunity to ask questions. I've learned in the past that you should ALWAYS take advantage of this time. You are interviewing the employer as much as they are interviewing you. By asking questions you demonstrate initiative and genuine dedication to the process. The following are the questions I asked:

1. When do you plan to fill this position? I asked this to understand what the next steps would be and how much time I can anticipate the process to take. He told me the hiring manager would be coming to AZ in the next 2-3 weeks and that the next step would be to schedule a panel interview.
2. How long have you worked at WageWorks and what has your experience been like so far? I asked this because I feel certain most interviewees don't ask it and it allowed me to get a non scripted, honest answer from the interviewer. He said he'd been there a month and had really enjoyed working with the people on his team. He felt the company was strong because it had grown even in the worst part of the recession, and that there was an overall good feeling at the company. Sounds positive to me.

It's a good start and whether it materializes into anything or not, I'm glad I had the opportunity. It was good practice and it was also very motivating. Nice to talk about work related things again.

Keep Moving Forward!