Do Research; Don't Become Mr. Know-it-all

Remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons? They were a wonderful part of my growing up. There was a part of the show where Bullwinkle took on the persona of “Mr. Know-it-all,” and Rocky watched in dismay as Mr. Know-it-all tried to demonstrate something and always made a mess of it. Every time Mr. Know-it-all demonstrated how to do something he ended up learning a much harder lesson.

This is true for job seekers and people interviewing for a new job. There is a point where you need to research a company and learn what you can about the products, the market, competitors and get a feel for the company. The goal here is to become familiar with the company and its external persona or presence. This will help the job seeker or interviewee to be more confident and comfortable during the interview.

Some folks take it a little too far, however. The feel anxious about the interview and the lack of control one has in the whole process and they attempt to exert some “wisdom” into the interview. The take the opportunity to show the interviewer all they know about the company, to show off a little. And like Mr. Know-it-all they end up on their backside, stars twirling around their head, wondering what happened.

I remember one candidate who chose the end of the interview to ask me questions about the company, demonstrating to me his knowledge and insight into our company. He started off by quoting the current stock price and pointing out the fact that the price had dropped 14%. Then he asked what I personally was doing to change that trend. I was the company’s head of Quality at the time, therefore, everything I personally did was focused on the betterment of the company, and I said that and ended the interview with, “Well we’re out of time. Someone will be in touch with you regarding next steps.” 
I’m still not sure how pointing out that my personal wealth was down 14% was going to make me see him as a good fit. We didn’t hire him. But, I believed that he had done his homework about the company.

I’m not a big fan of candidates asking questions in the first interview anyway, but being familiar with our product and understanding what I was referring to when I went over the company and our products would have been a better approach. Nobody likes a show-off or a Mr. Know-it-all and this is very much the case in an interview. Do research and be prepared to respond to the interviewer’s questions. That will show them just what they need to know about you and how you may fit into their company. Next time we’ll go over the two phases of a job search: getting the offer first and then analyzing the offer second.