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Interview Even if You Don’t Want It

Written by Bernie

Bernie Frazier, SPHR is the Founder and President of CAREERCompass, LLC, a speaking and career coaching firm in St. Louis, MO. She also spent almost 25 years recruiting talent to six organizations across four industries and led the talent acquisition function for four of those organizations, including one global team.

Should I….shouldn’t I….should I….shouldn’t I?  There usually comes a time in most careers when you have to decide whether you should spend time interviewing for a position you really don’t want. 

My answer, yes you should! 

The recruiter side of me says, “Noooo, don’t waste my time!”  But, since I’m also a career coach, I must say yes, and here’s why: 

  1. If you are also interviewing for a job you do want, this could give you leverage should the company decide to make you an offer (“Well, I’m also interviewing for another position….”).

  2. Practice makes perfect.  For many, interviewing is one of the toughest parts of a job search because you can’t rewind, erase, or Control-Alt-Delete if you say or do something wrong. By working the kinks out of your interviewing skills during interviews that aren’t important to you, it’ll help to prepare you for those that are important.

  3. It could be a great way to network, particularly if you will meet with more than one person.  I had a number of instances in my recruiting career where the candidate wasn’t a good fit for my job, but because I was so impressed with them, I passed their information along to others for consideration.

  4. You may learn something about the job that you didn’t know before going in, and realize you might actually like the job.

Until next time….