Interview Style Inventory: Preparing people for the most important 60 minutes of a job search

Interview Style Inventory: Preparing people for the most important 60 minutes of a job search

John Liptak, Ed.D., Associate Director,Career ServicesRadford [email protected]

Statements from my students

“I don’t know what happened….I thought I did great in the interview”

“I’m not good at the research part…” “I don’t know why I can’t find a job” “I don’t think the interviewer liked me” “The interviewer didn’t give me a chance to

sell myself” “I’m not good at bragging about myself”

Facts About Employment Interviews

People who are effective in employment interviews utilize a variety of styles and skills to develop rapport with the interviewer.

Interviewees must understand their strengths, work to overcome their weaknesses, & adapt to what happens

Many different sets of communication behaviors are required.

Prospective interviewees need to be able to adapt their personalities to the stages of an employment interview.

Expert Advice

“The interviewer’s decision about whether you will be invited back for an additional interview will probably be influenced by your attitude and personality as much as your qualifications”

Graber, S. (2000). The everything get-a-job book. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation.

Stages of An Interview

Stage 1 (Preparation): Preparing for the interview mentally, researching organizations, formulating questions, and practicing answers to questions.

Stage 2 (First Impression): Developing rapport and forming a good impression, being spontaneous, optimistic, and energetic.

Stages of An Interview

Stage 3 (Passion/Skills Presentation): Passionately and convincingly present skills and qualifications, make sales pitch, and tell achievement story.

Stage 4 (Closing & Follow-Up): Listening for verbal and nonverbal cues of end of the interview, use people skills to close the deal, ask about process, and follow-up.

Purpose of the ISI

The ISI is designed to help people learn about and utilize their primary personality type in an interview, but also to integrate aspects of other personality types throughout the interview process to succeed in each stage.

Need for the ISI

The interview is the most complex and important aspect of the job search

Need for the ISI

A person’s preferred approach to employment interviewing is based on his/her personality type

Need for the ISI

The ability to match your personality type to that of the interviewer is a skill that can be learned

Personality Defined

A dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create a person’s characteristics patterns of behavior, thought, and feeling (Carver & Scheier, 2000).

A consistent way of behaving as a result of the interaction between temperament characteristics and social experience (Deckers, 2005).

Personality Types

Categories into which people can be classified to understand and explain human behavior patterns and predict future behavior.

The emergence of clear dominant and auxiliary functions gives our personality consistency and predictability.

Carl Jung – Sensing, Feeling, Thinking, and Intuiting

Take the ISI

ISI Interviewer Styles

I. ACHEIVER: You are action-oriented and hard working. You are very direct and often do not take no for an answer. You are self-motivated, confident, and persistent. You are respected by others because of your ability to get things done. You may have trouble getting to know people well. You have innate leadership qualities and tend to rise to the top in whatever you do. You are strong-willed and good at making decisions. You would rather achieve personal goals than please other people.


II. INTUITOR: You are highly intuitive about people and things. You are a good listener and genuinely care about other people and what they have to say, making you a good friend and confidante. You are easy to get along with but are not very forceful in dealing with others. You handle problems courteously and efficiently but prefer to keep a low profile and avoid conflict. You are very productive in your work, and find creative ways to solve problems. You often are not very flexible, thus you may fear change. You tend to be calm and collected in whatever you do.


III. ENERGIZER: You are adventurous, spontaneous, and unstructured. You are outgoing and tend to get along well with others, though you try to avoid confrontation. You like to engage in a variety of tasks and are open to change, but you are also impulsive and get restless or bored easily. You trust in your ability to improvise in any situation. You have a high energy level, but often need assistance in channeling this energy in constructive ways. You prefer working with people and do not want to be bothered with details or paperwork. You have limited organizational skills, but your enthusiasm makes you a good motivator.


IV. ANALYZER: You are very logical in all you do. You prefer to work with data and ideas and would rather work by yourself than as part of a group. You are willing to spend a great deal of energy to complete projects you have started; however, you often get bogged down in details and lose sight of the end results. You are often viewed by others as a deep thinker, and make decisions only after having all of the facts. You tend to be objective and unemotional. You value critical thinking and don’t often act on impulse.

Using Your Results (Step 4)

1) Identify your preferred style (aware) Strengths Weaknesses

2) Incorporate the strengths from other styles – explore all 4 styles

3) Work to improve aspects of your type

ISI Interview Styles & Jung Typologies/Keirsey Temperaments

NF = Intuitor (ENFJ, ENFP, INFJ, INFP) & Artisans

NT = Analyzer (ENTJ, ENTP, INTJ, INTP) &Rationals

SJ = Achiever (ESTJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, ISFJ) &Guardians

SP = Energizer (ESTP, ESFP, ISTP, ISFP) & Idealists

Adapting Personality to Interview Stages

STAGE 1: Preparation = Analyzer Research organizations Prepare questions to ask Practice responses Organizing Have facts and figures


STAGE 2: First Impression = Energizer Develop rapport Impression management Spontaneous Enthusiasm & Energy Sociability Uses stories and personal examples


STAGE 3: Passion/Skills Presentation = Achiever Shows passion Present qualifications/skills Sales pitch/Self-marketing Tell achievement story Action orientation Uses many examples


STAGE 4: Closing & Follow-Up = Intuitor Listening actively Watches for key signs and signals Thorough and prepared Finish interview gracefully Creative follow-up Balance patience and assertiveness

Group Activities

Break the group into smaller groups based on their strongest style on the ISI. Have them brainstorm things they can do to incorporate strengths from other types

Brainstorm a list of television characters that exhibit a personality style similar to those of the four types

Have members of the group role play an employer interviewing a person from each of the four types

Interview Style Inventory: Preparing people for the most important 60 minutes of a job search

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