The Most Nervous Person in the Room

“The words ‘job interview’. . .are a red flag.  Danger ahead.  Our instinctual brain causes us to react before we have analyzed the threat. Overthinking whips us into a state of constant anxiety and stress in the days leading up to . . . a job interview. . .” – upliftrecruitment.au, March 2025 

In this article I hope to give you ways to help defuse some of that anxiety in your clients. A proven approach is to complete the phrase in the title above, but with an unexpected, and stress-relieving answer. Here it is: the most nervous person in the room is the interviewer.

Explain your words by tracing how every position is created. It all starts when an employee sees the need for a collection of knowledge, skills, abilities, and passions. These are often approximated by a job title. Let’s explore this with an example:

As the vice president of sales from my company, I’m convinced we need a new district sales manager. I’ve done my homework. But I can’t advertise the position or begin to interview candidates. That’s because it’s not my money to make this hire. It’s the company’s money.

So I must go down the hall to my boss. Only she can approve the funding. And in the back of my mind I remember she has hiring and firing power over me. Here’s how the conversation plays out:

“Boss, I’ve been thinking this out and I would so appreciate your enthusiastic support to allow me to hire a new district sales manager.”

I know the next words I will hear: “We can’t afford that!”

If I’m going to leave this meeting with my credibility intact I can only give her one answer. And it’s the answer that underlies every hiring decision made.

“Boss, I’m so confident about this I’m going to give you my personal pledge: the next district sales manager I hire will make our company a lot more money than it takes for me to find her, hire her, and retain her!”

I now have instant approval. And I have just signed up to be the primary interviewer. 

But I’m worried. I see district sales managers in other companies who are not very good at what they do. And I think someone just like me chose that person as the best in a field of eligibles. If he could make that mistake so could I. 

My boss and I know the cost of replacing an individual is roughly equal to three times the annual salary. Since that number is roughly $90K in the United States, any mistake I make will cost more than a quarter of a million dollars. No wonder I’m the most nervous person in the world!

But what a great opportunity for our clients if we expand their view. It is so natural for them to concentrate on themselves. But suppose we told them each interview is a great opportunity to help the very person who may get them hired.

This requires us to rise well above the toxic folklore to be seen everywhere, particularly in social media channels. You’ve seen those lists of the top 25 (or is it 75?) interview questions. The suggestion is salvation lies in knowing all those questions. All job seekers must do is memorize each question, associate it with the “correct” answer, and respond fluently and flawlessly, no matter in what sequence they appear or which words the interviewer uses! 

It never occurs to thousands what it would have to take for those lists to be true. Even then, the approach is impossible. The authors suggest they coordinated with thousands of hiring officials in every career field and industry you can imagine and got all of them to agree not only on the questions but on the answers as well. 

But there is a much more powerful and successful approach, limited to a single question our clients must remember! Our clients must get the hiring official to tell them what keeps them up at night when it comes to their specialty. 

After all, all our clients are hired as problem solvers. By asking the question, they give themselves and the hiring official opportunities to explore issues most important to both of them.

I also remind my clients of something I am vain enough to call Orlando’s First Law of Employment when they deal with a company:

Everything you see

Everything you hear

Is condoned or encouraged by the leadership

Without exception!

If my client gets a general answer, it shows the interviewer doesn’t know what the biggest question is. And he’s already employed! If my client took this job, he would get no guidance and be set up to fail.

Fortunately, most interviewers can describe the problem. That puts both interviewers and applicants on very comfortable ground.

Here is where our clients prove their value. They tell the interviewer which problem they solved, how they did it, what the results were, and if there’s any particular context. Thanks to you, they will be very comfortable because you spent considerable time getting just that information, in just that order, as you put together their résumé and LinkedIn profile.

There is only one correction we need to make. Most job seekers, when they tell these stories, do so chronologically. That makes sense. That’s the way we live our lives. But when interviewers hear extended streams of background information first, they lose interest fast. So we remind our clients to always put the bottom line at the top.

Let me give you an example drawn from a recent résumé. Here’s how that story appeared:

  Finding Potential Others Missed    

Payoffs: Retained top performer who reacted very emotionally to hiring event he thought worked against him. Made time to listen – really listen – to his concerns. Soon recognized the stress of the moment was more than offset by his years of service. Kept $4M contract on course.

Now let’s listen in to the interview: 

Interviewer: “Can you tell me about a time you had to deal with a demanding employee?”

My client: “I’ll give you the details in a moment. But here’s the bottom line: I retained a valuable team member when others urged me to fire him. 

When I had to reorganize my division, one of my team members became irate. Because he had always been so capable, I made time to really listen to his concerns. 

I soon realized he’d misinterpreted what I said. By keeping him on my team, everybody won. We continued to benefit from all we had invested in him. He felt his ideas counted. We both saw the need to think things through before we acted.

More often than we would like, some interviewers ask questions which are unclear. In that case, I suggest my clients answer those questions just as most US presidents conduct press conferences. They answer the question the interviewer should have asked, not the question they did ask.

The clients’ brand we both worked so hard to sharpen carries the day. I remind clients to fold in those brand elements in the interview. Those are things my client promises to demonstrate to the target company from day one. Here they are for the client I just described:

• Guide entry into new markets fast
• Transform change from threat to opportunity
• Think and act strategically
• Find potential others miss
• Maintain a healthy work setting

Please notice this provides the answer to the most critical question clients will ever encounter: “Why should we hire you?”

Many applicants focus on what they did in the past. That focuses on things done for other companies months and years ago. It’s backward looking. 

But the intent of the question was focused on the company’s future. The question could have been posed this way: “What will you do to help our company prosper?” That’s very much forward looking.

This approach gives our clients confidence in three ways. First, it reminds them how capable they are. 

Second, we should remind clients when companies ask them to interview, they think our clients are qualified. Why would firms ever interview someone they would never consider hiring? 

Finally, we should point out our clients interview several times every day on the job! The boss says: “Jim, we have a problem.” Jim asks what the problem entails. There is a brief discussion. Then Jim works to resolve the difficulty. That is an interview! And it is directly related to job performance! Interviewing is something our clients already know they are good at. 

Now I hope you have the tools you and your clients need so they see themselves, truly, as the most confident person in the room!