Endurance for the Marathon Interview

Google and other tech companies are known for their tough interviews. Less than half the job candidates who interviewed at the search giant and Amazon rated it a positive experience in Glassdoor’s list last summer of the most demanding interviews.

That’s where a U.S. News & World Report article about succeeding in marathon interviews could come in handy. Career coach Miriam Salpeter’s best advice could well be to go in well rested. The advice is the same as for the First Daughters during their father’s speeches: “The last thing you want is yawning.”

She also suggests active listening as the day wears on to keep your mind focused and to watch your body language, avoiding signs of fatigue. While interviewing with a whole “committee” of folks at once can be daunting, interviewing with them one by one can be likewise.

An engineering candidate told Forbes that all seven interviewers at Facebook asked the same question: Why Facebook? Imaging having to explain yourself seven times.

Salpeter, too, recommends telling stories to highlight your accomplishments:

If you need to address many people’s needs and explain your skills and accomplishments to a variety of stakeholders, you’ll need to be prepared with a slew of examples of how, when, and where you used the skills the company will need from you in the job in question.

She also recommends finding that “just right” amount of explanation in your answers, not drawing them out unnecessarily. If you’ll think about all the marathon meetings you’ve ever be in, you’ll recall that all that extra jawing was the reason they lasted so long.