Interviewing is hard.

Luke Perkins, Partner & Executive Creative Director
NORTH Portland, Oregon

Interviewing is hard. Being interviewed is hard and interviewing someone is hard. No matter if it’s your first time or your twelfth time. Tension is high as a lot is on the table. You want the job and I need the best person for the job.

I’m not always the nice guy.

I’ve probably interviewed hundreds of people in my life — held someone’s future in my hands if you will. That said, if I let you in on a little secret, I haven’t been trained by a consultant on how to interview people, haven’t completed some interview expert course, and I myself have only interviewed for a handful of jobs in my career.

When ABC came to film me and fellow NORTHie Ashod Simonian for their Job or No Job show I started to really question what I actually knew about interviewing someone. Worse yet I was a bit worried that I might come across like Donald Trump the great actor who used to be on The Apprentice.

I think this is one of his better characters.

“Don’t ever hire someone that you wouldn’t want to have a beer with”

Anyway, as filming for the show started I remembered what a former boss, Ron Lawner, told me “Don’t ever hire someone that you wouldn’t want to have a beer with”. That’s a good lesson in hiring someone. Oh and they need to have some real talent. Those two things will get you the job, but here are other things to keep in mind to ace the interview.

Listen.

Tell a good (quick) story about yourself.
I am interested in where you grew up, what you like to do, where have you traveled? I am always looking to hire a good storyteller.

Be interesting.

Be interested.

Know how to present your work (and/or yourself).

There you go. Do these things and don’t forget to have fun. It’s just your future after all.