How will you fare in a 140-second job interview?

Mar 16, 2013

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If I were to answer my own question, I would have to say “not very well!” As someone reasonably active on Twitter, I consider myself eloquent enough to communicate my thoughts and opinions in 140 characters or fewer. But a 140-second job interview That’s another matter!

Some of you may have heard that over the past two weeks Pizza Hut, headquartered in Plano, Texas, conducted interviews for the position: Manager of Digital Greatness. The candidates were informed ahead of time that the length of the interviews would be limited to 140 seconds. Here is a snapshot of the job posted on their Facebook page.

So, is this a sign of the times? Some of us who hold sales and marketing roles are familiar with the concept of an elevator pitch. However, the prospect of being hired or even short-listed for a job based on a personal elevator pitch is daunting. Having said that, it is quite clear that for certain types of jobs, social and digital media knowledge is becoming an important yardstick.

If you go by the job posting from Salesforce.com shown here, companies are starting to include social influence scores in the list of “desired skill-set” that potential candidates possess. Is it fair to assume that this trend will creep into other areas of a business like Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, and Customer Service?

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On another related note, most companies and hiring agencies have started looking towards LinkedIn as one of the primary recruiting tools. Most business professionals have created profiles on LinkedIn and have been building up their “connections” and “endorsements.” A passive presence on LinkedIn may not be enough to build up your social equity.

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You may want to start working on your elevator pitch!

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Dax Nair

Ex-Techie | Racquet Sports & Travel Blogger | Real-World Experiences

Comments

4 responses to “How will you fare in a 140-second job interview?”

Upen Shah

March 18, 2013

Hi Dax,

Thanks for a thought provoking post. While Klout score requirement makes sense as a one of the factors for jobs where social media plays an important role – 140 seconds interviews may be more of a fad. Just ask yourself – what kind of decisions would you be comfortable in making based on an interaction that lasts only 140 seconds? – especially if making a wrong decision would incur financial pain and disruptions in your work life. Even if you realize in the second interview that you picked the wrong person – would you not wish that you had spent a little more time the first time.

Thanks,

Upen

Reply
1. Dax
  
  March 18, 2013
  
  Upen, Tend to agree with your observations. Either way, they seem to have received enough mileage out of this one!
  
  Reply
Melody Jackson

March 17, 2013

Well….all I can say is Yippee, my Klout score is higher than 35 – I guess I still got it! ….after all these years!

And LinkedIn – I love it. I recommend building a strong network through LinkedIn and actively using it as you suggest Dax. I was ranked as one of the top 5% most viewed LinkedIn profiles for 2012, and it was relatively easy to do.

I like to stand out and grab attention and I think a fit can be determined in 140 seconds easily. It’s merely the first step to weeding out numerous candidates and narrowing it down.

I use the elevator pitch all the time. As much as we are selling ourselves to the perspective employer we also want to gage their interest in our style too. First impressions happen far faster than the intelligence unfolds….that’s the second interview or even the third!

Reply
1. Dax
  
  March 17, 2013
  
  Good for you! Not everyone understands or accepts the concept of social influence scores. Initial impressions are often what gets people into the second round of interviews. May not be so good for folks who take time to warm up to a situation…
  
  Reply