#EngagementCheck: Does Your Smile Match Your Skills?
So, picture this: I’m in the middle of an interview for a barista position, trying my best to answer all the questions thrown my way. Then, out of nowhere, the interviewer drops this bombshell – “You aren’t engaged enough.” Ouch.
Now, I get it. Customer service is all about those genuine smiles, right? But here’s the thing – I was doing my best, I swear. I even assured her that I could flip the switch on my “customer service” persona when needed. But she just wasn’t buying it.
🤔 So here’s my question – what else could I have possibly done to be more engaging in an interview? Should I have asked about her husband and kids? Was I supposed to break out into a song and dance routine? I mean, I was talking normally, not like a robot.
It’s got me thinking – how can you amp up the engagement factor in an interview for a customer service job? Any thoughts? Let’s discuss and share some tips in the comments below. #CustomerService #EngagementSkills #InterviewTips 🤝🚀🔥
You have to kiss ass for jobs, like that
>I was tired but I tried to assure her that I can turn on the “customer service” act like everyone else
Well, I mean you should have turned it on there and then.
Can’t turn up to an interview tired and expect to beat all of the other candidates, it’s just how that goes.
You have to sell yourself in the interview. That’s also when you should be turning it “on”. Sounds like you didn’t put your best foot forward.
Entitlement and expecting them to just know you can do something without demonstrating it won’t get you the job. Sounds like she made the right decision.
u were supposed to fake smiling like a freaking clown and she was just saving her own asset.
“Corporate Talk Language” sometimes is not clear, “engaged” = “hypermotivated” = “overinterested”. Sometimes job recruiters want job candidates to display interest as if they were part of a cult.
Sometimes recruiters expect candidates to make some specific things without explicitly telling them, such as offering to take the job for a lower salary…
You need to build a rapport with the interviewer and show you want the job. Saying you can turn it on makes it sound like it’s an effort to do and gives the impression that you will only if you want to.
Sounds like a reason not to hire you because they didn’t like the way you looked or spoke from the moment you walked in. Remember you aren’t trying to convince them you should have the privilege to work there; you’re a worker selling your labor. An interview is a way to learn about a job and agree upon a legal contract on which they’ll pay you. What interviews have become in the modern age is pathetic. It’s our own faults for letting it get to this point. “Dance monkey, dance” is what they expect.
If anyone said this to me I’d tell them that’s unprofessional and that you’re speaking to a supposed “manager” and not a customer. Don’t take it personally as they didn’t plan on hiring you in the first place. They live a sad existence and see themselves as an extension as the bourgeois class, rather than associating themselves with the workers.
Something you can do at interviews is make sure to ask the hiring managers tough questions. Prepare things to ask that will throw them off. Something that has gotten me jobs in the past is just asking them a simple question like “what’s your favorite part about this company?”. They probably won’t be ready and will give a subpar answer. For whatever reason it makes them respect you a bit more and turns it from a one-sided affair into a conversation on even ground.
Bring more energy. There are 1,000s of people applying for your same role, you have to stand out.
Stuff like this is why I struggle in job interviews. Because I just want a job dude I don’t want to have to act like an overexcited crackhead for some minimum wage job smh.
You needed to be showing your ‘best self’ at the interview. Pretty basic stuff really.
Watch some interviews on YouTube— do a search for “how to interview for a job” and you will find some helpful videos. Watch the facial expressions and body language of the people being interviewed. Interviewing is something you have to practice. Most of us are not born good at it. I am sorry you had a bad experience— sounds like the interviewer could use some practice herself.
You really have to play the game in interviews! Go the extra mile. I’m a former theater kid, so I tell my friends and students that when they are interviewing they are playing the role of the “best future employee.” I’m normally a super laid back person, but during interviews I’m super “bubbly” and engaged with everything the interviewer is saying.
I mean you could gave been engaging in the interview did you think of that?? You have to put your best foot forward in an interview. You didn’t do that and you didn’t get the job. Learn from that
The most frustrating feedback a recruiter can get about their candidate is “they were perfect for the job, but we have no idea if they want to work here or not. We are gonna go with the other person”.
It’s competitive out there. If you want a job, and you have the skill set, act as if. Interviewing is a skill – I think you probably need a bit more practice in selling yourself. It isn’t beneath you, and the interviewer isn’t obligated to give you a job – you need to convince them