Enthusiasm and Job Interviews

I recently replied to a posting by a job seeker who was concerned that she was competing with a younger candidate for a position that might be viewed as a reduction in rank from her previous experience as a VP. She wanted to know how best to portray her experience without playing into what she felt the interviewer saw as her greatest drawback.

My feeling is that enthusiasm can cover a lot of initial prejudices. You need to excite the interviewer about the prospect of working in the same organization as you, and you need to display enthusiasm about the new position. Come into the interview brimming with ideas about how you can make the environment better, and show the interviewer how excited you are at the thought of carrying them out.

Some people may be put off by this sort of exuberance, but they would probably not be fun to work with anyway. You deserve better than them.

Here is what I replied:

I think the key here is that the interviewer wants to get a sense that the challenges of the new job represent a fresh and exciting perspective for you. Bring up your previous successes and describe ways that you have been able to apply your experiences to create something new.

Describe the parts of the new job that you find particularly intriguing and exciting. If you can communicate a feeling of enthusiasm, it will tend to overcome any concerns by the new employer that you are looking to use their position as a parking lot while you keep looking for a new VP gig.