You’ve spent the time to put together a dynamite resume. You’ve sent out your resume to a select group of potential employers. One or more of those prospective employers have responded, and at least one of them has set up a face-to-face job interview with you. The date is set. You prepare, so you can WOW them with your skills and problem solving, once you are sitting in front of the hiring manager. The job is one you are convinced is perfect for you, your career, and fits the job requirements you have set for yourself. Now, you sit in an office, have met the person whom may move you forward into an offer of hire, if the job interview goes well for you. But there is a problem, a big problem. You job interviewer – is distracted. Their attention seems somewhere other than the job interview at hand. What does that mean to your efforts to get hired? And how do you fix it, before you get filtered out of the company’s hiring process?

Let’s take a look at the scenario described above and review your choices for managing the issues at hand. Okay, your job interviewer is distracted, for whatever reason. How do you know that? Let’s take a look at some of the symptoms of a distracted job interviewer.

First, there is little eye contact from him or her to you. Often there is no smile or friendly exchange, every interaction is a bare minimum of cordial. They don’t seem to catch what you say in your responses to their job interview questions. Several times they have asked you to repeat your answers. That probably means they are not listening to what you say to them. Maybe the interviewer moves robot-like, going through the motions with zero enthusiasm, they may even seem disorganized. Few, if any, notes are taken by the job interviewer, and any notes that may be taken, for required forms or such, are quick, rapid posts, and abbreviated scrawls. When you encounter such behavior in a job interview, it’s likely your job interviewer is distracted, and has their mind on some other topic, as opposed to giving you a fair chance to express your skills and experience.

What should you do at such a point in a job interview? If you find yourself with a distracted job interviewer, first of all, realize that maybe, just maybe, they are dealing with an unspoken urgent matter of which you are unaware. Give them a chance to realize the impact of their behavior. If, after a reasonable time, the distraction is still obvious, simply level the playing field, so to speak – pause for a moment, smile, then ask them in a friendly, but serious tone: “Is this still a good time for this visit?” Then add: “I can see you are somewhat distracted right now, if it’s more convenient to reschedule this job interview, I’d be happy to do so.” Don’t make it sound like an accusation or complaint. Tweak your words, as if you are offering to do a favor for a friend or acquaintance. You may be surprised. The job interviewer may disclose the source of their distraction to you, so you can understand their circumstances. They may even take you up on your offer to reschedule the job interview. That’s to your advantage. That result may help create a bond between you both, as the hiring agent is now somewhat obligated to your considerations.

Either way, whether they confide or dismiss your offer and continue with the job interview, you will likely find the job interviewer significantly more attentive to you and the workplace details you polished for them to enjoy.

Mark Baber is a 20 year Executive Search specialist, and Recruit Consultant to http://www.JobNewsRadio.com – a job search community network member with over 7 million active job candidates, and more than 200,000 posted jobs; where Job Seekers get free help from hiring experts, to find employers, set job interviews, get the best job offers, and much more.

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