August 13, 2009

Stand-up advice for your next sit-down interview

• Post a comment |
• E-mail |
• Print
• • Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

As you walk into a corporate boardroom for an important job interview, probably the last thing on your mind is comedy. You don't want to start spinning off into a bad "Saturday Night Live" skit in front of your potential boss. But when you think about it, the skills required for doing improvisational comedy and responding to interview questions are remarkably similar.

"At the heart of it, improvisation is the basis for interviews," says Andrew McMasters, an improvisational actor and artistic director of Seattle's Wing-It Productions. "You have an objective: To make a good impression and land the job. There are a series of obstacles that you have to overcome, and stay positive."

After realizing the potential utility of his craft, McMasters decided that Wing-It's long-running Jet City Improv troupe could offer some serious advice to the legions of people looking for work today. Recently, he launched a workshop called Improv for the Interview at the Historic University Theater in the U-District. The next seminar will be held this Saturday, Aug. 15, from 1-4:30 p.m.

The workshop, McMasters says, was born of the current recession. "The idea came from a number of our friends being laid off," he explains. "Many had discussed how the improv skills they have helped them to deal with the questions thrown at them during interviews. Our concept was to hone that skill of being able to think on your feet for interviewees."

In these Improv for the Interveiw workshops, McMasters prefers to immerse his students in improv culture and gets them up on stage to perform warm-up exercises. "I am a firm believer in experiential learning, so I make people get on their feet and practice the skills," he says. "It's one thing to think about it, understand it and discuss it, but putting practice into action is another skill altogether."

As the workshop progresses, McMasters guides the participants through a series of games that help them handle unexpected questions under pressure and culminates in a mock job interview. Interviewing, he says, "can be an incredibly stressful event. Our goal is to take some of the pressure off of the interview process, and make it fun and effective for the participants goals. For that reason, Improv is perfect for this sort of learning."

Above all, interviewees need to "stay on message," says McMasters, who also teaches corporate workshops through Jet City on team-building, public-speaking and communication skills. "Always remember that interviews are a two-way street; you are deciding if this is a team you want to be working with, as much as they are deciding if you are a good fit for the workplace."

This Saturday's session will be the second interview workshop that Jet City has held so far. "We hope to run it every few months," he adds. Another two classes are tentatively scheduled for September and October, but no dates have been set yet.

The improv classes are limited to 15 students, so that McMasters can provide one-on-one interaction, but spots are still open for this week's event. The price for the three-and-a-half-hour seminar is $65. For more information about registering, visit the Jet City site.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

• Post a comment |
• E-mail |
• Print
• • Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Read more

0 Comments

Leave a comment

* required field

Your name: *

E-mail address: (Will not be displayed)

Your comment: *

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.