Mastering the U.S. Job Interview: 10 Tips for Hispanic Professionals

We may be living in a global economy, but the fact remains: There are some subtle — and some not-so-subtle — differences between the way employment interviews are conducted in the United States and in Latin America. To help you better prepare for U.S. interviews, LatPro.com, the #1 job board for Hispanics Professionals, recently spoke with two experts in the field of employment training: experts who have made it their business to coach Hispanic job candidates and employers in cross-cultural interviewing techniques.

Graciela Kenig is founder and president of LatinoWorkforce.com, an organization dedicated to finding and placing multicultural recruits into the workforce. Nelson A. De Leon is a bilingual recruiting consultant, and the owner and founder of America At Work.

So these are some of the questions for the experts: What makes an employment interview in the United States different from one that might be conducted in Latin America? What expectations do U.S. interviewers have, and what does a Latino candidate need to know to succeed in this new environment?

Here are their top tips to help you avoid possible misconceptions and cultural pitfalls so you can get the job you want!

Top Ten Tips for Acing your U.S. Job Interview

1. Take Credit for your Professional Accomplishments
An employer expects you to “toot your own horn,” says Graciela Kenig. This can be awkward for Latinos who are more community and group-oriented, but it’s a crucial part of the U.S. interview.

Employers want to hear not just how you worked as a part of a team, but very specifically what you did on that team and what your contributions were, notes Kenig. Discussing your individual accomplishments won’t be viewed as arrogant or egotistical. In fact, if you don’t point out your solo successes, employers will assume you don’t have significant contributions to talk about.

2. Make Eye Contact
Interviewers will be picturing you as a potential coworker during the interview. They expect you to look them in the eye and act like a colleague. For some Hispanics, such direct eye contact may feel uncomfortable, as it can have different connotations in Latin America, including attraction between a man and woman, a lack of respect or a challenge to authority. All of these potential cultural implications must be set aside for the interview. In the U.S., making good eye contact shows confidence; failing to look your interviewer in the eye will not only make them uncomfortable, it could be interpreted as a sign that you are being evasive or untruthful.

3. Be Direct
“We Latinos tend to communicate indirectly,” says Kenig “We need to give context to stories, and the story gets really long.” In the U.S. interview, however, you should get to the point quickly and focus only on the relevant facts. Kenig’s story strategy is SAR: Pick the Situation; relate the Action; highlight the Results.

Plunging right in and talking about the matter at hand may seem rude or abrupt to a Latino, but it won’t to the person doing the interview. They are busy, time is short, and you need to shine during the brief time you have in front of them.

4. Focus on Professional, not Personal, Issues
Interviewers may ask a question just to break the ice, says De Leon, asking a recruit to “tell me something about yourself.” They are not asking about your childhood, your dogs or your family.

The interviewer really wants to hear about you in relation to the jobs you’ve had in the past and the job you want. “That can be tough for Hispanics, who want to ease into conversations about themselves,” adds De Leon. Practice answering these types of questions without including your entire life’s story.

5. Get Rid of the “Yes Syndrome”
The Yes Syndrome is something De Leon identifies as an idiosyncrasy of Hispanic culture. As an interviewer is talking, the recruit may be nodding his head, saying yes over and over, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve understood everything. It does mean they’ve heard; they are listening, and they won’t interrupt for fear of seeming rude.

“It’s okay to ask questions,” says De Leon. “Ask, ‘Can you explain that?’ or just repeat back to the interviewer what you’ve heard: ‘You need A, B, C and D for this job.’” It doesn’t make you look stupid, as some fear. It makes you look and sound engaged in the interview.