Striking the Right Note at Interviews

Opera singers know all about auditions and how to take disappointment in their stride. Smart job-seekers should adopt the same attitude

by Liz Ryan

If you're the successful businessperson I suspect you are, you know a lot about a great many things. But if you've worked full-time in the business world for most of your adult life, I suspect that you have missed out on one of the best training experiences a corporate manager could ever have, and probably will never get. It's one that most people, when asked "What are some of the best developmental experiences for managers?" wouldn't think to mention.

I refer to operatic auditions. I'm lucky, because I've sung a trillion zillion of them. I've been fortunate enough to work for managers who indulged my need to sing opera, alongside my corporate assignments. Somehow, it all worked out, although I've missed a rehearsal here and there and probably a few corporate events and deadlines, too. But looking back, all those auditions provided an amazing training ground for corporate leadership, one that I wish all rising businesspeople could enjoy. Why do I say so?

Two reasons. First off, as my wise voice teacher, Winifred, once told me, you have no way to know what a conductor wants. You go out there, you say your name, and you sing your song. The conductor may love you, or may hate you. This love or hate may have everything or nothing to do with how you sound. You'll be very unlikely to get any feedback apart from a cursory "No thanks" or a phone call offering you a part in the show, so you don't wait for any. If it didn't work out this time, no big thing: You just move on.

BE YOURSELF.

If a director wants Corn Flakes and your sound is Rice Krispies, you aren't getting hired. You can't control that. So, while auditioning over and over and over, in gorgeous auditoriums and drafty church basements, you get really good at letting everything go and being yourself. There's no point in trying to sound like the soprano sitting next to you: You have no idea whether the decisionmakers want someone more like you or like her. You just have to get up there and sing.

So auditioning often -- which is the standard drill for singers everywhere -- really makes you understand that the process isn't about pleasing a certain person or being a certain way. You have your sound. You have your resume. You put it in front of them and sing your best -- that's all you can do.

This lesson has great applicability to job-seekers, who can tie themselves into knots trying to psychoanalyze every hiring manager and HR person they meet, and constructing answers and explanations that will appeal to them.

Forget it! You are you. They'll like you or hate you, and you'll find out soon enough. If it's not the right fit, you'll move on.

ON PITCH.

It goes without saying that you will be affable and gracious on each job interview. But in the best case, you will stay inside yourself, not stopping to wonder "What did he think of that answer?" and second-guessing yourself. Nor will you try to pretend to be more like what you think the company is looking for.

This ability to stay grounded isn't only useful for job-seekers. Employees and managers could use that training, too. Which of us hasn't had a senior leader ask us "What's the status of that initiative?" or some other of-the-moment question, and instantly wondered, "What does he want me to say?"

When you get comfortable, over time, with being instantly on pitch, in sync with the piano, it truly becomes easier to resist coming up with something just because you think the questioner wants to hear it. It becomes second nature to let the chips fall where they may, and say what you feel in your gut.

THE ZEN OF TALK.

The other business wisdom that singers possess is the knowledge that the more auditions you have, the less important each one becomes. Volume is key. Every audition makes you stronger and more confident, and less worried about what other people think about you. After a while, it becomes really fun to audition, because you get to pick what you sing, and you get to sing it the way you want, rather than the way the conductor tells you to. Call it "performance-lite."

Job-seekers who get really good at interviewing sometimes say the same thing: "