Recently, I was coaching a CFO-level client from another country to land a job in the US. Although he had worked in the US after getting his MBA from one of the top universities here he had spent most of his recent career in South America. He spoke fluent Portuguese and Spanish and had working experience from six other countries (outside the US).

Although he was confident about his technical knowledge of the role for which he was being considered he wanted to make sure that he came across as a C-level candidate to the retained search firm that was screening him. He also wanted to make sure that his use of the language reflected a C-level lexicon in English (US English) because his current role required him to speak other languages of that region.

So, our coaching session involved going through some of the more common C-level interview questions that such clients typically face and my guiding him on providing compelling responses so that he would be presented to the client for which the search firm was working. After going through some of the key requirements from the job description and coaching my client on proper responses to the questions I asked (as the recruiter’s proxy) the client was confident that he would be able to clear the telephone screening session with the recruiter from the executive search firm retained by its client company.

When the actual interview was set up and my client got the call on his phone he quickly discovered that the recruiter screening him was vacationing at a beach resort with his family. It was not hard to figure this out when my client heard in the background vendors peddling food, her kid screaming, Mommy, Jimmy is pulling my hair, her husband asking something else in a muffled tone, etc. To make matters worse, she pretended as if she was in her office doing this interview, ignoring the signals she was clearly sending my client as she was going through her “script.”

Of course she did not have my client’s résumé in front of her. My client got the impression that instead of her laptop being on she had her bikini on. I am sure that she read his résumé some time back, along with many other résumés for this and other positions. The reason I say this is because she confused my client’s background with some other mix of résumés she had read and was using that memory to calibrate my client as she talked to him.

The job required CFO and senior management experience in different countries, which my client clearly had, but her saying, Since you do not have any international experience in Finance I am not sure I can present you to the client shocked him. He tried to correct her by saying, as the CFO in Germany I was responsible for setting up their entire supply chain and as a Controller posted in Singapore I was also responsible for many operational duties. Of course, none of that registered; perhaps as she was watching her kids playing on the beach. Then she got off on some tangential questions just to report that she spent the requisite 45 minutes with the candidate.

One week later my client received an email of rejection from the recruiter.

Granted that this is an extreme case of distracted interviewer, but it is not uncommon. Often, on telephone interviews where interviewers are talking to the candidate and doing emails, reading magazines, or even shopping on line as they go through their interview checklist. To a keen person on the other end it is not difficult to discern what is going on, but you must know how to manage that when it does happen.

So, how to do you bring distracted interviewers back in synch with the process and create an outcome that is positive? Here are my tips:
1. As soon as you engage with the interviewer on your phone look for cues that may tell you their surroundings. Barking dog, or a ringing door bell (at home), traffic noise (walking or driving), hushed talk (at a doctor’s office waiting to be seen), sounds of cash register (at a super market checkout), etc.
2. Do not ask where they are because they want to pretend that they are in their office (as this recruiter did with my client despite the very obvious cues). Asking such a question may offend them. Just re-calibrate your engagement to fit the environment they are in.
3. Depending on the level of distraction you assess decide how to present your thoughts in a language that they will remember. If you see extreme distraction and short attention span speak louder with soundbites that are the messages you want them to remember. I LEAD A TEAM OF 15.
4. If you are making a key point keep it short and then pretend that you have a poor connection. This gives you a chance to ask them to repeat what they asked and for YOU to repeat what you just said. Practice this invaluable skill, especially when you do have a good connection.
5. Try to keep the interaction short with the hope that you get to reconnect with this person in a better setting at a later time.
6. Before you complete the call quickly summarize the points you wanted to make in that call in response their interview questions and emphasize what was important to them and to you to move yourself to the next level.
7. Do not assume what you said is what they heard, so take the trouble to write a short thank-you note with the summary of key points you want them to remember and to act on.

A distracted interviewer is unfortunate. But, do not let that misfortune impact your ability to move to the next stage by following the above tips.
Good luck!