Changing job has never been easy. More generally, getting pass the CV stage is difficult enough, so would you want to maximise your chance to land a job offer at the interview stage?
Ever so often, on the internet you can always find what NOT to do at every recruitment stage but rarely do they tell you what you SHOULD do or say. So here I share with you the 6 secrets of what you should really do in an interview to properly maximise the chance and separate you from the crowd, and its simpler than you think!
And it is all about how you communicate.
1. It is about building a connection with the employer AT THE INTERVIEW STAGE
The manager (and the team) is likely going to have to work with you day-in day-out, and in some cases where working hours are long? They will see you more than they see their family! So there is ALL the incentive to hire someone they can work with, therefore first impression matters!
What that means in the interview is that you should demonstrate to the employer who you really are as a person, and what is it like to work with you. You can do this by showing interests to what the team does, being knowledgeable on the industry trend and asking intelligent questions at the interview stage.
The person who has the best fit gets the job, not the person who can do the job.
2. It is not about what you can do, but the skills you can OFFER
Far too often, candidates show desperation in telling the interviewer what they can do to as they did this and did that in the previous roles, making them the "perfect" candidate.
In fact, what you should do, is to start by saying what you can OFFER in terms of skills. For example everyone can sell or write a report - however you can instead say:
- Good attention to details that enables you to understand clients needs, which helps selling
- Able to segregate facts from opinions that will enable you to write a good reports with minimal supervision
A good rule-of-thumb is:
"I have [this skill] so I can [do what the job requires] very well."
3. The way you present yourself, says EVERYTHING about you
The way you seat, look at the interview, structure you answer says EVERYTHING about how well PREPARED, how CONFIDENT you are, how well you PERFORM under pressure and ultimately, how much do you really want the JOB.
If you cannot communicate well even about your own self, then there is no point to hire you because work can get complicated from time-to-time and when things get sticky at work, the chances are that you are not going to be able to resolve it.
So focus A LOT MORE ON HOW YOU COMMUNICATE than you previously thought, it makes all the difference.
4. The longer they talk about themselves, the better the interview
Once we had an interview that went on for 1.5 hour, at the end it was more like a meeting than an interview, we got on so well that we just hired him - he was not the best fit but we knew we could work with him.
When an interviewer cannot stop talking about what they are working on, that is good news! That means they are passionate about their stories (and you) such that rather than sending you off earlier, it is worth their time to share work stories, responsibilities and experiences with you.
Use this opportunity to find out as much about the job as possible.
e.g. Are you applying for a replacement role? If so, does the team has high turnover?
e.g. What projects are the team working?