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While your resume is certainly a good indicator of your qualifications and expertise, how you present yourself in an interview is equally important to display your talents. In this article, we'll be going over six tips to help you stand out in an interview.
We won't be covering what to wear, which hairstyle to pick, whether you should carry a fountain pen or anything like that. Instead, we'll be focusing more on your behavior, your approach, how to give the right answers, and how to be memorable.
1. Research the Company
When the interviewer asks, “Why do you want to work for us?” they are looking for two things. First, whether you took the time to actually learn a few things about the company—such as their history, products, competition, and target market—before showing up for the interview.And second, if you did indeed do your research, what is it about the company that made you want to work for them? Was it their vision? Their culture? The pay they offered? Their benefit plan? So, you not being able to answer this question can be a red flag to the interviewer.
2. Research the Interviewer
You are not interviewed by a company; you are interviewed by a person—a person with their own preferences, biases, and mindset. While an ideal interviewer recognizes and minimizes their biases, it's not uncommon for one to account for their personal interest when hiring.With that in mind, it can be a good idea to research the interviewer the same way you research the company. This doesn't mean stalking them on social media. This means learning about their work history and qualities, i.e., which companies have they worked for before and what do they stand for as a person.
Knowing a few things about the interviewer can help you tailor your conversation so that it's relevant to them. By knowing the company's values and the interviewer's values, you can have a better idea of what to expect in the interview.
3. Start With Gratitude
The first thing to display in an interview is not competence; it's warmth. Your first impression shouldn't be intimidating to the interviewer (and vice versa) because it sets a bad starting point for your conversation. The best way to defuse this nervousness is to start with gratitude.A simple “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today” can be a brilliant way to let the interviewer know that you are, in fact, looking forward to your conversation with them. This not only helps them ease into the interview, but also helps you make a good first impression.
Read More: Stop Waiting For Your Dream Job And Make These 3 Simple Career Investments Instead
4. Ask the Right Questions
When the interviewer asks you, “Do you have any questions for me?” and you say, “No, I think I'm good”, they interpret that response as your incompetence or disinterest in the company. Remember, you are supposed to screen the company just as much as they screen you.Here are a few unique questions you can ask your interviewer:
- What are the company's mission and vision?
- What problems is the company currently going through? How would I help solve them?
- What is something that your best employee does that makes them so valuable to you?
- What are the biggest milestones the company is eyeing for the next three years?
- What are the biggest challenges the company has overcome in the last three years?
Notice how the questions are about the company itself and not about you. This is because information about your role within the company was, more or less, already communicated in the job description. In the interview, the hiring manager is trying to spot how your vision is different from other candidates.
5. Prove Your Expertise With a Work Story
Humans love stories. It's how we make sense of the world around us. The same holds true in an interview. Instead of simply listing out your skills and achievements to your interviewer, you can weave them into a memorable work story like this:This reminds me of the time my former company had to make some tough decisions just to stay afloat. Our direct competitor had released a new product which was incredibly successful and was eating up our market share. My team and I spent countless hours trying to think of a solution.
You see, we couldn't have just undercut them because we were already running at a low margin. It was too risky to set our prices any lower, but we had to do something. So about a week later, after a lot of thinking and reading books, I proposed that we make changes to our pricing model.
I envisioned that it would be better if we switched to selling subscription boxes. It was a hard decision, for sure, but we all agreed to it. And to everyone's surprise, it actually worked! We recovered about 43% of our lost market share the next year and sustained that momentum the following three years.
In this story, you have communicated the following skills:
- Leadership
- Initiative
- Critical thinking
- Decision-making
- Business analysis
- Risk management
- Team management
- Communication
- Problem-solving
6. Show Motivation to Work on Your Weaknesses
A lot of interviewees try to mask their weaknesses for obvious reasons; interviewers are well aware of this fact. Instead of doing the same, you can present your weaknesses with authority and with an intent to work on them. This shows that you have a growth mindset and an optimistic personality.As an example, you can say something like this:
I'm aware that I tend to fall short when it comes to X. It's something I've been thinking about and actively trying to get better at for the last three months. In fact, I noticed in your job description that you offer a special training course for your employees. Perhaps that would be a good way for me to accelerate my work towards eliminating this weakness of mine.
Land Your Dream Job
Landing an interview is already a commendable achievement, but what you do in that interview is what separates you from all the other candidates.Just having a good resume is not enough; you should be able to translate those on-paper skills and experience into real-life conversations.
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