You’ve Done Your Homework

You have been spending hours after hours each week researching job sites, and networking both online and off-line to connect with old colleagues, acquaintances or even total strangers. You have sat tirelessly in front of your computer tailoring your resume to match the skills and requirements of each of the job postings. You have sent out dozens of resumes already and finally, the phone rings - you’re invited for an interview!

You are the Finalist!

Wow, how impressive! Your resume spoke well to the hiring company and you are among the top five candidates who are short-listed to be interviewed. Though you have not been given the job yet, you have about a 20% chance of graduating from unemployment. It feels like watching the Miss Universe pageant where they go through the initial screening, semi-final competition, the top five and finally the birth of a beauty queen. You are nervous about the interview. You are wondering what kinds of questions you will face. You just want the job!

Make it or Break it

Having a well-written resume, networking, researching the prospective job markets, locating where the jobs are and finding the right industry, company, and position that best suits you are the first and foremost tasks for any job seekers. However, all of the above will take you as far as an interview. Your performance in the interview is the real deal breaker. Let’s look at the 3 winning strategies to ace an interview: 1) Knowing your audience, 2) Knowing yourself and, 3) Knowing how to communicate with an impact.

Strategy One: Knowing Your Audience.

No matter how desperately you want the job, the interview is set up to satisfy the need of the company. “They” need to fill the position. “They” need to complete the recruitment activities and land on the best candidate. “They” need to find the right fit to perform the work that is required to be completed, etc. So, the interview is all about “them”, not you.

Why is it important to note that the interview is all about “them”? This will help you focus your mind to appeal to their needs and project how you are the best candidate that will solve their business problem, excel in the job, bring values to the organization and contribute to their bottom line result.

Knowing Who They Are

You must know some basic information about the organization before attending the interview: what products or services the do company provide? How big is the organization? What are some of the company affiliations or competitors? What is the company vision? What does success look like for the company? For example, if it is a communications training company, is the company specialized in communications training for marketing professionals or the health care sector? Are they moving toward expanding their market in North America or globally? How big is the organization? How long have they been in business, etc.?

Knowing What They Are Looking For

It is important to know as much about the job as possible. Though companies may not display the complete job description on the job posting, it may be possible to ask for a more detailed job description from the hiring manager or Human Resources department on request. It is also helpful to find out the reason why the position is available: Is it a newly created position, a back-fill due to restructuring, or is it a replacement? The idea is, the more you know about the job, the more in-depth you can assess your skills against the role and the better you can prepare yourself to respond to the interview questions.

From my own experience in hiring, candidates sometimes call me directly to find out more about the job posting. I would caution candidates to consider this option with extreme care before calling. Unless you have very good telephone skills, the call to the hiring manager may be a detriment rather than an advantage to you. The goal of the call is to gather relevant information to prepare you for the interview.  If you do call, make sure you first check with the caller if it is a convenient time to talk and then state your purpose. Keep it brief, polite and to the point. You have demonstrated professionalism and respect to the caller’s time.

Strategy Two: Knowing Yourself.

You may have heard your parent or your spouse say that they know more about yourself than you do. If yes, you are not alone. From my experience in leading workshops on personality types, there is a common phenomenon that emerges at the end of the session. Most of the participants agree that they do not fully understand themselves until they have gone through the workshop exercises, discussions and reflections on personality types.

Strengths vs. Weaknesses

Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? How you are wired? What are issues that keep you awake at night? What are the activities that you enjoy doing over and over again? What are things that you dread putting your hands on? Keeping your strengths and weaknesses in mind will help you form a mental picture of how your strengths can contribute to the prospective employer in concrete terms. For example, you are a very hands-on manager who is able to shift between roles without losing sight of the big picture. When you are asked about your management style, you can relate to this strength and provide a vivid example of how you have contributed to project success by being flexible and skilled with the rolled-up-your-sleeve attitude.

What is Your UVP?

UVP is your unique value proposition. It is about what sets you apart from the other candidates. If the company hires you, what values will you bring to the team that other candidates fall short? You may start looking at all your skills, talents, experiences and academic training, etc. However, your unique value proposition has to comprise of qualities that are relevant to the position the company is looking to fill. Therefore, look closely at all your quality assets and highlight the few that make you the best candidate for the job. For example, if you are applying for a project manager job for the Ontario Ministry of Health in the Information Technology division, you would emphasize your UVP around your experience in the public health sector specifically in managing stakeholder relationships, conducting policy compliance review and providing support in the roll out of province-wide desktop upgrades. The fact that you are selected for an interview demonstrated that your background, training and experience presented in your resume caught the eyes of the interviewer who is eager to learn more about you. They think that you are a potential fit for the job and they want to land on the right candidate. Show them what values you can bring to them on day one.

Show and Tell with Personal Stories

Interviewers will ask you a series of questions that relate to the skills that they are looking for, or questions that will help them understand if you possess the quality, attitude or soft skills required for the job. For example, you are asked “what major challenges and problems did you face as a project manager?” You would give a straightforward answer based on your experience.  Or, you are asked to describe a situation when you had to make a decision that was unpopular and they want to know how you handled implementing it.

In preparation for the interview, refresh your memory and consider some special situations you have dealt with or projects that you have worked on. Relate back to the job posting and consider what skills and behavioral characteristics the employer is seeking. These facts will be useful to help you frame responses with a personal touch. Prepare memorable stories that illustrate times when you have successfully solved problems; overcome demanding situations or performed something above and beyond the call of duty.

Powerful Self-talk

Yes, you feel anxious about being put on the spot. You are sitting at one corner of the boardroom with four strangers that they call the panel interviewing team. They all seem to be looking at you since the moment you entered the room and they all have questions to ask you. There you are, having researched a great deal about the company and the position, you know your UVP and yet you are nervous and start to doubt if you can find the right words to say.

Allow yourself a few minutes to gather your composure and fill your mind with refreshing thoughts: your memorable vacation, your graduation, your daughter’s dance recital, your favorite TV show, your walk at the beach with your dog, etc. Repeat to yourself the unique value proposition to your prospective employer. Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are proud to be invited for an interview.

Strategy Three: Knowing How to Communicate with an Impact.

Communication is about transferring information. It is a two-way exchange of ideas, emotions, thoughts, etc. In order to respond well to an interview question, it requires answering the question with the relevant information. You need to go one step further in order to win the interview. You need to impress the interviewer so that they remember you and they want to hire you.

Listen and Listen Well!

You are not able to provide the most relevant information if you do not fully understand the question and what the interviewers want to probe into. Listening well requires concentration. When you are calm and relaxed, you are able to listen more objectively. When you are tense and nervous, you are not able to focus as well. Therefore, do everything you can to stay comfortable, such as adjusting your chair before the interview if you need to. If you are not able to fully understand the question, it is fine to ask for further elaboration and clarification.

Sell Benefits, Not Features

Keep in mind your unique value proposition and relate to them whenever appropriate. Pause for a few moments to organize your thoughts before responding if need be. Use examples and personal stories to support your answer. For example, you are asked to highlight some key accomplishments in your last job. Instead of saying you led a project team to convert an old legacy mainframe application to a new state-of-the-art web-based system, you can emphasize that under your leadership, your team enabled the company to reduce internal processing costs by 30% at the second year upon project completion. The key here is to load your answers with benefits that you can bring to the organization rather than focusing on your features or abilities.

Your Chance to Ask Questions – Avoid Anti-Climax

You have given your best in answering the tough questions and survived the panel interview. For most cases, the interviewer would invite you to ask questions. Take this opportunity to augment what you have told them about yourself. This is your chance to make another positive impression. The goal is not to find out every detail about the company or the position. I believe there is a place and time for that but usually should be outside of this interview. You can save those questions for follow-up emails or calls to HR or the hiring manager when they are ready to move on to the next steps.

Good job interview questions will remind the interviewer why you're a natural choice for the job. So, what should you ask? For sure it should not be about salary, vacation or benefits. Ask questions that are directed to “what is in it for them?” Such as, “what particular skills or qualities do you think are the key success factors for this job?” You can ask about the key competitors of the company. Or, ask the interviewers what they like most about working there. Show your interest and enthusiasm in their responses.

Conclude with Key Messages and Call for Action

Before you depart, thank the interviewers with a courteous, positive and precise tone.  I usually prepare a short script ahead of time that contains a few points as a re-cap:

1.      Key messages: Why are you the best candidate?

2.      So What: What are the benefits of hiring you?

3.      Do What: What are the next steps for the interviewer?

This would have the effect of a 30-second elevator speech. See if you can do this in 25 seconds: “Thank you for meeting with me today. I appreciate your time and your insightful questions. It is my privilege to share about my skills and experience with you. I am a result-oriented project manager that can lead diversified teams to achieve strategic objectives. My track records show that I am committed to excellence and companies can benefit from my high level of professionalism on day one. I am looking forward to hear from you in the next few days”.

You Have What it Takes

Now you are equipped the 3 key strategies to win an interview. Practice make perfect. You will land on your dream job and rise above your competition if you apply these strategies. Ask your friends to conduct mock interviews with you. Another alternative is to use the mirror or record a webcam session. You have what it takes to succeed!