How To Stand Out In Interviews
The easiest way to stand out in an interview is to be the one who follows the rules and does what they’re told, this sounds so beyond simple and you’re thinking WHAT??!! But you guys…. we don’t do it. We’re supposed to, but it’s like when you want to lose weight and you hear everything that says you need to eat less and exercise more and then what do we do? We still go and eat the donut. So don’t underestimate the idea of just being the one who follows all the steps.
What steps am I talking about? I’m sure you’ve been told that for career success and to do well in an interview (if you follow the advice given in my other emails or our courses), if you practice ahead of time, if you dress the part, if you have prepared answers for the likely questions, you’re going to end up doing great in interviews.
Just doing those things is indeed really going to set you apart from so many other people in the interview process. Just one example of this (and it’s not even during the interview) is to send the thank you note. The statistic is crazy, three out of four people know they should send a thank you note and that it will make the difference… one out of four sends it, BOOM! Right there you have beat out other candidates by being the one who sends the note.
How else can you stand out? Well, it actually comes down to some pretty small things that can set you apart from everyone else. So first when you come in the room shake everyone’s hands. Make eye contact when shaking their hand and try to remember names. If it is a room with a panel go around and shake every panelist’s hand and when they say their name repeat it back (it’s going to help you remember).
A little extra trick on this is to look everyone up ahead of time on LinkedIn so you can see their picture and try to remember who’s named what, because then you’re not going to have to memorize them in the room. If you can remember their names it’s going to take you further in the interview. Don’t go name dropping in every answer you give but I promise you the right opportunity will come up somewhere and it will be very impressive that you remembered their names.
Okay, the next one is to answer the question that was asked. I know this seems pretty obvious, but it goes back to what I said about basics, right? You need to make sure you are answering what they asked you (not taking that and going a step further). If they say “why are you interested in our company”? Don’t start talking about what a hard worker you are and why you will work so hard for them. That’s not what they asked. They asked you what about the company interests you, right?
So you need to answer that question. It sounds obvious but I promise if you practice ahead of time or do a mock interview with someone (we can help you with this), you will see a spot where you skipped this and went on to talk about selling yourself again, telling them why you’re so great instead of focusing on what they are asking for, which is why are you interested in working there? So if you do this simple thing you will stand out, because I promise you a lot of people are not answering the question asked and that is frustrating the interviewers.
Next try and find natural ways to connect, if you’ve looked these people up ahead of time you may know a little about their background (but not too much, keep it on the professional level).
Maybe there’s a moment of chitchat at the beginning while everyone’s getting settled, ask how their day is going or ask how their weekend was (if it was a Monday) or on the way out you can ask if they are doing anything fun this weekend (or something of that nature) because there might be an opportunity to connect on something other than the work at hand that will lead to a more familiar feeling with one another, it’s going to make them feel warmer towards you, they will like you more and they are going to want to hire people they like, which will work in your favour.
So if you can find a way to incorporate some chitchat, it’s a nice thing to be able to do. Also I know I already mentioned it earlier, but it is worth repeating, you have to send the thank you email, remember only one out of four does, so do not consider your interview complete until you send that thank you note!!!
If you are enjoying these career tips we have just launched our “How To Ace The Interview Course”, it’s all this type of information and more in much more detail. To enroll just let us know by replying to this email and we will be happy to get you started.
Until next week, happy job hunting!
Nathan.