The Most Unique Way To Stand Out During a Job Interview
While your CV is certainly a good indicator of your qualifications and experience, the way you present yourself during an interview is just as important as showing off your talents. In this article, we’ll go over six tips to help you stand out in your upcoming job interview.
We’re not going to cover what to wear, what hairstyle to choose, whether you should carry a fountain pen or anything like that. Instead, we will focus more on your behavior, your manner, how you give the right answers, and how memorable you are. Check out the best productivity tools for job seekers.
1. Research the company
When the interviewer asks, “Why do you want to work for us?” He is looking for two things. First, whether you took the time to actually learn some details about the company — such as its history, products, competition, and target market — before coming for the interview.
And secondly, if you had already done your research, what motivated you to work for the company? Was she seeing it? her culture? Salary offered? its employees? Thus, not being able to answer this question can be a warning sign for the hiring manager.
2. Find the interviewer
You will not be interviewed for the job by the manager of the company; But you are being interviewed by someone — someone with their own preferences, biases, and mindsets. While the ideal interviewer recognizes and minimizes their own biases, it is not uncommon for a person to take their own self-interest into account when hiring.
With this in mind, it may be a good idea to research the interviewer the same way you research the company. This does not mean being tracked on social networks. But this means getting to know his work history and qualities, i.e. the companies he worked for before and what he represents as a person.
Knowing a few things about the interviewer can help you tailor your conversation so that it is relevant to them. By knowing the company’s values and those of the interviewer, you can get a better idea of what to expect in the interview.
3. Start with gratitude
The first thing to display in the interview is not competence; It’s the 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 stress is to start with gratitude.
A simple “Thank you for taking the time to meet me today” can be a great way to let the interviewer know that you are, in fact, looking forward to his conversations with you. Not only does this help him make the interview easier, but it also helps you make a good first impression.
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,” he interprets this response as your incompetence or lack of interest in the company. Remember that you are supposed to check out the company as much as they check you out.
Here are some unique questions you can ask the interviewer in front of you:
- What is the company’s mission and vision?
- What problems is the company currently going through? How do I help solve it?
- What does the best employee do and what makes him valuable to the company?
- What are the biggest milestones the company is looking forward to over the next three years?
- What are the biggest challenges the company has overcome in the past three years?
Notice how the questions are about the company itself, not about you. This is because information about your role within the company has already been communicated, in one form or another, in the job description. In the interview, the hiring manager tries to determine how your vision differs from other candidates.
5. Prove your expertise with a business story
People love stories. It is the way we understand the world around us. The same applies during a job interview. Instead of just listing your skills and accomplishments to your interviewer, you can tell them through a memorable work story like this one:
This reminds me of a time when my previous company had to make some tough decisions just to survive. Our direct competitor released a new product that was incredibly successful and was eating up our market share. My team and I have spent countless hours trying to think of a solution.
You see, we couldn’t have underestimated it because we were already competing on a low profit margin. It was a big risk to lower our prices, but we had to do something. About a week later, after much thought and book reading, I suggested we make changes to our pricing model.
I figured it would be better if we switched to selling services through subscription. It was a tough decision for sure, but we all agreed with it. And to everyone’s surprise, it actually worked! We regained about 43% of our lost market share the following year and continued that momentum in the next three years.
In this story, the following skills are communicated:
- Leadership.
- The initiative.
- critical thinking.
- decision making.
- Business analysis.
- Risk Management.
- team management.
- communication.
- solving problems.
6. Show motivation to work on your weaknesses
Many potential candidates who are interviewed try to hide their weaknesses for obvious reasons; The interviewer is well aware of this fact. Instead of doing the same, you can present your weaknesses with the intention of working on them. This shows that you have a growth mindset and an optimistic personality.
For example, you could say something like this:
I realize I tend to fall short when it comes to X. It’s something I’ve been thinking about and actively trying to improve over the past 3 months. In fact, I noted in your job description that you offer a private training course for your employees. Perhaps this is a good way to speed up my work in order to get rid of my weak point.
Get your dream job
Being interviewed is indeed a commendable feat, 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 also be able to translate those skills and experiences written on paper into real-world conversations. You can now check out personal recognition tips to promote yourself the right way.