Wednesday, July 20, 2011

How to Make Yourself Standout in an Interview by Ronald Mitchell



How to Make Yourself Standout in an Interview

Believe it or not, it is not your outstanding professional track
record or your exceptional academic pedigree that make you
standout in an interview.  Those are the things that get you the
interview.  Once you walk in the room and sit down in front
of the interviewer, it is a whole new ball game.  If you want to
Standout in Your Interview, you need to focus on the
following steps to differentiate yourself from your peers.

Deep Knowledge of the Company, Industry, Job
As George Orwell said in the classic novel, 1984,
“Knowledge is Power”.  The more you know about the
company, industry & job, the more impressive your
interview will be.  This does not mean that you need to
throw out facts about how many employees the
company has in Bulgaria.  However, the fact that you
know that the company has significant operations in
Bulgaria will enable you to be more confident and
insightful in your responses to the interviewer’s questions. 
The fact that you know that the top 5 companies in the
industry control 60% of the market allows you to better
understand the pricing pressures in the market.  In a nutshell,
the more you know, the better you will perform.

What you need to know about the JOB >

What you need to know about the COMPANY >
What you need to know about the INDUSTRY >


Ability to have a conversation about industry trends
The best interviews I have conducted, felt more like
conversations than interrogations.  In several, I left the
interview knowing more than when it began.  These are
interviews and candidates that distinguish themselves. 

When the interviewer can hold a substantive conversation about
an industry related topic for 15-20 minutes with a person, they will remember that person.  If the candidate can actually tell them
something they didn’t know, even better.  In some cases, this
 conversational tone is driven by the interviewer.  In others,
you as the interviewee might have to take the conversation
in that direction.  Before you go into the interview, you should
outline three significant current trends or events in the industry.
 Research those with a particular emphasis on differing
perspectives of industry leaders.

Prepare an industry research summary >


Control the Interview
I can remember an interview I had with Sammy, a young
college sophomore that I interviewed for a summer internship
position on Wall Street five years ago.  I left that interview
feeling as though I was the one who had just been interviewed. 
He completely controlled the conversation.  Now this tactic
can backfire.  It is more art than science.  You don’t want to
force the issue by bombarding your interviewer with
innumerable questions.  However, a very natural, inquisitive
tone where you are asking a series of questions that you are
GENUINELY interested in and that follow a logical sequence,
will get you there.  Controlling the interview does not mean
that you solely ask questions.  It also means that you communicate
the skills and experiences you know highlight you as the best
candidate.  You must make sure that your story gets told. 
I typically suggest that you write down your 5 most compelling
qualities and make sure that you reference all of them throughout
the interview.  Even if this means that at the end of the interview
you must list the three most compelling reasons why you should
be hired.


Ask Good & Insightful Questions

There is always an incredible emphasis placed on what questions
 are asked during an interview.  What most people fail to understand
is that “questions” don’t matter.  “Good questions” matter.  In fact,
asking bad questions may be more injurious to your cause than
not asking any questions at all.  It further exposes your lack of
knowledge.  Good questions inform the interviewer of both
your knowledge and interest.  If you cannot come up with a
single good question, that tells the interviewer that you frankly
are not that interested in the opportunity.  If your question is
not very insightful, it also communicates that you have not
done your research on the opportunity.

Good Questions to Ask in the Interview >


Comfort / Ease of Conversation

As a former athlete, I can understand being a little nervous before
an interview.  I was always nervous before games.  However, once
the game started, I became extremely comfortable.  That is because
the only thing you can do is play your game.   The same is true of your interview.  There is no need to be very nervous because, even more
so than an athletic contest, the interview is all about you.  It is about
your story, knowledge and interest.  Why be nervous?  You should
know your story – it is “your” story after all.  No one is expecting
you to communicate why they should hire someone else.  The
knowledge part is simple as well.  If you have prepared, you know
what you know and know what you don’t know.  If you are asked something you don’t know, you should be able to recover by
talking about something you know well later in the interview. 
And, finally, your interest is either real or not.  If you are interested,
then you should have put in the work to be prepared.  If you are not interested, then who cares how the interview goes.  The best
interviewees are fairly relaxed when the interview starts.  The
interviewer should be able to feel that