Interview Advice

Congratulations, you've followed my CV advice (maybe?) and got yourself an interview! You now have the interview for the opportunity you've been waiting for. You want to do everything you can at the interview to impress the hiring authorities and be the preferred Candidate. Let's look at what you can do before, during and after the interview to increase your chances of landing the opportunity. And remember, they've asked you to come in for the interview, which means they think you can do the job and want to hire you - you just have to win their hearts & minds at interview.

Pre-Interview Preparations

Research - make sure you understand as much as you can about the industry, company, department, hiring manager, team, and anyone involved in the hiring process.

• What is happening in the industry, what is the big news in the local/regional/global market. Check all news articles, press releases, industry publications to get a sense of what is going on in the wider market.
• How is this company positioned within the industry? (market leader holding on, challenger, start up, etc.). What is their reputation in the market amongst the industry and customers?
• What is the USP of the company, what are their products/services, who are their customers, what is their value proposition.
• Do they have corporate values? What are they?
• What is the culture of the business like? Relaxed, Corporate, Outcome Focused, Continuous Improvement or Happy to Tick Over? Rapidly changing/growing and innovating? High accountability, or no accountability? Reward effort, provide performance awards, promote from within where possible?
• Hiring Manager - LinkedIn is typically great for this - who is the hiring manager, how long have they been with the company? How long in this role? How long will they continue to be in this role? What do they need to get from this hire to make themselves successful? What qualifications do they possess? What training have they had? How did they get the job? How do they fit into the org chart?
• Team Members - if you can, find out about the immediate team you'll be working in. How large is it? What are the responsibilities? Any cross training or skilling between teammates? How long have they been in their roles? What are the qualifications and experience within in the team and how would your background compliment the mix/blend of skills?
• Others involved in hiring process - HR, the boss' boss, indirect senior stakeholders. Get an idea of who you'd be working with whilst performing the job, you can then align working with similar stakeholders from previous experience.

Attire

• Ask for the preferred dress on the day if possible - most companies want you to do well at interview and will help you along the way. Many companies prefer you to dress in business attire, but not full formal wear (skip the tie). Certain industries - technology, agriculture, heavy industry are quite informal and showing up suited and booted may go against you. If going to a head office, you are more likely to dress up, so consider the location of your interview.

On the Day

• Be on time! Map your route - know where you are going and where to park, and allow time for traffic, checking in at reception, etc. Ideally, you want to arrive 5-10 minutes early for your interview.
• Be prepared. Bring a professional looking folder, have a couple copies of your CV just in case - nothing more awkward than interviewers only having one copy to share. Show you are prepared and organised.
• Taking notes is OK, equally, you want to focus on creating a connection with the interviewers. Have a few pre-written questions to ask the interviewers - ideally at strategic levels, challenges, problems, etc. - not hours, pay, time off policies, etc.

The Interview

• There are many types of interviews happening out there at the moment - phone screen, video conference, coffee catch up, board room (with 1, 2, or 3 interviewers at once). I won't go into all of them here, but each require their own strategy.
• Build rapport, with a good hello, eye contact, handshake (elbow tap in the COVID era), and perhaps an ice breaker of 'how's your day?'. Thank them for inviting you in for the interview.
• Tell me about yourself. Invariably, you'll get asked to provide a little background of yourself - keep it 90% professional, perhaps 10% personal. As a guide, I like when people say where they grew up, what brought them to the current city, and then go through education and experience at a very high level - probably no more than 1-2 minutes. If you have hobbies/interests listed on your CV, not a bad time to mention them. Allow the interviewer to return the favour by asking similar of them. If you get them to go first, you'll have the template of how to answer and what info to provide.
• Model your interviewer's pace, pitch, and presence. By matching their movements, you are communicating that you are on the same page.
• Level of detail. This is key. If you are going for a job where you are an individual performer, you need to get into granular detail, demonstrating you have hands on experience doing the work required. If you are a senior leader, you will want to discuss things at a higher level, talk through team results, and how you drove performance from your team. In all instances, avoid concept/theory, relevant examples are your key to success here. I can tell you I know how to kick a goal, or I can tell you about the game winner in the grand final I kicked last year.
• The Communication Funnel - when explaining your own experience, you need to communicate in a reasonable order to allow the interviewer to understand the context of your experience/achievement. For each role on your CV, start first with the industry, then the company overview (#staff, $revenues, locations, customers, products/services). If you give a good description of the company and environment, then you can move into the organisational chart and where you sat within it, noting key deliverables/responsibilities/why the role existed. Finally, you can then discuss what you did there that made a difference, ideally focusing on issues that you are likely to face in this role you are interviewing for. In other words, the classic "S.T.A.R." technique - situation, task, action, result.
• Questions - you will most certainly be asked about what questions you have. I can tell you, it is the questions you ask, not the answers you give that impress a hiring manager. If you enquire with thought provoking questions in the areas of greatest concern to the hiring manager, you will hit the pain point and they will instantly get real interested as you clearly get what is happening. Asking the right questions allows the hiring manager to elaborate on what they are really trying to achieve by hiring this position. Armed with this information, you can now deliver the knockout blow by demonstrating where you can solve their problems.
• Best interview question to ask according to ladders.com, over 15 years of research - ask your future boss how you can HELP THEM earn a gold star with their boss. Self interest is important, and ultimately, you'll generally hire the person that you can show off to the rest of the company - look at this star i've just hired in my team. You are an extension of your boss and team after all.
• Focus on the opportunity (notice I didn't say job/role). You are joining a company, not taking a job. Companies want to hire staff that can help beyond their job description, grow with the company, become cross trained, be involved in new projects and adapt as necessary to ever changing business conditions. Remember, you will work for the company longer than you'll work for your 1st boss there, especially as you move around and/or climb the ranks as a great employee.

Post Interview

• Say thank you and ask about next steps, re-iterating your availability and interest.
• Get their contact details/business card - and if you do, take good care of it. Don't fold it up, leave it on the table, immediately look after it as if it were a $100 bill.
• Follow up with a thank you note. This is a great opportunity to mention why you are interested in the role, working for the company, and what you can bring to the role. I'd estimate 95% of people do not send a thank you follow up note, which is a missed opportunity.
• Offer up some references, the more relevant, the better. Be sure you've already provided a head's up to whom you'll be using, and if possible, discuss the role and any key points you want them to get across that may be relevant. Don't assume they remember everything you did, or even your dates of employment, titles, etc.

Final Thoughts

The interview process is a sales process. Sales 101 states: help the prospect understand where they are today (point A), where they want to be (point B), and be the solution that gets them from point A to point B. Simple as that! Your job is to understand why the company is hiring, what success looks like in the role, and ultimately how you will make your new boss successful in their role by achieving the outcomes they desire.

Sales 102: Ask for the sale (job). You've been following the market, you've made the applications, done the CV, dressed up for the interviews, done the research, had the interview, and you want the role. ASK FOR THE JOB! You've been quietly asking for it the whole time, and now you are at the final step. Don't let the company wonder if you are interested, let them know this is the opportunity you want. You probably don't need to ask, "so, when do I start", but you could comfortably list the reasons the opportunity excites you and let me know if offered you would like to move forward. If that is too forward for you, then you could also ask them something like this...based on our interview discussion, are there any concerns about my ability to do well in the role? Generally, you'll get a no to this and can then ask for the role. If you do flush out a concern, you can address it right then and there (you can't put everything on a CV, and an interview doesn't always cover everything), and ask if there is any other concern.

You now have the blueprint to interview success. Prepare well, execute with the right messaging and questions, and follow up post interview and ASK FOR THE JOB. Pretty soon, you'll be the one at the other end of the boardroom table.

About the author: Eric Macias has set up thousands of 1st interviews through his networks over his 15 year recruitment career; interviewed over 5,000 people face to face; and he's also personally interviewed successfully for 30+ jobs since age 14 - he knows a thing or two about interviews first hand. He's not a paid author, blogger, influencer, or even that cool (according to his teenage step son), but he enjoys helping others land their dream job. If you found this article helpful, you may find value in some of the other job searching articles attached to his profile. Macias Consulting: The Gold Standard in Recruitment.