Mastering Interviews - Go Pro!

In our last newsletter we discussed the basics of interview prep and lay the foundation for presenting our best selves. But what if you are looking to really take your game to the next level and go from ‘hunted’ to ‘hunter’? After all, interviews can be a life-altering opportunity and really open up unimaginable doors to career, financial and personal freedom.?

Let’s see what we need to become a pro at mastering the learnable art and skill of giving memorable interviews and standing out in any crowd.

In my opinion,?there are 4 pillars of interview preparation?that give you an edge, and you really need to have these solid if you want to make a dent of any kind.

1. Know the?story?you want to tell
2. Know?precisely?what the company/job needs?and tell your story in that?context
3. Know your fit, and how you?‘sell’ yourself. Also, how to avoid de-selling yourself
4. Practice and?practice right. If you skip this, nothing else works

CRAFT YOUR STORY

Interviewers meet and talk to hundreds of people every week, most of whom are going to say what you say, have similar skills and might even settle for lesser compensation. The competition is real. If you want to be remembered and preferred, you need to not just talk but tell a powerful story that sticks. There have been just a couple of such candidates in my career who met me maybe once, but I remember their resumes even today because of how they made me feel.

Know Your Story

Who are you as a person? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What motivates you and inspires you? What is your natural talent? What do you hate to do and what are your unique challenges? What is your personality like? What do co-workers and managers say about you? Where are you headed in your career, and what do you aspire to do/be in a decade?

This can take some inner work, but once you do it, it will reward you beyond compare. Once you know the broad story, narrow it down.

What do I want to emphasize for?this?discussion?

Skipping irrelevant details is HUGE. No one wants to know everything you’ve done, and you should be ruthlessly honest when evaluating what to keep. Every interview deserves a tailored resume dedicated to showcasing your perfect fit for that particular role with that particular organization. Generic CVs are disengaging and lack focus, and guarantees an easy way to get lost in the pile of applicants.

Tell Your Story

To tell a story, you need a framework; practice your pitch, delivery and tempo; bring it alive with examples and enthusiasm; and use your body language well.

A story can be contained in a STAR framework (or similar such). Try to answer most questions in this way until it becomes second nature.

ST- Situation/Task?- Give context about the year, time, company, people etc to create a background that explains what was happening and why it was important. Create a ‘hook’ that gets the interviewer interested in the stakes.

A- Actions/Approach/Achievements -?This is where the meat is, where you talk about challenges and how you handled them. Prepare this in detail with numbers, testimonials and examples for follow up questions (For long projects that span several months, focus on highlights and key metrics of success only, and elaborate if probed).

R- Results?- End on a high note, like a seafaring warrior coming home from a long voyage. Happy endings are impactful and coupled with concrete results, can build credibility really fast. Also, make sure you focus on what?you?did specifically and do not generalize too much because that makes everything vague. “We did this and that” leaves me wondering how much of a role you had to play.

A STAR answer should be 1-2 mins, not longer. After this you begin to lose people because it becomes a monologue. Your interviewers’ attention span is short. Ideally, you should serve just enough meat for them to want to follow up with more questions.

Sell Charismatically

Many people?hate?the idea of selling themselves, but the fact of the matter is that the person with the best qualifications from a fancy school who?appears?uninterested (Low key, poker face, introverted and overly humble) will probably lose the opportunity to a relatively average candidate who skillfully convinces the interviewer that they are excited to get the job done. Recruiters are humans and we too are influenced by how a candidate made us feel.

Have A Strategy

Know your skill sets and fit for the job. Pick out specific requirements from the job description and have examples that credibly demonstrate those qualities in you. This is gold. Use similar language/keywords and set goals to make those points when you talk. This way, you will highlight your best no matter how good or bad your interviewer is, will be able to take control of the conversation at all times, and will be able to create opportunities for yourself where none exist. This is a powerful way to lead an interview vs being led into it.

Know Your Strengths

Know exactly what you’re amazing at, what you can barely manage and what you need to avoid. Your goal is to circle back to your strong suits no matter how the question is framed. The idea is not to answer the question in exact terms, but rather to use a question as a launch pad to demonstrate your success in that area with credible and honest stories.

Know Your Weaknesses

Don’t lead into or focus on your weaknesses unless you’re asked to honestly review them. Even then, you must be mindful about how you present your answer. Being prepared here can mitigate the downside so that you don’t get caught off guard and fumble or blurt out something that gets you struck off for good.?

Say It With Confidence

Avoid fumbling by preparing in advance, but also avoid sounding like a scripted parrot by only memorizing bullet points. Authenticity demands some spontaneity and you can find the right balance by identifying your key projects, achievements, and main talking points and then leaving the rest to the interviewer.?

Cover all Bases

It is super important that you give extra attention to awkward topics and gaps in your resume- anything that makes you uncomfortable. Try framing questions around these segments in several different ways when you prep.

Celebrities and public figures do this all the time, where they have pointers about the funny stories or quirks they want to talk about before they appear on shows, and how endearing do we find those candid bits!

PRACTICE RIGHT

Practice is not awkward, it’s the single step that takes you from fumbling and scattered to polished and confident. This is where the rubber hits the road. If you just think and practice in your head, it does very little to improve actual performance. If you are not sure where to start, enlist the help of a coach, consultant, or storytelling expert who can help in crafting an impactful narrative and give you real time feedback that makes the delivery natural and authentic for you. On your own, here’s what you can do -?

1. Practice?common interview questions?in the mirror or record a video of yourself. Group similar ones together and gather an idea of the main pointers you will cover in that category. Here you must avoid the trap of going off on a tangent or beginning at the beginning and immediately losing the interest of your interviewer. A mirror can help you see?how?you say things- if you need to smile more or less and if your body language is helping you build rapport or distracting?
2. Pay attention to?open ended questions?like tell me about yourself/walk me through your resume. This is an opportunity to position yourself strongly. What do you want to focus on? How can you stand out in the initial couple of minutes? Take control here! Don't just describe your resume.
3. Get objective feedback. Get coaching or share your answers with trustworthy people who are invested in helping you improve. LinkedIn also has a community based tool for Premium members that might be helpful to some degree.
4. Learn to sell authentically.?Initially, the answers and STAR approach can feel unnatural and phony. This is normal, simply because you are not used to talking like that. If you practice this just a few times, it will begin to feel like second nature. Shy and humble people, especially those who would rather not brag tend to answer these questions ineffectively. They fumble because they feel very uncomfortable. The key is to practice till you tweak your answers enough so that they feel authentic to you.?

A great way is to use factual statements instead of subjective ones (“We increased revenue by 8%” vs I’m the best salesperson at the company). Another hack is to quote other people (“My manager mentioned in my annual feedback that she was impressed by my mentorship skills” vs “I’m an amazing leader!”). Add a dash of adjectives and some enthusiasm and you’re all set!

1. Always circle back to the main thing. How am I the best fit for this job? What are my strengths and experiences? Why am I motivated to succeed in this role? What do I want the employer to remember about me?
2. Avoid generalized references, casual answers and an unnecessary focus on the organization. Ultimately, the interview is about why this particular job is?made for you?and it’s important to communicate that you are psyched about the day to day work.

BODY LANGUAGE

Your body language paints a picture that drowns out your voice. A pleasant smile, good posture and presence of mind are prerequisites to great storytelling. Negative body language can arise from lack of content clarity, nervousness, lack of awareness that you have a quirk, discomfort with face to face interviews. Nothing that doesn’t get better with practice.?

Avoid these common pitfalls-

• Umms and Ahhs
• Looking at the table or ceiling when talking
• Fidgeting with hands or things
• Twirling in your chair
• Playing with your hair
• Too many key phrases “like, you know”

BONUS

Aim to create a peak end experience, because that feeling sticks even after the interaction ends.

At the end of an interview, you might get the chance to ask questions. Ask smart questions like “What are the most important qualities for someone in this role?” Then try to naturally segway into that with your experience and fit, reinforcing your natural fit for the position.

Don’t prompt them to think negatively about you by asking why you are not a fit / inviting objections against your candidature.?