The SECRET to building INFLUENCE in a job interview

Influence is built when you (the applicant) know the interviewers' needs and can address them comprehensively at the meeting.

In reality, 90% of people go into interviews and engage in Q&A that is driven by the Hiring Manager. And finish the interview unsure whether they "hit the mark" or "missed it".

There is a better way ... I call it the Consultative Interview. In this, you need to participate equally through the meeting and "consult" with them to discover their needs and discuss the solution (or rather, how YOU are the solution to their needs).

The Consultative Interview Framework?

Your mission should you choose to accept it ... is to discover the needs of the Hiring Manager (in the context of the job you are applying for) early in the interview conversation. ?

Having established rapport with the interviewer, you can start to ask questions to discover their needs in the role for which you are being interviewed.?You could bridge the conversation from a light topic to discovering their needs by saying something like:

" I appreciate you meeting me today...

I’ve been looking forward to learning more about the goals you want to achieve and the challenges you want to overcome through this role...

Would you like to ask me some questions first or may I ask you some questions?"

This tells them that you are focused on their agenda and would like to find out more about it (before talking about yourself), which is the ideal situation.

You want to know exactly what the challenges and goals are so that you can specifically address how you can help to achieve them. Everything else outside of this is irrelevant to the interviewer(s) and will be forgotten.

They are likely to tell you more about the role, challenges and goals instead of asking you questions about yourself (before you know exactly what their pain points are). This positions you as a consultative and caring professional, so please find out their needs before you talk about yourself or how you can help them achieve their goals.?

When you have permission to go ahead and ask questions to find out more about the interviewer’s needs for the position, I recommend you ask about:??

1. The Current situation

Ask, probe and listen to what the current factors are in the role. If you don’t understand something, clarify it and go deeper.?Sometimes it takes four to five questions to get to the heart of a matter. You can also ask about how satisfied the interviewers are right now about the way things are.

?Here are some sample questions to ask to help you understand the current realities:

• What are the top three challenges or problems you would like the person to tackle in this role?
• How is this impacting the team and the customer?
• Who are the key stakeholders in the role?
• How long has this been a problem?
• Why did this position become available?

?

2. The Desired Situation

Ask, probe and listen to what goals and outcomes the interviewer desires in the role. Sometimes you can achieve the highest mileage by identifying what the interviewer really wants to achieve and the ‘What’s in it for me?’ factor. What are the implications for the interviewer personally??You can then show how you could help them achieve their desired situation.

Here are some sample questions to ask to help you understand and achieve the desired goals:

• What are the top three outcomes and goals you would like to achieve?
• What are the timeframes in which these need to be achieved?
• What has been done so far towards achieving these outcomes and goals?
• What is the impact of success on the team and customer/s?
• What changes do you anticipate in the next three to six months in this role?

You have been consultative, gathered valuable information ... so now its time to...

3. Bridge the gap

Once you can see the gap between where the interviewers are and where they want to be, you are in a position to show them how you will take them from their current situation to their desired situation.?

Now, you have influence because what you tell them is relevant and useful to their situation. It's essential that you provide two to three recent and relevant examples of how you have overcome similar problems and achieved similar goals. Use S.T.A.R stories to be specific and memorable.

In summary, when you discover needs and meet them through the interview process - you are going to have the maximum probability of winning the confidence of the interviewers and most likely to be offered the role.

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Pree Sarkar is an Executive Recruiter and Career Advisor to Mid-Senior Managers and Professionals at global technology companies. He is the Founder and Director at Switch - Talent and Career Accelerator, a leading firm in the areas of Recruitment, and Executive Search.

Reach out to Pree if you are looking for your next career move or looking to hire top performing talent in Australia, Singapore or Hong Kong.