Top Ten Tips for Acing Your Interview

My oldest daughter recently shared the very exciting news that she had landed an interview for a great position and asked me for a few pointers on how to be most effective. In the past I’ve gotten similar questions from others, particularly young professionals embarking upon their careers, so I thought it might be timely to share a list of tips that have proven effective for me personally and which also helped me to make decisions about people I’ve hired over the years.

Some tips may be obvious, but others are surprisingly underutilized and will help to set you apart from the competition.

Tip 1 - Tailor Application Materials to Each Opportunity

The job of acing an interview starts long before you receive the call for an interview. Job candidates oftentimes rely on a single version of their resume or don’t pay close enough attention to key words or responsibilities in the vacancy announcement and position description when submitting an application, which can result in their materials being screened out automatically by an online system, based on a lack of qualifications or alignment with the vacancy. With that in mind, make periodic adjustments to your resume and add relevant keywords to each application to highlight experience that aligns with what you believe the hiring manager is seeking.

Many hiring managers can receive well over 100 applications for each position announcement, so the first step toward success is ensuring that your application materials pass the test and reach the hiring panel for review.

Tip 2 - Research the Organization and Interview Panel

Now that you’ve gotten the call that you landed the interview, your real work begins. Go online and spend a few minutes finding out as much as you can about your potential employer, both good and bad. This includes research into challenges they’ve experienced in the past and understanding of their current reputation. Identify things they do well and search for opportunities for improvement. This information can be useful when attempting to outline how you can immediately benefit their team.

If the information is available, also get to know the person or team that will be interviewing you by visiting LinkedIn to connect with and view their profiles. One benefit of the internet and our hyper-connected world is that information is readily available, if we’re willing to work hard enough to find it.

Tip 3 - Develop a 100-Day Plan

Take time to think through what you will do in the first few months, if you are offered the job. This should include steps that you’ll take to understand internal organizational dynamics, meetings with leadership and your peers, a gap analysis to identify potential quick wins, formulation of a high-level plan for first year and socialization of that plan to all stakeholders.

Your 100-day plan, once blessed by your leadership team and direct reports, if applicable, will help to remove any potential ambiguity around what tasks you should focus on during your transition period and may also help to set you apart as a self-starter.

Tip 4 - Make Multiple Copies of Your Resume

The assumption should be that any individual or team interviewing you already has copies of your resume and application, but you should still be prepared for any contingency by bringing along additional copies of your resume, in case a new individual is invited to participate in your interview at the last minute, and hasn’t had a chance to read through your resume and familiarize themselves with your candidacy in advance.

You could take it one step further and develop a one-page version of your resume that is shorter than your longer CV-style resume and synthesizes your professional experience into a format that highlights and brings attention to the most relevant areas of your expertise, education and accomplishments.

Tip 5 - Allow Your Personality to Shine Through

The reality is that many hiring decisions come down to whether or not you make a connection with the person or people interviewing you. When trying to decide between two highly qualified candidates, oftentimes the tiebreaker is perceived cultural fit. To that end, many employers devote a good portion of the interview to identifying whether or not you will make a positive contribution to the culture of their team and organization, so it helps to relax and attempt to make a connection with the person or team you’re speaking with.

However, be sure to dress appropriately for the position and organization you’re interviewing with. No matter how amazing your personality is, you can be disqualified from an opportunity, based on inappropriate attire and appearance.

Tip 6 - Anticipate Interview Questions

Some interview questions will be very specific and others may vary significantly based on the technologies or expected skillsets required for the position, but many basic questions can be anticipated in advance and prepared for. Employers do typically want to understand why you’re seeking new employment, have a break in your experience or what you will bring to their organization and what momentous achievements you’ve celebrated in the past… Practice those responses.

When interviewing for specialized positions, it helps to demonstrate your understanding and mastery of the skills and concepts required for the job, but it could help to seal the deal if you also provide specific examples of where and how you’ve applied those skills in the past, toward the realization of some measurable and demonstrable outcome.

Tip 7 - Be Prepared with Key Differentiators

At the conclusion of your interview, it is likely that you’ll be asked if you have any additional questions or if there is anything else that you would like to share with the panel. It is at this point you’ll have an opportunity to “freestyle” a bit and share what separates you from other candidates.

As I previously stated in Tip 1, many vacancy announcements can receive well over one hundred applications for a single opportunity, particularly for very well-respected companies and high profile positions. This could translate into lots of competition and multiple rounds of interviews before an offer is made.

To that end, part of your preparation should be in the development of a concise and memorable pitch that resonates well with your audience and outlines how you are the best candidate for the position, based on a combination of your work history, education or community engagement and extracurricular activities if you’re new to the field. Be sure to provide tangible examples of how you’ve had a similar impact on past organizations, if that applies, and explain how the “leave behind” materials I’ll outline in Tip 8 demonstrate the value you’ll bring, if you are the successful candidate.

Tip 8 - Leave Behind Materials with the Interview Panel

You have an opportunity to continue making a lasting impact after your interview is over and you depart the room, by leaving copies of your writing samples, professional references, 100-day plan of attack, abridged resume and cover letter with your interviewer(s).

Another idea is to outline how hiring you will result in measurable savings within the first year, for their organization. For example, if you are interviewing for a project management position, detail how you will avoid costly mistakes on major implementations and recommend automation as the replacement for potentially error prone, manual business processes. List the amount, in dollars, you’ve saved past employers by putting cost-cutting measures in place. These steps will help to communicate how the organization can expect to receive a return on its investment in you.

Tip 9 - Follow Up After the Interview

At the conclusion of your interview, ask for business cards and/or connect with members of the interview panel through LinkedIn, which allows you to send a personalized message, thanking each of them for their time, consideration and the opportunity to speak with them about your candidacy. This gives you an opportunity to reinforce your key differentiators, desire to work with their organization and to share any salient points you may have missed or forgotten during your interview.

This also gives you a second chance to provide links to an online portfolio of your work and any other information you feel is relevant for assisting in the effort of making the decision to hire you.

Tip 10 - DELIVER!!!

Most importantly, once you are offered the position and start with your new employer, follow through and be effective. After all, your professional reputation and personal brand are on the line.

In closing, my personal experience has shown that, although we are now a global society, the world and our respective networks are much smaller than we think. Despite the fact it takes years and lots of hard work to build a solid reputation, it takes an amazingly short amount of time and very little energy to tear one down. With that in mind, resolve to consistently deliver high results, which could lead to greater opportunities in the future, if you are open to them.

These are just a few pointers that I’ve seen work effectively in the past and I’m pretty sure you have some proven tricks of your own. In any case, I wish you the best of luck in your professional journey!