In order to not strike out during your job interviews, you need to sidestep robotic tendencies.
When you are starting out, the jobs that require no experience tend to pay too little, and the jobs that are non-entry level tend to require experience.
This begs the age-old issue: how can you get experience when everyone wants someone with experience? Often times, like it or not, having a contact on the inside will at least get your foot in the door. But, unfortunately, not everyone has that luxury.
In order to land a job, use these eight strategies to absolutely crush your job interviews like a champ.
Stop asking the same stale questions.
Under no circumstances should your interviewer be able to finish your question for you. If you begin with, To what do you… and they sigh and answer, owe my success? You probably lost them.
Rehearsed and tired questions are purposeless. These stale questions just demonstrate that you practiced unoriginal questions instead of intently creating questions unique to you. It’s best to avoid regurgitating the most common interview questions that Google can offer and come up with engaging, genuine questions to stand out from the competition.
Don’t be a bot.
Bring your personality, but in a professional way. Your interviewer is as much analyzing your answers as they are assessing your personality to see if you’d make a good fit in terms of the company culture.
Your job is not to regurgitate your resume. They already read it, and that’s why you’re in this position. Try your best to manage your nerves so they can get to know you. You don’t want to come off robotic, so avoid answering in a close-ended fashion and, instead, walk your interviewer through your thought process out loud for your answers.
Always get in the mindset of the hiring manager.
People tend to plan ahead how they want to frame their experiences and discuss projects they’re especially proud of. But the key is to act like you are the hiring manager and think, What would I want to hear? What is actually relevant to this job? What would be of interest to the hiring manager? If you were in their shoes, what would you be hoping to hear from this prospective candidate?
Unfortunately, if the projects you like to talk about most are not relevant to the job whatsoever, then skip it and save it for another interview.
Use LinkedIn to research your hiring manager’s background.
If you want to connect with the hiring manager, do a deep dive into their LinkedIn profile and see where they’ve been and what may be of interest to them. Especially if you have commonalities, find a way to drop details about yourself that would pique their interest. It’s a good way to make them not forget about you.
Find the balance between confident and cocky.
This applies to both your professional and personal life. Usually, if you have to say, it’s not cockiness, it’s confidence, it’s probably cockiness. Practice self-awareness and humility in order to be confident without sounding cocky.
Remember, your interviewer and prospective team members do not want to work with an ego. They want to work with you. Let them get to know you and determine whether your skillset fits their needs or not.
Everyone has their strengths, but there’s no need to parade them right at the start. Confidence is silent, insecurities are loud, and cockiness is just obnoxious.
Portray an impenetrable competent disposition.
This relates to the confidence factor. Speaking with conviction is critical and using power words for job interviews conveys competence to your interviewer – assuming, of course, you use them correctly.
Avoid mumbling and using words such as like, literally, and honestly. Filler words often suggest that you are second-guessing yourself or that you are unsure of yourself, which damages both your credibility and competence.
Speaking strongly with confidence and likening your experiences to the job will support your answers and, in turn, create confidence in your interviewer that you could walk in Day One and fulfill the job.
Cutting corners only cuts your chances in half.
You have to fully commit to any interview you agree to. Of course, if you don’t have interest or if it turns out to not be a good fit, then you’ll learn that during the interview. But before you show up, you need to do your homework. On the company. On the interviewer. On the job description.
Come with questions and be prepared to have an example for the behavioral questions. If time is not a luxury you have, especially after graduation when those student loan payments start knocking at the door, you need to give 100% to every job and make a winning impression with everyone you meet in order to crush your job interviews. You never know how your life events may bring you back to the company one day.
Leave your pride at the door.
Like it or not, when you’re starting at the bottom, it’s best to retire your pride for the foreseeable future. Of course, you deserve respect at any job, but your ego might have to endure some bruises until you work your way up.
Sometimes you have to kiss up to every hiring manager to make them feel like this job is your dream job. It’s not easy, but it’s often necessary to crush your job interviews.
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