Have you ever made a mistake in an interview,
or said something that you immediately regret?
Well, we've all been there, so what I've done for you today
is compiled a list of five common mistakes that typically
happen in an interview to tee you up
for success in your next one.
Be sure to stick around to the end
while I offer you up a sixth bonus tip on how you can really
make a personalized connection with your interviewer.
So, let's get started.
So for my first tip, don't just rely
on good conversational skills.
Instead, what I want you to do is
complement that with ample research
on the company ahead of time.
Now, if you're someone who enjoys
facilitating meaningful conversation
and meeting new people, that's excellent,
and it's going to serve you very well in your interview.
But it's just going to make your case that much stronger when
you come to the table prepared and educated
on the company, what they believe in,
maybe some of their values and why it's a good fit for you
and for them for you as a potential employee.
Some of the research I would encourage you to look into
are maybe things like company awards
that they have won, or industry awards, any new products
that they are working on, culture tenants, value tenants.
It could be also maybe how they contribute to the community,
and if volunteering experience, for example,
is important to you, that's going
to be a really wonderful way to showcase
a symbiotic match for you and the company
that you're interviewing with.
Something else that I would encourage you to do as well
is read the job description, and then read it again.
What I would like for you to do is find very specific qualities
or skill sets that they are looking
for in their next employee, in this role in particular,
and then be able to offer up very specific examples of how
you meet that criteria.
It's going to be a great way to not only indicate to them how
you are a good match for the role, but again,
for the company as a whole.
And whenever you're lucky enough to be informed
as to who you're going to be interviewing
with ahead of time, it's just going
to put you at an advantage when you educate yourself
on their background or their experience,
maybe through a social profile, if they have
some sort of a profile set up on their company website, anything
that you can do to personalize that conversation is just
really going to help you out.
I encourage you to check out this video on the best
pre-interview strategy.
So here's my second tip.
Don't just focus on your daily duties.
Instead, what I want you to do is focus on the accomplishments
that you're really proud of in your current role.
It's relatively easy to go down a rabbit hole
and get into the weeds around your specific duties,
but because individual duties are
so specific to that individual organization,
it could be harder for your interviewer
to really understand the impact that you're
going to make on this new organization because of that.
So if you focus more on your key accomplishments
and really talk about the impact that you've made maybe
for your team, on a project, or maybe
how you've contributed to the bottom line
of the organization, it's just going
to broaden the understanding of your interviewer
to understand how you are going to be
able to bring those specific skill sets and qualities over
into a new role.
Now if you've gotten this far, I would
love if you could give us a like on this video,
and for more career coaching advice,
be sure to subscribe to our channel,
because we've got a lot more where that came from.
Now, for tip number three, and it's one
that I have personally had to work on myself,
is to avoid the three minute answer.
The goal here is to be focused and concise
with your delivery of your response,
because it's very easy to go down a rabbit hole
and get lost in your own thoughts.
We've all done it.
But there are some things that you can apply here
that are going to really make this easier for you
in your next interview.
What we don't want to do is have the recruiter or the hiring
manager forget what the overall point of your response was,
because we've buried it in too much content.
So if you can keep the answer to around 60 to 90 seconds,
it's just going to be easier for whoever
is interviewing you to retain that information
and remember you as a candidate.
So something specific that I do, a little trick
that I pull out of my sleeve, is to have a story
in my back pocket to answer the question.
It's a great way for you to personalize the answer,
and what that does for you is just kind of indicates
very clearly what situation you were presented with,
how you handled it, and how you moved on from it.
This then is going to be able to then showcase to your recruiter
the positive impact that not just came from the results,
but came from the experience that you
had while you were presented with maybe
that particular challenge.
Now, for more information on how to tackle
those behavioral based interview questions,
go ahead and click on this link right up
here for more information.
So for my fourth tip, if maybe you lack experience,
or you are transitioning into a new career,
I want you to fight that urge to provide maybe an elusive
or really vague answer.
What I want you to do instead is focus on transferable skill
sets.
Many people feel like they have to talk about experience that
directly matches what's in the body of the job
description of the new role that they're applying for.
Now, this can create a situation where those vague answers might
confuse your interviewer, or maybe influence your message
to get lost in translation somewhere, which
we don't want to happen.
The last thing that we want to do
is have your interviewer think that you're
uncomfortable with the question because you
don't have the skill sets or the ability
to learn new skill sets, to meet the criteria that they're
looking for in their next candidate.
Instead what I want you to do is offer a genuine, authentic,
and positive response.
You can talk about any relevant experience
that you have, either in the workplace,
outside of the workplace, as long as you are providing
an answer that is going to bridge the gap between what
they're looking for and the experience that you're bringing
to the table, it's just going to provide a much more
seamless, fluid response that is going to articulate
to your interviewer why you're the right person for the job,
and it's going to allow you to be even more memorable.
For example, if you were not working for a period of time
and you've got that gap on your resume,
just explain to your interviewer what
you were doing during that time, and what
you learned during that experience
that you can carry over and apply to the new role.
And if you're talking about experience maybe that you
have from a different industry that you're coming from,
it's OK to talk about how you're going
to bring over those skill sets to this new industry as well.
For example, if you are currently in a retail customer
service support role, but you're interviewing
for maybe a social media management position, what
you can do is just talk about how in your past,
you've been able to either resolve customer issues,
moderate customer topics, or just maybe even engage
customers in a meaningful way that
provides a little stickiness to the brand.
If you don't have specifically related experience,
tell your interviewer how you plan on getting it.
It's always really impressive when a candidate
can come to the table and speak very clearly
to how they're going to gain a skill set if they
don't currently have one.
This way, what you're doing is you're not necessarily
leaving the interviewer with the impression
that you don't know what to do or you simply
don't have the correct skill sets,
it's going to really provide them
a roadmap of how you're going to be
able to grow in this new role, and expand
what you're going to be able to contribute to the company.
You might even be able to argue that your unique background
sets you up in an advantage because it's
going to allow you to bring in a new vantage point
that they weren't expecting.
And for my fifth tip, don't be afraid to showcase
your enthusiasm for the new job.
I know that sometimes when we're in an interview,
we think if we share too much excitement or enthusiasm
about the role, that it could come across
like we're desperate for it.
But at the end of the day, at this point,
you've already shared why you're a good fit for the role,
you've articulated your transferable skill sets,
it's OK to share with your interviewer
why you're excited for this new opportunity.
What we don't want to happen is for you
to mask that excitement, and then
have your interviewer think that maybe you
are unimpressed or simply not interested
in the position or the company.
Now, if you're looking for a strategic way
to implement this, I would encourage
you to use the one, two, three formula.
First, at the end of your conversation,
I want you to actually say to your interviewer
that you're still interested in pursuing the role.
Two, I want you to provide a list of your references
immediately, and then three, ask about next steps
in the hiring process.
This is going to clearly communicate to your interviewer
that you are ready to land this job,
and by providing a list of your references immediately,
it showcases to them that there is absolutely
no delay in them reaching out and getting additional context
about why they should hire you.
It's also a really nice move for you to simply ask,
is there anything else that you might
need for me in the coming days to assist my job
application as you're making your decisions?
And now for my bonus tip.
Avoid coming into the interview solely
focused on your own agenda.
You want to cultivate a really great rapport
with your interviewer by showing genuine interest in what they
have to say.
It can be really easy to get caught up in your own thoughts
and really only convey what you want them to hear,
but some of the most successful interviews
feel very conversational in nature.
Your goal is to show attention, ask thoughtful questions,
and listen intently.
Remember the power of eye contact and body language.
A good rule of thumb here is to use body language that mirrors
that of the interviewer.
This can do a really good job of just creating
a warm, inviting environment that feels positive, fluid,
and open.
Remember, you are interviewing the company as much
as they're interviewing you.
So to quickly recap, use these six tips
to avoid mistakes in your next interview.
First, don't rely just on strong conversational skills.
Do your homework ahead of time to really educate yourself
about the company and the opportunity.
Second, don't just describe your daily duties,
lean into your accomplishments, and really be
able to speak to how you're going
to apply those to your new job.
Third, avoid rambling answers.
Really practice concise, short answers to questions
that you're being asked, so that you can
communicate really efficiently.
Fourth, if you lack experience or you're
transitioning careers, really fight
that urge to provide a vague or evasive answer.
Speak to your transferable skill sets
and how they're going to apply to your new job,
and really allow you to stand out as the star candidate.
Also, don't be afraid to ask for next steps in the hiring
process, so that it's very clear for both of you.
And remember, the sixth bonus tip
is to match the energy of your interviewer.
Pay attention to nonverbals, and simply
mirror that to create a nice fluid
environment so that it feels comfortable for everyone
involved.
So for added confidence, add these tips
to your interviewing toolkit to set yourself
up for success next time.
Once again, please like this video below and subscribe
to our channel for more, and if you need additional assistance
in preparing for your next interview,
I highly recommend this playlist right here.
Thanks for joining.
Good luck on your next interview.
You're going to be great.