Hey everybody, it's Andy, back for another week to help you build a career you love.
Today we're gonna talk about 10 steps to win any job interview when you're changing careers.
I know how hard this is, I get this question virtually every week during my live office
hours.
Tons of questions on my YouTube channel and my blog.
When I get into that interview, how do I actually compete against other job seekers who have
the skills the employer is looking for?
I know this is difficult.
Career changing in general is difficult, which is why I talk about it so much.
To give us a running start, and I've talked about this before in some previous videos
that I've created.
One, was how to change careers successfully, the first seven steps.
I've also talked about this in one of my live office hours.
We spent a lot of time going over the steps that you need to take to make a successful
career change.
But let's say you get started in the right direction.
Let's say you can control what you can control, you do the research, you find a career you
love.
You start following mentors, you go through all the steps, you get your resume in order,
and you actually get an interview.
How do you win it?
Well, let's talk about those 10 things you can do.
Let's just start, numbers one and two are actually something that you can do before
... or you want to do before you get into the interview.
The first thing is, you want to make sure, as much as you can, that the route you take
to get the interview is favorable.
By that I mean, you're gonna have difficulty if you're putting your resume into the applicant
tracking systems.
Employers are not gonna take notice of your resume that does not have the right requirements
or hard skills that they are looking for, so you're gonna lost out that way, so you're
gonna need to lean heavily on your network.
If you've done this properly and you've gotten a referral into the interview, that's certainly
gonna help.
It's not the only way to get an interview, but it will help if you planned your route
correctly and you spent a lot of time networking to get yourself into that interview.
So that's the first key, because that'll give you a little wind at your back if you're an
employee referral.
Or you've gotten some kind of reference into that employer.
The second thing, is you need to make sure you've done your homework to identify the
capabilities that are extremely important for that particular position so you can start
planning your responses when you actually get asked questions.
We've talked at length about this in some of the previous videos.
But capabilities are the key to you making that successful pivot.
By capabilities, what I mean is the foundational traits that make a good worker at that particular
position.
An easy example is a Salesperson.
Sure, Salespeople need to know how to sell their particular product and service.
But all Salespeople are generally good communicators.
They understand how to listen, they have good psychology skills, they understand how to
read humans and human pain points.
They know how to connect the dots in their storytelling.
They also know how to explain how their product or service solves the person or companies
problem.
Those are foundational capabilities that make all good Salespeople good.
You need to do some homework and make sure that you know what those are and that you're
ready to map your responses to the most common job interview questions so that you're highlighting
how you have those capabilities because you simply don't have the experience or the skills.
Number three, is when you get into the interview, you have to be very explicit.
I call it kind of mapping what you did and how it applies to this new role.
But you need to make sure that the employer can actually hear you connect the dots of
how what you've done in your past has prepared you with the capabilities that are required
to be successful in that role.
So during the interview, you have to be explicit.
You have to explain in the interview exactly how what you did maps and has help you build
those skills that will make you successful in this new role.
All right, number four.
Number four is, you're experienced.
You're likely experienced.
If you're making a career change, you've got years under your belt.
You need to highlight how you have unique value that you can draw on from your particular
career, whatever that is.
So if you've got 10 years of experience and you're going for a role that requires five
years of experience that you don't have but there are other younger job seekers who are
going for that role, there are definitely unique experiences that you can draw on.
Value that you can bring that you've gained from other things that you've done throughout
your career.
You want to make sure that those are on your list of things to bring up during the interview.
So number four, is make sure you're highlighting your unique value and what you have that the
other job candidates do not have.
Number five, it's really important that you explain your outlook or your why you want
to change careers.
Employers want to be certain that if you're making a career change, that you've thoroughly
thought it through and you have sound reasonings for why you want to do this.
If your reasons are kind of flimsy, they're gonna be concerned and they're not gonna want
to hire you.
So make sure that you're willing to share your outlook.
Be overt about it, this is why I'm eager to change careers to do this type of role or
move to this type of industry.
It's gotta be clear, it's gotta make sense, and your rationale needs to be sound.
Number six, use your eagerness, to get that new role, to your advantage.
Let your enthusiasm show.
Be more excited than the other candidates, want it more.
I would rather hire somebody who wanted it more and was willing to work extra hard than
somebody who had some of the expertise, but wasn't willing to put forth that effort.
That's a big, big deal.
You want to make sure that you use your eagerness to your advantage, not to your detriment.
Number seven, bring in whatever collateral you had.
I've talked in other videos about establishing your new brand, writing articles, posting,
research that you've done, schooling that you've taken.
Bring in whatever you have.
It might be something that you can pull out to show effort, to show that you're committed,
to show that you've invested time.
None of that will hurt you and there likely will come an opportunity during the interview
for you to say, "Hey, you know, I've invested a lot of time in this."
Maybe even as you're sharing your outlook and your why, it's that through my research
I've discovered I'm really going to enjoy this.
I'm fascinated by what I'm learning, and what I've written about, and what I've shared with
others, and what they've shared with me.
That's a nice little prop you can bring in, as well.
Number eight, remain open to getting your foot in the door.
If you need to take a pay cut, it might be worth it.
If you need to move down a notch or two, it might be worth it.
So, in combination with your eagerness, you want to let them know that I'm willing to
do whatever it takes in order to secure a job with your company in this role, in this
role.
So I'm enthusiastic, but I'm also willing to do it and I'm happy to take on whatever
you think is necessary.
No matter how much of an apprentice it makes me or how much grunt work I have to do, I'm
open to whatever it takes to get my foot in the door.
This is something that I really want.
Number nine, is extremely critical.
The more you can shift their focus to the future and envision you in the role, the better
off you'll be.
So one of the greatest techniques that you can do, or questions that you can ask, to
get situations.
Real life situations of what it's going to be like to do that role is when you're in
the interview, you want to look for opportunities to say, here's what I did in my background.
As they're evaluating your background, you want to make sure you're connecting the dots
like we talked about earlier.
Saying, based on what I did in the past, here's how I developed these capabilities.
Here's how they map to what it is that you would need me to do.
But the more you can get the interviewer to focus on the future by providing simulations
of what it will be like to work in that role, the better off you'll be.
Sometimes, you might need to ask the interviewer to ask you the questions.
So you're gonna ask the interviewer to actually put you in the situation, to tell a story
about how you would handle something in the future.
So, hey Mr. Interviewer, I'd love to understand the specific situation that I'll need to engage
when I'm here.
Could you describe that for me so I can show you how I would handle that.
The interviewer is gonna be more than happy to do that because he or she should want you
to walk them through the scenario so that they can get a better assessment.
The more you can get them thinking about the future, the greater the likelihood that they
can imagine you in the role.
As they hear you talk through how you would do it, they would start to feel more comfortable
that you could do it in their environment.
When I talk to Senior Executives, I always say, "You need to spend less time on your
past and more time getting the employer to envision the future and what it would be like
to have you working there."
This is a great way for career changers to get the interviewers mindset off the evaluation
of their past and thinking more about the future and how you'd actually fit in.
Very, very important technique.
That one alone could win you the entire interview.
Number ten, you want to make sure more than anything, that you connect with the interviewer
and you get the interviewer to care about you.
You as a person.
Care more about you as a person and wanting to hire you, than they do about the skills
that somebody needs for the role.
The more you can make that connection and the more they feel you care about them, your
willingness to work hard, and the more that they care about you, the greater the likelihood
that they will want to hire you.
If you want to know more about how to package all these stories up and how to get the interviewer
to care about you, I've got a great webinar called, Three Keys to Ace Any Job Interview,
that takes you through all of this.
It's a wonderful way for you to learn how to tell your stories, give your responses
to the most common interview questions.
But also, how to make yourself likable, memorable, and get the employer to care about hiring
you.
Those are my ten steps, if you like them, give me the thumbs up.
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So until I see you around the Blog or the live office hours, have a great one.
See you next week.