A way to appeal to the hiring people on job interviews
Imagine that… you need to prepare to talk with a group of people about sailing boats. Or mortgages. Or planting trees. Regardless of the topic, the question you will be instinctively asking yourself to do your part well is: what is it that we talk about it for? In other words, what do we all actually want to have as a result of discussing this?
What comes naturally and spontaneously in everyday interactions, not necessarily comes out that well in less usual situations – such as job interviews.
When we prepare to the tedious process of applying for a new job, we usually have to come up with a narrative that describes us, covering what we’ve been doing so far, what we’re good at, what our skills are. Narratives for CV, job interviews or any other conversation we will be having with the people who offer the job. Meaning those who decide whether what they hear in our story is “enough” for this job.
A natural tendency is to build that narrative with details that stand out for us. We then do our best to appeal to our listeners but often get an impression they are not particularly engaged in our story. Doubts arise on whether the things we highlight allow us to truly get through to them.
Viewed from the outside (especially from the point of view of a professional recruiter), it looks like we are going the right way, just not reaching far enough. Rightly so, we look through our experience tracing things we have achieved and our strengths that helped in achieving it. No so rightly though, we stop at looking at them only from our own perspective.
Knowing your worth is essential in any type of recruitment or contracting for a job but you can waste a lot of your time and effort if you are presenting yourself from the angle that is not fit for the purpose of the conversation.
What is the job interviews’ purpose then? Let’s put ourselves in the position of those who conduct them.
If you were hiring, what would you like to have as a result of the conversation with a candidate? What would have to happen during that conversation, so that you felt you could trust that person with this job?
Answering these questions gives us a bit sharper picture of what that other person wants and needs to hear. The further we go with this, the clearer we will be on what interests those whom we want to appeal to.
So walking a bit more in the hiring person’s shoes – imagine that should the person you hire not do their job well, you may not be able to deliver on yours. What would you then need them to be effective at so that all that work can be successfully done?
And not stopping here just yet – if you are to trust that person with the job, what evidence would you like to have that they managed in similar tasks in the past? What, in your view, strongly proves that they will perform well on these specific responsibilities?
Reaching this point, richer in some data, we can now get back to the candidate’s perspective. If their purpose of having a job interview is to appeal to the employer and be given the job, what should they be talking about?
To have a clear picture of what we offer is the foundation of presenting yourself. Painting that picture for the potential employer is a completely different matter – it’s communication. Showing something without tailoring it to what the “viewer” is looking for, we may be getting our message out there but we are not yet getting through. In which case, it’s hard to be heard, even more so to convince that other person to make a decision in our favor.
If the employer needs evidance that we can do this particular job well, what specifically may interest them? Let’s look at a few things that might help us to see what this evidence may look like from their perspective:
- Put yourself in their shoes and walk in them for a while – what is most important for them?
- Looking closer at the job description, what are the links between your strengths and what they are looking for?
- Choose your success stories that evidence how you have shown in real business context the competencies that are key for them
- Highlight those details of your success story that correspond with the realities of the job you apply for – its unique challenges, prorioties and needs
Looking for contact points between what we know about ourselves and what will be important for our listener requires some effort and …having an inquisitive nature. But since things become our second nature along with doing them, all we need to grow a valuable habit is that practice: of discovering and speaking to the needs of others. There are as many perspectives as there are people, it’s true, but with experience it will become more natural to look through others’ eyes and speak to their ears.