Do You Demonstrate the “Wow Factor” During Interviews?

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The job of an interviewer is to find that “needle in a haystack” candidate that clearly differentiates him/herself from what can be a large pool of applicants. It’s the job of the candidate to use the tools available to present a strong case as to why he/she is that special hire, the game-changer. Unfortunately, even with the overabundance of information that is easily accessible to today’s job seekers, the majority do not put in the time and effort necessary to create a “wow” experience for the interviewers and hiring manager.

It takes a lot of work to find and ultimately be offered a great job!

Out of what continues to be dozens or hundreds of applicants vying for each open position, often only a half-dozen or so will actually get the opportunity for a face-to-face interview. And, only a few of those will be asked back to continue the interview process.

So, how does a candidate become one of those few and then “knock it out of the park” during the interview(s)? Here are some suggestions from a hiring manager that is not easily impressed:

WHY are you here? – Do you see this opportunity a career-builder or a paycheck? I believe the best candidates can envision the opportunity as a part of their career path in which they can bring value, continually learn and grow, think globally and support the career success of their team/co-workers. These candidates are much more likely to deliver that message very effectively to the interviewer(s). Someone who sees the opportunity as no more than a “job” or paycheck is far less likely to bring a consistent, passionate effort into everything they do, including the interview.

Ensure that you fit the company’s culture – As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, hiring managers would much prefer to take a candidate who he/she feels is somewhat lacking in regard to the desired skill set, but is a great fit to the company’s culture vs. someone with all of the desired skills, but not a good match with the organization’s culture. Why? Simple…because a hiring manager cannot change a person’s culture/personal brand, as that is hard-coded into the individual’s personality. If the person with the great cultural fit has both the ability and willingness to learn, then skills can be taught and/or polished. I’m not going to change someone’s work ethic, core beliefs or personal drive, but I might be able to improve his/her overall skills. Bottom line – candidates should seek out opportunities that they see as an integral part of their career path, something about which they can be very passionate and with which they are a great cultural fit.

Preparation is everything - Way too many candidates show up for interviews poorly prepared to have a substantive conversation. Often, the individual’s answers sound more like an overly rehearsed elevator speech than well thought out responses supported by research. Preparation for interviews can and should take quite a bit of time, if done well. A candidate’s research for any and all opportunities should include a thorough review of the following: interviewer(s) LinkedIn profile(s), anything published by the interviewers (books, e-books, blogs, white papers, etc.), company’s website and social media sites/pages (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blog, etc.), and press releases along with any general news stories about the organization. Looking up the company’s location using a navigation app is not research, but traveling to the location a day or so prior to the scheduled interview is! Such a pre-interview visit can include: introducing yourself to the Receptionist/gatekeeper, observing how employees are dressed and how they interact with clients and each other. Such observations can provide a significant amount of useful data, which can then be incorporated into a candidate’s responses during the actual interview.

Take notes during the interview – Hundreds of candidates with whom I’ve done coaching over the years have asked if taking notes during an interview would be considered unprofessional. Absolutely not! Just the opposite…hiring managers expect candidates to take notes. In the workplace, an employee might meet with several people on different projects/tasks throughout the course of each day. If that employee never takes notes, how will they possibly remember the key points discussed or commitments made during each of those conversations?

Understand how to answer questions in a behavioral interview – Behavioral interviewing continues to be the methodology of choice for most companies when it comes to how they speak with candidates. This is because past behavior is very predictive of future behavior. Interviewers are not so much interested in what you DID at current and former employers, but more so in how you incorporated, in specific situations, the skills and traits they are seeking in their ideal candidate, the results of those actions and why such results were considered to be above average or outstanding. These are STAR stories (Situation/Task, Action, and Results) and are what interviewers need to hear from candidates.

For example, anyone can tell me that they “led a team”, but that says absolutely nothing about how well (or poorly) the candidate actually performed as the team leader. Providing a context of comparison is the key. Thus, by providing the interviewer with the following facts would be far more impressive than telling him/her that I had “led a team”: “During my tenure as Team Lead, my team completed more major projects that produced more incremental profit for the company than any other team in the history of our division.”

Ask great questions – Since most candidates ask poor or irrelevant questions, the one who comes prepared with 5 – 10 typed (not hand-written on a legal pad, like it was done in the parking lot) questions, which are well thought out and clearly relevant to the company’s culture, future plans, overall strategies or past successes, can really differentiate him/herself from the competition. The key for candidates is to find a way to connect the dots between their skill set and past accomplishments to the current and future needs/direction of the target organization.

And, no matter if candidates are given the opportunity to ask many questions or just one, this is the one to ask: “Tell me what I would need to do in the next six months that would make you tell your boss that hiring me was the best career decision you’ve ever made.” Asking this question is a great way to close out the interview since it basically tells the interviewer that your goal is to make them look like a super star. By the way, I’ve coached hundreds of people regarding interviewing and found, based upon the feedback from those who have asked this question, that hiring managers don’t really know how to answer it…mostly due to the fact that the majority of candidates never ask anything like this. Thus, even by asking one such question, a candidate can stand apart from the rest of the pool.

Follow up with permission – Although many candidates remember to ask, “What are the next steps”, they normally do not go any further than to listen to the answer provided. A candidate should always ask the interviewer, “When should I follow up and with whom regarding the scheduling of my next interview?” If the best response received is the generic, “We have a few other candidates still to interview, so it could be a week or two before we know who is moving on to the next step”, I would still suggest the candidate ask regarding the appropriate time frame in which to follow up and again, with whom. If you follow up with “permission”; “Mr. Jones said I should give you a call to discuss scheduling my next interview”, your tone of voice will be far more positive than if you are just trying to reach someone/anyone because time has passed since your last interview and no one from the company has called/emailed (i.e., you won’t sound desperate).

Like any project or task, the job seeker must decide the amount of effort he/she is willing to put into the interview. Each candidate is the CEO of their own respective search and thus ultimately accountable for the success or failure of such.

Doing everything discussed in this post does not guarantee a candidate will receive an offer. What following these steps will do is to put a candidate in a far better position to significantly stand apart from the vast majority of the other applicants selected for interviews and to get the hiring manager to say, “Wow”.