Inspired Living for a Better Lifestyle

How to Succeed in a Job Interview

During this turn in the pattern of the world economy, there are less Jobs available and more people looking for Jobs. A terrible combination to be faced with when you’re stepping into an interview for that position at that firm that you desperately need. This article is going to talk you through the elements that are required to walk away from a job interview feeling like you have made the best impact to the employer as you can!

Succeeding in a job interview is the most important aspect about starting a career or obtaining your next profession. The outcome of it does not only decide whether you are going to get the job or not, it will be the basis of what room you have for expansion as soon as you join the company. It is the outline of how you are most likely to behave, and what elements of your personality suite the job that you are after!

Before we begin I want to outline something that is very important. If you are reading this, don’t think that you are going to become what I am about to explain and forget about what you have already. The key factor in all of this is that you use this advice and these elements of professional interaction to enhance your own personality and skill set! I will not be satisfied even slightly if you intend to be someone you’re not for the sake of a new job.

Lets begin by outlining the key factors that are involved in being able to succeed in a job interview.

1. Be recognizable straight away.
2. Pace your Personality.
3. Focus on what it is that makes you their best choice and stick to it.
4. Play on your Strengths.
5. Ask Great Questions and Talk.
6. Leave a great impression.

This is a the break down of the elements that make a successful job interview. One that will definitely give you the best chance that you have at getting that great job! Lets carry on to walk through what each element means and why it is so important. We’ll also elaborate on how people often forget to utilize every one of these focus points to make a great all round interview and prospective employee.

Be recognizable straight away:

This part of the interview begins before you even get to the meeting room, cafe, web cam - however your interview is set! Making sure that you are a recognizable potential employee requires an amount of preparation and forethought. What you are trying to achieve by developing the employees recognition of your interview is to separate yourself from their list of potential candidates, before you have even begun to discuss details.

A great list of things to consider to be recognizable and succeed at your job interview is this:

Be prepared:
Outline to yourself what your strong personal features are. Make sure that your CV is the best you can make it and that it will portray your strengths to other without explanation. Understand what makes a good first impression when it comes to displaying your Curriculum Vitae.

Have a mental image of your personal image:
Make sure that you are comfortable and well presented before you even leave you bedroom that morning! Enhance your personal image by taking poise in the mirror and setting the stage for how you will present yourself to the employee.

Dress to impress:
A lot of people think that getting dressy is overdoing it, it’s not! By turning up in the best outfit that really suits you (excuse the pun) you are showing that your willing to go above and beyond for the employee.

Motivation is Meditation:
Make sure that you are ready to go and know exactly why you are going to participate and succeed. Once you have the right level of powerful affirmative thought you will naturally apply your own style of the method to success, you will have good reason to get that great result and the job!

You are not just a personality, you are a brand.
It’s good to think of yourself as a powerhouse marketing label, or a famous business leader. Consider that who you are is the brand of your life, and you are marketing a great product or service to your prospective employee.

Lead with your best foot forward.
Take a strength from your arsenal or personal achievements or skills and have it ready with your first hand shake. By defining your individualism you are setting the start of a successful job interview. You could have it as the title for you CV, or a line in your introduction. “Hi I’m Jackson, I’m here to prove that I am a great asset for your company, I love to dance!”.

Be prepared. Have a mental image of your personal image. Dress to Impress. Motivation is Meditation. You are not just a personality, you are a brand. Lead with your best foot forward. Think through these points, they are all very accommodating of each other and most people might see this as a natural routine for preparing to go to an interview.

What I am emphasizing is that idea that you need to pay attention to each part of that routine and give it special meaning. This will allow you to be recognizable straight away.

When you’re entering the interview, get on a first name basis with the interviewer straight away, this is something you may like to add to you tag line. Once you have their name(s), use it straight away! Look them in the eye and say it’s a pleasure to meet them and thank you for putting the time aside to meet you. This is a big part of putting your best foot forward!

Pace your Personality

This element of a successful job interview is often taken control of my nerves, you see great punch lines slipping away and your best description of your list of strengths comes out like a spare parts list! Make sure that you pace your personality. You can break your method into an anagram like “SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, opportunities, Threats“. If you take each one of these points on at a time, you will find that you set the focus on the best parts of your personality.

Pacing your personality also means to have a second shot at each point you make to your potential employer. You want to be bold and humble, smart and funny. Doing these things at the same time will never work out! You might want to say something like “I’m a fantastic team leader and am great with people! But I have to give all the credit to my older brother, he’s a great inspiration to me.” For every strength, outline a weakness or alternative thought that re-enforces that strength. “I can’t fly, but that only makes me a better land lover!”

Focus on what it is that makes you their best choice and stick to it.

A good way to think about this is like your playing ‘Memory‘ - you know the game with all the cards faced down and you have the find the matching pairs!? People often blast through interviews like their training for a 52 card shuffle. Make a strong choice about your best skills and strengths and “lay them down on the table” make sure that each point has a title, reason and application and stick to them! Once your done you can relate your examples to your interviewers.

• Title - What your strength is
• Reason - Why you believe this strength suits you, is as good as you say it is and is on the list.
• Application - Explain how it benefits you and the company.
• Relate it to your interviewer(s) - Get the interviewing thinking about what you have just said.

We are very diverse people and our motives often bring out different strengths for different roles. You may be a Jack or Jenny of all trades, but you will not be for this role unless you are employed to go on blind dates!

Choose your list of skills and strengths accurately and stick to them!

“I’m a great chess player, it maintains a great method of logical thinking and it embodies a quality of accuracy and skill that I see in myself. I feel that it suits the leadership role that you have on offer and I feel that it enhances the criteria for the role you have advertised for. Are you a chess player?”

Even ‘no’ is an acceptable answer to this, because you have involved them in a constructive decision, remember that you are deciding on them as much as they are on you. The more clear answers you can provide for them, the more opportunities you are making available for the next element of your successful job interview.

Play on your strengths

It’s time to lighten up the situation, you’ve outlined all the criteria of why you are so awesome. Now is your chance to prove that you are outstanding AND accessible! Work your strengths into the conversation and get the interviewers opinion on what you have put on the table, see what they think about it. This is your chance to give them the list again, only in a much more friendly and enhanced way.

“I’m glad that I’ve put so much time into my studies, and I can see great opportunities here at this company to learn even more! That’s very impressive!”

Ask Great Questions and Talk

You are not at the job interview to show them who you are like a show pony. The interview is as much (if not more!) about whether YOU want the job too! During your preparation prepare some insightful questions that will appeal to the interviewer.

i.e If your interviewer is a member of the company ask “what do you think your profile is, why do you think it suites your role in the company so well?“.

Asks questions that you also have an answer to. You can open up opportunities for sharing with the potential employer by putting your own answer to your own questions and providing the opportunity to discuss.

This is a bit cheeky but if my interviewer is a female, I like to pay attention to their jewelery! “Do you prefer silver over gold?” This is an open field, and gives you a great opportunity to compliment their taste in fashion!

The most important part of this is to ask what really matters to you. How much are you getting paid? Is there a good chance for a career? When and where are your pay rises, will there be reviews, plenty of support, social occasions? Tea Parties? It’s up to you, but make sure you get the good and hard questions out of the way because once you know what you’re in for you will be able to close out the interview with a bang!

Leave a Great Impression

This one is the easiest, like a conclusion to a fantastic book or a well written article; make sure that you outline all of the points you have already made throughout the interview (now you can see why sticking to your strengths and skills is so important).

Be enthusiastic right to the end, even if the whole thing is going down the drain.

Most importantly, leave the meeting with the impression that they have already chosen you. It is up to you whether or not you join their team. People often think that the outcome is not in their control but it is! If you maintain this thought throughout the entire interview you will find that your stamina for the event is increased to nearly endless proportions.

Your goal by the end of a successful job interview is to become friends with the interviewer or prospective employee. You want to share with them the things about you that will make them really like you, along side your skill set and strengths.

Remember to prepare and make sure that you consider all of these elements. Be recognizable straight away and pace your personality. Once you have a good outline of who you are and you have made sure to get on a first name basis with the interviewer, get down to business and focus on what it is that makes you their best choice. Don’t forget to stick to your decision! Make sure to Play on those strengths and lighten up the place and then get stuck in with making a great connection with the people in the room and ask all those questions your dying to know the answers to. With all of this wrapped up in a tight little bundle, put it aside and leave a great impression.

A big part of leaving a great impression is to monitor your posture, your politeness, your personal image and how much you have interacted with the interviewer. Your ability to succeed in a job interview will always be based to some degree on you appearance and interpersonal skills. When the big player at the poker table puts in a big raise, pay your respects and either fold out or call in. You’re not helping anyone by playing whatever cards you have without playing them right.

The last thing that I will tell you to consider is this: Thank yourself. You’ve been through a lot! When you’re walking out of that successful job interview you better pat yourself on the back! All of these elements have come into play and if you have executed them effectively, you are well deserving of a thank you at least!

This is inspired living for a better lifestyle.