Job Interview Advice to Ace Any Interview
Another email just arrived in my inbox. This person wanted me to hire him because he had just been fired, needed to feed his family, and was frustrated with the economic conditions.
I shook my head as I sat working on my computer at home, sipping a coffee. I felt frustrated for him. He did not need work – he needed a 180-degree shift in perspective with self-probing questions, tips, skills, and advice to get the work he wanted – not to get job interview advice or a job.
Whether you’re going for a retail, nursing, accounting, teacher, or government interview full-time or part-time over the phone, online, or in person, the following job interview advice will help you ace any interview to get the job of your dreams.
Why You Are Unemployed and Miserable Before Any Interview
I could catapult many job interview tips at you because I’m a conversation skills coach and company owner. You won’t get the tips now because that’s not what you need. What will help you the most in getting the job you want is looking at how you approach job hunting and interviews.
If you go into an interview wanting the job to solve your money worries – to help your life – you won’t get the job. Few employers hire out of pity. They suffer from their own problems and want to pay you to alleviate these dilemmas.
The guy at the start of this article who wanted a job didn’t care about me. He didn’t want to add value to my customers. He didn’t think about how he can increase my sales. He didn’t care about broken website code, business partnerships to be made, or traffic to be attracted. He didn’t want to relive my itches. He focused on himself.
Most self-absorbed communication harms you. You don’t make friends by bragging about yourself, listing your accomplishments, and ignoring another’s needs. Job seekers do exactly this at interviews. Narcissistic-like individuals talk about themselves, their skills, their past, and why they want the job.
You don’t make friends by bragging about yourself, listing your accomplishments, and ignoring another’s needs. Job seekers do this in job interviews.
The first and most important leap to take to nail the job interview you want or move ahead in your career is to solve the employer’s problems. Talk about your skills, experience, and why you want the job by relating it exactly to the employer’s wants and needs. Without that relation, your abilities are open to misinterpretation and ignorance. Forget your needs for the moment – once you provide value to others, they become determined to reciprocate your efforts and keep you.
Empathize with the interviewer by placing yourself in his or her shoes. Constantly ask yourself, “What is their need at the moment?” If you can answer this question in any communication, you’re in the top five percent of communicators in the world.
No one cares about your bachelor degree or your intelligence. It’s what your degree or intelligence does that gets you hired.
I speak for many companies by saying that what’s on paper gets you hired, but what happens between you and people gets you fired. Poor human resource managers deny or accept a job candidate merely on experiences and qualities (what’s seen on a resume), while great HR managers go beyond shallow resumes and cognitive tests and really see if the candidate is a determined winner. I recommend you get Topgrading, which was written for company owners, because it helps craft you into an A-player companies want.
My Secret to Communicate Great at Interviews and Work
In a fierce economy, today is more important than ever to master your communication skills. We will always need to talk, listen, and connect with one another.
Start developing your communication right now in everyday life. How you socialize shows in how you interact with customers and coworkers. I have a saying, “How you do something is how you do anything.”
Skills you think take time to see are apparent to good interviewers. Seemingly minor signals of unconscious skill show in your body language. If you’re not immediately friendly to strangers in everyday life, you won’t immediately befriend the interviewer who will then project that feeling into the future and assume you cannot quickly befriend customers.
The most attractive employees are good communicators and good communicators develop themselves in their own time. This is something I’ve never heard anywhere else that I believe makes or breaks critical moments in a career. Attractive skills, such as your honesty in being unable to answer a question or your calmness when someone is agitated, must be developed outside of the workplace. Unemployment and job-misery begins before the interview.
Little-Known Conversation Techniques to Seduce the Interviewer Then Get the Job
All principles of good conversation apply to the interview (from the introduction, small talk, humor, self-disclosure, interest, and open body language). Any time you feel lost or confused, think what makes up an enjoyable conversation. Interviews are a conversation between the candidate and interviewer.
Start by standing and introducing yourself to the interviewer instead of waiting for an introduction. Lean forward to give a solid, slow web-to-web handshake.
All principles of good conversation apply to the interview.
Next, initiate conversation. Talk about the person’s lovely office, a plant, or photo. Drop a comment about a worker you spotted or a sign you read on your way in. The conversation builds rapport and relaxes each of you – the interviewer can be nervous as well! My Big Talk course offers a complete training on how to effortlessly talk and make friends with strangers.
Show interest in the business. Study its history before the interview. If it’s a smaller business and you’re being interviewed by its owner, be curious behind the owner’s motives for starting the business. The person will become animated and talk about the business’ foundations! He or she will walk away from your interview thinking you were a great person. Ramit Sethi has bonus job interview advice on YouTube to research a company:
A good conversation skill that is also a way to show interest in the business is to ask questions during the interview. Walk into the interview with at least three solid questions planned. This gives you backup questions if the interviewer answers one or two before you.
Before I taught communication skills, I had a group interview for the position of a night-fill worker at a supermarket. The human resources manager running the interview talked for 10 minutes then asked, “Does anyone have any questions?” The room was silent. I could see the twinge in her lips indicating her disappointment in our non-responsiveness.
Just before she was about to move on, I asked how she got into her managerial position because I wanted to understand her and what it takes to be promoted. She smiled and talked for five minutes about the company’s internal way of promoting employees. I think I easily got the job because of my question and display of interest.
Good questions to ask in the interview include:
- “What happened to the previous person in this position?”
- “What results do you expect from the successful candidate’s first year?”
- “How does the company lead its teams? Like, are workers given independence to make their own decisions or is it highly determined by upper management?”
- “How would you describe the company’s culture?”
- “In your opinion, what’s the most important thing someone new to the company should know so they and the company benefit?”
There are three real subtle benefits of asking questions. Firstly, questions show curiosity and interest. Secondly, you look better than other interviewees. Most candidates are too busy talking about themselves, not curious or concerned about solving the company’s problems. Thirdly, you subtly qualify the company to match your own needs. A subtle seduction technique is to make the other party work for you. Humans value what they earn. Employers will value you more if you have job opportunities elsewhere and are a little picky over how they can fulfill your needs. How very counter-intuitive!
Once a question is answered or you learn an important point about the business, write a note for yourself even if you have good memory. The power in this technique comes from how it makes the other person feel. You’ll look well-prepared and trustworthy. It’s amazing how much your credibility increases by writing down what someone tells you.
How to Appear Confident in an Interview
Believe your words. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, others won’t have confidence in you.
One of the best ways to show others confidence is through your voice. Speak at a good volume with relaxation. Literally talk louder to make yourself feel confident. A louder voice is physiological confidence that boosts your psychological confidence.
Bodily stress and tension wrecks havoc on your vocals when you try to be perfect. Shift your focus from yourself to how you fill the company’s needs like I mentioned before. You will relax, communicate confidence through your voice, and show attractive warmth.
Additional Job Interview Tips, Techniques, and Skills
Use the advice shared so far to put yourself ahead of all candidates for most jobs. For more confidence in your ability to secure a job you want, use these extra interview tips, techniques, and skills:
- Match your dress to the company, not what feels right to you. Observe and ask around what’s good dress.
- Match your skills to what’s needed. Don’t waffle on about unnecessary attributes. A tight focus makes your interview powerful.
- Acknowledge your weaknesses. People know imperfections exist so make yours transparent. Attractive experts know their vulnerabilities.
- Prepare answers to popular questions. Check out this guide that helps you answer over 100 tricky questions.
Another technique taken from my Big Talk that I recommend to quickly boost your confidence in an interview is to think the interviewer is an old friend. Try more absurd visualizations that reframes the person interviewing you into a strange situation. Imagine the person nervously being interviewed by another manager or lazily lounging in front of the television. That’s crazy and effective job interview advice!
Similar to what I said before about how to better your communication, the best way to have confidence in an interview is to work on it each day. What you do inside the interview is how you live.
Insider’s Secret Job Interview Advice to Get Hired
Go to the company beforehand and introduce yourself to a few employees saying you’re interested in working for the company. Ask the employees for their thoughts on the company, tips for the interview, recommended dress, and any insider secrets that could give you an edge. Use these people to see if the company is worth working for before you waste further time in the screening process.
Mention the names of the people you talked to in the interview. You subliminally make the hiring manager feel you already work for the company!
Compliment the hiring manager about those you talked to. We love people who love people. How do you think the hiring manager will feel hearing about the great workforce?
When the interview ends, reward yourself regardless of the outcome. Interviews can be scary so it helps to appreciate yourself. Job hunting is tough enough without self-criticism.
If your interview is a success and you get offered the job, know how to negotiate your salary. It’s key job interview advice. Watch the video below on YouTube as Justin Wilson negotiates his salary with Ramit Sethi as if you were listening in on the conversation. They then breakdown what to do step-by-step:
Have job interview advice to share with Tower of Power readers? Post a comment below.
Joshua Uebergang aka "Tower of Power"
Joshua Uebergang, aka "Tower of Power", teaches social skills to help shy guys build friends and influence people. Visit his blog and sign-up free to get communication techniques, relationship-boosting strategies, and life-building tips by email, along with blog updates, and more! Go now to https://www.towerofpower.com.au/free/
Comments
It is really great. Very very thoughtful write-up that encompasses all nuances of the Interviewer and interviewee. Keep it up. Thanks for the lovely article. Regards.
Many articles of this type tell you how to behave but now how to communicate. I’ve read so many and yours stands out by not rehashing the same common instructions. I will be passing this on to my friends.
joshua thanks so much for the article,really educative and touching to those entering the world of jobs,just praise for your wisdom and determination you’ve portrayed.EXCELLENT
It’s really good and knowledge-filled. Also, very helpful for those who lack self-confidence in an interview. I’m really thankful to the author for this great job
Thank you very much indeed. Important tips. An effort that deserves distinction.
Hi, this is really very simple and very informative tips that not known to all. Really mind boggling article. Keep it up. Cheers ! Harish
I can add a few suggestions.
(1) The receptionist will likely be your first point of contact when you come for the interview. Treat that person with courtesy and respect. He/she may be asked to share their impression of you.
(2) Don’t wear perfume, cologne, or after-shave. What you consider a pleasant scent may be sickening or overpowering to others.
(3) If offered coffee, it’s best to politely decline. You don’t want to risk spilling it on yourself, or worse, on the interviewer.
(4) Keep your interview clothing clean and pressed, ready to wear. Polish the shoes that go with it, and make sure you have the correct socks/hoisery. Check for missing buttons and broken zippers. You don’t want to be scrambling to put together an outfit the night before your interview. Try the clothing on periodically to make sure it still fits. During an extended period of unemployment, I gained 20 pounds. 🙁
Hi Joshua,
Your article has some helpful information, however let’s get real. People search for work because they need a job to survive. Yes, I’d like to spend time getting to know all about the companies I apply too and how I can best serve their needs, but come on, I don’t have all the time in the world to research in detail a company’s history. By the time I taylor a professional cover letter and resume, the job vacancy has been filled. I would think that most companies who hire know that a candidate needs to work to earn money and not because they desire to work for you for the “heck of it”.
Hey Carole,
Real indeed. Rarely do most people get a job other than to survive. This “survival mode” and your habits, however, does not mean what you do is best for you to land a job.
It doesn’t take much to understand a company. Find another place the company is located, find one problem the company is having, read an article about the company. With that information, you can talk about the company. You’ll be ahead of 95% of candidates because they can’t be bothered and more concerned about themselves.
For further help, look up a guy called Ramit Sethi. He has a free course about getting the job you want using similar methods.
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