Interview for Impact: Increase Your Job Candidacy by 70%

Interview for Impact: Increase Your Job Candidacy by 70%

Interviews: love them or hate them – every job seeker must learn how to interview for impact. A great first impression will only last a few minutes if you don’t have what it takes to be a savvy interviewee. It is vital to ensure that you are prepared and clearly communicate your value with three techniques to guarantee a huge leap forward in your interviewing skills.

Interview for Impact – The Three C’s

It is critical to ensure that you come across as Confident, Competent, and Committed.

CONFIDENCE

Job Seekers engaging in the interview process have been historically held at a disadvantage by dinosaurs from the HR world. These hangovers from a time when it was ‘standard practice’ to look down their nose at applicants are fortunately on the way out. However, those same dinosaurs have trained many of the HR professionals we have today. A few of their antique interrogation methods still cling to the insides of interview rooms with a grimy ambiance and can become serious confidence killers.

Confidence Concept 1: Body posture matters more than you think! According to Amy Cuddy, Harvard Business School professor and social psychologist, studies show how nonverbal behavior influence people and can even shape who they become. Cuddy is a proponent of ‘Power Postures’ in which impacts how we interact with others. Demonstrating an open posture and sitting up straight, for example, will lower stress and increase confidence. Closed postures, slouching or hugging your arms close to your body can inhibit our nervous system and send insecurity signals to our bodies.

TIP: handshakes are common during introductions. If you want to interview for impact please lose the limp grip and lighten up on the bone crushing hold. Limp grip handshakes make terrible impressions on others and death-grips can be taken as overly aggressive.

Confidence Concept 2: Learn to relax. This is one of the most difficult interview skills to acquire. Especially if we have put a lot of significance on the interview! Regardless of significance – we must learn how to that part out of our minds and train ourselves to relax. Do mock interviews with mentors or trusted friends and have them tell you what nervous habits you may have. Some people use meditation with success, mindfulness or other mind-clearing exercises before an interview in order to become calm.

Confidence Concept 3: Speak up clearly to communicate. I am a soft-spoken person by nature and have gradually come to understand what tonal levels are necessary to convey a clear message to others. Enunciation is also critical as avoiding mumbling or muddling words together. Speaking too fast or too slow can also show insecurity or nerves. Those that suffer from verbal diarrhea (incessant talking) must learn the value of silence. Say what you need to say and wait for the other person to speak. Practice clear, measured, natural speech patterns in order to communicate effectively.

COMPETENT

Competency comes with being prepared for the interview. Part of that preparation is not only understanding the job description, having specific questions about the role, doing research about the organization, but also understanding your own value. Most people aren’t completely cognizant of their own accomplishments or how to communicate those to others. We are taught not to brag or boast. Some of my clients suffer from an overdeveloped sense of humility. There’s nothing wrong with being humble but please understand that no one else is going to explain your value to a hiring manager but YOU.

Competent Concept 1: Do your homework! This should be an obvious preparation step but a few people still don’t get it. It’s not just about understanding the job description and having your key questions concerning your potential future role. It is also even more important to have a solid understanding of the company culture and what they do. I have been asked specifics in interviews that I couldn’t have answered if I hadn’t researched the company and made notes!

Competent Concept 2: Understand your accomplishments. This is the most undervalued and overlooked part of a professional’s career. If you want to move up, get that raise, hook a hiring manager’s attention in your resume or put the ‘wow’ factor in your interviews: you MUST be able to communicate your accomplishments. An accomplishment is not just an award. Accomplishments are anything that positively impacted the organizations you worked for.

TIP: create an Accomplishments Inventory. This process starts with your most recent job first. Think of anything you’ve achieved, impacted, or done to help the business. Most people get stuck because they think, “I was just doing my job”. Think about it like this: what would happen if you weren’t there doing your job?

An accomplishment is anything you’ve done to move the needle in an organization, even if it was part of your job! – Rick Gillis

Competent Concept 3: Tell your Impact Stories! Liz Ryan, the CEO of the Human Workplace in Denver CO calls these “Dragon Slaying Stories”. I have never been to an interview where I wasn’t asked “…tell me about a time when…” These Impact Stories clearly communicate your value to hiring managers that want to know more about how you handle situations. An impact story has three parts: the issue or roadblock that caused you to act, what you did to solve it, and what the positive impact was on the business.

COMMITTED

Companies want to know that you intend to hold a role in the organization and justify their investment in you. Gone are the days of 20 year tenures but it takes time and money to properly onboard new employees. Hence the ridiculous interview questions like: “Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years.”

“Most people spend more time planning the details of buying a car than their professional career” – Anonymous

If there is one thing I know, it is that life has a tendency to be somewhat unpredictable. Many professional careers organically evolve through either intent or just by nature. However, an employer is investing in you. A lack of career focus will hinder your growth potential and your chances of landing a job.

Committed Concept 1: Have a Career Focus. Labeling yourself as a generalist will NOT help you move forward in your career. At best you will just migrate from swimming in one nebulous career pond to another. If you want to see progress, you must focus. Many job seekers mistakenly think that branding themselves as a generalist will help them be more flexible in the job market. In actuality: no one wants to hire a flake or someone that is indecisive. Focus and communicate your intent during the interview.

Committed Concept 2: Know Where You’re Headed. No one can predict the future but it is vital to have some sort of career compass. By understanding your strengths, you can pick a focus that works for you. Based on your focus you will know what the next steps can be. Most importantly, you can communicate your expertise in an interview with your focus in mind. This will demonstrate that you know what you’ve done to build the foundation of your direction. Next, make sure you also have a clear understanding of the next steps in your career focus. This will let your interviewers know you are a savvy professional with a clear path in front of them.

Committed Concept 3: Focus on the company culture. It is true that over 65% of professionals will stay in a role because they enjoy where they work or the people they work with. You will spend most of your adult working life at work: why not make sure that it is the right fit for you? By asking specific questions about the culture of an organization, where it is headed, and how the interviewers like their workplace – you are demonstrating that you intend to invest your time with that organization.

Interview for Impact

Today’s job market is highly competitive and it is important that you can stand out from the crowd. If you follow the three C’s of Interviewing for Impact by being Confident, Competent, and Committed – I guarantee you will make significant leaps forward in your chances of being hired! It’s important to relax and be the best YOU you can be!

 

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Questions about interviewing skills or how to communicate your value to employers in a resume? Reach out to me for a free 30 minute phone consultation.

Erin Urban LSSBB, CPDC is a certified professional development coach and culture change expert with over 8 years in mentoring and coaching successful professional transformations. With an extensive background in leading individual, cultural and organizational change initiatives: her mission is to lift others up to defy their limits and exceed their goals.