How to Kill-it in the Interview and Get the Job Offer

So you were fortunate enough to get a job interview, now what?

If you want to get the job offer, your next step should be to formulate a strategy that will confirm their expectations that you are the one who will make them feel better, faster and stronger.

But before you formulate your strategy, you need to understand what an interview really is and why one is necessary.

THE INTERVIEW

The job interview is an indication that the employer has a problem that cannot be solved internally.  The employer’s problem is similar to having a broken pipe and you need a plumber to prevent your home from being flooded and causing a lot of expensive water damage.  Honestly, the only reason you need a plumber is because you cannot solve the problem by yourself.  What you really need is plumber with the knowledge, the right tools and experience fixing broken pipes.

In this case the employer’s problem is one where they are either leaving money on the table, or losing customers or they are over-working their present staff.   The problem was caused because someone vacated the role, or it is a new role that was created because of an internal re-organization or business growth.  To solve this problem, they need someone who has the skills, knowledge and experience to not only do the job, but to sync with the team members and become a part of the family.

Since no two human beings are exactly the same, the interview is a designed competition among a few selected job applicants.  And the winner of that competition will be extended a job offer, as the best suited for the job.  That is the purpose of the interview; it is designed to mitigate the risk of hiring someone who may have difficulties in full-filling the role, adjusting to the culture and blending-in with the other members of the team.

INTERVIEW STRATEGY

Interviewing for a job is no longer about how well you are dressed and how you answer questions about what you’ve done, what you think and what you want.  Today you have to approach the interview as if you are an actor auditioning for a role.  When auditioning for a role, an actor has to be in in full character for the start-meaning she has to not only has to look like, act and sound like the character when reading from a script, she has to ask  respond to questions as if she was the character in real life.

Acting is basically actions that creates reactions.  As it applies to the job interview, you have to demonstrate that you have done your research, on the role, the people, the organization and the culture.  Since you understand why you were selected as a job applicant, your performance in the interview is simply to allow the interviewers to visualize how you will perform in job.

Keep in mind that employers today are not looking for someone who is perfect, so there is no longer a need to use power phrases that are memorized and rehearsed. What they are looking for-is a someone-who is authentic, unapologetic and is willing to take a risk with her character because she really believe that her character is right for the role. A display of inner-confidence will be exude as a result of having complete understanding of the employer’s present situation, their future situation if the problem is not solved and how that problem can be solved, today.

 Don’t interview for the role-own the role through the interview!

There are four questions that you need to ask yourself before the interview.  Your answers to each question will enable you to develop your character-who will make them feel better, faster and stronger in the interview.

1. Given my understanding of the role, what are the three things they expect from me?
2. Given my understanding of the role, what are the three things I expect from them?
3. What are the three most interesting things I do in that role?
4. What are the three things they don’t know about me, that they should know?

Your inner thoughts about the answers to each question will organically become the talking points of your conversations with each member of the team.  It’s important to know that when you are in character, you will not become nervous like most job applicants.  Instead, you will feel as if you are having a normal conversation and you are connecting on a personal level with everyone.  The longer you stay in character,  the more you will become fully engaged in the collaboration of solving a problem and the less it will feel like a job interview.

That is what successful interviewing is all about-being prepared, professional, meeting new people and enjoying the moment. So, in order to get the job offer-you have to kill-it in the interview.  To kill-it in the interview, you have to develop your character.

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