Make no mistake about it…
Employers look for employees because they have a NEED. Don’t mistake that the interview is about you — it is really about their NEED. You need to sell yourself as the right person to satisfy that need by carefully formulating your interview answers.
Sure, you may have great experience, but WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM? Managers hire people in order to make their own job easier. How are you going to make the Hiring Manager’s job easier? How are you going to make the Hiring Manager look good in THEIR boss’s eyes?
You need to make your skills, experience, and education relevant to THEM and their needs, goals, and situation. After every statement you make to the Hiring Manager, you need to at least mentally add ” … and this will make your job easier because …” or ” … and this will make you look good because …” Imagine the Hiring Manager asking “… so how would that benefit me and my needs?” Make your answers and examples relevant to THEIR needs and communicate how hiring you will benefit THEM as well as the company.
If Managers hire based on their needs, then you are going to have to uncover and reveal their needs in order to come up with answers that will get your hired. Remember that every time a hiring manager asks you a question, YOU HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT TO ASK A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN. Questions are a great follow up to a winning answer.
Early on in the job interview you should use your own questions to uncover the hidden needs of the Hiring Manager so that you can tailor your interview answers and attitude to show that you understand their needs and that YOU are exactly the perfect person to solve those needs.
Each interviewer will have his or her own hidden needs depending on their roll. For example, a person in HR will want to be convinced that you understand the corporate culture, you will fit in with the company, you will get along with everyone, you will not show any disruptive behavioral or ethical problems, and that you will generally be easy to deal with. A person at the VP level will want to know that you are going to be an asset to his or her department and reflect well on him or her. The Hiring Manager will want to be assured that you will be dependable and that you are completely capable of doing what it takes to be successful at the position you are being interviewed for. Tailor your interview answers to “spin” towards what the interviewer wants to hear.
Remember that the Hiring Manager in particular will want to hire someone that:
1) they like, and are likable,
2) will make their job easier, and
3) will make them look good.
Each interviewer will also have their own set of hidden needs. Use the following question early on in the interview to uncover hidden needs so you can frame your answers to speak to those needs:
Use these questions, listen carefully, formulate your answer in your head before you speak and your interview answers will be exactly what they want to hear. You will be much more likely to get the job. Be confident, be sensitive to their hidden needs, stick to your guns, and go for it!
…
Bob Firestone is an Author, Career Coach and Sales
Trainer based in Los Angeles, CA. Bob’s “Ultimate Guide”
series has helped thousands of people and can be evaluated
at http://www.interviewanswers.net and http://how-to-ask-for-a-raise.com
Read more articles written by Bob Firestone
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