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3 Ways to Improve The Interview Outcome

Job interviews are competitive. It simply isn’t good enough to discuss your past experiences.  Instead you need to stand out in the job interview, you need to create an unbreakable bond with the interviewer and you need to be seen as pure gold.

These 3 techniques will help you influence the job interview outcomes.

Taking off the Invisibility Cloak

You might not believe this, because you put so much effort into your job interview……but most job interviewers forget the people they have interviewed.

Thats right, interviewers will forget the people they have interviewed, wrongly believe that one applicant said a key point when in actual fact it was there competitor who discussed it and interviewers can even associate their mad-mood onto the applicants interview.

You need to be remembered and to be remembered in a positive light. To stand out in you job interview it is important to make the interview an emotional journey. 3 ways to create an emotional journey are:

  • Use intriguing stories instead of generic interview answers
  • Embed your answers with emotionally based words
  • People remembering being praised. If you make the interviewer, through positive praise, feel good about themselves, they will remember you more 

Having a Unique Selling Point

People applying for positions in the same salary bracket tend to have similar experiences, skills and qualifications.

To boost your chances of having a positive interview outcome  you need to stand out in the job interview. But more then standing out, you need to be seen as a valuable asset. To stand out you need a Unique Selling Point

  • What do you possess in terms of skills, qualities and experiences that others don’t:
  • Can you turn around under performing teams?
  • Can you make companies on the bleak of bankruptcy profitable? 
  • Can bring in high levels of business? 

Ensure you discuss your unique selling point throughout the job interview

Come Across Confident

Confidence is undervalued in the job interview.

People believe what confident people say, people are influence by confidence and confidence is an attractive quality.

You need to boost your confidence levels by going to the job interview well prepared, practiced and feeling good about yourself. Boost your confidence by:

  • Predicting the job interview questions – read the job spec and turn each criteria into an interview question
  • Record and re-write your interview answers 3 times as this improves the quality of the interview answer and helps you to remember your answers
  • Attend a mock interview with a friend or interview coach, as this helps you prepare for unrehearsed questions 

Practice and preparation create confidence.

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3 Ways to Get Any Interviewer To Like You

Rapport is often an undervalued skill in the job interview. But if an employer respects your experience, skills and qualities as well as liking you as a person, the likelihood of achieving a successful job offer is ten fold.

Increasing likeability is easy and takes a little bit of psychology. Today you will learn 3 simple techniques to increase likeability in the job interview.

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 1

People like to be praised. If you make the interviewer, through positive praise, feel good about themselves, they will like you more.

At the interview start discuss a project that the interviewer was part off and subtly praise his work.

To boost this rapport ask questions about their process and achievements, if you can get the interviewer talking happily about a positive and successful experience, they will unconsciously associate the positive emotions to you and your interview performance

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 2

For internal promotional interviews you can use the rule off reciprocity. If you tell someone that you like them they will automatically like you more.

In a job interview this approach can seem overboard. Instead tell others who you know have the interviewers ear, how you respect him, believe in his work principles and how you like both his work style and persona. Once he hears how you like him, his liking for you will increase

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 3

Focus on the future. When an interviewer can imagine you being successful in the job interview their likeness for you will increase as all interviewers want to hire someone who can make a real difference.

When asked interview questions, keep your answers about past successes to a minimum and instead, discuss and explain how you will make a difference, in the future, in their company once they hire you.

Talk about how you WILL solve problems, achieve goals and increase profit.

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3 Reasons To Talk About The Future Not The Past In Job Interviews

It is common for interviewees to talk only about the past during the job interview.

The past is where you have been successful, where you have built up your skills, qualities and expertise, which is why it is easy to fall into the “past trap”

To influence the job interview you need to focus your answers on how you will impact their company in the future. Here are 3 Reasons To Talk About The Future Not The Past In Job Interviews

I Did, I will

Lots of interviewers will ask questions around your skills “What is your key strength” “Give me an example of when you have used X skill”

And most interviewees answer by talking about a past success “In my last company I DID, A, B and C…” This type of answer does highlight your skills and successful achievements but it doesn’t have a massive impact on the interview outcome. Remember everyone attending the interview will have had similar experiences and will give similar past success stories.

To add power to your answer you need to talk about how you will use this skill to help the company achieve their goals. By focusing the interviewer on you being successful in their company has a higher emotionally impact on the interview outcome.

“My key skill is X, the way I WILL use this skill to meet our KPIs will be to A, B and C” This is a simple tweak in the interview answer structure but this simple tweak has a massive impact.

Imagine….

Certain words can influence the interview. “Imagine” seems a simple word but in actual fact this word is a POWER word.

Imagine is known as a command word, when used in a sentence it commands the listener to take action. Imagine is so powerful that it is used in conversational hypnosis, by pick up artist and in mentalism shows.

When asked an interview question, you can use “imagine” to get the interviewer to focus on you being successful in their company which is highly motivational. If say “imagine a duck balancing on a blue ball” you have to picture this image, to process what I have said – did you picture a duck on a blue ball?

It’s the same in the job interview, if you say “Imagine me using my experience to help you achieve X and Y..” the interviewer has to imagine this positive outcome.

Future Questions

At the interview end you be invited to ask questions.

Most interviewees will ask questions around development opportunities, staff retention and holiday entitlement.

But this an opportunity missed. You can use the questions you have to focus, once again, to focus the interviewer on you being employed and successful in their organisation.

Ask questions that make the interviewer see you working for them. If, throughout the interview the interviewer keeps imagining you working for them and being successful, they will increase the desire to recruit you

An example question to ask would be “If I was to start working for you, what would you like me to achieve first?” This simple sounding question will make the interviewer imagine, first, you working for them, and secondly, even more powerful, you achieving something important for them.

The more the interviewer imagines you being successful while working for them – and the outcomes this achieves, the more they will want to hire you, which is why you need to focus your answers on future successes not past experiences.

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It’s the Time to Overcome the Top 4 Barriers to Work Abroad

No one wants any obstacles in the path of their career progression.

When it comes to working abroad, several common barriers might slow down your speed. When planning to work in a foreign country, particularly Gulf countries where you can get a perfect blend of tax-free income and a great experience to explore a new world like Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, no obstacles should stop you in your career progression!  

Job search

Here we will discuss some of the common barriers people face to move abroad- Understanding the Language, Cultural Difference, Safety Issues, and Home Sickness

Language Barrier

The understanding and knowledge of the country’s language you are relocating to, is extremely important. However, when you fail to understand the foreign language, it becomes a barrier for you to live and work abroad.

Solution: Learning a language is not something that you can’t do! For instance, if you are moving and looking for a job in Oman or any other Arab country, learning Arabic becomes the first step to break the language barrier. There are several ways to learn a new language- join classes, online learning, books, conversation groups, CDs/DVDs, etc.

Cultural Barrier

Understanding and adapting to a different culture is the next common hurdle you face in your plan to work abroad. Particularly moving to a location where religious beliefs are strictly followed, such as Gulf countries, it becomes vital to be aware about the cultural and religious norms.

Solution: Try to gain general understanding of the country’s traditions, beliefs, and moral values of its natives. For instance, business etiquettes in Muslim nations include handshake with men,

but approaching a female employee for it is not considered good. Similarly, you will find different culture while working in the European nations. Hence, prior knowledge of the culture, lifestyle, and its people is important for your relocation. You can join various groups online and chat with fellow expats.

Safety Issues

Moving abroad sometimes might cause you to face safety issues due to unfamiliarity with the location. Safety issues become a more serious concern particularly for women working abroad. No one expects that anything bad will happen to him/her in an overseas location, but it is always advisable to be prepared about any bad situation.

Solution: When living alone in a new country, avoid hiring any unlicensed private taxi. For women, it is recommended not to walk alone at night or be friend with any stranger without knowing him/her. You can also keep a map of the new places you will be required to travel on daily basis in the initial few days to avoid any confusion. Remember, you will gradually come to know about the new place and the new people. Until then, be cautious!

Experiencing Homesickness

Nostalgia is a common feeling people face when living abroad without friends and family. A new job, a new place and new people- these are together sufficient to make you feel alone at times. However, it is a challenge that you should overcome as soon as possible as it can affect your mental peace and health.

Solution: The best way to fight homesickness is to find positive reasons of your stay away from your home. A high paying job, global work exposure, or career opportunities; are these not the motivating factors for you? Yes, of course! Moreover, in today’s Internet age, it is not difficult to stay connected with people in other countries. Hence, it is possible to avoid a sad feeling and connect with your friends and family on social networking sites, video chats, and talk to them at reduced call-rates. Above all, it’s the time to find new friends in your new “home”-your new work country.

So, if working abroad has always been your dream, it is the time to say “Good Bye” to all these barriers.

Good luck!

BIO

Swati Srivastava is an avid writer who loves to pen down her opinion on economic issues, career advice, and global issues. To contact her, send her a message on LinkedIn  

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3 Reasons To Fear Job Interviews

Job interviews create anxiety, fears or trigger of phobias in most job applicants.

There are 3 key reasons why people fear job interviews, today I will explain why anxiety ruins peoples job interview and how you can overcome this phobia inducing reasons to fear the job interview.

Interview Fear 1 – Lack of Practice 

Rarely do we attend job interviews. As with any skill, if you fail to practice you will never reach your peak performance.

On average, interviewees only prepare for around 1-2 hours! This is crazy when the outcome of the job interview can change your life, your financial situation and your career progression.

Interview procrastination stops people from being successful. To practice you can;

  • Research sector job interview and questions
  • Attend a mock interview and learn from the feedback
  • Reflect on a previous job interview 
  • Write and re-write out job interview questions and answers
  • Watch interview YouTube clips, pause the video after each question and answer the question as if you were attending an interview. After watching the answer on the video, compare this answer with yours 

Interview Fear 2 – Unpredictability 

We are all scared of the unknown.

Because attending a job interview, is in the main, a rarity, anxiety will increase.  Even confident individuals become nervous in the job interview, especially when a random job interview is asked.

You need to learn the skill of thinking on your feet confidently, speaking impromptu and answering questions spontaneously.

Once you can confidently deliver answers unrehearsed, you will reduce your fears and anxiety and become a more competent interviewee.

Interview Fear 3 – Niggling Devil in Your Head  

When working with clients to improve their interview confidence they all have one thing in common, everyone says that their anxiety increases because they have negative self-talk.

You need to kill this devil in your head if you ever want to get over your interview phobia.

By changing the way our negative self-talk expresses itself we can change the associated negative emotion.

  1. Listen to the negative self-talk
  2. Replay this voice, but this time sssssslllllooooowwwwww down the words, really drag them out and became aware of the change at the emotional level
  3. Next, speed the voice up so it plays really fast and squeaky
  4. Finally, turn down the volume of the voice so you can hardly hear it
  5. Use whichever technique takes away the negative associated emotion

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3 Job Interview Questions Asked In Every Interview and How To Answer Them

3 Job Interview Questions Asked In Every Interview and How To Answer Them

Job Interview Question 1:

“Tell me about yourself?”

One of the most common asked questions in interviews normally asked at the beginning of an interview, this question gives you the opportunity to deliver a short statement about your experiences and skills relevant to the job position you are applying for.

    • Start with a “selling” line that will highlight your main strength and/or achievement
    • Keep each point brief as you can explain each point again in more detail throughout the interview
    • You want to interest the interviewer and get them to want to know more about you
    • End this answer with a reason why you’re looking for a new job

Potential Interview Answer

“I’ve been working in Sales for 8 years. I have a great understanding of selling insurance to the public and businesses. My innovative sale techniques have increased profits by 25% year on year for the past 3 years. I am now ready for a new challenge and with your company having a great reputation, I believe this is the opportunity I have been waiting to apply for”

Job Interview Question 2:

“Why did you leave your last job?”

Be positive with this answer and smile – employers like to hear that you left for a good opportunity or reason, a chance to do something special or for a good career move.

    • Start the answer with a look back
    • Explain what you enjoyed about your previous role
    • Give a Positive reason for leaving

Potential Interview Answer

“I enjoyed working at Company Name and really enjoyed the interaction of working with a wide range of individuals-I feel I gained a lot of transferable skills from this experience, which I can use in this role. It was a hard choice to leave but I felt that this great opportunity is the next obvious step for me”

 

Job Interview Question 3:

“Why do you want this position?”

Your research will pay off with this question; explain you have always wanted to work for their company and the reason why. Discuss how your goal has always been to work in this industry as you always wanted to (job criteria) and finally finish by explaining how your previous experience or qualifications will add value to the company.

Potential Interview Answer

“Since becoming qualified my goal has been to work with your organisation, as I believe my vision is in line with your company mission. I have always had a creative side and feel that good advertisement makes a difference for companies looking to be successful. My experience in advertising, my creativity and my rapport with clients will add value to your company.”

BONUS*** COMMON ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTION

Job Interview Question 4:

“What are your strengths?”

This is one of the most common questions you will be asked. Give an answer relevant to the skills and qualities relevant to the position you are applying to. The interviewer is trying to find if your strengths match the job. For example, if you are applying for a job where accuracy is an important issue, one of your strengths could be that you have an eye for detail. It may useful to find different words to describe similar attributes and qualities in order to avoid repetition.

Potential Interview Answer

“I have often been told that I have an eye for detail and that I am very accurate and precise. This was very important during my last role where I worked on large business accounts”