konknaijaboy | On 09, Oct 2014

Landing a job interview with your dream company is your stage to showcase how you’re the ideal person for this position and this company. To the company, the interview is about discovering how well you satisfy THEIR need. Today, I have a few lesser known interview tips to share that make a world of difference to how the hiring manager feels about you.

The Power of Likeability

Job candidates often underestimate their own influence in the interview, when – particularly in the first interview – you’re being judged on your ‘likeability’ and cultural fit. When you’re representing yourself professionally, you want to be at your social best. To do this, use your own intelligence and individuality to target your answers rather than trying to fit a structural mould of what you think you are supposed to say, because being disingenuous is transparent and easily picked up. You want to be showcasing your personality and indicating your ambition, initiative, commitment and more through your answers throughout the interview.Your hiring manager has their own social and workplace needs, and they too can be subconsciously influenced on a candidate depending on their ‘vibe’ about whether they would like working with you as you greet them and answer questions.

Offering More

As well as liking you, the hiring manager wants to know that you will like all that the job entails. The best interviewees realise that the job responsibilities are often much more than the title or description indicates, and requires flexibility to adapt to the needs of the organisation. The role you’re applying for will possess it’s own power for the company. Its requirements will evolve and flex with the company and projects it undertakes. Think of yourself in that role and all the ways your position might need to venture out. If you wholeheartedly want the position, indicate in your interview that you are willing to take on tasks outside of the official job description as necessary and appropriate. This shows you genuinely want to do the job, are willing to perform all necessary duties and that you won’t leave if the position description changes. You will be seen as helpful, adaptable and most importantly, an asset.

Salary Talk

You should have a ballpark figure of the salary based on the advertisement and market rates offered for your position – you wouldn’t be applying for a role without an estimate of your yearly returns. So it is best not to enquire about these until you are close to or at the offer stage, because while everyone knows its important, the hiring manager does not want to see you as valuing the salary above the job and company itself. Of course, some hiring managers may ask about your salary requirements, but unless this is the case, build up your own value as high as you can in the interviews so that when you are negotiating a salary you can back up why you are requesting the salary you are asking for.

Q&A

Ask the RIGHT questions. No interviewer wants to hear a candidates say “I have no questions”. We want you to be interested in us and suck up every bit of information you need to decide whether the job is right for you and you have what it takes. Your questions show that you may indeed, have what it takes just by considering things important to the organisation. For obvious reasons, don’t ask questions that make you look suspicious like “do you clock lunch breaks?”

Just by using your intelligence in the above indicators, you’ve increased your perceived value in the eyes of the hiring manager.

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About The Author

Naomi Seselja is the founder of Mode Recruitment & Career Services. An expert resume writer and interview coach, her clients include: CEO’s, Biologists, Executives, Financiers, people in the beauty industry and everything in between all across the globe. If you’d like to make a booking, email naomi@moderecruitment.com.au