The presentation of your job interview answer is often the key reason why employers see you as a weak candidate.
The job interview myth is “the best person gets the job” whereas, in actual fact “the best interviewee” gets the job.
Framing your job interview answers to highlight your unique selling, over-achieving the employer’s expectations, can double the chances of a job offer.
An employer offering £30,000 + salary wants the most for their money. Why would the employer offer the position to you, if the next candidate states in their job interview that they have more skills, more experience and more qualities then you?
Step 1 – Create Interest in Your Answer
When asked an interview question, most interviewees make the mistake of using a misguided opening line “erm, yes I can do that I think” or “I’ve not done that for a while, but…”
Weak answers turn the interviewer off – once turned off they interviewer won’t really be listening to the body of your answer
Instead, open your job interview answer by stating clearly that you have that required skill “In all my roles I have used X skill..” or “This is one of my key strengths…”
By stating that you can do X the interviewer will want to hear your example and the rest of your interview answer.
Step 2 – Examples That Create Desire
A common interview question and the one we will use as an example, is “Can you work within a team?”
As with all common questions, interviewees use common, boring answers “yes I can work well within a team, I communicate well with others, I like to help my team members when they are stuck and together within a team, we achieve more..”
BORING!!
Don’t state your skills as this will easily be forgotten. To create memorable interview answers use stories.
Stories are visual and when someone imagines you being successful they will feel the positive emotions associated with your story (and their visual representation of your story) and emotional interviews are well remembered
For any interview story use a 3 step process
- State the Problem
- Explain how YOU solved the problem
- Give the positive outcome
“In all my roles I have adopted a team approach; an example of this was when I recently worked on a high profile project within a team. I was new to the project team and (add problem) to resolve this I (give solution) the outcome from this was (give positive outcome)..”
Make a Positive Future
Interviewees fall into the natural habit of talking about past successes. Overall this isn’t a bad habit as you are highlighting your strength and experiences from previous employments.
But what is more powerful is when an interviewee explains how they will use X SKILL to improve the team/project/profit in the company they are being interviewed for. This allows the interviewer to imagine you being successful for them, which is highly motivational.
