Tag: job interview success

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How To Build a Positive Relationship With Your Interviewer in Minutes

Build a Positive Relationship With Your Interviewer in Minutes

A positive relationship is the key to a successful relationship.

The problem, of course, is you only have a few minutes to get the employer to like you.

The interviewer’s perspective of you is key because all of your following answers will be filtered through your recently built, positive or negative, relationship.

These 3 steps will help create a positive relationship with your interviewer, within minutes of walking into the interview room

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The Power of a Smile

The first step is so simple it’s stupid.

But the fact is that most interviewees aren’t relaxed enough to smile.

A smile is powerful because of 3 reasons.

The first is that you look confident and friendly when you smile – your smile is your best feature. When you smile, due to mirror neurons, the interviewer will feel the same happy emotions they would feel if they were smiling themselves.

Secondly, when you smile you come across as approachable and trustworthy; this allows the interviewer to open up to you because they feel relaxed in your presence.

Thirdly. It has been proven that you are seen as more attractive when you smile. And it’s also been proven that you are more likely to be offered the position is the interviewer finds you attractive.

Engage the Interviewer

At the interviewer start, ask the interviewer questions, ideally about them-self.

This is easier than it seems, you simply at the interview start make small talk.

You can ask about the number of interviews they have planned on that day, you can follow this by asking what they are going to do that night to relax? It’s at this point that you need to ask questions and show interest in the interviewer’s answers.

Naturally, we love to be the focus of attention. We also love the people who show us this attention and will want to be around them more often.

Interview questions and answers

Address the Interviewer By Name

Like the first step, this third suggestion is really easy to implement and helps to influence the interviewer.

People respond better to people who use their name.

Using the interviewer’s name shows that you are interested, you have remembered their name and it helps to create a bond between the two of you.

Psychologically speaking, the interviewer will like you more if you both share a similar sounding name.

This same natural likability factor works with anything you have in common; name, went to the same school, follow the same sports team, live in the same district when you were young.

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How To Influence The Interviewers Thoughts

How To Influence The Interviewers Thoughts

Influencing others is an important skill to have especially in a job interview.

Being able to persuade people with words can have a massive impact on the outcome of the job interview.

What you say in the job interview creates a picture in the interviewer’s mind, this internal image feeds the interviewer’s emotional response and it is that emotional response, that gut feeling that has a direct impact on the interview outcome.

Even two sentences with the same meaning can create different responses. The key here is to pick your words carefully.

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 The Glass is Half Full or Half Empty

This common saying makes my point clear.

The glass, either half full or half empty, holds the same volume of liquid, but the way you phrase the quantity of water creates a different perspective.

When answering your interview question you need to frame your interview answers in the positive. Imagine you tell the employer that you worked at X organisation, the employer looks disgusted and says “isn’t everyone who works there lazy?” you can easily reframe this response by responding with “yes, that why i want to work for an organisation like yours where you value hard workers like me”  

Using Pain to Create Desire

A big mistake most interviewees make in the interview is not creating a painful story.

Because you are selling yourself, you, the interviewee, believe that you have to state everything in the positive. In most situations you do. But when asked to give an example, stay away from the temptation to explain how you did X with success.

Have you ever been to a movie and the whole film was positive?

The storyline simply being the good things that happen to the main character? No, because people like suspense, we want to be taken on a journey, even though we know the film will have a good ending, we still want to hear about heartache, the problems – we like suspense.

For your interview answer to influence, to have a bigger impact tell a story.

Explain the problem that you were face with and the consequences if you fail. Build suspense, even lower your tone.

Create a story of pain, before you, the superhero of the story comes to the rescue and saves the day.

Interview questions and answers

Pick Power Words

‘Tell me about yourself? ‘ This commonly asked question can either persuade or put off the employer.

The words you choose to use to describe yourself will positively or negatively influence the interviewee, even when the meaning of the word is the same.

This is because all words have different levels of emotional intensity

Say these words out loud and notice how they make you feel different even though the meaning of the word is the same;

  • I’m a good team player or I’m an excellent team player
  • I try my best or I put my all into everything I do
  • dedicated or loyal 
  • responsible or follow rules 
  • goal setter or goal achiever 
  • ideas or innovative 
  • enjoy or passionate 

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3 Step Interview Success Process

Interview success is easy to achieve, all the interviewee has to so is follow these 3 steps for interview success.

Career professionals who can’t get over the interview hurdle do one of 3 things wrong;

1 they allow interview nerves to create procrastination – this leads to the applicant being lazy, they don’t prepare for the job interview, they rarely practice answering tricky questions and they focus on the negatives of previous interviews which creates a failure state

2 they don’t have a unique selling point – a lack of a unique selling point creates a boring interview. Interviewers are looking for an applicant to stand out, to make a differences, someone who is unique and interesting

3 they don’t structure their interview answers – a generic interview answer creates disinterest, an answer that goes on and on turns interviewers off and an interview answer with no structure creates confusion

This 3 step process that you are about to uncover, for interview success, will put the power back in your hands, you will win more interviews and gain more job offers

Create Interview Confidence Instantly

Your mind, to teach you how to react to a situation, searches for a “frame of reference.” – this is how I reacted last time, so I will react in the same way.

Successful interviewees have a positive frame of reference for the job interview, but most people don’t. The initial frame of reference for this public speaking event, is often, standing in front of your class at school, feeling embarrassed and getting shouted at by the teacher.

This state creates interview nerves and with each failed interview your confidence for job interviews dramatically drops, until the thought of a job interview sends shivers up your spine.

You need to create a new confident frame of reference. This technique uses your minds creativity and visual skills to change your emotional response to the job interview – increasing your confidence

  • Step 1 – think of an interview (this will be created as a negative visualisation in your minds eye. Often this will be a coloured movie, a movie of you failing and looking embarrassed)
  • Step 2 – pause this movie, move it away from your minds eye, so you can see the corner of the movie (
  • Step 3 – place the picture of the movie in an old frame and drain the colour from the movie
  • Step 4 – push the movie further and further away from your minds eye, so the image gets smaller and smaller, more out of focused until it is a dot on the horizon
  • Step 5– create an image that represents you being your best at a job interview; you looking confident, answering questions well and having great rapport
  • Step 6 – make this image big and bright, vivid and strong, add sound and move the movie so it is where the old image use to be
  • Step 7 – imagine the old movie and follow steps 1-5 but this time do it quicker and quicker so it moves to the horizon in an instant and in a quick of a flash move the positive image towards you replacing the old image
  • Step 8 – complete this process 10 time, until you only see the positive movie when you think of a job interview

Create an Interview Selling Point

Everyone who attends the interview for the position you are applying for meets the job criteria (or they wouldn’t be offered an interview).

In the job interview you have to be seen by the interviewer as a better applicant then the rest of the interviewees. To be offered the position you need to offer the interview more then what they want, additional extras, you need to sell yourself through a unique selling point.

If you were offered two cars for the same price, which car would you take? Car 1 – standard model or Car 2 standard model plus free insurance, free satnav and free petrol for 1 year?

Its a no brainer. the same process can be used in the job interview. Show the employer how you meet the job criteria and then offer additional benefits. What skill, quality or experience do you possess that others don’t? What can you bring to the team that will make a real impact? How will your experience and work ethic make an difference in terms of quality, productivity or profits?

Create a Structure to Sell Yourself with each Interview Answer

Don’t just answer questions willy-nilly – as this wont impress anyone.

To be offered more jobs in the job interview you need to structure each interview question. A structure helps you to sell yourself while answering the interviewers question, it also stops you waffling, reduces “erms” and “arghs” and it makes sound professional and confident

To structure your answer;

step 1 – answer the question in the first sentence; no matter what you are asked make it clear at the question start that you have that experience or skill. Take a simple question around team work experience, most people answer this by talking about how “a team is more productive” instead of this common start to the question, state your duration in high performing teams  “in all my previous roles over the past 10 years I have worked within high performing teams…”

By stating how you have said skill, creates intrigue, this intrigue ensures the interviewer listens to the body of your answer

Step 2 – give real examples. Many interviewees state facts when answering questions. For some questions, this is fine, but in the main you need to give real examples “…an example of this is A, B and C…” (unique selling points)

Examples are like stories. When you hear a story you visualise the plot and every visualisation has an emotional attachment. When you explain how you were able to achieve success the employer will feel this emotional and associate the positive feelings onto you.

Step 3 – Explain how you can use this same skill in their company. When possible “future pace” this means you can finish the interview answer by stating that this experience can be used in the position you are applying for “…if offered the position I could implement this process in to the business which will increase production and profits”

If its a question where you cant future pace, you can simply summarise your opening state and story “…so overall my 10 years experience working in high performing teams has allowed me to X..”

The summary tells the interview that your answer is over. In addition having 3 steps is really powerful for the interviewee, as the structure keeps you focused boosting your interview confidence.

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Likeability The Key to Interview Success

People often underestimate the power of likeability in the job interview situation.

Throughout the application process, the employer has checked your qualifications, experience and skill set. The final stage, the job interview, is to decide if you are a good fit for the team, to undercover your unique selling point/strengths and to decide if they like you.

Teams that work well together produce a higher quality of work, have increased retention and employees have fewer sick days. The interviewer at this stage of the application process is looking at your temperament as much as they look at your skill base and experience.

In many situations employers have hired not the best qualified or the most experienced, rather they hire the person they feel will fit in best with the team.

Remember if you have been invited to the interview stage you have already met the essential criteria of the job spec, the employer knows you have the minimum requirements, they are now focusing on your personality, values and work ethic.

How to Increase Rapport

The interview is, for many, a stressful situation. When stressed your personality, likeability and rapport-building skills take a back seat.

These simple techniques will help you increase your likeability increasing your chances of being offered the position.

Gaining Employers Agreement

In the interview, you may find yourself in a situation where you disagree with a point the employer has made. Is this a test? Are you more of an expert than the employer? Do you agree or disagree?

By agreeing with the employer they will like you more than if you disagree. But in many situations, you need to highlight your knowledge and expertise by disagreeing. To overcome this, you can agree than disagree by using this simple line.

“I agree on that point (this breaks down resistance) but (add in your expertise)…” Compare that line to “no that not true” or “I don’t agree with that” these two lines will instantly break rapport, by agreeing and then adding a “but…” you breakdown resistance, the employer likes you and you get your own thoughts/expertise across.

Adding value

To really build up your likeability while at the same time showing off your knowledge and expertise you can use a sneaky technique that works in any sector interview.

The idea is to share your knowledge and expertise, the interviewer will see you as pure gold, thinking “if they are sharing this valuable content with during the interview what will they share when I employ them.

When the interviewer makes a statement, you need to “repeat and then add value” By repeating first, shows that you respect the interviewer’s thoughts, experience and opinions which builds rapport. The sharing of insight will increase the value the interviewer unconsciously attributes to you.

As an example, the interviewer may be discussing a piece of technology they use in your sector. Your answer would be “yes that piece of technology is very good at X(repeat) ……(now add value) recently a new version of the software has come to market the advantages of this is X and the disadvantages is Y…”

By giving both advantages and disadvantages of the technology, you can wait to hear the employer’s opinion and then agree with this, to increase likeability. If you only quoted either the advantage or disadvantage and the employer discussed the opposite you would break rapport. And rapport easier to break than it is to build.

Likeability

People like people who like them.

At the interview end when asked if you have any questions to ask the employer, make reference to how you would enjoy working together as you like there (work ethic, values or commitment)

By stating that you like X about the employer, the employer will automatically like you in return.

As well as structuring your interview questions, as well as preparing your answers, as well as planning which key strengths and unique selling point to discuss you also, and this is key to job interview success, have to learn how to build rapport and likeability.

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How to Answer the Job Interview Question How do you know when you have been successful with a task?

How do you know when you have been successful with a task? 

Explanation of the Question:

When have you been successful? How did you know? As this will be your best answer. You have been successful when:

  • The job has been completed on time
  • The task has been completed to a good standard
  • When your customers walk away happy
  • When your employer tells you
  • When you have job satisfaction 

Example Interview Answer 

“Recently the company I work for was putting together a bid for a new contract, the whole team was involved in gaining information and quotes for the bid.

It was a big job and we worked late for several nights, it was worth it though as we recently gain confirmation that the company has won the new contract”