During The Interview – Selling Yourself:
So
I have explained the ins and outs of preparing for your new job
interview and dealing with the stress element leading up to and
entering into the interview environment. You are now well
dressed, have greeted your interviewer (s) correctly, created
your comfortable sitting posture and are now ready to convince
your interviewer that you are the man or woman that they have
been searching for to fill that job opening. To some the actual
performance comes easily, for others they have to work at it.
Some people are natural born sales people and know how to sell
themselves others are not so lucky. Generally speaking if you
already work in a sales role (as I do) what I will explain next
is really second nature and it is unlikely that I will be
offering you anything that you don’t already know. Sales people
are natural born performers whether it be due to their
personality or due to the nature of the work they have
previously carried out but the term “life is a stage and your on
it” has never spoken truer than at a job interview. I have been
on hundreds of sales courses and read many sales books over the
course of my career such as “how to win friends and influence
people” but it all comes down to one thing and that is getting a
stranger to believe in you and or your product. At an interview
you are one in the same and you therefore need to put on a good
performance. There are many different qualities the interviewer
is going to be looking for in their potential candidate which
will encompass qualifications, experience, you as a person and
the way that you integrate with others, your previous employment
history, and your enthusiasm towards your career along with
many, many other factors. So here are a few areas to consider –
they are all really interlinked and if you can employ all of
them at interview stage you are well on your way to getting that
new job:
Show Your Interviewer That You Are
Enthusiastic:
So
what exactly is an interviewer employer looking for? Well
firstly I would say enthusiasm. If someone asks you a question
and you give a one word answer it doesn’t really look very
enthusiastic. So the way to deal with this is to answer the
question as deeply as you can. For example; Interviewer “Your
background is in commercial liability underwriting but I see you
are now involved in commercial property underwriting” don’t
simply answer with a Yes or No answer, expand on it – so you
could answer something along the lines of “Yes I was originally
trained in liability underwriting, an area I spent several years
working in which I thoroughly enjoyed. However I had the
opportunity to expand my overall underwriting skills to
encompass property underwriting so I jumped at the chance as I
felt it would enhance my experience overall within my team”.
Obviously you can tailor this to your own circumstances but you
see what I am getting at – be enthusiastic don’t just give one
word answers, make your interviewer interested in you and what
you have done, show him that you really are passionate about
everything you do. To the interviewer this shows that you will
have enthusiasm and dedication to your new job should they
decide to employ you.
Show Your Interviewer You Are A Confident
Candidate And That You Know Your Stuff:
Another area where all sales people are naturals – confidence! I
know it’s not always easy when you are under pressure and
nervous to ooze confidence, but this is a really important area.
The more confident you are (and I don’t mean being cock sure of
yourself and making the interviewer look an idiot by being a
smart arse!) the more chance you will have of bagging the job.
Try and expand on your answers again in this area if you are
asked a negative question try and respond with a positive
confident answer. For example; Interviewer “You don’t appear to
have done much cold calling for a while and this job will
involve quite a large amount of self lead generation how do you
feel about that” – you could answer along the lines of “Yes I
haven’t been involved in cold calling for 6 months which has
been quite disappointing to me as I thoroughly enjoyed it and
felt that it was one of my strong areas. I really have missed
this element of my work because I got the opportunity of
speaking to new people each day and I really got a buzz when I
finally closed a deal that I new I had generated from start to
finish. Cold calling is an area I am keen to get back into and
it’s a talent that I feel comes naturally to me”.
Show Your Interviewer That You Are Positive:
It’s easy to become negative about anything in life but in work
life and a career environment but a positive person in the
workplace can be a real asset to an employer. Positive people
give off positive vibes and those good vibrations nearly always
rub off on other employees. The end result creates a happy,
proactive, enthusiastic work force which ultimately creates a
better working environment and more efficient team. If you can
demonstrate this quality to your interviewer at interview stage
you will definitely impress them.
Watching Your Body Language:
Body language is an area that many interviewers will take
seriously. What we do and how we do it can show underlying areas
that do not have to be spoken to be picked up upon. Body
language is an area that has been analysed for many, many years
by professionals and interviewers alike and really is amazing
what you can learn from someone just by their mannerisms. Just
to give you an example - and as I have previously stated before
I am no expert my knowledge has been gained from experience and
research but if you ask a person a question and their eyes gaze
up thoughtfully to the left hand side of their eyeball you know
that the chances of there answer being true are high. If on the
other hand they look up to the right of their eyeball the
chances are they are searching for a made up answer to your
question! There are certain exceptions to the rule but the
theory is based upon the fact that the left side of your brain
is where you retrieve data from, the right, is the fictional
side of your brain! Interesting isn’t it and one to be aware of!
Other areas that give off body language signals (without you
knowing about them) are as follows:
Don’t:
1.
Crossing Your Arms: Makes you look defensive.
2.
Sit on the edge of your seat.
3.
Mess with your face or play with your jewellery or hair.
4.
Rock on the seat.
5.
Interrupt when being asked a question.
6.
Give one word answers (unless the answer dictates a one word
answer!)
Do:
1.
Smile as frequently as possible (especially when you are asked a
question and respond to the person who has asked the question)
but don’t over do it!
2.
Keep your hands in your lap don’t wave them around all over the
place.
3.
Keep eye contact at all times (I don’t mean stare out your
interviewer). If there is more than one interviewer flick from
person to person.
4.
Be articulate and listen carefully to each question before giving
your answer.
5.
Keep calm and don’t panic!
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