by Michael Cadiz
| Most
job seekers don't look forward to attending job interviews. The sweaty
palms, the tentative smile, the butterflies in the stomach-----these are just some of the not-so-pleasant feelings often associated when stepping inside the interview room. Thankfully, there are ways for you to make interviewers fall in love with you without going through the Jennifer Hudson route. Read the rest of the article to find out how: |
1. Build a solid first impression
Yes,
first impressions do matter and building a strong, solid foundation as
soon as
you meet your interviewer will make it easier for them to love
you. Start with a
confident handshake and follow it up with a genuine
smile. This will show the
interviewer that you are happy to see them
face to face and look forward
to an engaging job interview. Mind your
manners during the interview:
sit up straight, meet the interviewer's
eyes while talking and turn off your phone
during the session.
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2. Deal with your nervousness but don't dwell on it
It's
okay to be nervous, what's not okay is dwelling on it so much that it
hampers
your ability to be in the moment. Most interviewers are aware
that job interviews
can get nerve-wracking and they won't hold it
against you. What you should do
then is to breathe slowly, calm your
nerves, and focus.
Do
your research prior to the interview schedule so you can answer each
and
every question the interviewer throws your way. If you are confident
about
how much you know about the company, the job position, and the
person or the
people interviewing you, you can divert your attention
from being nervous to
deciding how you can best answer each question.
Now, if you get asked a
question you don't know the answer, calm down,
pause, and rephrase the
question back to the interviewer to confirm your
understanding. This will
give you enough time to quickly pick your mind
for a suitable reply .
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3. Be a good storyteller
Storytelling
is a great way to get interviewers to like you, provided you know
exactly how to do it. It serves its purpose well when you're able talk
about
your most memorable accomplishments, biggest challenges, the ways
you
deal with conflict, and how you recover from a stumble to the
interviewer
without sounding rehearsed.
The
ability to tell a good story will allow you to relate real-life
experiences in
answering interview questions, most especially
situational ones. The next
time you have an interview coming, prepare a
list of standard and situational
questions and think of a story you can
use to answer them. Start by
stating the problem (the interview
question), describe how you solved the
problem, and end it by sharing
the outcome with the interviewer. Continue
adding more stories to your
personal library and you will have more
than enough to answer whatever
questions the interviewer can think of.
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4. Listen, learn, and react accordingly
The
biggest pet peeve of most interviewers is when they have to repeat
every question because the applicant is not listening attentively. The
moment you step inside the interview room, leave everything except
your
wits out. Focus your attention on the interviewer, so listen, pay
attention,
and react accordingly. For example, when the interviewer
cracks a joke,
smile. When he or she talks about the weather, reply.
This indicates
active listening and communicates your focus and
attention.
Learn
to read non-verbal cues so you can react to body gestures
accordingly-----
eyebrow tilting, lip curling, head-scratching-----they
all mean something and
the ability to read them correctly will give you
the advantage you need to
hopefully land the job offer.
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5. Make the interviewer feel important
Nothing
can make interviewers love you more than by making them feel
important
and this means never forgetting the interviewer's name and position.
Take note of that information and use that to help you draft questions
you
can ask him/her at the end of the interview. Just before the end of
the session,
you will probably be asked if you have questions and this
is the perfect
opportunity to use what you learned about the
interviewer. Let's say your
interviewer asks you if you have any
questions, you may say something
along the lines of, "You mentioned that you're the HR Manager, could
you give me an idea of what the company culture is like?"
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Make
sure you sound genuinely interested when asking the question and
be
ready to listen to the interviewer talk about himself/herself for a
while.
When you manage to get them to do so, you have succeeded in
making
them feel important. There is nothing wrong in satisfying the
interviewer's
ego and when you do, they will love you and definitely
remember you.
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