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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