Read carefully the job description:
What kind of skills are they looking for? If you are qualified for the job, you probably have more than one of them.
Interview preparation: why should we hire you?
Topic: HR Consulting for Candidates
Interview preparation generates a lot of stress and requires research and good insight. In the end, it all comes down to sell yourself. You are one among all those candidates and the goal is to shine more than the other, in order to impress the interviewer and be the first choice. There is a small challenging problem in this process: you don’t know who you are competing with. Hence, when the interviewer asks you why they should hire you, you better be prepared and present your USP in a confident and convincing way.
To do so, you have to organize your thoughts. It’s not enough to say you are smart, qualified and you want the job. That’s exactly the reason why you are being interviewed and what makes you similar to other candidates. The goal here is to stand out. And if you cannot change your experiences and qualifications, you can at least try to sell them in the best way possible. This question is your pitch moment to show the interviewer you are ready for the job.
How to get ready?
The aim should be to show the value you can bring to the company and what characteristic of yours will enhance their performance.
What should you avoid?
Don’t be generic: avoid saying you have relevant skills without mentioning when you prove those skills. Same about passion for the industry: always remember to mention WHY something is important for you and WHY you are good at something. That shows determination and preparation.
To give you a better understanding, here as some concrete examples:
“Since you are looking for an experienced sales manager, I would like to point out my achievements in the previous company. Thanks to targeted social media advertising, in three months I increased online revenues by 18%. I will work hard to achieve even better results in your company and your success will be my priority.”
“Based on the job description, you are looking for someone who is capable of handling customers with patience and a proactive attitude. In this regard, I would like to bring your attention to a particular situation I went through during my previous job. My team and I didn’t manage to meet a deadline and the customer was trying to get a clear answer, but nobody was able to deliver it and admit our delay. I decided to take initiative, called him, apologized for the situation, and explained what went wrong and how we were currently trying to solve it. The client really appreciated my straightforward answer, and he came back to us for other projects even though we delivered with a delay.”
“I noticed that in the job description you highlight the need for a real team player. Hence, I would like to point out, that during my last job as a manager, I worked actively to create a peaceful environment between colleagues, managed conflicts, and assured that the values of the company were interiorized by the whole team. To do so, I organized team events, made counseling sessions available for everyone in need, and held regular workshops to let employees interiorize the company culture and align the team towards a common goal.”
Need some more support to prepare for your interview? Check out the detailed answers we prepared for you to face the weaknesses question!
Federica Viviani, Marketing Associate
