According to the thesaurus, acuity refers to keen awareness, perception, insight and alertness. Imagine demonstrating all of this on an initial interview. What do you believe the hiring manager will think of you as this is portrayed? That’s right, your personal brand will blossom making you the favored candidate!
The importance of interviews
You lead a dress rehearsal up until the time of your interview. Your interview is your one-man or one-woman show. Just as actors rehearse their parts prior to a movie or play, competent job candidates do the same. Not only will you want to focus on the high points of what you wish to say, you also get into the mindset of your audience or the hiring company.
Companies fear hiring employees who:
– Do not have a solid set of ethics
– Do not behave as a team player
– Do not deliver upon expectations
During your interview, take the lead role by seeking opportunities to address these unspoken obstacles. Speak to them well, and you will land in the lead candidate position to potentially hear HIRED!
Success through conversation
The key to being successful is through conversation developing the connection between you and the person or people interviewing you. This is accomplished by listening carefully for areas of commonality and speaking to the points listed above. As the person mentions an aspect of their company or personal life of which you have experience, when it is your turn to speak, explain through a 1-2 minute story how this is so. Your likeability factor will begin to grow.
As you become adept at telling these short stories relaying scenarios of past experiences, begin to incorporate ones that demonstrate you as the person with a strong set of ethics, you as the team player and how you always deliver beyond expectations. This will put to rest any fear or doubt management might have. This technique will encourage them to seriously consider you as their next employee.
The easiest way to demonstrate your standard of ethics if you do not have an appropriate story to share is to ask the person interviewing you to go into detail of what they are telling you so that you will have better understanding. Several benefits come from this type of request.
The benefits of your request
First, by volunteering that you don’t fully understand what is being said but want to learn demonstrates you will do your best to perform should they choose to hire you. You also demonstrate your integrity by admitting you need to hear more in order to understand what is being said in its entirety.
Secondly, people like to talk much more than they like to listen. You will be speaking to their ego when you ask them to explain their thoughts in full detail. You may learn a few insider tidbits that would otherwise not be revealed thereby giving you an advantage over the other candidates. It will also help you further qualify whether the position is right for you.
The third benefit is you will be seen not only as a team player but as a possible team leader by the way you lead the conversation through question and answer. Most people simply answer questions rather than take the lead on a give and take conversation.
These sales techniques will help you to get in the mindset of the hiring manager. With practice, interviews become a Smooth Sale!
For more information on our April 27th Event, Be Inspired to Get HIRED! ~ Visit: An Evening of Inspiration
Author:
Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, (800) 704-1499, was honored by Open View Labs with inclusion in their international list of “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012.” Elinor authored the International Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, Sourcebooks and the best selling career book, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews”, Career Press. She provides team sales training, private coaching and highly acclaimed inspirational keynotes for conferences. Elinor is available for consultation.
