A recruiter I really respected and taught me a lot about recruiting said the following about job interviews and how job seekers can improve their interview skills.
He said, “Great candidates know what they are good at and go into interviews knowing what they like to do, and see if they can understand the company’s challenges, objectives, and goals.”
Then I shared about how I heard someone say many years ago that job seekers should have a consultant mindset. He built my thoughts on this, “…draw information out of the interviewer’s information about the business solutions the company needs. Talk with the interviewer collaboratively, creatively, and constructively.”
Just the way he said it, in such a prescriptive manner, shaped what I had advised when I was a coach, but now, as a career writer with an investigative heart.
Piece by piece, you may think that’s what you do, when all of these most do the contrary. They have been told to embody advertisements about themselves. While that’s not wrong, it’s not the spirit of what companies often want. Job seekers do better when they research and use sharply honed applied knowledge to the company’s specific problem.
One of the last things he said specifically resonated with me and again, shapes my outlook on job interviews, “You be the doctor and let the company be the patient. Don’t be a screaming advertisement.
About Mark Anthony Dyson
I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.