- Marco Bellucci
Maximizing Interview Chemistry is about connecting with the Interviewer. This is the fourth in a series of posts around the important role chemistry plays in interviewing.
Maximizing Interview Chemistry: Answering
If you think about it, the interviewer is rooting for you. Let’s say that interviewer is John. John wants somebody who can do the job, and he wants to find that person in a minimum amount of time. How you answer questions has more to do with building chemistry than what you say. Let’s take the common question, “Tell me about yourself.”
Self-Qualify. Of course, you want to answer. But simply talking about the kind of person you are may not be what John wants to know. A secure method for answering is to self-qualify your answer: “Sure, John, I’d be happy to tell you about myself. I’m sure you’re interested in my career experience. I’ll focus on the past few years and how they relate to your position. I can start with my most recent experience if you like.”
When you self-qualify, you give the interviewer a chance to respond, and to direct the conversation to another area. That way, you can avoid talking about the wrong things. When faced with the “tell me about yourself” question, you should have your elevator pitch ready.
Tell Great Stories. When answering questions, make sure the conversation will be memorable with SMART stories.
Rotate. My client, Nancy, called me last month. She had been on an interview where the interviewer, Mr. B, would be this new hire’s boss. Mr. B. said, “Nancy, your resume is quite impressive. If you are as good as this indicates, you should be able to solve ALL our problems!” The implication was that Mr. B did not quite believe all he read. Then he said, “Nancy, tell me why we should hire you.” Nancy’s first impulse was to go on directly answering the question. But she really did not know WHAT HE was looking for at this point. So she rotated, turning the question around to subtly and sincerely compliment Mr. B. She said, “There is much I could contribute. I’ve certainly read the job description and researched your firm. But, Mr. B, it would be presumptuous of me to tell you what you need before I’ve listened to what you believe the priorities for the position to be. If you will share a bit more about that, I will give you a direct answer.”
Maximizing Interview Chemistry: Probing and Closing
Then, Nancy listened, asked more questions to probe and dig deeper on what Mr. B’s specific vision was for this new hire. They covered his expectations, what successes he felt had occurred thus far, and what he perceived the biggest challenges to be down the road. Now, Nancy had learned much about the hidden requirements of the job. She was then able to give Mr. B an ROI-Why Buy answer to “Why should we hire you?”
Nancy was offered the job and accepted. After she came on board, Mr. B told her that her questions to generate his feedback, followed by her relevant answers, sealed the deal. She had been in competition with five other qualified finalists. She created chemistry and connection. It made all the difference!
