Collaborate in Your Interviews

Collaborate in Your Interviews

Collaborate in Your InterviewsYou’ve connected with your interviewer(s). Rapport has been established. Great! Don’t leave it there. Now, it’s important to get to the whats and hows of the position you’re interviewing for. You want to clarify what needs to be done and then collaborate on how it can be done! This is key to positioning yourself as a top candidate who understands – and can deliver on – the employer’s needs.

Here are some tips:

  • Try to learn the employer’s top two or three deliverables, i.e. what the employer needs to have done. You’ll then be better able to frame your answers.
  • Timing is important with asking questions. Before you begin asking clarifying questions of your own, answer the interviewer’s questions. Use your success stories to validate your value. Then, the interviewer(s) will be more open to answering your questions.
  • Ask big-picture questions in your first face-to-face interview. “How will success be measured?” “How will this position support that?” “What are the three most important priorities for the role?” If you can, also ask the same type of questions beforehand to your networking contacts. You’ll be more easily able to position yourself as a solution.
  • Further into the first interview or in subsequent interviews, ask deeper-dive questions. “What are the roadblocks needing push-through to meet your goals?” “What’s your biggest frustration with the role’s status-quo?” Then take notes.
  • After telling a success story, pause to tie in what you did to what the employer might need. For example, “If you don’t mind my asking, how would you prefer to have something like this addressed?”
  • Move and dance with your questions. It’s important to move forward methodically with clarifying questions. Don’t jump in as the savior to all their problems. “Dance” with the interviewer(s). If details about a process are being discussed, don’t jump to the topic of big-picture visioning for end results.
  • Ask permission. The secret to being able to ask potentially hard questions is to ask permission. If you’re moving into sensitive issues, preface your questions with something like, “May I ask more about that?” or “Could I learn more about that?”
  • After clarifying, then collaborate. When you’re clear on what needs to be done, then focus on how the deliverables will be met. Questions like, “What’s working well?” and “What would you like to see more of?” can help with collaboration.
  • Discuss and demonstrate how you would do the job. Discussion might include language like “We had a similar scenario with my former employer. Our strategy involved … which worked well. How would something like this work at ABC?”
  • Act. To demonstrate how you would do the job (and with permission), consider giving a brief presentation to showcase sales skills, addressing a fictionalized case study to show your analysis strengths, brainstorming strategies to illustrate your marketing vision, or other actions that correlate to the role interviewed for. The more an employer can visibly see you doing the work, the better.
  • Collaborate by walking around. A great way to shift from interrogative question-and-answer to collaborative discussion is to ask for a tour. When walking around, ask lots of questions, take notes, and meet as many people as you can. Note their names and, if appropriate, ask for business cards. This will give you fodder for follow-up.

Clarifying and collaborating in an interview will help position you as a top candidate who understands and can deliver on what that employer needs.

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