SSB Interview Do you have it in you?
Today we will discuss the two job interview mistakes that almost everybody makes and how to avoid them. Let’s get down to the business of job interviews and the mistakes that everybody is making these days. So as somebody who has been in the recruiting industry for a really long time, I can tell you that most people aren’t trained in interview techniques. And this is something that we should really get more skilled at. Every job is temporary today, you’re gonna interview for jobs multiple times in your lifetime. So knowing that this is the case, you really want to build your skills up. And both of the things that people make mistakes in that I’m going to mention today are around skill building. So the good news is that you can solve both of these really easily.
So the first mistake I see people make is not prepared to answer behavioral questions. Now behavioral questions are techniques that recruiters have been using for many years now. And essentially what it is, is asking you an open-ended question that requires you to give a story or a longer answer. So I might ask you something like “Tell me about “a time when you had a big problem to overcome “in the office or tell me about a time “you had to work with a difficult co-worker “or customer, what did you do?” Anytime I ask you a question that requires you to go back into the history banks and share a story and come up with a conclusion. It’s allowing me to understand your behavior, how you viewed the situation, how you handled the situation and how you were able to use that information to your advantage. Now the mistake we see people make is not preparing to answer these questions correctly, and therefore when called upon to give this answer they’re all over the map. So if you’ve ever been in an interview and you feel like your answer got really long-winded or went off track, went here or there. Then that’s a sign that you weren’t prepared for a behavioral question. And it’s really important that you know how to do this. Because you want your answers to be very succinct and logical and factual. You want it to sound like hey, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I know what I’m doing. And so knowing how to answer those behavioral questions to convey that is very very important.
Now the 2nd thing I’m gonna tell you that you need to think about and the mistake I see people make. Is the fact that they don’t make the interview a two-way conversation. Often times we think we’re there, they’re the interviewer they’re gonna ask us the questions and it’s our job to respond. But it’s not that, if you think about it, you’re there to build a relationship. This is potentially somebody you’re gonna work with every single day if you get this job. So that first interview is about your ability to build a relationship and have a conversation. And make that interviewer feel comfortable. And so you’ve gotta know how to do that. And one of the important ways that you do that is by asking really great questions in the interview. When you get to that point where they say, “Do you have any questions for us?” You should be fully prepared to ask questions specific questions that engage this person in a positive conversation, it makes them feel connected to you. And when you do that, you’re in the early stages of that relationship building experience. And that’s gonna make them feel much better about you as a potential co-worker.
So there you have it, two tips, two skills that you really need to build so that you don’t make those classic skills that we see everyone makes in job interviews. I promise you if you work on both of these things, your interviews are gonna go much more smoothly and you’re gonna get a better reaction from the people that are interviewing you.
