In this article I’m going to be walking you through my three top tips of how to impress in a job interview. So whether you’re talking to a recruiter or a hiring manager, the key principles are absolutely the same.
There are three key things that have really worked for me in my career when it comes to impressing in a job interview.
Tip #1: Research the company and the role
Now, tip number one is all about researching the company and the role. So before you step into the job interview, you really want to make sure you’ve spent some time researching this particular company and understanding who they are and what they do. This means going to their website, looking at their about page, understanding what their corporate values are, looking at their social media, go to their Instagram, their Facebook, their Twitter, their YouTube, understand what this company is, what they sell, and how they sell it.
If they’re a publicly listed company, you can go to their investor relations section, look at their annual reports, look at their presentations, understand what’s on the agenda for this company, what are their key strategic priorities, and just pick up some of the language and some of the lingo because that’s going to help you come into the job interview and really have a good nuanced understanding of what this business is.
But it also might give you ammunition for questions that you want to ask in the job interview as well. But also make sure before you go into the job interview, you’ve really thoroughly read the key selection criteria so that you understand what they are looking for this role and what are the key ingredients that any successful candidate should have.
So literally go to the job ad, read the description, read it over and over again, and make sure that you have got experiences and skills that you can share that showed how you are the right candidate because your skills and experiences align with the points in the key selection criteria.
So, so important because they’re probably going to ask you in the job interview, do you understand? Or what do you understand about the role that you are now interviewing for, but also what you know about us and our company. They’re going to ask that because they want to see that you’ve done the research, that you’re a valuable candidate because you’ve been proactive and you’ve taken initiative and that you’ve prepared for the job interview. Super important and shows a lot about you and your attitude.
Tip #2: Ask great questions in the job interview
Tip number two, all about asking great questions in the job interview. So when you’re taking the time to review the key selection criteria in the job ad before the job interview, but also researching the company, start making a list of questions that you want to ask in the job interview. So these can be things that are specifically related to the particular role, but also questions about the company as well.
So you could ask, what are the key priorities for the company at the moment? What kinds of projects would I be working on?
But then there’s also generic questions that you can ask in any job interview. So what would success look like in this role? What would a typical day look like? What kind of stakeholders would I be working with in this role? What are the development opportunities for me when I step into this role? These are all great questions that you can ask in almost any job interview, but it’s always good to have a few questions that are tailored to the particular job app because it really shows that you’ve engaged with the job description and it shows that you’re really invested in getting this job, and that really sets you apart from the competition.
Tip #3: Over-deliver at every stage of the recruitment process
Tip number three for impressing in a job interview is all about overdelivering. So there’s a good chance that as part of your application process that you might be asked to present something that could be a strategic overview of your work in marketing, could be a social media strategy, it could be a 30, 60, 90 day plan. Whatever it is they ask you to do over deliver, you absolutely need to over deliver on the brief.
So if they say, do a one pager slide on a social media strategy for our company, do two slides, yes, get all the main content into one slide, but then frame that second slide as a bonus slide. Show you’ve engaged with the material. You want to set yourself apart from every other person going for this role.
Remember, a job interview is a competition
It’s highly, highly competitive. And depending on the role you’re going for, there could be hundreds of applicants. You need to set yourself apart, and you can do that by, because that also shows that you’re invest in getting the role, but it also gives you a chance to show off your knowledge about social media or whatever it is that you are presenting. Show off your knowledge, show off your skills, and show them how much you can add value to the role and to the company. So those are my three tips for absolutely impressing in a job interview. Hope you found them helpful!
Will Vaughan is the Founder & CEO of Your Career Mastery. He’s dedicated to helping young professionals discover and land the job of their dreams using a mix of proven strategies, tips, tools, and mindsets. He currently works as a Content & SEO manager for a 100 million dollar tech company in Melbourne, Australia.