Congratulations if you are reading this article because you have been called for an interview – you probably have an excellent Resume and Cover Letter to highlight your qualifications.
As a job candidate being interviewed by your prospective employers, you should aim to mould the atmosphere of the interview such that it feels like a friendly yet professional chat. Not only does this create a better impression for the interviewers to remember you by, it also sets the tone for you, the job candidate, to deliver impactful information with greater confidence. While this may not appear intuitive, the process of asking smart questions during an interview is a very important step in creating such a “conversation-like” environment.
In this article, I discuss a 2 general tactics that one may apply before and during a job interview in order to allow intelligent questions to be raised, fruitful discussions to follow, and positive impressions on the employers to be made.
1. Pre-Interview Research and Preparation
This step should be done at least a few days before the day of the interview. Analyze the job posting very carefully and formulate meaningful questions that come to mind. If you are passionate about the job and sincerely want to engage in a mutually beneficial working relationship with the company in the role you are being interviewed for, the questions should come to you naturally. Generally speaking, these questions should show the interviewers that you are enthusiastic to understand what your day-to-day responsibilities would look like, and that you want to confirm whether your personal career goals align with the role.
HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE COMPETITION: conduct research on your interviewers’ backgrounds on their LinkedIn and company profiles, and formulate questions that demonstrate your interest in their career path and what they do. Fellow professionals love to see their counterparts taking an interest in their accomplishments and seeing signs that they aspire to follow in their footsteps.
You may also conduct research on technical aspects of the job (perhaps a certain way a calculation or procedure is performed within the organization that is slightly different from industry standards). This can be achieved by reaching out to industry peers, former colleagues etc. The idea is to ask a question that demonstrates that you are genuinely interested in the job functions (make sure you conduct accurate research and ask questions that are truly applicable to the position you are interviewing for), thereby allowing you to stand out from the other applicants.
2. Listen to your interviewer(s)
Your interview will begin with the interviewers talking about their roles in the company and possibly their prior experiences with other organizations. The interviewers will also talk about the position that you are being interviewed for – it is likely that they will go into greater detail than what is provided in the job posting. During this phase of the interview, listen intently and questions should naturally come to life in your head. If additional questions do not come to mind at this stage, don’t worry – remember that you have a bank of questions from your pre-interview research.
HOW TO STAND OUT FROM THE COMPETITION: instead of trying to remember any additional questions that come to mind as you are listening to your interviewers speak, see if are able to cut in at strategic points during the conversation to ask quick questions here and there. While this comes with practice, when executed properly, it creates a very casual yet effective and professional conversation in which your quick questions “encourage” the interviewers to go into further insight in their discussions. Metaphorically, your questions add fuel to the fire which is your interviewer’s narrative.
EXAMPLE: Smart questions that were actually used during a recent employment interview:
· John Doe (interviewer for Company XYZ), since you had worked at Company ABC for 5 years before resuming your career at Company XYZ for the past 2 years or so, how would you compare the working environment and culture between the 2 companies? Is it pretty similar in terms of the number of staff members assigned to each client and the availability of guidance from consultants?
· I understand from (Source: another industry professional or publicly available information) that your organization is looking for a new hire to replace an individual who is retiring soon. Do any of you have a hand in the clients/projects that he/she has been working on? (Ask more detailed questions about the client/project)
· I heard that benefit calculations in your department are solely done within Microsoft Excel. Can tweaks be made to the worksheets, or are they pretty much locked down, with only certain individuals being in charge of making modifications where required?
With benefit calculations being done within Excel, I was wondering whether the same applies to database administration and the maintenance of member data – is this also contained within Excel?
If you need help preparing for an Interview, send me your Resume, along with the job posting you are being interviewed for, and I will point you in the right direction.
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