We hear a lot of advice about preparing for an interview. It’s always about how early you sleep and wake up, how good your breakfast is, how familiar you are with the route to the company’s premises, how much you researched the company beforehand and how ready you are for the possible questions.
It’s a very different story when you’re actually doing the interview, though. There is no way to undo the impact of your answers on the interviewer’s assessment of you. And of course, your performance at the interview will determine a significant part of the result of your application.
The only real weapons you have in the on-the-spot situation of an interview are signals – cues and habits, whether verbal or non-verbal, that tell the interviewer you have what they need for the position. So how do you send out these signals for interview success? Continuing from last week, let’s run over another handy signal this week to get you ready for your next turn at the candidate’s seat.
GET TO THE POINT.
Interviewers have a limited time to deal with each candidate they have scheduled for the day. At first glance this is a disadvantage for you, but you can actually turn it into an advantage if you know how to be direct with your answers.
And yes, building rapport is still a valid way to increase your chances of passing the interview. But limit that to one or two small points at the beginning, or when the interviewer brings up an unrelated topic. The interviewer wants to know your professional background, not your life story.
It’s also possible for candidates to share unnecessary information because they’re trying to clarify an answer for the interviewer. Providing the context of your answer should be limited to only the most relevant background information. Take this example: when the interviewer asks for the number of people you’ve handled as a team leader, say how many team members you had and define the team’s working relationship but don’t share how many karaoke sessions you’ve had with them.
Being direct to the point in this manner will show the interviewer that you can think, speak and work without getting distracted. It will also show that you use your time to achieve the most results.