What if I told you that you’ve been interviewing with the wrong mentality your whole life? Guess what? I was doing it too.
Until I saw the sign that read, “Please remove head from ass.”
For years I walked into interviews viewing them as the start of the “process.” That I needed to them tell everything about me to paint a better picture of who I was. Here’s why this is wrong. You can’t bring value before you understand a company’s business issues!
Interviewing is much like the sales process.
Here’s your standard business deal. You start by prospecting. You found out if the company is a lead and whom you need to contact. Next you go through the discovery process to understand their business problems. They agree to a meeting and the customer is ready to dig a little deeper. You have them engaged. Engage the decision makers, be ready to negotiate and finish the deal! The same goes for an interview. You see your dream job on, a sales guy’s “hot jobs”. You find out whom you needed to contact. You do research on the position at hand, whether you’d be a fit for that position and at that particular company. The company checked you out too. They read your spiffy resume and decide they like what they hear. YOU’RE IN. Your interview needs to demonstrate this sales process and how you can help solve their business problems. It’s not a time to talk about how hard of a worker you are. If you understand when to move on from one stage to the next your interviewee will recognize your business acumen. Now go close them! -Max