12 Things You Can Do to Nail the Interview and Increase Your Chances of a Job Offer

Interviews can be an incredibly stressful time! It can feel like your whole world is riding on this one hour but we have to stop and take a minute to acknowledge that this is one part of a large puzzle that will determine if you get the job. 

As someone who has participated in many hiring panels I can tell you that some of it you are in control of and some of it you are not. The only thing you can do is put yourself in the best position to succeed and then let the chips fall where they may.

If you get really anxious before speaking or interviewing, I totally get it. I’ve experienced plenty of anxiety over the years and my article Playing the Chess Game With Anxiety: How to Keep it in Check may give you some strategies for those anxious moments that start to get the better of us.

With our anxiety in check, here are 12 things that you can do before and during an interview to increase your chances of landing the job.

1. Do Your Research

Especially if you are applying to a company or an organization you don’t currently work for, or if you are applying internally but for a different division or office, it is extremely important to do your research to find out what they deal with on a daily basis. What are their pain points and issues that they have that you could potentially help with?

People remember how you make them feel and if you are able to show that you can help solve a problem, or at least understand and empathize the problems they deal with, you are automatically creating a connection with them that matters.

By gaining an understanding of what the company or organization does, you are also showing the initiative to figure things out preemptively. This will be more impressive than if you wait till the end of the interview and then ask the question, “what are some of your biggest challenges?” Someone who figures that out ahead of time will resonate more with the hiring officials.

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2. Set Up Your Environment

Interviews come in all shapes and sizes from over the phone to in person, but since the pandemic, video calls are extremely popular. Because of this, it’s important to make sure you are in a favorable space. Try to avoid areas with harsh lighting or places where noises can be a problem. While outside may fix your lighting problem, you are at the mercy of whatever is happening outside so I don’t recommend that because you have less control over your environment.

Also remember that YOU, yes YOU are a part of that environment. How you present yourself on camera is important. Dress to impress and sit up in your chair trying to keep the camera at eye level and not looking up from below or down from on high.

3. Don’t Script It

Scripting an interview sounds helpful but the problem with it is that it is hard to memorize and in the heat of the moment, when your anxiety is high, it doesn’t come out right and it can be really easy to tell if you are trying to remember something you tried to memorize. 

The better way to communicate during an interview is to speak from the heart. We all have values and are passionate about things that we talk about all the time. Let these flow naturally and your conversational tone will be much better.

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4. What are Your Key Messages That They Need to Hear?

While we don’t want to script our answers there are just certain things that we know that the hiring official must hear. Instead right out three or four bullet points max that you know you want to get across during your interview. 

Maybe you solved a problem for someone in your last job by writing some code. Maybe you also took the lead on planning an event for an organization. In this case I would keep one note card with these bullet points on it and then look for opportunities to work these key points into your answers.

The reality is you will probably get about 10-15 questions during your interview and so you need to find opportunities to make sure you get in those key points. 

5. Use Stories to Accentuate Your Key Messages

Now that you have your bullet points that you know you want to share in the interview, think about entertaining stories that you could tell during the interview that show your personality while demonstrating your value. 

For example, I have used a story in the past about an experience I had in graduate school. I was running for vice president of the student body with another friend who was running for president. We were trying to oust the current president but when the results came to pass there was no running on tickets. The past president was re-elected but I had received more votes for the vice presidency and I was forced to work with my once adversary. 

I speak about how I was able to develop a trusted relationship with that person and how we worked together to get a lot of things done for the University. This is a story thats memorable and relatable. Who hasn’t been forced to work with someone they didn’t want to before?

6.) Don’t Tell Them What You Think They Want to Hear

This is a mistake that a lot of people make in they try to figure out what the interviewer wants to hear and feed that to them regardless if it is something that they are good at or are passionate about. Let’s use AI as an example. It’s all the rage so you want to say something about it but you aren’t really an expert and furthermore you aren’t sure you even like it. You don’t have to say AI just because it’s a popular buzzword.

The problem with doing this is that if you are hired, the company thinks they are getting something that they aren’t. The bigger problem is that you won’t be happy in this job unless you are doing what you are striving for and passionate about. This never ends well for the company or the employee.

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7.) How Long is Too Long?

This is a tricky one because you don’t always know how many questions are going to be thrown at you but I believe a good interview sweet spot is around 30 to 40 minutes for a 12-15 question interview. This should translate to about 3 minutes per answer. This gives you enough time to tell those short stories and show your value but not so long and detailed that you start boring people to death. 

If you are doing a mock interview and find yourself around 20 minutes or less, you should probably add more detail. If you find yourself pushing the 50 minute mark it’s too much. 40 minutes gives you some time afterwards to ask questions of the interviewers.

8.) Be Prepared to Take Notes

I believe that taking notes during an interview is ok and shows initiative. Sometimes you may get a multi-part scenario question and by the end of it you may forgot what the first part was about. If you are taking notes, you won’t have to ask to repeat the first part.

9.) I don’t Know is Okay

Sometimes we just get stumped with a question that we weren’t expecting. In that case as someone doing the hiring I would rather you tell me that you don’t know rather than try to fake your way through an answer. 

We can’t be expected to get on the job and know 100% of what we need to know. I wan’t to know that in those situations, you are going to ask for help and not do something without asking that could be worse than saying I don’t know.

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10.) Avoid the Cliché

Cliché and buzzword answers can definitely be a trap. The most cringeworthy I can think of when answering the question “What is your biggest weakness?” is “I’m a perfectionist.” I think what people think they are saying is “I’m so good that I want to be perfect in everything I do!” What I hear is “Nothing is ever good enough for me so I’m going to miss deadlines and not put anything out because I’m waiting for it to be perfect.” Major red flag.

Instead, talk about an actual weakness you have and what you have done to address that weakness. This will tell us much more about your troubleshooting process.

11.) Mock Interviews Are Gold Mines

Practice! Yes I’m talking about practice! Do it multiple times and have someone interview you. Practicing by yourself is great but it doesn’t get the anxiety flowing like when you are talking to another person. Even if it’s your best friend, you don’t want to sound like an idiot in front of them so naturally you will feel your adrenaline start pumping and some of that cortisol being released. Seeing how your body reacts to stress ahead of time will help you better anticipate it on the day of the interview. 

If you can, record the interview and watch it back. It’s painful at times but very helpful.

12.) Interviewing the Interviewers: What Questions Should You Ask?

In most cases you will get a chance to ask the interviewers questions. Keep these short and sweet. Maybe 2-3 questions tops. I’ve had interviewees ask me 5, 6, and 7 questions and the interview goes on for a long time and it gets to be too much. Especially if you feel like you have nailed the interview to this point, get out quickly and keep them wanting more. 

So what types of questions should you ask? I always like to ask about the culture of the office or maybe something about their schedule, expectations, or even something about the local area that relates to some of my hobbies to try to make another connection with someone on the call. 

Try to avoid the “When can I expect to hear from you?” question. In many cases the people interviewing you are dependent upon someone else to make a call or process something and they literally don’t know how long that will take. It also hints at a bit of desperation. If, say you have another offer on the table and you want to follow up with them after to see how long it may be, I think thats ok but what you don’t want to do is have them leave the interview thinking you already want to hit the door and go somewhere else.

Putting a Bow on It

Using these guidelines should help you improve your interviewing skills but remember this is just one part of the complete package. See my other articles and guides on resume and cover letter writing to take your application to the next level. If you have other tips that you love, share them with us and good luck in all your future endeavors!

GET OUR FREE PDF GUIDE ON COVER LETTER WRITING HERE

RELATED ARTICLE: Getting the Most From Your Two Page Resume

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Use a Cover Letter to Land an Interview

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