9 guaranteed techniques to ace an interview

Some people are natural-born interviewees. My friend Khalid is one of them. I remember that during placement week in university he attended 7 interviews and got offer letters from 6 of them.

During the financial crisis in 2009, Khalid lost his job at one of the leading real-estate companies in Dubai. I met him for coffee the following week. He wasn’t worried. He said his biggest challenge was not being called in for an interview.

Khalid knew that he could build a strong impression if he had the chance to talk to a decision maker. Two weeks later, I managed to get him a meeting with the Director of a leading real-estate consultancy. He was hired.

Apart from being a people’s person, Khalid had learnt a few skills that helped him build a great impression. We discussed this in length. At the time I was conceptualizing InternsME in order to help UAE students and fresh grads connect to companies and multi-nationals for internships, traineeships and full-time jobs. There are some bare essentials that might sound like basic common sense but 7 out of 10 candidates don’t follow these. Take a look. 

1. Preparation: Going unprepared for an interview is nothing short of criminal. If you want to be an exceptional candidate, then you need to do some exceptional preparation.

Do your research about the company, its owners, top management, its mission, vision, business model, product and service offerings, achievements etc. Going under-prepared either means you’re not really bothered about the job, you’re over-confident or you’re just lazy. All of these qualities make you look bad.

If you know who is interviewing you, then search for them online. Having an idea of who your recruiter is, might give you an insight into what you can expect, identify areas of common interest, and possible questions you could ask the recruiter. During the interview, don’t forget to subtly integrate the information you have gathered while answering the interviewer’s questions. 

2. Positioning yourself: A degree is important, but there are thousands of candidates out there with the same degree. The question is – How do you stand out? To do this, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer and define the ideal candidate. You have to discover what’s important to the company and how you can help them reach their goals.

At some point during the interview, be sure to ask “What’s really important to the company within the first 90 days of me joining?” The answer to that question will give you specific problem areas that you can talk about solving for the company. Create a “I can handle it” list. If you can convince the recruiter that you can handle the job, then you’ll have a much better chance of getting hired. Print out the list of required skills and make of note of your experience that is relevant. It’s your job to sell yourself. If you don’t do it, no one else will. 

3. Practice enough to tackle tough questions: Interviewer’s usually ask questions related to five categories.

a) Your background – to understand your education, experience and overall qualifications.

b) Your knowledge of the job, to test your understanding of the position, their company, and the industry.

c) Your personality, to understand your work style and social style and decide if that fits in with their company.

d) Your skills, to assess your abilities and test your knowledge and competency for the job.

e) Your future goals, to get an idea of your career aspirations and determine your motivation levels.

Some typical questions that can be expected in most interviews are: “Tell me a little bit about yourself, Why are you interested in our company, Why should I hire you?, Give us an example of a challenge you faced and how you overcame it, What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Why did you leave your last job?

Avoid making a full script; just devise bullet points for each question. Do as many practice interviews with friends, family, or others. You need feedback not just on your responses, but also on body language, tone, and approach. 

4. Be the interviewer: An interview is not one-sided. Asking the right questions could help you make a great impression and will indicate that you are genuinely committed to finding the right opportunity and not any job that comes your way. It also helps you find out if the job is right for you. Good questions to ask are: “What is the immediate need in your team, and what will be expected of me”, “How would you describe a typical day for the person in this role”… these types of questions show that you are mindful and practical. 

5.STAR method: Using this simple method will help you accurately describe your experiences and the results they provided. The STAR method comprises of:

S: The Situation – describe it.

T: The Task or problem – what dilemma or problem did you face?

A: The Action – what action did you take?

R: The Result – what was the result of your action?

Make sure that each experience you describe includes those four areas. 

6. Dress for the job you want: Stick to the dress code that the company/ industry will expect of you as an employee. What you wear will make a statement for you even before you open your mouth. Whether you like it or not, your appearance is the first thing people notice about you and first impressions are usually formed within the first 30 seconds. You need to wear your power outfit and try to stick to business-professional looks.

These days, you may come across start-ups and young entrepreneurial companies that have a much more casual approach to what is appropriate at the office. Try and inquire about the office attire prior to showing up for the interview. For eg. If everyone at the office is wearing T-Shirt and jeans, and you arrive in a three-piece dark suit, you probably will look out of place.

If you’re interviewing at a company with a most casual dress code, dress as if you were going to a dinner party on a Friday night. If in doubt, carry a jacket along. You can always throw it on to formalise and leave it off to be more casual. 

7. Show that you’re in it for a career and not a job. Most people are just looking for a job that they can get paid for. However, employers want to know that you are looking for a long-term career with the company and are not going to skip, hop and jump at the next available opportunity. You want to become a part of the culture of the company and the team. You want to be there through good and bad and support the company with its goals. 

8. Be confident: There is no benefit in being nervous. Most people fear about the interview going bad while they don’t realize that “Fear” is the reason the interview will go bad. In fact, it’s the worst thing you could do. Remember, fear makes you look weak and unattractive to the interviewer so it’s basically pointless. You lose respect and might even look like you don’t really deserve the job.

A good way to calm down is to remind yourself that the person interviewing you is only human and in many cases, just another employee. In fact, the interviewer would have been in your seat getting interviewed at some point in their career. What’s the worst that can happen in an interview? You might not get the job? Being scared doesn’t guarantee the job either. It’s better to be happy, cheerful, and positive. If that job is meant for you, it will be yours. 

9. Smile. You’ve done your best. 

The writer is the founder and managing director of InternsMe www.internsme.com