The longer your job search drags on, the more you start to doubt your interviewing abilities. Or worse, you start to doubt your skills and experience as a job candidate, which in turn affects your interview confidence.
You may begin to ask yourself, “What do employers really want to hear in a job interview?” The good news is we can help you understand just what you need to convey in a job interview to stand out to employers and finally land a job.
Whether you’re a recent college grad or seasoned professional, employers want you to answer three questions they won’t ask you directly. So, it’s your job to address these unspoken interview questions clearly and confidently if you want to move forward in the hiring process.
Here are the top 3 things hiring managers look for in candidates, and how to communicate them in your interview:
1. How Do You Save Or Make Companies Money?
The first thing you need to convey in your job interview is how your skills, experience, and work ethic directly impact a company’s bottom line. You are a business-of-one. As an employee, you provide a service to an employer. So, in your job interview, you have to prove to the employer that the services you can provide for the company will either save or make them money.
It comes down to your ability to justify the initial cost it would take to hire you. Most professionals don’t know that it costs an employer between 130% to 140% of their salary to hire them. It’s a big investment for a company to hire a new employee. That’s why you need to convey your efficiency and effectiveness as an employee in job interviews.
To prove you could save or make a potential employer money, quantify your accomplishments (on your resume and in the interview) and cite examples of how you’ve saved or made your previous/current employer money. Once a potential employer understands that you will provide a good return on investment, they will automatically consider you a great candidate for the position.
2. How Do You Like To Deliver Value?
Make sure you talk about how you work, not just what you do. How do you deliver value? No employee performs a job the same way. We all work on tasks differently and go about accomplishing goals with different processes and strategies. If a company doesn’t think you’ll be able to do the job the way they want you to do the job, you probably won’t be offered the position.
In order to explain how you deliver value, you need to know exactly what you do and how you do it. During a job interview, let the employer take a peek inside your brain to help them get a better idea of how you would perform certain tasks that the job requires.
A great way to do this is by using the “Experience + Learn = Grow” method to answer behavioral interview questions. Begin by outlining an experience that you’ve had that explains why you can do what they’re asking you to do. Then, talk about what you learned from that experience—how it made you smarter and better in your job. Finally, mention how you grew as a professional so that you can take that experience and use it to your advantage going forward, delivering value in future roles.
3. Why Do You Feel Connected To The Business?
The last thing you absolutely want to convey to an employer is how you feel connected to their organization. Why are you genuinely excited to work for this specific company? Consider the company culture and its mission, and use that to your advantage.
In your job interview, explain how you feel aligned with their team, their mission, or their customer base. Why do you want to be part of their journey? You can also talk about why you admire their products or services, why you identify with their target market, and what you respect about their business practices.
Tie all your pre-interview research back to what excites you about the company. Employers want to hire people who will integrate seamlessly into their culture. By showcasing passion, enthusiasm, and culture fit, you’ll make a lasting impression.
You can also begin to convey that connection to a potential employer in your disruptive cover letter. A disruptive cover letter catches an employer’s attention and gets them excited about you as a candidate. So, even before you walk through the door to your interview, an employer will already feel a connection to you.
Knowing what hiring managers are truly looking for can give you an edge over the competition. You don’t just need the right skills. You need to clearly show how you’ll add value, fit in, and justify the investment. If you follow these three interview tips, you’ll send the right message to employers and significantly improve your chances of getting hired.
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