Tell memorable stories relating to your hobbies and interests
If you keep in mind that employers interview several people for each position, it’s not difficult to see how they can get monotonous for the interviewer. Hearing the same canned responses candidate after candidate can be discouraging. Something that can help you stand out from the crowd is to be personable. When speaking about your hobbies or interests, if the subject should arise, have a sentence or two prepared saying something special about them. The article gives the example of a woman who loves rock-climbing. She tells during the interview how her father had always wanted to climb Mount Everest but never got the chance, and so she has set this as a personal goal.
Talk about what you don’t know, but would like to learn
It is important to remain reasonable whenever talking about yourself and your skills during an interview. No one knows everything and if you approach an interview with the intention of seeming perfect, you risk coming off as arrogant and nobody wants to work with a know-it-all. There is certainly a hard skill you could improve or that you haven’t yet learned. If it is not the principal skill of the position, saying that you are eager to learn it, or that you’ve already started online classes to learn it, shows the employer that not only can you admit your weaknesses but that you are also proactive and motivated to learn.
Use team words like ‘we’ and ‘my team’
There is no ‘I’ in ‘TEAM.’ It’s easy to write on your CV that you are a team player but the way you speak about your accomplishments is even more telling. Working with a team on a successful project demonstrates several desired soft skills. If you are applying for a managerial role or even a non-managerial role, showing that you are a team player makes you a desirable candidate. Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due.
Talk about ideas that didn’t work
This is in line with remaining balanced concerning your accomplishments. We all know that all great businesses have been obliged to scrap projects that didn’t work at one point or another. Don’t be afraid to talk about your professional experiences when you were obliged to change course or pivot to a different solution. These capabilities demonstrate resilience and are consistent with someone who can admit their mistakes and learn from them.
Go beyond the job description and have a vision of the future
It’s relatively easy for most employers to find a candidate that can fulfill the job description. However, finding someone that has inspiration and ideas for the future is rarer. Without going overboard, extend your vision of how you see the current position evolving for which you are applying. Giving some simple ways in which you could see the company develop could be useful. This of course depends on which type of position you are applying for; you don’t want to appear to want to take the job of the interviewer.
