If you’ve been through a couple of interviews and haven’t been invited back for a second round, haven’t received any offers, or are wanting to make a career transition and aren’t sure if you’re pursuing the right thing, you might be wondering if it’s you or the organizations you’re interviewing with. So what should you be asking yourself to know if you’re interviewing with the right companies?
- Do they understand your value?
So if you’re anything like the majority of our candidates, you’ve put together a resume with some bullet points that cover what you consider to be your most valuable experience. However, at some point in the conversation you’re having with a recruiter, the recruiter responds to some part of your skillset with a “wow, that’s really great.” And you discover a new bullet point that needs to go on your resume. Or, the recruiter explains that it’s great that you have worked with construction in the past, but it will be really important for this role that you’ve had percentage of completion as part of your responsibilities. Simply discussing your background with a recruiter can help you pull out experience that you might have glossed over, or failed to include on your resume, and can be the difference between you making it to a second round interview or scratching your head over why you received a rejection letter.
- Do you know how to explain your value to them?
This is another area that a lot of candidates struggle with because you’re not only having to recall your relevant experience, but then have to explain it concisely. Digging up a relevant example of how your skillset aligns with the role you’re interviewing for, then being able to talk about it in a way that relates to what your interviewer might get excited about is a tall order. However, your recruiter can help you with this. Ideally they’ve had conversations with their client about what the “must haves” are in every applicant, and can give you clues about what you should be emphasizing in an interview. Have you been interviewing with companies that aren’t using recruiters to find talent for their roles? You’ll have to get a little more creative to determine what might be really important to emphasize to get a second interview or the job offer. However, in looking at the job description, the skills or experience that are really important for the role are generally near the top of each section of the job description. If you can focus on providing examples of your experience that align with each of those without having to go into a huge story to get to the heart of the problem you solved and the value you added, you’re on the right track.
- Do you know what they value?
This might not seem overly important, but understanding a company’s values and what traits they value in their employees shouldn’t be overlooked. It speaks to an organization’s culture. Do you know if you’re interviewing at companies that share your values? You might be saying that you don’t have to love the product or service that company provides that you work for, but that’s not the whole picture. What does their leadership do after hours? Is there an expectation that their employees are pursuing higher education degrees outside of work, do they contribute to that pursuit? Do most employees have an interest in the outdoors? Is it understood that Fridays in the summer that most employees will be on their way to the cabin? And what questions are you asking in your interview to understand the values of your potential new co-workers? A few ways to ask about culture without sounding like you only want to get hired and do the minimum required, or prioritize the perks like free dry-cleaning over the actual job are:
- How would you describe the management style here?
- Are there employee events set up to celebrate successes?
- What kinds of traits do employees have that are most successful?
- What do you like about working here??
- Do you know why you want to work there?
Take a personal assessment of your own values and what’s driving you to want to join the organization. If it’s the free dry-cleaning and half-day summer fridays, that’s probably coming through in an interview situation. Are you passionate about what the company stands for or what they produce? Make sure you explain why you’re excited about the opportunity to join the team, other than the perks or how close the office is to your house.
You can absolutely sell yourself to an employer in a new industry or a role that’s a step or two away from your previous career experience. However, if you’re not tailoring your interview answers to explain why your experience is valuable, or talking about it in a relatable way, they aren’t going to be able to understand why they should hire you. Asking yourself the sometimes difficult questions we list above will help you re-frame how you “sell” your experience and likely make it easier for a company to understand your value.