Smart tips for getting ahead of the job interviews and becoming a successful candidate to get selected for the job you have applied for.
Many folks around the globe get into anxiety and depression as they do not find the magic pill that can help them to crack a successful job interview. They fail to understand that there is sometimes – a decent amount of hard work and smart work that goes into building that sheet of success to crack that successful job interview and get hired for it.
There is one more reason too, which is more often than not which is underlying.
The main reason why we do not get what we want is because we do not know where we have to go and how to reach there. Most of us in this whole situation get stuck in the imbroglio of our daily rut and feel trapped there.
One of the most famous quotes from Lewis Carroll comes to my mind. As Alice says to the cat in Alice in Wonderland “ If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
Spot on, this will make sense if you read it twice and you will surely get the gist and understand what it really means.
Read more about: How do You Handle Career Uncertainty?
When we do not know where we want to go most likely than not we end up always standing on the cross roads of uncertainty. This holds good in our professional and personal lives both. Getting to a great job is one such path that most of us want to take and achieve however we sometimes forget the basics at times and get into a loop.
There is a huge element of mental health and wellness that differentiates the hustlers from the naysayers, especially in a competitive landscape from a presentation and pitching point of view.
Getting to crack a great job is to first build a roadmap to how to crack the job interview whether in an enterprise or in a startup. This also holds good whether you are applying for a CXO position or an executive position in the company.
The only difference between applying for a CXO position and an executive level position is that you get to call it a “ discussion “ when you meet the stakeholders for a CXO level job, meanwhile a tight lipped job interview is generally seen coming on towards the junior and middle level profiles. This is true irrespective of the industries or sectors you are in.
Interviews and discussions are also about your mental health and wellness state of mind. Smart candidates and great leaders both have this thing in common and they are both agile in mind and body to kind of address various situations with an ease of mind and approach.
Here are some 5 tips that should help you get a great job and prepare for it even if you are least favourite to start from the word go. Trust me this will work all the time.
- Show Me What You Can Do and Not Just What You have Done
- Do A Thorough Research About The Company and Person You Are Meeting
- Proactively Shortlist Companies That You Seem Fit Your Aspirations
- Keep a 5 Slider Ready For Demo
- Keep a One Pager CV Handy & Ready
Show Me What You Can Do and Not Just What You Have Done
Most of the folks whether applying for a senior position or for junior positions fill up their vocal chords and their resume with plethora of things they have done in the past which might include their learnings, their competence levels, their will to understand things in the past, their achievements, ranking etc however this is what talks about the past.
The smart candidates do the opposite.
They showcase what they can be great at NOT just good at.
They showcase what they can
- Bring on the table
- Can change
- Can create
- Can visualise and do
Companies specially startups and growth bound organisations are always on the hunt for proactive managers, leaders and folks who can visualise what can come and prepare for the unseen with a futuristic mindset. These Are the people most likely shortlisted for progressive and smart roles.
Do A Thorough Research About The Company and Person You Are Meeting
No one wants to meet a person who doesn’t know what you are talking about or wanting to do, especially when you are interviewing or discussing a role or profile with that person. This is especially true because you want a healthy discussion and point of view on how best you can contribute to that role and with what deliverables.
This is where most of the people miss out on the bus.
The best way is that before you plan ahead to meet a prospective employer you should be doing a good amount of research on the following line items –
- What sector is the company operating in, what is the TAM (Total Addressable market ) in that region
- Who are the main competitors and what do you think are their USP vis a vis this company?
- Why do you think people will buy the products for this company and not the competition?
- How can the current ways be changed provided you have done a deep assessment on the company and market or taken first level feedback from the customers. Sometimes challenging the status quo with correct amount of data does wonders
- How do you think you can bring in a change to the whole system?
If you can run through all of these pointers before meeting the enterprise or the startup more than likely you will have a defined and data backed point of view. People like folks who have a defined and calculative point of view when they are searching for the right fitments.
Last not the least do due diligence about the person you are meeting, where have they worked, what kind of sectors, what kind of roles. This will help you to strike a relevant conversation with them.
Proactively Shortlist Companies That You Seem Fit Your Aspirations
Never choose a company that others think is a great fit for you, always choose a company that you think will be a great fit your own cultural mindset.
E.g if you think you are cut out for hustle, flat structures, multitasking and can bring in the best across various functions and sectors – you might want to focus on startups across levels and focus on those primarily however if you think you are cut out for a particular function which has a large scope of work and it is focussed on say risk management then you might want to focus on enterprises and focus on a couple of sectors where the risk management as a function is a fairly large function so that can take your aspirations, growth and alignment.
Keep a 5 Slider Ready For Demo
When you come to the table in front of a prospective hiring manager, CXO or a functional head , you should showcase how well prepared you are. This might not always work but this is one thing you can always share specially if you are to meet a decision maker in any organisation.
Imagine a scenario where you are to meet the CEO of a growth bound startup in fintech and you are to lead the marketing function profile. It is advisable to keep a quick 3-5 slider CV on bringing the SWOT and best practices you think you can bring on the table to build in the growth of the marketing funnel. Make sure it is descriptive, aligned with what you can possibly do in that role to hack into the market.
Leaders and hiring managers are always inquisitive: what is your “delta” contribution that you might bring on the table and how will you do it ? If you are well prepared from the word go, most likely they will take cognizance of your profile as an able candidate for the role.
Keep a One Pager CV Handy & Ready
Many folks especially when they have a lot of experience try to make a 3-4 pager CV to include everything and anything into it so that they do not lose the chance of not sharing their inputs and outputs via their CVs.
The better part is to keep it short and have the following instead –
- Professional Summary Statement
- Professional Achievements
- What Are Your Action Items
- Who Are You
- What You Can Do For That Role
One thing is for sure and I have done this mistake many times in the past is to have one standard CV and posting it across various jobs irrespective of them being completely mismatched e.g. you cannot have a business manager CV for a performance marketing role.
So this brings us to the most important part that you should tailor your CV for the role that you are wanting to apply and keep it handy and include all the above statements to ensure that they are very well answered and substantiated with data sets which are tangible in nature.
Tangible, why ?
Why? Because everyone loves to know how you will bring in change and what possible outcomes will the changes bring in for the enterprise or the startup.
Always keep in mind that anyone who is agile in mind and body will always make a greater dent in the interviewing process as compared to someone whose mental health and agility is missing out. Not always you have to go according to what the books or directions but they help you in streamlining things in a more structured way.
People who have a higher mental health and wellness aptitude always tend to get ahead of the innovation curve and can bend situations to bring in their A game in spite of no preparations sometimes. So this brings us to the most important thing that you should prepare before any discussions or interviews is to first create a robust agility in building a great mental health and wellness routine and step up to any circumstances.
Wishing you the very best.
Godspeed success to you.
Ravi Kikan
Global CMO, United We Care
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