The most effective way to win your next interview is to focus your responses directly on what matters most to the hiring organization. While that sounds simple and easy to do, it's what most job candidates miss during their job interviews.
So, why do we suddenly forget the hiring organization's perspective when we're in job search mode? Job search just naturally puts us into a "me me me" perspective: What do I want to do? Where do I want to work? What's important to me?. Most people simply forget to shift back to the hiring organization's perspective.
Organizations live or die by the bottom line. By focusing your interview stories specifically on the ways you've helped organizations make or save money, you'll naturally make your responses resonate closely with every interviewer you meet and at every stage of the interview process.
Here's an easy exercise to help you make shift your perspective.
Review each of your past jobs one by one. Think of what you've done that supported the bottom-line. How did you help the organization make or save money?
- Did you get new clients and keep the current ones?
- Did you improve the efficiency of a system or process?
- Did you design a new product or create a new system that brought more business in the door?
Write each of these examples down so the shift in perspective sticks in your head.
This easy exercise is often powerful enough to shift your thinking immediately back to the hiring organization's perspective. Just remember to take the examples you've written and shape them into powerful interview stories so you give the interviewer solid proof and memorable examples of how you can impact their bottom-line too.