4 Surefire Ways to Win Over the Interviewer
By Hannah Morgan
Engaging with the interviewer and demonstrating knowledge of the company’s goals will earn you points.
After researching your interviewer’s hobbies, interests and alma mater on LinkedIn or the company’s website, you’ll be able to start the interview with some friendly chitchat.
Today’s workforce is constantly multitasking and overwhelmed by information. Your future interviewer has a thousand things running through his mind as he conducts the interview with you. These circumstances may seem beyond your control, but there are surefire ways to win the interviewer’s attention.
Rather than plop yourself in the chair and prepare for the barrage of interview questions, have some of these tricks up your sleeve to entice and engage your next interviewer.
1. Start the interview on friendly terms. Prior to your interview, research your interviewer on LinkedIn, the company’s website and online. Look for information on interests, activities, colleges and high school to find something in common. It may be as simple as sharing the same major in college or being a member of the same professional association.
Dig until you find something you can use to start the conversation. Instead of making idle small talk about the weather or how nice the office is, engage the interviewer by showing a genuine interest in him. As Dale Carnegie, author of “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” famously said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
2. Know how you fit. If you show up and throw up the same canned interview answers, you’ll bore the interviewer. Your interviewer is looking for a special candidate who will fit and shine in the role. The interviewer may not be able to define what the quality is, but they often say they know it when they see it.
Do your best to research the company and department by speaking with past or current employees. Ask questions to learn about why people like working there, why employees leave, what current challenges the company faces and what the company’s recent successes have been. Search the web, talk with friends and check the company’s social media streams for clues that will help you uncover your niche in the department. Use your research to select the most relevant examples of your success. Pick stories that fit with the culture and your potential manager’s style.
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