Your Job Interview Secret Weapon

By Anna Johnson

Every potential employer wants to know at least one thing:

Can you do the job?

Which really means, can you do the job profitably or cost-effectively, and more often than not, in the way they want it done?

It makes sense, then, that in every interaction you have with them... you should clearly communicate that you can and will do the job to meet, and ideally, exceed their expectations.

Of course, this is obvious, right?

After all, the idea of applying for a job is to convince the employer that you can do the job far better than anyone else.

Yet, how many times have you explained to a prospective employer, in detail, step by step, how you will do the job and achieve the results they want?

How many times have you explained how cost-effective, productive and profitable it will be to hire you?

How many times have you explained how and why you will do a superior job to anyone else?

And how many times have you grabbed a pen and paper and laid it out for them so they can SEE the value you bring?

I mean, it's "obvious" that a detailed discussion of how you plan to do the job is what job interviews SHOULD be about... but how many times have you actually done any, let alone all, of these things in an interview?

Of course, you may be asking... how many job interviewers actually give you the chance to do any of these things?

Often they're much more focused on what you've done in the past, your various qualifications, and what your so-called "strengths and weaknesses" are!

Now there's no question that interviews should focus on your past - studies show that past performance is the best indicator of future performance... but in many cases interviews focus so much on your past, that there's little room for discussion about how you plan to do the actual job in question!

But you DO have the power to turn the interview around so you can demonstrate your ability to do the job.

Now, for you to confidently do so, you'll need to do more to prepare for your interview than practising pat answers to the “Top 10 Interview Questions.”

To really know what it takes to the job in a way that exceeds, if not meets, your potential employer's expectations, you'll need to know about (at a minimum):

• The company
• The boss
• The job
• The problems doing the job is supposed to solve, and
• The results doing the job is supposed to achieve

In other words... you'll need to do a little research!

If this concerns you, just think of the rewards...

When you are the ONLY job candidate who demonstrates a solid grasp of what the company and job are all about... the ONLY job candidate who actually demonstrates how they'll DO the job better than anyone else... and the ONLY candidate who makes the effort to show how they'll do the job...

All else being equall, you'll stand head and shoulders above everyone else... and it may just get you the job!