To find a position you love and to have a successful job interview are absolutely achievable goals. So why do so many people fail to achieve them? We’ll talk about this in today’s article.
Most often, I see that candidates aren’t hired because of personal qualities.
Even if a person doesn’t have all the needed technical skills, but he or she can admit the lack of necessary knowledge and is ready to work on it, then there is much more credibility for this candidate. Show that you understand your areas of development and your own mechanisms for learning new material. Say during the interview, “I will take these steps to understand and deal with the issue.” This will immediately increase the chances of success.
When a candidate seems to be lost, tries to get out, or to come up with something, you have no desire to continue this interview. However, it’s not the only factor that can prevent you from being hired. From my experience, I can single out 4 more points.
1. CV (curriculum vitae)
Sometimes when a candidate’s CV comes in, the recruiter looks at it and thinks, “Oh, no. I’ll study it later. I will read, take out information from there and understand who this specialist is.” But “later” never comes.
One guy has recently signed up for a career consultation and sent a CV for analysis. One look — and I understood that I had no strength to dive into it. This was a 4-page chronicle, and, at first glance, it became clear — this CV wasn’t about the position that he wanted at all.
Although the guy thought that everything he had written was about the desired position.
2. Pre-screening
At this stage, it’s important how transparently the candidate answers the most basic questions. For example, whether he or she speaks confidently about the desired salary.
You have to say exactly what income you want.
“My salary is the level that is necessary for the normal life of my family. I know it, I’m not exaggerating, and I’m not ready to go much lower. I understand that this amount is relevant for me now.”
When you are confident about your salary, and that it corresponds to the market, there will be no desire to bargain. If you speak about the salary in a special way, then, believe me, the employer will start looking for options to make it lower.
At pre-screening, you should honestly explain why you look for a job, and it should be a reasonable as well as balanced position.
I recommend answering this question with “for what” or “in order to” to show your motivation for something rather than “from what”.
When I hear from people, “I don’t want to work with this manager, I don’t like him, he doesn’t love me, he doesn’t pay attention,” I always have a question, “Have you tried to give feedback to your boss?”
A response like “No, he won’t hear” makes it clear that we don’t need such a candidate. This is the internal position towards the manager, not the manager’s problems.
Therefore, it’s necessary to show motivation for something, not from something. Moreover, you have to answer questions as honestly, carefully, and consciously as possible.
3. Technical interview
Then you’ll have a test or a professional technical interview. If you fail it, most likely you’ll fail the interview itself.
But even here personal qualities can save you. If you don’t know anything, say immediately, “Yes, thank you, you’ve shown me a development zone, and I will do this and this to fill the gap. Could you tell me if I can come back for another technical interview?” In this case, you will probably get a second chance.
At this stage, there are 2 variants: to fail without some technical knowledge or get a second try if you show the right personal characteristics.
4. PM interview
You can fail an interview with a project manager when there is trembling and fear of the meeting. At such moments, the project manager sits and thinks, “Oh, gods, how will I work with this employee if there is such a serious fright?”
Dishonest answers and a lack of eye contact will bring you closer to failure. Of course, it’s hard to talk about eye contact when it’s a video interview. Still you can try to focus on the camera or somewhere near it.
If you’ve been jumping from one workplace to another, then a manager might ask questions like:
- Why were there these constant changes of jobs?
- When will you calm down?
- What are your plans?
During a PM interview, personal qualities are most evident, so transparency and honesty are very important. Again, the inner response “in order to…” is always desirable.
Not because I was offended, underpaid, or the client gave bad feedback. But in order to reach a new financial or technical level, make some super interesting projects or enter a new domain area.
Motivation “in order to…” is very important for self-positioning.
We can present the same thing in different ways: I want to get married because all of my girlfriends have already done it, or in order to create a harmonious family. These are two absolutely opposite motivations: we read them differently and, at the same time, life provides completely different opportunities.
Book an interview preparation with me to feel confident while communicating with HR, a project manager or a company leader.
In 45 minutes, you will receive:
- a good CV and a portfolio;
- the ability to conduct profitable negotiations during the interview, without turning it into an interrogation;
- high-quality self-presentation skills;
- knowledge of all the intricacies for the ideal interview.
