How to leave a lasting impression in an interview

“Sometimes, one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes, one creates a significant impression by remaining silent.”

— Dalai Lama

Your CV stood out and got you into the door for an interview. On paper, you are the most suitable candidate for the job. You’ve prepared for the interview back to front and as you step out of the meeting room, you feel like you’ve aced it. You’ve answered their questions well, showed off your technical experience and how they’ve applied with real world examples.

Yet, weeks go by and you hear nothing back. Finally you pluck up the courage to call the recruiting personnel or the hiring manager to ask what happened. They answer the phone, you exchange pleasantries and politely inquire what the outcome was. You hear them on the phone trying to recall something about the interview and after a minute or so, you get the generic response of “sorry, there were just other candidates who were better” or my personal favourite “… you were excellent but you didn’t demonstrate how you accomplished those goals…”

You say goodbye politely and the two of you promise to stay in contact (but knowing full well that you never will). You retreat into the bathroom for what seems like an hour to absorb the disappointment in silence. Then you ask yourself…. What happened?

I’ve been in this position many times. Thinking that I am a definite shot for the next interview or for the final offer only to hear silence. I review my notes, reflect on the interviews, and wonder where did I go wrong. But where I thought I was alone in this situation, I am not. In speaking with my mentor and my recruitment friends, this is a common occurrence. Technically you did everything right. But where you went wrong is this:

You weren’t memorable!

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

Take the hiring manager’s perspective. They have their day job to do. They have probably seen almost 50 CVs for the one role, most of which look the same with the generic key words. You may be the 10th interviewee spouting exactly the same experience and skills. Don’t forget, the job advertisement and Position Description are designed to attract a certain skill set. Therefore, you are likely competing with others who have very similar backgrounds and experiences. So how do you stand out?

By being memorable. This doesn’t mean that you wear a pink striped suit to the interview with a Bank. In this situation, you will be memorable but for perhaps the wrong reason. Don’t forget that the recruitment manager is looking at the long term. Can they tolerate working with you late into the night? Can they tolerate dealing with your personality every working day? Will you have their back when the pressure is on?

So how can you be memorable in the right way? BY BEING HUMAN.

ACTION 1 - OWN YOUR MISTAKES

It doesn’t matter how well you’ve prepared, when you interview, nerves will always get the better of you. So you will sometimes blurt out the wrong sentence, ask a dumb question that you thought was smart, or just down right not make sense because you have a hundred good answers and you’re trying to get them all out in the shortest amount of time (or like some of my staff, they’ve prepared their points to such an extent that they just have to say it all regardless).

You can demonstrate you’re human and willing to admit mistakes by simply owning up to it in an interview. For example, if you realise that you have just blurted out non-sense, you can say:

• “I’m sorry. I am still a little nervous and that previous sentence just did not make sense. Can I rephrase?”

  OR

• “Goodness. I just realised my last sentence came out way too jumbled. May I rephrase?”

This shows that you’re self aware enough to know when you’ve made a mistake, and you are mature enough to call it out and fix it. Who doesn’t want to work with someone like this?

ACTION 2 - CLARIFY IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND

This one is a classic and in my own recruitment activities, I have come across this many times. I know when the interviewee hasn’t answered my question because they drone on and on in ever widening circles hoping that by some miracle, the volumes of words and sentences will answer a question, which they did not understand. Hiring managers are human too. Sometimes I don’t actually know myself what it is that I’m trying to ask, even as the hiring manager. So I will blurt out a loosely related question, trying to buy some time to think of the right question.

When you find yourself faced with a question you don’t understand, or didn’t quite hear because you were busy sorting out in your mind what points you’ve raised and what’s still left, then don’t fret. Just do the following:

• “I’m not sure I’ve understood the question well enough to give you an intelligent answer. Did you mean… [state what you think the question is looking for]”

  OR, just back to basics

• “I’m not confident that I’ve sufficiently understood your question. Could you rephrase?”

By doing so, it shows that you’re mature enough to call out when you’ve not understood something. If you were hired, perhaps you will seek to clarify before charging into delivery rather than head into a wild goose chase.

ACTION 3 - GET YOURSELF COMFORTABLE

You’re dressed to impress. Yet it’s summer and your nerves are adding an extra 10 degrees to the temperature outside. Worse, the room is warm. As the interview progresses, you can feel your face going red, which makes the nerves feel worse, which adds another 10 degrees. Soon, you’ve got sweat appearing on your forehead and you don’t know what to do but plough on.

Things happen in life and often we don’t take the simple actions to address them. As a hiring manager, I have also seen this many times. The interviewee is clearly physically uncomfortable and yet ploughs on. While I admire their persistence, I don’t understand why they don’t take their suit off. Then I remember them as the guy that was sweating profusely and wouldn’t take their suit off. I don’t want to remember them that way but that’s how the brain works.

To avoid this trap, simply do what you need to do to get comfortable. Adjust the chair if you have to or just state what you’re feeling and see if anything can be done about it. It’s not rude. It shows that you are in control. Try the following:

• “It’s getting warm in here or maybe because I’m nervous. I’d like to take my suit off if that’s OK.”

• “I feel a little low in this seat and you’re having to look at me from an angle. Let me just quickly adjust this seat.”

• “It’s quite warm in this room. May I remove my jacket.”

CONCLUDING ACTION

As you can see, being memorable doesn’t require any unique tricks. It simply requires you to call-out what you already know or feel. You are memorable because you stand out as being human. You are real. Not some robot-like person with an IQ of 180 but with an EQ of 0. You stand out as someone the interviewers can work with.

So as we head into Christmas and 2019, on top of brushing up you CV to apply for that job you really want and preparing for all the technical experience you’d like to share, make sure you also prepare to be memorable by being human.

Blog Photo by Joshua Reddekopp on Unsplash