Making an impression during a job interview

While the key factors in any hiring decision are typically person-role and person-organization fit, first impressions may also play a role. Potential employers often interview several candidates, many of which may have an equal fit, so your goal is to be memorable and stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, there may be a formula to help achieve this objective:

• • Keep it short and simple. Provide a thorough and succinct answer without babbling. Your goal is to highlight the most relevant and necessary information. Providing unnecessary information can cause the interviewer to have to work hard to decipher relevant information and can cause them to forget important points.
• • Capture and keep their attention. If an interviewer can predict what you will say, you will most likely lose his or her attention. To grab the interviewer’s attention, you must be say something that is not expected or surprising to the interview. It will break his or her chain of thought. Once attention is granted, continue to keep the interviewer curious.
• • Talk in their lingo. During an interview, you want to target the audience and speak in the interviewer’s language. You should aim to adapt your responses so that they can easily be understood and remembered. Target your audience, speak in their language, adjust responses so that they understand and can remember them. Your ultimate goal is to ensure that they interviewer can visualize the words you are saying.
• • Make them believe you. Interviewers can often pick up on dishonesty. Your ultimate goal should be to gain credibility. Therefore, showing genuineness throughout the recruitment process is crucial. An excellent way to show credibility is to always use details and precise statistics when describing your experiences.
• • Get them to care. You want to be the interviewer’s top priority during an interview. To do so, you must create a personalized connection to him or her. Demonstrate how your capabilities and contributions, if hired, will affect him or her. How can you specifically help the interviewer in his or her role?

Try these tips to make yourself unforgettable during an interview to increase your chances of getting a call-back!