Job Interviews: The Five Things Employers Need to Know About You

Most job seekers prepare for interviews by planning what they want to say. This is the exact opposite of how it should be approached.

Interview prep needs to focus almost entirely on satisfying the interviewers’ need to know.  This requires anticipating things that each interviewer would care about and finding ways to deliver that message, even without advance knowledge of what you will be asked.

Studies show that very few employers train hiring managers how to interview beyond the basic dos and don’ts. This means that most of those interviewers are self-taught. We simply can’t take our chances that the person deciding our fate is not skilled at asking the right questions to learn what they need to know.

It means that we need to use the questions we are asked to give them what they need to know, sometimes despite themselves!

The good news is that while you could be faced with an infinite array of questions, there are only five things that most employers need to know. Satisfying employers’ needs in these five areas will go a long way toward making them confident that you will be a good fit.

Can you do the job?

Most people think that the definition of doing the job is successfully means executing the duties and responsibilities well. It is not. The measure of success in a job is to produce the results that the job is funded to produce by performing the duties well.

Prepare for interviews by anticipating how you will be measured by the interviewer when you win that job. Be prepared to hit on these points when asked an open-ended question (like tell me about yourself), questions about your resume, or when given the opportunity to tell stories.

Will you be able to navigate internal and external relationships?

All jobs require some level of interaction with other people. Let’s not be blindsided when we are asked how we have navigated relationships with internal or external customers, vendors, partners, supervisors, or subordinates.

Be ready to show how you “fit in” via stories about how you have successfully navigated the types of relationships the new job requires and turned around those that had not always gone smoothly.

You earn extra credit for researching the company and interviewer to make sure that your approach is aligned with any stances they have taken on interpersonal engagement.

Can you evolve as the needs of the position and business change?

Years ago, “what is your greatest weakness” was a go-to question for interviewers. The motivation for asking this was to learn if the candidate was honest/self-aware about shortcomings and took ownership for addressing those deficiencies to remain viable.

While that literal question is no longer common, you may be asked similar questions to get at the same thing. Therefore, it is a good idea to prepare a story that illustrates a time when you recognized you needed to be better at something and what you did to address it. Bonus points if you can show how your improvement in that area enabled you to provide additional value to your employer. Earning credentials or degrees can be an awesome way to show a commitment to a commitment to growth.

Note to older workers: a major bias against more mature job seekers is that they are resistant to learning and using prevailing tools and technologies. It is therefore great technique to share an example of when you recently embraced a new way of doing things to stay ahead of a curve.

Are you likely to stay long enough to repay the company’s investment in hiring you?

According to studies it takes five to eight months for a new hire to achieve full productivity. A whopping 38% of employees leave a job within the first year. No surprise that the risk of hiring a short timer is front and center in interviewers’ minds.

Be prepared in the interview to explain anything that may portray you as a flight risk. Big gaps in your employment, current long-term unemployment, a series of short jobs, applying for a job that is less highly ranked than your previous gigs, and dates that make you appear near retirement can all represent red flags.

If your resume sets you up to be questioned on any of these areas, don’t freak out. If an employer was all that concerned about it, they wouldn’t be interviewing you in the first place. Just make sure you have a way to convey that you see the job you are now competing for as an exciting opportunity to stay for a while.

And…always be prepared to discuss why you have left (or are going to leave) your previous position. Make sure to use any questions in this vein to show how you see the job you are interviewing for as a terrific next step and that the interview from your viewpoint is about where you want to go more than why you may have left.

Can they afford you?

At some point, the topic of compensation will come up! While it is best to have them go first, you may be stuck in a position where you need to go on record to move forward in the process.

It is important here to understand that there is a difference between screening and negotiation. The reality is that if we made a list of the top ten reasons you would take a job, compensation would be only one of them. It is almost certain that all the factors you would need to know to assess an opportunity are not known to you until you are at offer stage. So, avoid bidding on a job until then!

The correct way to approach it if you are cornered on salary by a computer or screening person is to use the market range.  A simple Google search of the title with the term “salary” will take you to all kinds of sites: Glassdoor, Salary.com, Payscale.com, Comparably.com, etc. If you have to guess on an online application, this approach will be most effective. If a human asks, you can explain that you need to know more to stake out ground, but that your research suggests a certain range.

I have seen clients negotiate amazing things, but never before the offer was on the table as they earned power as the last candidate standing.

One last pearl of wisdom:

The key to interviewing is to give the interviewers the information they need, despite what they ask. That doesn’t always mean to literally answer the question, but to use each question to provide insight to help them see you as the best candidate.

So no, the answer to “what is your greatest weakness” should not be that you hate stupid interview questions, nor should your response to why you want the job to be that you need the money to subsidize the writing of your first novel. While those may literally be true, they are not going to help win those interviews.