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How to Take Control of a Job Interview and Make Yourself a Winning Candidate Every Time

By , Money Morning •

[Editor's Note: This two-part story is the latest installment in an ongoing series that highlights unique career strategies for navigating the jobless recovery.  To read Part I, which appeared yesterday (Thursday), please click here.]

Thanks to your diligent preparation, you made the perfect first impression on your prospective new employer.

Now it’s time to close the deal.

How will you do this? Simple. You’re going to close the deal with an outstanding interview. Then you’ll seal the deal with a post-interview follow-up call that will leave your prospective employer asking for more.
And that should provide you with exactly what you’re seeking – a job offer.

Let’s take a closer look at both these key objectives. And let’s start with the job interview.

Always keep in mind that, under our strategy, you’re not merely trying to persuade your interviewer that you are the right person for he job.

You’re trying to demonstrate that you you’re the best fit for the company. 

The easiest and most effective way you’ll do that is by turning the staid and often overly formal interview process into more of a relaxed “discussion” between two people who have the same goal – filling an open position.

Actually creating a “relationship” between you and the interviewer is probably much easier than you imagine.  All you’ll need to do is adopt a slightly different role during the interview itself – a role that bridges the gulf between you and that puts you and the interviewer on more or less equal footing. Achieving this is easy: Just encourage your interviewer to contribute as much to the conversation as you do by using personalized follow up questions throughout the entire interview.

In the following text, you’ll learn exactly how to phrase your follow up questions for maximum effectiveness, to engage your interviewer, and ultimately help you close the deal on the job.

How to Control a Job Interview Without Appearing to

In every interview, about 60% of the allotted time will be taken up by the same standard questions.  It’s up to you to “control” the other 40% of the time – and manage it to your ultimate advantage – by using the afore-mentioned follow-up questions to create more of personal dialogue with your interviewer.

But here’s a key caveat: Never try to anticipate the interview question or cut off the questioner.  Listen to the entire question, and then begin to answer.  That way, you’ll appear polite and focused – and won’t give away your strategy by being overly aggressive.

So let’s now take a look at the formalized interview questions – and at the “standard-fare” interview questions you can expect, and look at questions you can use to “manage” the interview process:

1.    Resume Questions:  Even though your resume got you into the interview, you may be asked to quickly review it for new people in attendance.  You need to be able to:

  1. Strength & Weakness Questions:  You’ll almost always be asked to list your strengths and/or weaknesses.  Again, practice these so that you can answer quickly and succinctly.
  1. Company/Business Questions:  The more you know about the company, its position within the industry, and its recent history, the more conversant you’ll be during the interview, and the more you’ll stand out.  Chances are, you’ll have more to ask about the company than the interviewer will, so make sure to ask about:
  1. Questions About the Job Itself: If you haven’t already done so, ask for a list of the most important qualities the person must have to succeed in the position you’re interviewing for. Then share how you’ve already demonstrated those qualities.This is probably also a good time to ask what sort of plans they have for the position, be it short term (in the next 90 to 180 days) or long term (three years down the road)?

Use the Final Part of the Interview to Seal the Deal

You’ve done well to this point – very well, in fact. Invariably, the interviewer will turn to you and ask what questions you may still have. If you’ve previously created a single sheet of all of the questions within this article, take it out, and see what’s left.  Chances are, you’ll have questions left to ask in the following areas: 

  1. The Interviewers Themselves:  As soon as you learned the name of your interviewer, you should have consulted Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linked-In, or any other social network you could think of, for information on that person.
  1. How Do You Stack Up? Depending upon the situation, most interviewers are open to giving you an honest assessment of your candidacy.  If you sense reticence, don’t push it. Also, be careful how you phrase the question, in case the answer isn’t as positive as you hoped – you don’t want to end your candidacy before it’s even had a chance to take wing. It probably also doesn’t hurt to display some enthusiasm about the job – that’ll make the executive feel as if his or her time was worth the investment.

The End-of-Interview Action Plan

Once you’ve been given the cue that the interviewer is ready to end the session, make sure to ask that person what the next step is.  If the interviewer seems unsure, or hesitant, offer to take the lead.  For example, don’t hesitate to pose a question like: “Is there anything else that I can provide to you that will give you a better idea of what I can bring to the table?”

Find out when a decision is expected, and whether you should contact them or they’ll contact you.  Then, right before you’re ready to leave, offer a positive summary statement to end the meeting on an upbeat note.  For example:

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.  I know you all have busy days, but I hope you agree that this time together was well spent.  I’m confident that we discovered I’m an excellent fit for the position.  Good luck with the rest of your interviews.”

Post Interview:  Stay In the Decision Makers’ Minds

Even if you think the interview was a slam-dunk in your favor, don’t commit the typical faux paus of forgetting to thank the interviewers for their time. This also gives you the chance to remain fresh in their minds without seeming to bother them. Here’s a good strategy.

Here are a couple of other moves you can make to continue to set yourself apart from the rest of the candidate crowd. If you’ve also noticed an article about the company in the news, make mention of it in your e-mail or call to the interviewer.  This will lessen the impact of you contacting again.  For example:

“Hello Mr. Davis, It’s been a couple of days since we met, and while I was going through the paper this morning, I saw an article detailing how “your company” is undergoing “x.”  It reminded to give you a call to see if you’re any closer to a decision on the position yet.”

In the end, if you’ve used follow-up questions to create a natural connection with the interviewer and the appearance of a nice fit within the corporate culture, the last call you should receive from the company will be from human resources, offering you the position.

If that happens, the final step you need to take (after accepting the job, of course) is to celebrate. After having developed and then carefully followed through on you plan, you deserve it.

[Editor’s Note: Part I of this story – “The Sure-Fire Job Interview Strategy” – appeared yesterday (Thursday). To read that story, please click here. To read the sidebar to this story – “The 10 Secrets to a Winning Job Interview” – which appears elsewhere in today’s (Friday’s) issue of Money Morning, please click here.

Job-hunting is a challenge, and is even more difficult if you’ve been laid off. Even so, this isn’t the time to forget about your financial future. In fact, perhaps it’s time to seek out a guide – an investment guru who knows how to ferret out profit opportunities, but does so with the more-conservative, long-term view of a banker. The ideal guide is Martin Hutchinson, a Money Morning contributing editor who is also the editor of The Permanent Wealth Investor.

In his service, Hutchinson shows subscribers how to assemble high-yielding dividend stocks, profit plays on gold and specially designated "Alpha-Bulldog" stocks into high-income/high-return investment. Hutchinson's strategy is tailor-made for periods of market uncertainty, during which investors all too often go completely to cash - only to miss some of the biggest market returns in history when market sentiment turns positive.

But this strategy – which is also designed to minimize risk and volatility as much as possible – can work in virtually every type of market environment. To find out more about this strategy - or Hutchinson's new service, The Permanent Wealth Investor - please just click here.]

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