Don't forget this during your interviews

I’ve helped close to 1500+ people get hired over the past 5 years, and I’ve noticed that most job seekers forget one crucial thing during their interviews:

The company isn’t just interviewing you.

You’re also interviewing them!

I believe 90% of nervous energy during interviews comes from an incorrect perception that you have to be absolutely perfect and that you have to impress them.

We spend so much time about “impressing” the company that we let so many insecurities and self doubt creep in.

“Oh man, that was a dumb answer. I hope they don’t ask me about my job at (blank). Am I even qualified for this job? I NEED this job, but why would they pick me? Crap, they didn’t seem impressed by that answer… I’m bombing this!”

Instead, if we change our mindset to “I’m going to give this my best but I’m also curious to see how this company is the right fit for me,” we unlock a new level of confidence that can sometimes be the difference in landing an offer.

Before you interview somewhere, write down 10 things that are important to you in your job or career (salary, schedule flexibility, relationship with management, guidance and mentoring in your role, etc…)

Then, rank your top five in order.

For each of your five most important job factors, write down 3 questions that you’d like to know the answers to, then choose your favorite for each.

This should leave you with five incredibly insightful questions that will be most effective in helping you determine just how closely this role aligns with your life and your goals.

For example, let’s say one of my crucial needs of a company is strong leadership. I could ask a question like this during my interview:

“In the roles where I’ve been MOST successful throughout my career, I’ve always had great relationships with my managers and they’ve been committed to my growth. This is one of the most important things to me when choosing a company I’d like to work for. How do you show commitment to your team’s growth? What steps do you take to make sure they have the resources they need to be successful?”

Asking deep, personalized questions like these shows your interviewer that you have exceptional goals, purpose and direction in your career.

It shows that you know what you want and need in a role and that you’re serious about the interview process.

Not to mention that questions like these are impressive as hell and will leave an impression after the interview.

So, for any of your future interviews, always remember that the interview process is a two-way street. It’s not an interrogation where you have to spew answers to their almighty questions and then go home praying for a call back.

Show them your value with insightful questions. Take your confidence to the next level!

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