What to do in an interview when you're lacking experience

Ever gotten the response, “Sorry but we’ve decided to go with someone with more experience?”

You’re not going to be an absolute perfect match for every role that you want, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still get those jobs.

I worked with a candidate named Elysa who was a finalist for a senior-level role for a nonprofit and had less experience than the three other finalists.

She was the one they picked to hire.

Why?

The hiring manager was so excited to offer her the position over the more experienced candidates because she had “ripped apart the job description and had a good answer for everything.”

So how can YOU use this and get the same result?

Prepare for the RIGHT questions, not the easy ones.

You know they’re going to ask you about potential weaknesses and areas where you are lacking experience.

Have an answer ready! Don’t just prepare for the positive questions that talk about how great you are.

When I helped Elysa prepare for her interviews, we spent the majority of our time preparing for areas where she lacked experience.

We knew this would be the deciding factor, so we focused more on her answers for these questions.

Use transferrable or similar skills that make sense.

The role Elysa was interviewing for was a Director of Investments and Partnerships.

Among other skills, it required experience with fundraising—something Elysa had minimal experience with.

Instead, we broke down the skills that were essential to effective fundraising.

We discussed Elysa’s previous role and drew up strong examples of where Elysa had successfully negotiated something, where she had built a valuable business partnership, and where she had persuaded leadership to take a certain action.

These skills—negotiation, partnership building, and persuasiveness—all relate to fundraising and were all important to the role.

Now, even though Elysa had never held a “fundraising” role (insert sarcastic air quotes here), she was still able to show that she was qualified to do it.

Tell stories to give examples.

It’s important to note that in Elysa’s interview, she didn’t just list off the skills she had that were relatable.

She supported her claims with actual stories of negotiation, persuasion and partnership development.

Without stories to back it up, your answers won’t have proof.

Without proof, the interviewer won’t believe that you actually have the experience to do the job.

Show them you can do the job, don’t just tell them.

That’s it!

If you’re having trouble converting your interviews into offers, take a look at my Ace the Interview program. I’d be happy to help you like I helped Elysa overcome those obstacles and finally land an offer!