January 8, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode, we share five crucial lessons on mastering job interviews that I wish I knew ten years ago. These insights are designed to help you reshape your interview strategy and boost your confidence, making it easier for you to communicate your value effectively.
• It’s not about answering questions; it’s about telling them what they need to know
• Begin your prep early to avoid last-minute stress
• Prepare for key questions like "Why should I hire you?"
• Use every aspect of the interview to your advantage
• Change your approach to answering "Tell me about yourself"
Do you have a question or scenario that you'd like our guidance or help with, or a question you want us to answer? I'd love to hear it. Just send us an email, question comments, whatever you have to questions at equippedinterview.com.
Don’t spend any more time searching through articles, lists, or websites.
Check out Equipped Essentials for your all-in-one, 35-page digital book that offers examples, tips, memory hooks, and easy to follow advice.
Don’t spend any more time searching through articles, lists, or websites.
Check out Equipped Essentials for your all-in-one, 35-page digital book that offers examples, tips, memory hooks, and easy to follow advice.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hey everyone and welcome to the Equipped
Interview Podcast.
With a combined 30 plus yearsof being interviewed and
interviewing thousands of others, we're here to build your
confidence, help you stand outand get your dream job.
Your hosts are Joshua Tinkeyand Linda Kamali.
Let's get you equipped.
What advice would you give toyounger you?
Well, I thought about thatrecently and came up with my top
(00:35):
five things.
Happy New Year everyone.
I'm sure you're hearing that alot, but I mean it nonetheless.
And other than a short MondayMotivation episode a couple days
ago, it's been a while since weput out a full episode like
this, so I'm really excitedabout this one and I really
appreciate the emails andquestions that have come in and
just asking when we'd be backand giving us ideas.
(00:57):
So we have a lot of good stuffplanned for 2025 and pretty
pumped to be chatting with youagain today.
So who doesn't like a top fivelist?
We're going to do one today.
I started with a lot longer andhad to pare it down.
Got way too long, so we'regoing to go with the top five.
Top five interview secrets thatI'd give myself 10 years ago,
the younger version of myself,things I've learned along the
(01:18):
way, and let's dive in Numberfive.
It's not about their questions,so it is about telling them
what they need to hear.
This is, this is basically ifyou listen to Monday's episode,
this is basically a follow-upfrom that short snippet.
Go back and listen.
If you haven't, I'm just goingto expand on it a little bit.
You know better than they, youknow you better than they know
(01:40):
you, and the they in this caseis the interviewer, the hiring
manager, whoever.
They're just trying to figureout what they need to know and
you need to do yourself thefavor of telling them straight
up.
They're just trying to figureout what are the right questions
to ask you to get the answersthat they, that they need to
figure you out.
Beat them to the punch by goingin with a plan, an intentional
(02:00):
list of strengths, stories,examples, details about you.
This is basically, if you knowour prep steps, we have our
equipped interviews seven prepsteps.
This is basically prep step twoin the list, which is change
your mindset, because yourapproach is all wrong, and I'm
going to definitely tell theyounger me, my younger self, to
reframe my mind and reallyrepurpose all those countless
(02:21):
hours of interview prep that Idid, and guess what I was still
nervous after all those hours ofinterview prep, anxious,
unclear of my strategy, going in, curious what they're going to
ask me, and it gives you anuneasiness if you approach it
that way hey, what are theygoing to ask me?
I don't know if I'm going to beable to give the right answers,
but if you repurpose that timeand think about your mindset
(02:43):
going in instead being these arethe things I want to tell them,
no matter what they ask.
And once I realized that theinterviewer was just asking
questions to learn about me, Istarted focusing my prep time on
really diving into knowing myown stuff.
There's so much to say on thattopic.
I think I've had at least oneor two full episodes on that
alone over the years.
(03:04):
But it's something that'sreally important.
But if you're already stuck andyou're thinking well, I'm not
sure where to start with thatand how to do that.
Start with the top three thingsthat every hiring manager is
looking for in an interview.
What they're trying to answeris does he or she have the
skills that I need?
Does the candidate have theexcitement or passion for the
job enough that they'll stillwant to stick around and
actually want to do the job.
(03:24):
After that quote new job smellwears off, like I like to say.
And then three, do they likeyou?
So focus your prep energy ondoing some self-assessment on
those areas.
Write down the top three tofive skills you think they're
looking for.
Maybe you know it hands down,maybe you have to really think
about it.
But write down your top threeto five strengths then, and
let's hope they match right.
If not, is this the right jobfor you?
You gotta think, then, andlet's hope they match right.
If not, is this the right jobfor you?
(03:44):
You got to think about that.
But let's hope they match andmake sure you know them down
cold.
And also really think about whyyou're excited and be really
specific on that.
Anyone can say that, oh yeah,I'm excited, I am really excited
for this opportunity.
Got to get specific about this,really think about it and make
sure it's believable.
For example, I mean maybe youcould point out two specific
(04:05):
things that you know about thejob description or a project.
You know that you'd work on thelocation, the culture, but be
careful with that one.
No matter what, make itspecific.
You don't want to just readsomething off the website that
anyone else could say and say,oh, the culture looks great, I'm
excited about that.
You need to dive into why.
What's specific that they couldreally really believe you and
make sure it's true, but reallybelieve you understand that, hey
(04:27):
, this person is actuallyexcited for the job and that
passion will come out in results.
So, number five on the countdownlist I tell my younger self
that it's not about theirquestions.
I need to know myself.
I need to prep and just tellthem the important information
about me, regardless of whatquestion they ask me fit it in
which I'll need to researchahead of time the important
(04:48):
information about me.
But if I want to gainconfidence going into that
interview, that's the start.
Number four start prepping waybefore you have to.
Often it's way too muchpressure to do it in a time
crunch and so I would tellmyself start prepping way before
you have to.
Most of us think about it as weapply, or as we're starting to
apply to things, or if weactually get the invite for an
(05:09):
interview.
This one's actually straightout of prep.
Step one Always be prepping,and here's a couple practical
ways to approach this and thenwe'll move on to the next one.
I did talk about this brieflylast week too, or last episode
too.
It's almost like there's aframework that works for people
and I want to drill it into yourhead.
Anyway, if you've ever preppedfor any interview, I mean you
(05:34):
know this.
You're usually up the nightbefore trying to remember at
least something good you've done, trying to craft the perfect
answer as to why you want thejob.
It's a lot harder to prep welland think clearly.
With limited time or pressureor maybe even lack of sleep,
it's not impossible, but you'remuch more likely to get kind of
B minus work out of that orforget something.
(05:54):
So instead, here's what Irecommend you keep a phone or
notebook nearby and jot thingsdown as they come up over the
year.
And that's for work, that's forlife, whatever situation you're
in.
Keep it nearby and write thingsdown as they come up.
If you're feeling reallyambitious, make a table of
strengths versus skills andexamples.
So you picture a table of somekind spreadsheet, whatever.
(06:17):
In column one write down a listof all the skills you're likely
to use or need to talk about ordemonstrate, and then in
another column next to it, jotdown some notes about a
situation when you use it,something that can jog your
memory down the road severalmonths away from when you wrote
it down.
That way you don't have to tryto, you know, scratch your brain
and think about it from monthsago.
(06:38):
What did I do?
What skill did I use?
What's a good example?
It's not all about the examples, but this can help because you
obviously do need to think aboutexamples of times that you used
certain skills and strengths.
Oh, and make sure you schedulethis.
If you want to get basically anexpert level at this, what gets
scheduled gets done.
If it's not on your calendar orin a phone reminder probably
(07:01):
won't happen.
So schedule it.
Make it happen on a weekly,bi-weekly, monthly basis, if
that, if it's if it, if yourdecision is between don't do it
at all, or do it monthly, oronce every other month, do it
then, but I'd recommend everyother week to keep things fresh.
So, number four I'd tell mefrom 10 years ago to start
prepping way before I have to.
You don't feel like you need toSave myself from hours of
(07:23):
probable stress, all right.
Number three and this is wherethings get really good, in my
personal opinion I would tellmyself prep for specific
questions, even if you think youwon't get asked those questions
.
So this seems a littlebackwards.
I'd probably start questioningmyself at this point if I told
myself that Then again I'mtalking to myself.
(07:46):
So who am I to judge?
But stick with me, this isn't aperfect analogy, but it's kind
of like the Karate Kid.
You might have seen theoriginal way back or the remake
or just heard of it, butobviously if you have heard of
it, mr Miyagi has Daniel do allsorts of chores again and again,
over and over.
Daniel thinks it's pointlessbecause he's not going to wax
cars or paint fences or anythingduring a karate match, right,
but he ends up building musclememory for the motions that his
(08:09):
arms, legs etc.
Are going to need later.
So the same thing is somewhattrue when prepping for an
interview Kind of the bestanalogy I could think of off the
top of my head.
One of the best ways to prep foran interview is to do thought
exercises, prepare answers,think about and write down how
you would answer certainquestions so that if you get
other, somewhat relatedquestions, you've already put
(08:31):
thought into it, you knowyourself and how you'd answer it
and you won't panic in aninterview when that comes up
You'll also be able to.
You'll have done the work aheadof time, so you don't have to
come up with new ideas, skills,strengths, things to think about
in the moment.
So my favorite question to prepfor in this case and when I
coach everyone I work with thatthey must prep for is the
(08:53):
question why should I hire you?
Now you probably have like onlya I don't know 10, 20% chance
of getting that question in anactual interview.
I mean, I've gotten it multipletimes, but it's not that common
.
It's a wildly importantquestion though.
That can significantly help youwith almost any other response
during an interview, becausehere's what it does for you.
It helps you if you reallythink about it and you spend
(09:16):
time answering this question whyshould I hire you?
And crafting a good response.
It helps you gain clarity onyour own value proposition.
I mean, sit back and thinkabout it.
Why should they hire you oversomeone else?
It also helps you gain clarityon what skills you offer.
It forces you to really thinkabout and understand why you
(09:36):
want the job, or if you evendon't right, you have to think
about that.
That as well.
So here's here's how I thinkyou can do that to prep for an
answer to that question.
I teach people to do this.
You need to one focus on yourskills.
Write them down.
Use those three to five skillsI mentioned earlier.
Use your strengths.
Talk about those strengths.
Focus first on your skills.
(09:57):
Know yourself down pat.
Focus on your, your passion.
Like I talked about your skills, know yourself down pat.
Focus on your passion.
Like I talked about yourexcitement.
Why is it Really really reflecton what those are?
And I legitimately mean youneed to write these down, not
just think about them.
Third, you need to focus on theunique things.
What do you uniquely bring tothe table that could be
different than the othercandidates?
So this could be something likeyou know that you have a unique
(10:20):
experience.
You know you have a uniquebackground, maybe a special
designation, a certaincertification, a certain degree,
something that's unique thatyou can call out and know about
yourself and bring up.
And then, fourth, focus onmaking the hiring manager's life
easier.
Maybe you know something aboutyourself.
(10:41):
You know you're a quick learner.
You know I mean a lot of peoplesay that, but think about
specifically how are there timesand other jobs that you've
gotten up to speed quickly?
Think about that, write thatdown as a differentiator for you
and yourself, something you canbring up in the interview at
any point.
And maybe there's somethingelse, but ultimately, when you
think about, if you actually getthe question, why should I hire
(11:01):
you?
That's how you answer it, bythe way you talk about well here
.
Here are the top three skillsthat I have.
Here's why I'm excited for therole.
This is a unique thing about me.
This is something that I don'tthink any of your other
candidates are going to have,and here's why it's either my,
my background, my experience, mytraining, a specific job that
I've had, a location that I'm in, something unique that I bring
to the table.
Oh and, by the way, I'm goingto make your life easier because
(11:22):
I get up to speed quickly.
You're not going to train me,you know you fill in the blank,
but those four areas skills,excitement, unique, something
unique about you and then makingtheir life easier that's how
you answer the question.
But it's also what you prep for, because, think about it, if
you, if you know the answers tothose questions or you've done
the homework and you know a lotabout yourself, now what you
bring to the table, how mucheasier is it to answer other
(11:43):
questions, like the tell meabout yourself question, which
spoiler alert we're going totalk about in just a second.
It's also easier to answer otherquestions.
Hey, you're probably going toget a question around strengths.
You know what's, what are yourtop strengths or what are your
development areas, and you can,you can pair that up, think
about that and then pair it witha strength at the end.
If you know the answers tothose questions or that list
that we just went through, youcan answer with confidence
(12:05):
almost any other question thatyou get asked.
Or you can answer that questionand pepper in some of these
skills in your passion and atsome random point, throw in
there why you're unique, throwin there why you're going to
make the hiring manager's lifeeasier.
That is the power of preppingfor this question.
It's probably my favorite.
One of this list is you have toprep for a question even if you
(12:25):
don't think you're going to getasked it.
So, as number three, I tellmyself to prep.
Why should I hire you?
Number two, use every part ofthe interview to share as much
about yourself as you can.
I mean whether that's smalltalk, your questions at the end,
et cetera.
Use every part to youradvantage, all right.
So this one can be prettyself-explanatory in some cases,
but bottom line, you need totake advantage of every
(12:48):
situation, be proactive, beintentional.
You're there to do a job.
You're not there to answertheir questions, as we talked
about earlier.
You're there to tell theinterviewer at every opportunity
what you want to tell them orshow.
That's part of the process.
You know how earlier Imentioned, one of the things
(13:08):
every hiring manager is lookingfor is to answer.
Do I like you?
Small talk might be annoying toa lot of us, but it can go a
long way in helping them see thereal you.
How do you interact with thenon-interview type question?
There may be a glitch on thevideo interview, maybe.
If you're in the physical room,maybe they show up late.
How do you respond to that andhow do they start to see you as
(13:32):
a potential coworker or someonethat can get work done for them?
Another way for them to see thereal you is how you approach
the questions at the end of theinterview.
When the hiring manager givesyou a chance to ask questions,
don't say no, I'm good.
I think you answered everything.
I think I've harped on thatenough at this point.
Most people don't do thatanymore, but I still see it.
(13:53):
I still do interviews and Istill see it.
I still see it one out of everythree, four interviews.
So what happens?
Don't be that person.
Don't say, no, I'm good youanswered everything.
You got to come prepared,because it's a waste of time and
a soapbox minute for a moment.
The time at the end of thequestion at the interview for
you to ask questions is notreally for you to get your
questions answered.
You can go in and ask questionsIf you have a burning question.
(14:15):
You're like I don't know howthis job, what this is like.
If you're talking to therecruiter or HR, like that,
that's when you get your a lotof your early questions answered
.
Hopefully, if you have one forthe hiring manager, great.
But the vast majority of thattime should be spent telling the
interviewer more about you.
Use that time to your advantagethrough the lens of questions.
(14:35):
So you certainly don't want toask only basic.
So the worst is no questions.
The next level up is askingbasic questions.
The next level up is askingpretty thought provoking
questions.
But peak level is, yes, askinga question, but basically
setting yourself up to start aconversation so they can see you
as a peer, as a colleague inthat role, and just talk about
(14:56):
something in the industry.
Talk about something that isimportant to you, get them
talking and then interspersemore information about you.
Maybe there's something duringthe interview you didn't get to
touch on.
Bring it up here.
Find a way to throw it in, askyour question and, as part of
that conversation, talk aboutsomething that you forgot to
answer, whether it's an example,certification, experience you
have.
Find a way to throw that intothe question.
(15:17):
So I can't go into the wholeframework now, but I have one
that I teach called the showmethod to use this time to start
a conversation, to show themthe real you, because listen,
you're at the end of theinterview.
You'll be more relaxed, morelike yourself.
Use this time to ask a questionin a way that one tells them
(15:37):
more about you and two gets themto know the real you.
The show method what it standsfor is S-H-O-W.
It's an acronym S share, h havean opinion, o opinion get
theirs this time and W write andwonder, and what that really
means is, you know, sharesomething.
This is kind of how you setyourself up for a conversation
and to use this framework and,real briefly, I have other
(15:58):
episodes on a checkout podcast.
I think it's episode five.
You can check out, search forit on the website, you'll find
it.
But basically, short version isshare something.
Do your research at a time, butthen share.
That's the S.
Share something that you'velearned.
Read a podcast, you've listenedto something you've learned in
the industry, the conference,you went to a TED talk something
.
Share something that you'velearned a concept, methodology,
(16:20):
whatever.
Have an opinion on it.
So say, I think X, y or Z, thisyou know, here's my take on
this.
It's going to be a game changer, or I think it's going to peter
out and never show up again.
Have an opinion Now here'swhere the question comes in and
get their opinion on it.
That's the O opinion.
Get theirs this time.
So ask them but hey,interviewer, what do you think
on this topic?
How do you see this impactingour industry or this
(16:41):
organization or this job?
Find a way to ask them aquestion.
And then the W is just keepsthe conversation going.
The wonder is just keeps theconversation going.
The wonder is just kind of akeyword or trigger.
You could use the word curiousif you want, but it could sound
something like hey, you knowwhat?
I wonder that's an interestingthought, hiring manager.
I wonder if this was anydifferent, would you, would your
opinion change?
Or I wonder how this mightchange things.
So the wonder is merely just away to keep the conversation
(17:03):
going, for them to see you inaction at having a conversation,
which is obviously, as you cantell, is a way different
approach than just asking quickhit questions.
It's not the best value of yourtime to do Q&A.
You've probably gotten most ofyour questions answered by the
time you're with the hiringmanager and you can use this
time to tell them more about you.
Trust me, it really is a gamechanger.
(17:24):
I've used it myself for years.
I've had good feedback fromeveryone.
That's used it mainly for thehiring manager setting, not so
much the HR recruiter setting,but you can pepper it in there
too.
So for number two, I tell myselffrom 10 years ago to totally
change how I spend that time atthe end of the interview and
make the most of it.
All right.
Number one top thing I wouldchange or tell myself from 10
(17:46):
years ago change how you answer.
Tell me about yourself.
I would absolutely tell youngerme to change up how I give a
first impression in an interview, especially after having
interviewed so many people andhearing so many bad answers to
this.
I know most people mess this up, even without realizing it.
So don't be that person, don't?
(18:06):
I'm gonna start with the don'ts.
Don't tell you what to do.
Don't go chronologically.
That's what most people do.
First I did this and then I didthis, and now I'm here and
often take way too long to dothat.
Don't take way too long to dothat.
So don't go chronologically anddon't spend too much time on
this.
You need to talk about theimportant things and do it in a
(18:27):
relatively concise, efficientmanner.
I'd say two and a half minutes,maybe three if you're really
engaging as the way that you doit.
So what do you focus on?
First, focus on your skills,not job titles.
Talk about the skills you'veused as a leader.
Talk about the strategicplanning that you did, the
coaching, the development, thechange management, the vision
(18:47):
that you set as a leader, as aproject manager.
Talk about the deadlines thatyou hit, the efficiency that you
use, the influence andpersuasion that you used, not
the job titles.
So that's where you got tofocus on.
I used these skills, I didthese accomplishments, not
necessarily the job titles thatyou had and just your job
description.
It can be a start, but that'swhat everyone does and I want
(19:08):
you to stand out.
So, second, after you'rethinking you know strategically
about, like the skills and notthe job titles.
Second, start with who you arenow and I recommend what's that
you follow what's called thepresent past future formula, or
methodology, or current pastfuture.
Either way, you start with whoyou are now, what skills you're
using and what impact you'remaking.
(19:30):
Give them a picture of who youare today.
So what that starts with.
So, if you get the question, youknow, tell me about yourself.
Or you know what brings youhere to the interview today, to
tell me about your background.
All of those versions are thesame question, by the way.
If you get asked any of those,go with the prepared answer that
you expected to talk aboutaround Tell me about yourself.
I don't want that to throw youoff.
(19:51):
So any, any way you get askedit, go with your prepared answer
and fill in the blanks.
So the way you start that out,it could sound like okay, tell
me about yourself.
So then you, you start, you sayabsolutely, I am a.
And then you start filling theblank I'm a.
Let's go back to that leaderexample.
I'm an engaging leader.
I love to get results.
I coach my team, I recognizethem.
I get excitement andencouragement from seeing people
(20:12):
develop over time.
And that's the kind of leader Iam today and these are the
types of people that I lead.
You know that's a short, veryshort version of that, but you
get the gist.
So after you start with who youare today, give them a picture
of who's sitting in front ofthem in that room or on that
video screen.
So after you talk about today,then you go back to before.
(20:33):
That's the past part of thepresent past future formula.
You go back to before.
So here's what got me today.
Fill in the blank, talk aboutskills you used in the past,
skills you developed,opportunities you had.
This is where you can talk alittle bit more about a couple
of the roles you had, but stillwith a focus on skills that
you've used and developed andwhat you bring to the table.
And then bring it home with whyyou're in that room virtually
or physically, why you're there,what brings you here today, and
(20:56):
so you can even say that.
So what brings me here today isto fill in the blank and build
on what you've said so far.
Why are you there today?
And, hopefully, if you'veprepped for your answers to that
, why should I hire?
You, question.
You think about your skills,your excitement, you've done
that homework, what's uniqueabout you and how you make your
the hiring manager's life easier.
Answering those questions aheadof time can help you with this.
(21:17):
This answer this is exactlywhat you need to nail and bring
home is like hey, here's why I'mhere today.
So you've just shared who youare.
Now You've gone through yourpast and some of what got you to
here and got you to that pointskills you developed,
experiences that you've had, andnow, here's why I'm in this
room.
I want to bring these skills,this excitement, and here's
something unique about me thatbrings me.
(21:38):
That's why I applied for thisjob.
I didn't apply for just any job.
I applied for this job.
There are thousands of jobs outthere.
This is why I went for this oneand why I'm excited to tell you
more about me in the interviewtoday.
That's a very different answerthan just walking through,
chronologically, your experience.
They have your resume, they'vealready seen it and if they
haven't, they can.
If they want to, they can readyour resume.
They don't need to hear that,they just want to hear you, and
(22:00):
it gives them a better idea ofwho, who you are and what it
would be like to work with youIf you're a little bit more real
, a little bit more real, alittle bit more conversational,
and you fill in the blanks forthem and connect the dots for
what they might not see on theresume.
So, number one, I'd tell myyounger me to swim against the
current and do the opposite ofwhat pretty much everyone else
(22:21):
does, so I can stand out.
So, to sum it all up, numberfive, it's not about their
questions, it's about tellingthem what you need to tell them.
Number four start prepping waybefore you have to.
Number three, prep for specificquestions, even if you think
you won't get asked it, such aswhy should I hire you?
Number two, use every part ofthe interview to share as much
as you can about yourself.
And, number one, change how youanswer.
(22:43):
Tell me about yourself.
Well, I hope you enjoyedtoday's episode.
Remember we always have Mondaymotivation, quick hit episodes
and regular episodes onWednesdays.
Also, do you have a question orscenario that you'd like our
guidance or help with, or aquestion you want us to answer.
I'd love to hear it.
So just we'd love to help hearit.
Just send us an email, questioncomments, whatever you have to
questions atequippedinterviewcom.
That's all for today, but let'skeep the conversation going.
(23:05):
Check out equippedinterviewcom,be intentional, do the work and
build your confidence to standout in your next job interview.
Thank you.
Hey everyone and welcome to the Equipped
Interview Podcast.
With a combined 30 plus yearsof being interviewed and
interviewing thousands of others, we're here to build your
confidence, help you stand outand get your dream job.
Your hosts are Joshua Tinkeyand Linda Kamali.
Let's get you equipped.
What advice would you give toyounger you?
Well, I thought about thatrecently and came up with my top
(00:35):
five things.
Happy New Year everyone.
I'm sure you're hearing that alot, but I mean it nonetheless.
And other than a short MondayMotivation episode a couple days
ago, it's been a while since weput out a full episode like
this, so I'm really excitedabout this one and I really
appreciate the emails andquestions that have come in and
just asking when we'd be backand giving us ideas.
(00:57):
So we have a lot of good stuffplanned for 2025 and pretty
pumped to be chatting with youagain today.
So who doesn't like a top fivelist?
We're going to do one today.
I started with a lot longer andhad to pare it down.
Got way too long, so we'regoing to go with the top five.
Top five interview secrets thatI'd give myself 10 years ago,
the younger version of myself,things I've learned along the
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way, and let's dive in Numberfive.
It's not about their questions,so it is about telling them
what they need to hear.
This is, this is basically ifyou listen to Monday's episode,
this is basically a follow-upfrom that short snippet.
Go back and listen.
If you haven't, I'm just goingto expand on it a little bit.
You know better than they, youknow you better than they know
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you, and the they in this caseis the interviewer, the hiring
manager, whoever.
They're just trying to figureout what they need to know and
you need to do yourself thefavor of telling them straight
up.
They're just trying to figureout what are the right questions
to ask you to get the answersthat they, that they need to
figure you out.
Beat them to the punch by goingin with a plan, an intentional
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list of strengths, stories,examples, details about you.
This is basically, if you knowour prep steps, we have our
equipped interviews seven prepsteps.
This is basically prep step twoin the list, which is change
your mindset, because yourapproach is all wrong, and I'm
going to definitely tell theyounger me, my younger self, to
reframe my mind and reallyrepurpose all those countless
(02:21):
hours of interview prep that Idid, and guess what I was still
nervous after all those hours ofinterview prep, anxious,
unclear of my strategy, going in, curious what they're going to
ask me, and it gives you anuneasiness if you approach it
that way hey, what are theygoing to ask me?
I don't know if I'm going to beable to give the right answers,
but if you repurpose that timeand think about your mindset
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going in instead being these arethe things I want to tell them,
no matter what they ask.
And once I realized that theinterviewer was just asking
questions to learn about me, Istarted focusing my prep time on
really diving into knowing myown stuff.
There's so much to say on thattopic.
I think I've had at least oneor two full episodes on that
alone over the years.
(03:04):
But it's something that'sreally important.
But if you're already stuck andyou're thinking well, I'm not
sure where to start with thatand how to do that.
Start with the top three thingsthat every hiring manager is
looking for in an interview.
What they're trying to answeris does he or she have the
skills that I need?
Does the candidate have theexcitement or passion for the
job enough that they'll stillwant to stick around and
actually want to do the job.
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After that quote new job smellwears off, like I like to say.
And then three, do they likeyou?
So focus your prep energy ondoing some self-assessment on
those areas.
Write down the top three tofive skills you think they're
looking for.
Maybe you know it hands down,maybe you have to really think
about it.
But write down your top threeto five strengths then, and
let's hope they match right.
If not, is this the right jobfor you?
You gotta think, then, andlet's hope they match right.
If not, is this the right jobfor you?
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You got to think about that.
But let's hope they match andmake sure you know them down
cold.
And also really think about whyyou're excited and be really
specific on that.
Anyone can say that, oh yeah,I'm excited, I am really excited
for this opportunity.
Got to get specific about this,really think about it and make
sure it's believable.
For example, I mean maybe youcould point out two specific
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things that you know about thejob description or a project.
You know that you'd work on thelocation, the culture, but be
careful with that one.
No matter what, make itspecific.
You don't want to just readsomething off the website that
anyone else could say and say,oh, the culture looks great, I'm
excited about that.
You need to dive into why.
What's specific that they couldreally really believe you and
make sure it's true, but reallybelieve you understand that, hey
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, this person is actuallyexcited for the job and that
passion will come out in results.
So, number five on the countdownlist I tell my younger self
that it's not about theirquestions.
I need to know myself.
I need to prep and just tellthem the important information
about me, regardless of whatquestion they ask me fit it in
which I'll need to researchahead of time the important
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information about me.
But if I want to gainconfidence going into that
interview, that's the start.
Number four start prepping waybefore you have to.
Often it's way too muchpressure to do it in a time
crunch and so I would tellmyself start prepping way before
you have to.
Most of us think about it as weapply, or as we're starting to
apply to things, or if weactually get the invite for an
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interview.
This one's actually straightout of prep.
Step one Always be prepping,and here's a couple practical
ways to approach this and thenwe'll move on to the next one.
I did talk about this brieflylast week too, or last episode
too.
It's almost like there's aframework that works for people
and I want to drill it into yourhead.
Anyway, if you've ever preppedfor any interview, I mean you
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know this.
You're usually up the nightbefore trying to remember at
least something good you've done, trying to craft the perfect
answer as to why you want thejob.
It's a lot harder to prep welland think clearly.
With limited time or pressureor maybe even lack of sleep,
it's not impossible, but you'remuch more likely to get kind of
B minus work out of that orforget something.
(05:54):
So instead, here's what Irecommend you keep a phone or
notebook nearby and jot thingsdown as they come up over the
year.
And that's for work, that's forlife, whatever situation you're
in.
Keep it nearby and write thingsdown as they come up.
If you're feeling reallyambitious, make a table of
strengths versus skills andexamples.
So you picture a table of somekind spreadsheet, whatever.
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In column one write down a listof all the skills you're likely
to use or need to talk about ordemonstrate, and then in
another column next to it, jotdown some notes about a
situation when you use it,something that can jog your
memory down the road severalmonths away from when you wrote
it down.
That way you don't have to tryto, you know, scratch your brain
and think about it from monthsago.
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What did I do?
What skill did I use?
What's a good example?
It's not all about the examples, but this can help because you
obviously do need to think aboutexamples of times that you used
certain skills and strengths.
Oh, and make sure you schedulethis.
If you want to get basically anexpert level at this, what gets
scheduled gets done.
If it's not on your calendar orin a phone reminder probably
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won't happen.
So schedule it.
Make it happen on a weekly,bi-weekly, monthly basis, if
that, if it's if it, if yourdecision is between don't do it
at all, or do it monthly, oronce every other month, do it
then, but I'd recommend everyother week to keep things fresh.
So, number four I'd tell mefrom 10 years ago to start
prepping way before I have to.
You don't feel like you need toSave myself from hours of
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probable stress, all right.
Number three and this is wherethings get really good, in my
personal opinion I would tellmyself prep for specific
questions, even if you think youwon't get asked those questions
.
So this seems a littlebackwards.
I'd probably start questioningmyself at this point if I told
myself that Then again I'mtalking to myself.
(07:46):
So who am I to judge?
But stick with me, this isn't aperfect analogy, but it's kind
of like the Karate Kid.
You might have seen theoriginal way back or the remake
or just heard of it, butobviously if you have heard of
it, mr Miyagi has Daniel do allsorts of chores again and again,
over and over.
Daniel thinks it's pointlessbecause he's not going to wax
cars or paint fences or anythingduring a karate match, right,
but he ends up building musclememory for the motions that his
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arms, legs etc.
Are going to need later.
So the same thing is somewhattrue when prepping for an
interview Kind of the bestanalogy I could think of off the
top of my head.
One of the best ways to prep foran interview is to do thought
exercises, prepare answers,think about and write down how
you would answer certainquestions so that if you get
other, somewhat relatedquestions, you've already put
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thought into it, you knowyourself and how you'd answer it
and you won't panic in aninterview when that comes up
You'll also be able to.
You'll have done the work aheadof time, so you don't have to
come up with new ideas, skills,strengths, things to think about
in the moment.
So my favorite question to prepfor in this case and when I
coach everyone I work with thatthey must prep for is the
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question why should I hire you?
Now you probably have like onlya I don't know 10, 20% chance
of getting that question in anactual interview.
I mean, I've gotten it multipletimes, but it's not that common
.
It's a wildly importantquestion though.
That can significantly help youwith almost any other response
during an interview, becausehere's what it does for you.
It helps you if you reallythink about it and you spend
(09:16):
time answering this question whyshould I hire you?
And crafting a good response.
It helps you gain clarity onyour own value proposition.
I mean, sit back and thinkabout it.
Why should they hire you oversomeone else?
It also helps you gain clarityon what skills you offer.
It forces you to really thinkabout and understand why you
(09:36):
want the job, or if you evendon't right, you have to think
about that.
That as well.
So here's here's how I thinkyou can do that to prep for an
answer to that question.
I teach people to do this.
You need to one focus on yourskills.
Write them down.
Use those three to five skillsI mentioned earlier.
Use your strengths.
Talk about those strengths.
Focus first on your skills.
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Know yourself down pat.
Focus on your, your passion.
Like I talked about your skills, know yourself down pat.
Focus on your passion.
Like I talked about yourexcitement.
Why is it Really really reflecton what those are?
And I legitimately mean youneed to write these down, not
just think about them.
Third, you need to focus on theunique things.
What do you uniquely bring tothe table that could be
different than the othercandidates?
So this could be something likeyou know that you have a unique
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experience.
You know you have a uniquebackground, maybe a special
designation, a certaincertification, a certain degree,
something that's unique thatyou can call out and know about
yourself and bring up.
And then, fourth, focus onmaking the hiring manager's life
easier.
Maybe you know something aboutyourself.
(10:41):
You know you're a quick learner.
You know I mean a lot of peoplesay that, but think about
specifically how are there timesand other jobs that you've
gotten up to speed quickly?
Think about that, write thatdown as a differentiator for you
and yourself, something you canbring up in the interview at
any point.
And maybe there's somethingelse, but ultimately, when you
think about, if you actually getthe question, why should I hire
(11:01):
you?
That's how you answer it, bythe way you talk about well here
.
Here are the top three skillsthat I have.
Here's why I'm excited for therole.
This is a unique thing about me.
This is something that I don'tthink any of your other
candidates are going to have,and here's why it's either my,
my background, my experience, mytraining, a specific job that
I've had, a location that I'm in, something unique that I bring
to the table.
Oh and, by the way, I'm goingto make your life easier because
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I get up to speed quickly.
You're not going to train me,you know you fill in the blank,
but those four areas skills,excitement, unique, something
unique about you and then makingtheir life easier that's how
you answer the question.
But it's also what you prep for, because, think about it, if
you, if you know the answers tothose questions or you've done
the homework and you know a lotabout yourself, now what you
bring to the table, how mucheasier is it to answer other
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questions, like the tell meabout yourself question, which
spoiler alert we're going totalk about in just a second.
It's also easier to answer otherquestions.
Hey, you're probably going toget a question around strengths.
You know what's, what are yourtop strengths or what are your
development areas, and you can,you can pair that up, think
about that and then pair it witha strength at the end.
If you know the answers tothose questions or that list
that we just went through, youcan answer with confidence
(12:05):
almost any other question thatyou get asked.
Or you can answer that questionand pepper in some of these
skills in your passion and atsome random point, throw in
there why you're unique, throwin there why you're going to
make the hiring manager's lifeeasier.
That is the power of preppingfor this question.
It's probably my favorite.
One of this list is you have toprep for a question even if you
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don't think you're going to getasked it.
So, as number three, I tellmyself to prep.
Why should I hire you?
Number two, use every part ofthe interview to share as much
about yourself as you can.
I mean whether that's smalltalk, your questions at the end,
et cetera.
Use every part to youradvantage, all right.
So this one can be prettyself-explanatory in some cases,
but bottom line, you need totake advantage of every
(12:48):
situation, be proactive, beintentional.
You're there to do a job.
You're not there to answertheir questions, as we talked
about earlier.
You're there to tell theinterviewer at every opportunity
what you want to tell them orshow.
That's part of the process.
You know how earlier Imentioned, one of the things
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every hiring manager is lookingfor is to answer.
Do I like you?
Small talk might be annoying toa lot of us, but it can go a
long way in helping them see thereal you.
How do you interact with thenon-interview type question?
There may be a glitch on thevideo interview, maybe.
If you're in the physical room,maybe they show up late.
How do you respond to that andhow do they start to see you as
(13:32):
a potential coworker or someonethat can get work done for them?
Another way for them to see thereal you is how you approach
the questions at the end of theinterview.
When the hiring manager givesyou a chance to ask questions,
don't say no, I'm good.
I think you answered everything.
I think I've harped on thatenough at this point.
Most people don't do thatanymore, but I still see it.
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I still do interviews and Istill see it.
I still see it one out of everythree, four interviews.
So what happens?
Don't be that person.
Don't say, no, I'm good youanswered everything.
You got to come prepared,because it's a waste of time and
a soapbox minute for a moment.
The time at the end of thequestion at the interview for
you to ask questions is notreally for you to get your
questions answered.
You can go in and ask questionsIf you have a burning question.
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You're like I don't know howthis job, what this is like.
If you're talking to therecruiter or HR, like that,
that's when you get your a lotof your early questions answered
.
Hopefully, if you have one forthe hiring manager, great.
But the vast majority of thattime should be spent telling the
interviewer more about you.
Use that time to your advantagethrough the lens of questions.
(14:35):
So you certainly don't want toask only basic.
So the worst is no questions.
The next level up is askingbasic questions.
The next level up is askingpretty thought provoking
questions.
But peak level is, yes, askinga question, but basically
setting yourself up to start aconversation so they can see you
as a peer, as a colleague inthat role, and just talk about
(14:56):
something in the industry.
Talk about something that isimportant to you, get them
talking and then interspersemore information about you.
Maybe there's something duringthe interview you didn't get to
touch on.
Bring it up here.
Find a way to throw it in, askyour question and, as part of
that conversation, talk aboutsomething that you forgot to
answer, whether it's an example,certification, experience you
have.
Find a way to throw that intothe question.
(15:17):
So I can't go into the wholeframework now, but I have one
that I teach called the showmethod to use this time to start
a conversation, to show themthe real you, because listen,
you're at the end of theinterview.
You'll be more relaxed, morelike yourself.
Use this time to ask a questionin a way that one tells them
(15:37):
more about you and two gets themto know the real you.
The show method what it standsfor is S-H-O-W.
It's an acronym S share, h havean opinion, o opinion get
theirs this time and W write andwonder, and what that really
means is, you know, sharesomething.
This is kind of how you setyourself up for a conversation
and to use this framework and,real briefly, I have other
(15:58):
episodes on a checkout podcast.
I think it's episode five.
You can check out, search forit on the website, you'll find
it.
But basically, short version isshare something.
Do your research at a time, butthen share.
That's the S.
Share something that you'velearned.
Read a podcast, you've listenedto something you've learned in
the industry, the conference,you went to a TED talk something
.
Share something that you'velearned a concept, methodology,
(16:20):
whatever.
Have an opinion on it.
So say, I think X, y or Z, thisyou know, here's my take on
this.
It's going to be a game changer, or I think it's going to peter
out and never show up again.
Have an opinion Now here'swhere the question comes in and
get their opinion on it.
That's the O opinion.
Get theirs this time.
So ask them but hey,interviewer, what do you think
on this topic?
How do you see this impactingour industry or this
(16:41):
organization or this job?
Find a way to ask them aquestion.
And then the W is just keepsthe conversation going.
The wonder is just keeps theconversation going.
The wonder is just kind of akeyword or trigger.
You could use the word curiousif you want, but it could sound
something like hey, you knowwhat?
I wonder that's an interestingthought, hiring manager.
I wonder if this was anydifferent, would you, would your
opinion change?
Or I wonder how this mightchange things.
So the wonder is merely just away to keep the conversation
(17:03):
going, for them to see you inaction at having a conversation,
which is obviously, as you cantell, is a way different
approach than just asking quickhit questions.
It's not the best value of yourtime to do Q&A.
You've probably gotten most ofyour questions answered by the
time you're with the hiringmanager and you can use this
time to tell them more about you.
Trust me, it really is a gamechanger.
(17:24):
I've used it myself for years.
I've had good feedback fromeveryone.
That's used it mainly for thehiring manager setting, not so
much the HR recruiter setting,but you can pepper it in there
too.
So for number two, I tell myselffrom 10 years ago to totally
change how I spend that time atthe end of the interview and
make the most of it.
All right.
Number one top thing I wouldchange or tell myself from 10
(17:46):
years ago change how you answer.
Tell me about yourself.
I would absolutely tell youngerme to change up how I give a
first impression in an interview, especially after having
interviewed so many people andhearing so many bad answers to
this.
I know most people mess this up, even without realizing it.
So don't be that person, don't?
(18:06):
I'm gonna start with the don'ts.
Don't tell you what to do.
Don't go chronologically.
That's what most people do.
First I did this and then I didthis, and now I'm here and
often take way too long to dothat.
Don't take way too long to dothat.
So don't go chronologically anddon't spend too much time on
this.
You need to talk about theimportant things and do it in a
(18:27):
relatively concise, efficientmanner.
I'd say two and a half minutes,maybe three if you're really
engaging as the way that you doit.
So what do you focus on?
First, focus on your skills,not job titles.
Talk about the skills you'veused as a leader.
Talk about the strategicplanning that you did, the
coaching, the development, thechange management, the vision
(18:47):
that you set as a leader, as aproject manager.
Talk about the deadlines thatyou hit, the efficiency that you
use, the influence andpersuasion that you used, not
the job titles.
So that's where you got tofocus on.
I used these skills, I didthese accomplishments, not
necessarily the job titles thatyou had and just your job
description.
It can be a start, but that'swhat everyone does and I want
(19:08):
you to stand out.
So, second, after you'rethinking you know strategically
about, like the skills and notthe job titles.
Second, start with who you arenow and I recommend what's that
you follow what's called thepresent past future formula, or
methodology, or current pastfuture.
Either way, you start with whoyou are now, what skills you're
using and what impact you'remaking.
(19:30):
Give them a picture of who youare today.
So what that starts with.
So, if you get the question, youknow, tell me about yourself.
Or you know what brings youhere to the interview today, to
tell me about your background.
All of those versions are thesame question, by the way.
If you get asked any of those,go with the prepared answer that
you expected to talk aboutaround Tell me about yourself.
I don't want that to throw youoff.
(19:51):
So any, any way you get askedit, go with your prepared answer
and fill in the blanks.
So the way you start that out,it could sound like okay, tell
me about yourself.
So then you, you start, you sayabsolutely, I am a.
And then you start filling theblank I'm a.
Let's go back to that leaderexample.
I'm an engaging leader.
I love to get results.
I coach my team, I recognizethem.
I get excitement andencouragement from seeing people
(20:12):
develop over time.
And that's the kind of leader Iam today and these are the
types of people that I lead.
You know that's a short, veryshort version of that, but you
get the gist.
So after you start with who youare today, give them a picture
of who's sitting in front ofthem in that room or on that
video screen.
So after you talk about today,then you go back to before.
(20:33):
That's the past part of thepresent past future formula.
You go back to before.
So here's what got me today.
Fill in the blank, talk aboutskills you used in the past,
skills you developed,opportunities you had.
This is where you can talk alittle bit more about a couple
of the roles you had, but stillwith a focus on skills that
you've used and developed andwhat you bring to the table.
And then bring it home with whyyou're in that room virtually
or physically, why you're there,what brings you here today, and
(20:56):
so you can even say that.
So what brings me here today isto fill in the blank and build
on what you've said so far.
Why are you there today?
And, hopefully, if you'veprepped for your answers to that
, why should I hire?
You, question.
You think about your skills,your excitement, you've done
that homework, what's uniqueabout you and how you make your
the hiring manager's life easier.
Answering those questions aheadof time can help you with this.
(21:17):
This answer this is exactlywhat you need to nail and bring
home is like hey, here's why I'mhere today.
So you've just shared who youare.
Now You've gone through yourpast and some of what got you to
here and got you to that pointskills you developed,
experiences that you've had, andnow, here's why I'm in this
room.
I want to bring these skills,this excitement, and here's
something unique about me thatbrings me.
(21:38):
That's why I applied for thisjob.
I didn't apply for just any job.
I applied for this job.
There are thousands of jobs outthere.
This is why I went for this oneand why I'm excited to tell you
more about me in the interviewtoday.
That's a very different answerthan just walking through,
chronologically, your experience.
They have your resume, they'vealready seen it and if they
haven't, they can.
If they want to, they can readyour resume.
They don't need to hear that,they just want to hear you, and
(22:00):
it gives them a better idea ofwho, who you are and what it
would be like to work with youIf you're a little bit more real
, a little bit more real, alittle bit more conversational,
and you fill in the blanks forthem and connect the dots for
what they might not see on theresume.
So, number one, I'd tell myyounger me to swim against the
current and do the opposite ofwhat pretty much everyone else
(22:21):
does, so I can stand out.
So, to sum it all up, numberfive, it's not about their
questions, it's about tellingthem what you need to tell them.
Number four start prepping waybefore you have to.
Number three, prep for specificquestions, even if you think
you won't get asked it, such aswhy should I hire you?
Number two, use every part ofthe interview to share as much
as you can about yourself.
And, number one, change how youanswer.
(22:43):
Tell me about yourself.
Well, I hope you enjoyedtoday's episode.
Remember we always have Mondaymotivation, quick hit episodes
and regular episodes onWednesdays.
Also, do you have a question orscenario that you'd like our
guidance or help with, or aquestion you want us to answer.
I'd love to hear it.
So just we'd love to help hearit.
Just send us an email, questioncomments, whatever you have to
questions atequippedinterviewcom.
That's all for today, but let'skeep the conversation going.
(23:05):
Check out equippedinterviewcom,be intentional, do the work and
build your confidence to standout in your next job interview.
Thank you.
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