DISCLAIMER:
I'm early in my career, but have 2 things that make this worth reading; experience and guidance. I've moved jobs quite a lot in a short career, and each time I have cast the net wide and interviewed as much as possible, which has given me some decent insight on the process.
Also, I'm very lucky to know experienced people in finance, recruiting and human resources, who offered me some of the guidance that is in this piece. That said, these are just my humble opinions, and things that have worked for me.
Tools: Notes Template
Key Takeaway - An employer wants you to want to be there
This is…. an annoying piece of advice, but especially with grads or anyone early in their career, there is a tendency to find yourself going in for jobs, without being totally sure they’re what you want, because largely, you don’t know what you want. This is fine, loads of us aren’t sure, and that’s just life. But, it is definitely true that the more you want the job, the better your odds get.
You’ll prepare better, read/know more, and generally come across better if you find a job you really want. Last time I found myself snowed under similar-looking job application forms, CVs and recruiter emails, one job shone out to me as “wow that actually looks cool”. As I ploughed through my applications, I found that I returned to the research for this job more than the others, and as such was the one I felt most prepared for by a long way – and it showed. They were impressed with the sheer depth of knowledge I had about the company, and the enthusiasm I was already displaying – I nailed the interview and took the role.
This works the other way as well, if there’s a job that’s a little “meh”, spend some time reinforcing to yourself why getting the job is a positive thing that you are willing to spend time and effort on, and it will improve your overall process towards getting and nailing the interview.
If you can’t find anything, anything at all – then either decide to use it entirely as interview practise, or throw the application in the bin now – life is too short for that kind of work, and you will suck at it if you really don’t want to be there.
Side tip – up to a point, it’s usually worth interviewing, if you get the chance, for these jobs that you aren’t excited for. Practice is practice is practice is essential – so every hour spent in that chair will make you more relaxed and easy. Additionally, an interview is as much about you deciding the company is right for you as the other way around. Treat it as such. Ask about the company, the culture, the nature of the role, and if the job seemed rubbish, leave with useful interview practice and confidence in your choices – you didn’t need them anyway.
Key Takeaway - An employer wants you to want to be there. Actively communicate this message to them.
This is almost so obvious that people don’t actually do it. An interview is just as much about you figuring out if you want them as much as they figuring out if they want you. remind them of this - I usually frame it during a question along the lines of “what’s the culture like, I really want to be sure the atmosphere aligns with my ideals” or “I want to make sure I’m a good fit”. Once you’ve established the narrative that you’re deciding if you want the job, decide to want the job. The simplest way is right at the end, at the handshake before you leave, look them in the eye and say “nice to meet you, thanks for your time, I’m really interested in this role, and would love to join this team”.
NB - They want someone who wants the job – A large theme of all of these tips is “find ways to convince the interviewer that you really want this job”. The candidate that really wants the job, and is therefore really happy to do the job, will likely be the best at the job. Surprisingly, a great way to tell your interviewer you want the job, is to tell them.
It doesn’t matter if you know most of the stuff about the company - take the time to do the research, find out about the company, the history, any random facts, recent news - and note it down in a notebook. Have this handy, and even if you never use it, it’s a nice backup. The visible proof that you’ve done your homework is good. You should know who the CEO is. You should know if there are key straplines the company has or things that the company is focusing on.
A colleague of mine once asked a candidate “what are our company values?”. The values are (or were at the time) the first thing you see on the company website, written in massive letters. The candidate had no idea, and didn’t make it past the first 5 minutes of the interview. If there’s something that obvious, you should at least be able to prove you’ve spent a few minutes exploring the company website.