Help me with my persuasion skills at interview

Seomra Mushie

Hi, I've been on the job-hunting trail for about six months now, I've had five unsuccessful interviews.

I learned this week that I've come down to the last few candidates for a number of jobs, that I've been interviewing very well, and that I am being provided with excellent references from my referees. It just seems to come down to lack of experience.

So, that's good but I have a job interview on Monday for which I have some of the experience they're looking for, but not all. I know I can learn the techniques I don't have experience in quickly as I understand the theory well.

How can I sharpen my persuasive skills to communicate this to my interviewers? I don't believe anyone who rocks up to an interview has everything they are looking for, so clearly some people are better at putting their case forward than others.

Has anyone got any tips or advice for me? Not sure if it's useful information but it will be academics interviewing me and it is an informal interview.

finisklin

You have to convert your experience into what they are looking for i.e. verbalise it in a manner that checks all their boxes. Informal or formal is tosh....you are there to sell yourself and they wish to see if you can do the job.

The one question that they are definitely going to ask is Tell me about your career to date?

Script this and go through each role you have done, what the achievement was in that role, what you learned and relate it back to the job that you are looking for. This may take you 3-5 minutes but if done well you have captured their attention and should be sitting up.

Script as much of the interview questions as possible, build up a file or review of each interview afterwards so that you can learn. Request feedback when unsuccessful, note the key points/shortfalls.

This file will stay with you throughout your career, as this job will in all probability not be for life, believe me!

Script your closing statement and the questions you ask them. I am right for this job becuse X, Y and Z.

Learn your script off, rehearse, and use strong action verbs. I developed, implemented, achieved, succeeded and stimulated etc. what ever areas you did in your career to date.

Believe in yourself. Listen to the sound of your voice as you rehearse, be comfortable with that sound. Slow down and pace yourself. Control your voice, body language.

As always in the current environment ask them when you will receive feedback i.e. the status of your application and in the event of not hearing from them is it ok to contact them. Remember it is an employers market so don't be shy in sticking your head from above the parapet.

Best of luck with it.

Seomra Mushie

finisklin wrote: »

Informal or formal is tosh....you are there to sell yourself and they wish to see if you can do the job.

Agreed, I treat every interview like it's formal.

trishasaffron

Give really practical examples of your experience even if you have to admit that you didn't do precisely the kind of work they are asking about you can still say e.g. "no I didn't have direct reports at work but I did manage a team to conclude a specific task" and then describe exactly what the task was, who was on the team,how you managed it etc. If you have no similar work experience to offer then think of somewhere in your life that you demonstrated a similar skill e.g "I was captain of a soccer team and had to organise our matches/develop a team spirit" etc etc. I've been doing a lot of interviewing recently and its been like pulling teeth to get people to think laterally. That is a really essential skill in itself!

matrim

If you can try to show examples in other jobs of where you started with lack of experience in the area but ended up being an expert etc. It shows that even if you lack experience you are a quick learner and willing to put in the extra effort to get up to speed.

Seomra Mushie

More info.

It's a science field. Ad said MSc (in various life science disciplines) required, small animal handling an advantage.

I have the small animal handling experience.

I don't have an MSc, just a science degree. But in my pre-application informal inquiries, I asked was an MSc an absolute must. The reply was no, as long as you have post-graduation research lab experience, go ahead and reply. I don't have that, I worked in quality control after graduating.

Still, I got an interview and they would have seen from my CV that I don't have the research lab experience. So, I guess I need to what angle to take. Hmmm.

Will_H

All the above advice is spot on.

However, even w/out the MSc, they are still considering you - that is a positive!

Also, make sure you do your homework about the company itself. Show that you're aware of what they've done, where they're going as an organisation etc. Find out about other people in the organisation. Have they a company blog, are they up on LinkedIn?

Above all - be enthusiastic! IMO, too many candidates don't show that they really want the position - they just want the job. Yes, they may tick the right boxes re experience & expertise and so on, but don't show enough passion. 'You can see yourself working well with the people here; you can bring X to the table and grow with the organisation; you see a career here; you really enjoy what you do' and so on.... This may look a bit naff now as just words on a screen, however, if you use your own words, with the right body-language, with the knowledge you have about the company, it can leave a very powerful impression with the interviewer.

Finally, think of it from the interviewers point of view. Does this person have the knowledge, experience, skillset? Can he/she fit in with the people here? Can he/she grow with the company? Are they passionate about the work?....

Best of luck with it!

Seomra Mushie

Thanks for all the input so far!

Hope I'm not a 'fulfilling legal requirements' interviewee. :-/ Pretty sure that has happened before, where the interviewers right from the start could not have been less interested in me.

An Ri rua

You must SELL yourself.

Buy or review '60 seconds and you're hired' and internalise it. Almost every question comes down to 'Why you?'. If YOU don't know it clearly and succinctly or do but can't effortlessly communicate it (distill it and practice it til its a reflex), how will they? And therefore if they didn't crystallise why you are the best choice, then how will they remember you?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/60-Seconds-Youre-Hired-ebook/dp/B006H4C4YS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328982932&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Seconds-Youre-Hired-Robin-Ryan/dp/0140289038

Very best wishes. You don't need luck. You're making your own. You're a real trier and you WILL be working very shortly.

InReality

if its a job you really really want , you could try a company like carr communications. Its really expensive , they basically film you doing an interview , and question you on your CV etc.
But it can help.

The cheap way of doing this is to ask a friend to interview you.
Get the most "serious" friend you have , ideally someone who has interviewed people before.

Fight for the job as hard as you can , then at least after the interview you can be happy with yourself.

I don't think anyone was ever turned down for being too enthusiatic (sp)

starlit

Are there any self help books or life coaches that does this sort of thing you could try?

Be as enthusiastic as you can be and provide as many examples relevant to the job. If you have had to fill out an application form under certain headings they be the key areas to provide examples for in your application and in the interview when they ask questions related to it. Make sure they are concrete and detailed enough, one detailed example is better than too many skimmed down details of different many examples.

Best thing to do is to know your stuff, cv, skills and college/projects/work examples inside out and practise your interview skills in front of someone a friend or a relative. Its one way of trying to learn the art of persuasion. If you can influence, convince and persuade someone to buy a pen you could persuade any employer to hire you once you are the right person for the job and have the skills they are looking for even more you can offer other than just skills you might have something others don't and that make you stand out, not just meeting the requirements of the job but meeting or even exceeding the requirements of employers!

Some employers emphasise greatly on those who have a lot of teamwork projects rather than individual ones but every company is different your examples are technical/science related.

A lot of interviews are competency based, which I have noticed since doing interviews both on the phone and face to face over the past year.

You could talk your way through an interview with examples and show off your skills by selling yourself/marketing yourself till your blue in the face if you aren't convincing enough and they aren't convince enough you have these skills or that they care convinced you have the skills but not enough of them or don't have these skills sufficiently enough they won't hire you. That's just based on experience I have had with recent interviews.

Seomra Mushie

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!

YAY!!!

Thank you everyone for your advice.

starlit

Congrats and well done! Delighted for you!

boobar

Seomra Mushie wrote: »

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!

YAY!!!

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Great stuff Mushie, best of luck with it!