Monday Motivations: The Top Three Things Hiring Managers Look For

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In today's episode:
In this short Monday Motivations episode, we cover the three vital things every hiring manager is looking for - no matter the job, organization, or industry. Don't be left out!

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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.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:49

Hey everyone and welcome to the Equipped Interview Podcast. With a combined 30 plus years of being interviewed and interviewing thousands of others, we're here to build your confidence, help you stand out and get your dream job. Your hosts are Joshua Tinky and Linda Kamali. Let's get you equipped Alright. So, as a reminder, in these short Monday episodes we bring you some motivation to help you push through that sometimes stressful and often frustrating time of interview prep. So we share quick, hit, practical tips, reminders and steps that you can take to get your week going Either way.

Speaker 1: 1:20

The goal is to keep it under five minutes to start your week strong. For today's topic, we're going to briefly remind everyone of the top three things every hiring manager is looking for, and no matter the industry, organization or person. Every hiring manager is looking for three things that are universal, and you can prepare for them, fortunately. So this might seem overly simple or obvious. Good, it should be obvious and simple. That should be the case. But trust me, you can stand out from your competition if you just follow these three things and ask yourself these questions as you prepare for your interview.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Alright. Question one do you have the skills and competencies I need? This is the most obvious one. Yet we routinely see job candidates miss opportunity after opportunity to share how their skill set and experience match what I need. Many job candidates simply describe their job title, their experience or background, then hope the hiring manager can make the connection to what wasn't said. But this is not enough. During your response to a question, don't just say what you did. Instead, proactively share the skill you used while doing it. It's not safe to assume in an interview. Don't make the hiring manager connect the dots. Connect the dots for them.

Speaker 1: 2:26

So a few steps you can do to make sure you clearly articulate that you have the necessary skills for the role is, when you're prepping, write out those top three to five skills you think are required for the role and you can always anchor back to them during the interview itself. Do I have your base questions during the tell me about yourself question and even when you ask questions at the end of the interview. Talk about those skills. Say everything out loud. Don't make any assumptions. Connect those dots for them.

Speaker 2: 2:50

Question number two do you have the excitement and passion I'm looking for? Very few things bother me more in an interview than a job candidate who apparently only showed up just in case the only criteria was a human with a pulse. Instead, chances are pretty good that you'll need to show a level of excitement and passion and energy that demonstrates you actually really want this job. So having the right background, experience or skills simply isn't enough. You need to demonstrate that you're pumped to be there, you want this job and that doing this kind of work is going to motivate you to keep showing up. after the initial new job, excitement wears off.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So a couple of key ideas to help you make this easy and clear. Pretty obvious, but be obvious about your passion and excitement. For instance, use the words excited or passionate or versions of them that speak to you, that truly indicate your emotion. As a result, you'll clearly get your point across. If you don't actually feel that way, then this isn't the job for you anyway. So don't fake it. They'll be able to see through it or you won't last long at the job anyway. So you have to actually be excited and then say that you are and then simply provide an example or two of how you've been trying to get into this role or this organization or this industry for a period of time, if that's the case, because, again, this shows that you're not just throwing your name in the hat. You've been purposeful in your pursuit of this position. Show your excitement in any way that comes to you.

Speaker 2: 4:09

Question three do I like you? This one is more tricky to prepare for. A large part of what hiring manager is trying to do is figure out if you're a good fit. You should also be doing the same on your end. Do you want to work for this person or with this person, assuming you can feel it's a good fit? it's now up to you to ensure that you come across in a positive light. While you can't fully plan for this, there are some steps you can take to prepare ahead of time.

Speaker 1: 4:35

And one of the big ways to prepare for that is to actually avoid mistakes during the interview that will detract from the real you potentially And the real you is who they want to work with and see if they like working with you. So avoid these common mistakes. One, talking too much. Don't over speak. That can detract from your perception. Two, don't ask the interviewer to repeat every question Again. It distracts the interviewer and things that they start to think you cannot pay attention. Three, don't make too many jokes. You're not there to be a comedian. You want to be likable, but don't go overboard. Four, don't give your strengths as weaknesses. We've talked about this in the past and it really doesn't come across as a strong response to anything if you go overboard by pretending you have no weaknesses. And five, don't ask terrible or even no questions at the end of the interview. We want you to be prepared and have thoughtful questions that we talk about in prep.

Speaker 2: 5:30

Step seven Such great tips, josh. Well, everyone, we hope you enjoyed this Quick, hip Monday Motivation episode. Stay tuned for tomorrow's regular episode and another Monday motivation next week. That's all for today, but let's keep the conversation going. Check out equiptivewcom. Thank you so much for listening. Remember you've got this.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Be intentional, do the work and build your confidence to stand out in your next job interview.