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Equipped Interview
Equipped Interview
(Replay episode) The 7 Prep Steps: Transform Your Interview Strategy for Success
Ready to conquer your next job interview with confidence? Learn our seven-step framework that will transform your interview preparation from daunting to manageable. Discover why having a clear structure is essential for easing your nerves and amplifying your performance. Josh and Lynda break down Equipped Interview's 7 Prep Steps, offering practical advice rooted in years of expertise, ensuring you're fully prepared to shine.
Our hosts Josh and Lynda dive deep into the art of crafting your interview narrative. Instead of winging it, why not have a well-defined story and key skills ready to naturally weave into the conversation? Learn how to pinpoint the top skills your potential employer is looking for and make sure they're front and center in your responses. This proactive strategy not only boosts your confidence but also makes you a memorable candidate.
Curious about what really makes hiring managers tick? Josh and Lynda discuss the top three qualities they seek: relevant skills, sustained enthusiasm, and likability. They also walk you through the first four prep steps and reveal the fifth: perfecting your introduction. Master a concise, impactful intro and engage your interviewer with the SHOW method—Share, Have an opinion, Opinion (get theirs), and Wonder. Transform the Q&A segment into a captivating dialogue, and leave a lasting impression that sets you apart from the competition. Tune in and get equipped for success!
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.
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 Tinkey and.
Speaker 1:Linda Kamali.
Speaker 2:Let's get you equipped.
Speaker 1:Josh, did someone say framework?
Speaker 2:Without getting too nerdy. Absolutely, let's do it. Who doesn't love a good framework, or checklist, if you want to call it that? But no matter what industry you're in, whether it's finances, or what the medical profession student study tips, good framework or checklist can be super valuable, just a great resource to help you get set up for success. And just clarity right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who doesn't love a good framework? I love a good framework, Josh. I'm super excited for this.
Speaker 2:Awesome. We spent a lot of time thinking through our experiences and the most valuable tips that we've been providing over the years and we've really come up with a simple, easy to use seven step framework. Now the word framework, side note, might scare a few people, but some people might get oh, this is great, I can't wait. And some are like framework. That sounds super boring, but I tell you it's just a way to think about how to prep for your interview and our goal is to use this, these steps, to help you land that dream job, and we've called them Equipped Interview's 7 Prep Steps just to help you remember it a little bit better. And just a quick heads up for everyone listening Before we go too far.
Speaker 2:If you're more of a visual learner, obviously a podcast is audio form, but if you want something to look at, we did create a free resource for you to look at, either during the podcast or anytime after. Got you covered there, you can go ahead and download that free resource at equippedinterviewcom. Forward slash seven steps. All it does is really just summarize the seven steps. But hey, if you'd like something free and you want to check it out, go to equippedinterviewcom. Forward slash seven steps and that's the number seven and then the word steps. I'll also go ahead and include that in the show notes, and they're the ones that show up in your podcast player on our website. You can check it out there too.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, Josh. I'm so excited that our listeners are going to have that.
Speaker 2:I'm really pumped.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so outlined for today. We're going to cover why is this needed, why do you need that framework, what is it? And then we're going to summarize all of those steps, each one individually. We're going to go ahead and cover each step in more detail in future episodes, but today we're just going to go over what they are, how they build on each other and why they're all necessary.
Speaker 2:Let's jump in, all right. All right, so why do we even do this? Why is this necessary? There's a lot to cover and a lot involved in prepping for an interview. That's one of the reasons many reasons that so many people get overwhelmed and nervous and frustrated often around trying to prep for an interview. There's so many things you could talk about, so many things you could think about ways to approach it, and we've shared a lot of tips over the years on the podcast and on the website and just in our coaching sessions, and we try to boil it down as much as we can. But there are just so many good things to do and so many things you could spend your time on.
Speaker 2:I keep coming back to the word overwhelming. That's the feeling and the sense that we get when we coach people. It's just a feeling of overwhelm, trying to figure out where do I start. So, if that's you, that's probably pretty common. Most people start there when do I start?
Speaker 2:And having a consistent checklist or consistent framework to refer back to really can make it easier to not only learn the insider tips that we provide, but it also helps you remember them. It helps you know where you are in your journey and how far along am I, rather than I don't know if I've covered everything I need to cover in my prep and am I on the right path. It also kind of lastly, gives us a common language, if you want to call it that, something that we can each reference either it's during the podcast, or when we coach people, or on the website, or just resources we provide. Hey, you really need to focus on step three, or you need to focus on step six, and that sounds like you're struggling with just getting started. That's prep, step one. Here's how we tackle that, here's our best resources on that step, here's our best thinking on that step. So it's all those things together. It consolidates our best thinking, helps you prep, helps you know where you are, gives us all a common language to talk about.
Speaker 1:It kind of covers all your bases, doesn't it? You know, when folks come to us for coaching and they do they come overwhelmed and they're not really sure where to begin. This is just a framework and opportunity to cover all your bases so that you feel ready when you go on for that interview.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and so that's a little bit about why we did it. Why is it necessary something like this? And next, important to know well, what is it exactly, before we get to just list out those seven, those steps. It's the seven prep steps that we're calling it, just you know. Yes, they rhyme, prep and step. It's easy to remember, right, but they're what are they? Is there seven phases, if you want to call it that, or the most important components of your job interview journey, both during the prep phase and the interview itself. So we don't go much beyond the interview itself. In these seven prep steps, it's really focused on your preparation and how to think about the interview itself, and they certainly go hand in hand right Prepping and the interview itself.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like that A to Z covering the full picture.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From beginning to end.
Speaker 2:And so they really just cover the most important big picture areas you either need to prep for change your thinking around, or just something to do during your interview. It covers all of that in a very concise and logical way.
Speaker 1:You ready to dive in?
Speaker 2:Of course I've been waiting for this episode. We really have been. We spent a long time I'll just like side note here. It's been a long time trying to figure out how to best package this, and probably overthought it for many, many months, if not long a year or longer, just really trying to think through how to just package this. And it's the simpler the better is what we came down to. So that's why we have steps versus any other fancy word or acronym we can come up with.
Speaker 2:So these are the seven steps and something to think about when, when starting to prep for an interview, most people jump straight to what we have and you'll hear in a minute. But what we have a step six and we'll get to what that is. But after, after we go through these, I think you'll see just how much you're missing out if you start almost at the very end of what we say it should be the prep process. Step six out of seven steps. It's pretty far along and it's probably why so many people feel nervous or unprepared heading into an interview. They're kind of starting most of the way through what they should, a process that they could have started way before not just time, but thinking and thought process and energy before you get to thinking about some of the main questions you get in an interview. So all of these steps build on each other and so there's a reason they're you know, they're not just seven kind of hodgepodge things, I would just put them in any order. There's, there's a logic to it and that's.
Speaker 1:I think what makes it nice? Yeah, order matters, words matter. Order matters no-transcript potential upcoming interviews, and the prepping is just a critical piece. What are you doing well? What are the successes and wins that you've had through throughout the time in your role? Being able to document and keep any type of a notebook or documentation on a OneNote or a Post-it or however you like to do. It always be prepping will really help set that stage, set that foundation for continued success throughout this process.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and to your point. We did recently discuss this in pretty full detail on, I think, episode 21 or 22, somewhere around there. Check it out how to always be preparing and things like that. The good news for someone let's say you're thinking about this and you're listening to our podcast because you have an interview coming up you haven't always been prepping and you're not at that phase the good news is you can still follow the rest of these steps without having done that. You're going to be best prepared if you start with step one and you're consistently following a process to document what's going well and what your skills are and projects you've worked on, and examples and stories. That's great and we highly recommend it and it's the best way to do things. But if that's not you you're already in interviews in front of you and you haven't been doing that you can still follow all the rest of these and it's going to make a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:So let's jump in, and today and tomorrow are a new day, so if you haven't been doing this, this can be a practice that you can start Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So prep step two is change your mindset.
Speaker 1:Your approach is all wrong. Tell me more, Josh.
Speaker 2:So here's the big picture on this one and we will get into this in more detail in a different episode and that'll be true of pretty much every one of these. We'll spend almost an entire episode on each one of these individually. But big picture. Why do you have to change your mindset? And why is that at the beginning? It's because I argue that your goal is not going into an interview to answer their questions. That's not what you need to be doing, and so that's what most people's mindsets are.
Speaker 2:I need to go in and figure out what questions they're going to ask and how do I answer them. What you instead need to do is you need to go in with a narrative. You need to go in with a list of skills you want to talk about. You want to go in with stories. You want to go with examples. You want to get a point across. You want to go in knowing what you're already going to say, and you just need to wait to find out what question they ask so you can fit what you want to say into their question. It can be a lot less nerve wracking if you already know your answer. You already know what you're going to say, no matter what they ask, and so if your approach is to just wait and see, I hope they're going to ask me something that I can answer I hope I can answer it, that's in a sense prepping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, prepping to be reactive rather than knowing. I'm going to say this, this, this and this. I don't know how yet I don't know which question, but I'm going to insert it in the interview at some point, no matter what they ask. These are the six, eight, 10 things I'm going to say. So it doesn't really matter. It's kind of like I refer politicians a lot, because there's a lot we can learn from those who are. They come in with a narrative, no matter what, and so I don't care what the reporter asks. They just say what they want to say. It does it, they're like okay, and then they just move on.
Speaker 2:Now that might frustrate us, the listener, the citizen who wants to know more about what the question was. But in an interview, a job interview, you need to know what you're going to say, going in in almost every case. So I get, I get real excited about these topics, so I'm going to cut myself off there. But changing your mindset is this is the first step after prepping. That's just why it's prep. Step two you need to understand that, that you need to be prepared and have something very specific. You're going to say walking into the interview and then the next.
Speaker 1:This is your story, so prep step two is all about your story and the mindset that you go in with. That is how you're going to share that story.
Speaker 1:Josh, you know I love that word storyteller so this is your time to be the storyteller of what you say. Awesome, easy to be able to gain the knowledge on. Know the top three to five skills that that hiring manager is looking for, and there's so many ways to find this information out. Typically it's going to be written out on the posting. You can do some research on LinkedIn or other job areas to be able to understand what that hiring manager is looking for. And you need to know those skills that the story that you tell and that mindset that you're going to bring is going to be able to share. What those skills are Exactly.
Speaker 2:And when you, if you think about it from the hiring manager's perspective, if I'm the hiring manager, I'm sitting there waiting for a candidate to tell me that they have the skills that I'm looking for. I'm waiting to hear keywords or key think, key stories with those keywords in them so I can understand okay, yes, they use this skill, or I can dive into that. Hey, tell me how you contributed here, what skill did you use for that? And make sure that it comes across. And so, if you don't, this isn't just a yeah, this is one of the nice things to have going into an interview. It's really pretty foundational, which is why it's fairly early in our steps knowing what those skills are and really thinking about it. You might think, oh, it's pretty obvious, so I'll just gloss over it. No, this is really important and here's why I want you to write down those three to five skills that you think the hiring manager is looking for, like literally write them down. And then, if you have maybe 10, you need to pare it down a little bit. You need to focus in on three to five of those, because those words, those skills, are going to, and I need you to do this if you're going for an interview. They need to show up all over the place in your interview. They need to show up in your tell me about yourself answer.
Speaker 2:You need to talk about the skills that you have because you know they're looking for them. If you get the question, why should I hire you, you need to use those skills as part of that answer. If you're getting a star-based question around, tell me about a time when you did X, y or Z. Those skills need to come up in that type of answer. If you're answering and talking about questions at the end of the interview and asking questions, those skills need to come up.
Speaker 2:Those skills and those words matter and they need to show up at all parts of the interview and they need to be a really important part of your prep. Your examples need to follow, need to outline and highlight all those skills that you think the hiring manager is looking for Most people. When I'm coaching them, they start with hey, let me highlight a couple things that I've done. Let me prep around stories that I have projects, I've worked on things that I've done, and that's hey, that's great. You should do that too, but it needs to match the skills that the hiring manager is looking for, which is why it's so foundational to start there. Make sure you start with those three to five skills that the hiring manager is looking for, and then that informs the rest of your prep throughout the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, are you going to fit? Are you going to fit? And at the end of that interview, your hiring manager may ask you why should I hire you? This is the perfect opportunity to highlight those skills, and we've got an upcoming episode about words matter and what words are best used to describe certain skill sets and certain relationship management elements. So definitely keep a lookout for that. But this is a really critical one and that could really be a make it or break it make it or break.
Speaker 2:It All right. So prep, step four, building on those skills know the two whys, and that's W-H-Y-S why. Know the two whys? What are those two whys, linda?
Speaker 1:So know your why? The first one is going to be just your excitement and your passion about why you applied for this role. You know what excites you about it, what are the elements of the actual role that you feel passionate and connected to, and then you're going to pull in the skills with regards to how that connects to your why. What is allowing you to jump out of bed to be able to do this role? And people can feel that during the interview.
Speaker 2:So great Linda. Yeah, so know your why that you just described. And the second why is know why you? So Linda referenced that a minute ago around what, if you get the question, you know why should I hire you, knowing your why as to why you want the job, and knowing why you is, why do they want you, why should the hiring manager hire you? And you need to be able to talk about all of those. The skills are really important, not only skills that you have, but skills that you know they're looking for, which is why in prep, step three, you need to know that the skills they're looking for, but why should they hire you? You need to focus on skills. You have something that makes you unique and something that makes the hiring manager's life easier.
Speaker 2:We spent a whole episode a while back on how to answer the question and structure your answer to the question why should I hire you? And we focus on a lot of those things Skills that you bring to the table, something unique about you and, frankly, how do you make the hiring manager's life easier? That's oftentimes what they're looking for. Why should I pick you? Maybe they're trying to decide between you and someone else that have very similar skills and things that they bring to the table. Maybe whichever one is going to make their hiring manager's life easier is going to get the job. Maybe you can demonstrate that you get up the learning curve faster because you've done that in jobs in the past or you've had a very specific experience, something unique about you.
Speaker 2:So that's those are the two whys Know your why, why do you want it, and know why they should pick you for the job. And there's a lot of ways to prep for that. But a huge foundation for that is knowing the skills they're looking for and the excitement that um, that you bring. I think I'll reference it in every episode so I'll just not break that trend. And that is the top three things every hiring manager is looking for. If you've listened to any number of these episodes, you can probably repeat these now. One is do you have the skills I need to do? You have the excitement or passion to do this job after, like, the excitement wears off of the new job? And then three do I like you? And a big part of knowing the two whys your why and why they should hire you helps them answer those questions pretty easily as the hiring manager. So that's why it's a very important part of these prep steps.
Speaker 1:It's so important and we've seen this done so well when you can bring this into an interview and you really know your why and why you're connected to it, and then you can take your skill set and say and this is why you should hire me. It's so powerful and odds are you're going to land that, you're going to land that role. So this prep state, step four really a great one.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I'll pause real quick in between step four and five and to say, almost all the way through, you're going to see kind of a through line or a thread that puts this all together and that's being really proactive in all of these steps and it's connecting the dots for the interviewer. And don't make any assumptions. We'll get to more of that a little bit in step six. But don't make any assumptions. I like how Linda worded. That is kind of telling the hiring manager why they should hire you. Don't make any assumptions about anything. It's tell them you make connect the dots. In other words between you want X, y and Z. I have X, y and Z Saying that out loud. Oftentimes I'll hear candidates in an interview say something to me, give an example of a story, and they're hoping that I connect those dots, that they used the skills that I need or that they have them. And sometimes it's not as obvious. It might be obvious in their head but it doesn't mean that it's obvious to me. On the receiving end.
Speaker 1:Don't hope. Make it happen. Put that spotlight on you and on your why and why you? Because this is your time. This is your time to shine. That spotlight should be absolutely on you.
Speaker 2:All right. So quick review. Step one was always be prepping. Step two change your mindset, because your approach is all wrong. Step three is know the top three to five skills the hiring manager is looking for. Step four was know the two. Whys Step five? What's step five, Linda?
Speaker 1:Step five. We talk about this all the time Nail your intro. That's going to be that first question they ask you. So tell me a little bit about yourself, and if you've listened to our prior podcast, we've got lots of fun stories about where folks did not necessarily do that so well, and this is one you can practice. We cannot stress this enough. You know the range of timeframe that is really good for this is about two and a half minutes, josh, would you agree with that? Some folks go over, but that's a kind of a sweet spot to be able to work on your intro.
Speaker 2:That's the starting point and if you've been listening, you're looking at the free resource that I mentioned earlier, you'll probably notice the first four steps are kind of almost exclusively on the prep phase of things, where steps five through seven are definitely things you're going to prep for. But now we're getting into the actual interview itself. And so step five, nailing your intro, the tell me about yourself question. Couple tips we want to just briefly share there and why this is so important. One we talked about it in, I think, the most recent episode, specifically that two and a half minutes hands down.
Speaker 2:That's what you should be aiming for. You don't want to come across as unaware or too lengthy in your conversation. Two you know that you're going to get this question. They know that. You know they're going to get this question. You're going to get this question. You should be prepared right. So don't let it surprise you that you get a question around tell me about yourself. Also, don't let it surprise you that it isn't worded exactly how you think it might be worded. They might not say the phrase tell me about yourself. They might say something else, like what made you apply for this role? Or, uh, tell me what has you coming in for the interview today or any number of things you need to prepare.
Speaker 1:Summarize your resume for me. Summarize, yeah, exactly, I've heard that before. Summarize your resume.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anything. You the opening question. I don't care how they phrase it, don't let it surprise you. You need to prepare one response, no matter how they ask it, and don't let it again. This is all about being proactive and don't let anything surprise you. In coming in with a narrative, you come in with your answer, no matter what they ask, no matter how they phrase this. You can be confident in that. Your opening is your strongest statement, because it's their first impression and you need to know why you came in that room. Also, we're gonna spend another whole episode on this. We've done it in the past, but so go back to it a few. I think it's episode four, like way back.
Speaker 2:Had to answer the tell me about yourself question, but you need to do it differently than how most people do it. Most people go chronologically and just start way back when just read through the resume. Hire a manager who has your resume. If they want to read it, they can. I highly recommend that you approach this differently. Talk about the most important things that they're looking for. We'll get into that in more detail and you don't have to go chronologically like everyone else. You can start with who you are today. Here's who I am. Here's what I'm excited about. Here's what I can bring to your job. Here's some experiences I had in the past that got me to where I am now, and here's why I'm excited about the future or joining your organization, what I can bring, all these things, who I am today, who I was, all the experience I bring and what I'm going to do for you, and I'm going to check these items off of your list as the skills I know you're looking for, because I've got them, and here's why I'm so excited for this opportunity.
Speaker 1:That's a different narrative.
Speaker 2:Oh sorry, that's a different narrative than coming in. Okay, I did this, and then I did this, then I did this, and that's just reading your resume.
Speaker 1:And it's just not as much fun either. I mean, for me. I actually personally start with things that I do outside of work. I start with you know who's Linda, the human being, and then I go into the employee and what, what I've done, and I want to make myself memorable. You know, you want them to be intrigued and enjoy the story that you're telling, and there's lots of different ways to approach this, but, um, all really great tips for prep step five. Now, that intro is so important.
Speaker 2:So important and, as you're prepping for that, if you follow the step in the ways that we and the resources we'll give you in the frameworks, even within this prep step five that we can give you and have over the years and will continue to, if you do that, that also helps you prep for a lot of other questions, because if you know why you're joining or why you're applying for this job, why you're interviewing, what skills you have, what's unique about you, it's going to help you answer other questions that they ask you. So it's kind of a multiple benefit there.
Speaker 1:Two more steps to go, josh. We've got prep. Step six and this is probably everybody's absolute favorite the messy middle, proactively prepping for their questions. And this is, as Josh mentioned in the beginning of the episode. This is where a lot of folks start. They start with okay, what examples do I have? And let me make sure I nail those examples and go into the interview to answer their questions. Is that what you've seen, josh?
Speaker 2:100%. I mean, it is so much harder to start here without doing any of the legwork prior to this in these steps. If you say, okay, I have this interview, let me start prepping for questions I might get. That's why it's so frustrating to try to prepare for an interview for most people, because you're starting to, you're trying to find a way to answer questions with answers that you haven't done any of the homework for yet, and it's possible to start there.
Speaker 2:It's just really really tough, really time consuming and not as effective, and our goal is to make things easier for you. And so, if you're following these steps, you'll you already have in your mindset, right, you'll know the skills the manager is looking for, you'll why you're excited about it, something that's unique about you. You'll have, hopefully, if you were always prepping, you have a documentation of a lot of good examples of projects you worked on. You know peer interactions, customer interactions, client, client situations. You know wins, failures, things like that, already documented that you can just refer back to and see which ones draw out those three to five skills the hiring manager is looking for or whatever you're trying to come across.
Speaker 2:But it is a big piece of the interview, right, if you're this prep step. Prep step six again is proactively prep for the messy middle that we call it, which is the bulk of the interview. They're questions, right. They're still asking you questions, whether I say your approach to that should be different or not, they're still asking you things and it's a bulk of the you know, time-wise, the interview maybe it's an hour interview. It could be 45 minutes of that, right, and so you still need to prep for that, even though we say it's later in the process. But if you know what skills they're looking for and you are trying to be really proactive about connecting the dots for them, this is a lot easier of a of a prep stage than anything else. So quick.
Speaker 1:You don't know their questions, we don't know those questions, but what you do know is the skills that they're looking for because you applied for the role. So what stories and examples can you share through those skills? Because that's what's going to fit with their questions and that's where, when you're always prepping and I'm sure now, at this point, you're starting to see how these steps are blending in together, this point you're starting to see how these steps are blending in together, because it, your story and the skills are what's going to be able to best answer these questions and make the interview a lot more fun and conversational.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's exactly what it is, and one. I guess one quick example to get to share what this could look like is a versus B, like approach a would be okay. Let me write down all of my examples and during an interview, if I get a question, I'll pick one of those examples and I will tell the story to the best of my ability. Here's, here's something I did and here's how it worked out. That's option A and fairly common. I'm going to recommend option B and option B looks like similar.
Speaker 2:Start where, hey, I've got all my examples. But within each example I have a list of which skill that the hiring manager is looking for. And look at that list that I've previously created in step three. Those are the top three to five skills the hiring manager is looking for. Next to every story that I have when I'm prepping, I'm going to write at least one or two of those skills next to it. So I know when I tell this story, I'm going to highlight these one or two skills that I know they're looking for, they're listening for those.
Speaker 2:So every single time I give a story, an example, a situation that I've been through, any one of those things, I'm going to highlight at least one, if not two, of those skills. And so, during the interview itself, what that sounds like is hey, you're giving your example and you say phrases like and so I used my strong relationship management to do X, y or Z, rather than I did X, y or Z, or I really used my strength of fill in the blanks, strength of persuasion, my strength of data analysis, whatever it is you think they're looking for, and what you actually did use. Right, you can't lie, but use the skills that you did, but connect those dots. Don't make the assumption that they, oh, that they understand, oh, candidate, a used relationship management here they might, but you want to just be, as a split, as explicit as possible and connect those dots for them, and so that's what proactively prep for the messy middle.
Speaker 2:their questions with that proactive part means.
Speaker 1:Josh, are you my coach?
Speaker 2:My goodness, that's exactly how I listed for my own self this week.
Speaker 1:It's just like you somehow jumped into my dream and popped somehow probably.
Speaker 1:But you're exactly right. That's what I did, was I listed out the six most critical skills for the role that I'm going for and then I thought about my examples and was able to, and and, like you, shared there some. Some examples fit different skillsets, so if an example comes up, it's just going to make it that much easier for me to choose based on that skillset and, at the end of the day, that question likely has a skillset in parentheses next to it, of what they're looking to hear from you is is um, that's what's what they're looking for a skill they're looking for a skill and you're going to just share it in the form of a story, making the messy middle a whole lot less messy.
Speaker 2:That's right, all right. Prep step seven.
Speaker 1:Your favorite, Josh. This is this is all you, this, probably is my favorite Show it to me.
Speaker 2:But here we go Stand out with conversation starter questions using the show method. Now, the show method is something if you've listened to this podcast you might have heard it before, but it's been a while since we've talked about it and it's something that I came up with years ago and it sounds really nerdy to say, oh, I have an interview method here that I came up with, but we've used this and it's really fun and it's easy to remember. So the goal during the time where you get asked questions at the end of the interview is not to ask throwaway questions and get answers from them. Kind of like I said earlier, your approach is probably all wrong here. I don't want you to go in there, ask questions and get answers. Ask questions and get answers Everyone does that and they're usually not great questions. Even if you have the best question in the world. You just ask a question and get an answer. You're not maximizing that time.
Speaker 2:The time at the end of the interview is your time, and so you do everything in your ability to maximize your potential to get the job, and I think the best way to do that and I've seen this year after year after year, is to have a conversation with the interviewer, not just get answers from them. It's not Q&A time is not the most effective. So how do you have a conversation when they say, hey, do you have any questions? Well, you ask a question. That starts a conversation, and the way to do that is to set yourself up for that and to keep the conversation going. And so that's where this show method comes from. And if you're not looking at the resource, it's S, it's like an acronym, it's S H O W, the show method, because I want you to show them the real you during, during the end of the interview, you're probably a little more relaxed.
Speaker 2:Their questions are over that messy part that we just talked about. This is over. You're probably a little more relaxed a little more. You so show them the real. You're probably a little more relaxed a little more. You so show them the real. You show them what it looks like to be a potential employee, eventual colleague, with this person. And you're more likely to do that through a conversation rather than a Q&A. So, briefly, what is this show method that helps you kind of tee up yourself for a conversation? The S-H-O-W the S stands for share, the H stands for have an opinion, the O is opinion. Get theirs this time. And W is wonder. And so let's put it together real quick Share.
Speaker 2:What does that mean? I want you to go in with something that you've read, something, a video that you've watched, an article that you've read, a research report, a nugget of news that you've learned about the company that you're going for, the organization, a project that you've heard about, that this department or team is working on, something. I want you to have done research, to have done something that shows additional effort on your part and ability to learn and retain information. So that's share, share something about that. H is have an opinion on it. So now you've learned something. I'm going to just pick one example and stick with it. Let's say that you found a research report that is interesting around some new technique coming out in your industry and so great, hey, you know what I read recently in XYZ Quarterly that this new technique is coming out. Now the age is having an opinion on it. I think. Start with, I think I think this is groundbreaking and we could really use it. I see in this department, from what I know about this department, in a couple of different ways and then share that, or be the opposite, be the critic and say this seems to be popular. I don't see it. I don't see what's going on, and here's why I don't understand why this is so popular. I think there's a huge risk here.
Speaker 2:Et cetera have an opinion. They want to see someone who's thought critically about something they've researched. So you've shared something you've researched, you've had the opinion. That's the H. Oh, now the actual question comes in. They said do you have any questions? And you say, yeah, so far you've just been talking. So you got to throw a question in there, and this is where you do it. So get their opinion. That's how you get the conversation started. You've shared your opinion, now get theirs. And so it could sound like something. But hey, this is me. You have a lot of experience in this area, in this industry. I'd love to hear how do you approach this situation, or how have you talked to your team about this? Get their opinion, get their input, something along those lines, and they're going to answer it.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's long, maybe it's quick, but you need the conversation to keep going, and so that's where the W comes in. The W stands for wonder, and it's just a just kind of a mental trigger. It's a cue to you to keep the conversation going by using the word wonder or something like it. So it could sound something like oh, that's fascinating. I wonder if something changed here or over on this side. Or I wonder if this one little piece of the research was different, would that change anything about your opinion? Or would you address it differently with the team? You could substitute the word curious or something.
Speaker 2:It's just the W is wonder, just to be a mental cue to keep the conversation going so it doesn't turn into just Q&A. I can tell you from the hiring manager side of things, someone that I can have a conversation with and my last impression with them before they leave that room or the virtual room is having a conversation with a potential colleague. If that goes well, I see them more so as someone I could work with and someone that I'm excited to work with, more so than quote just a candidate, that's. I'm trying to see if they have the right skills or not. So the best way to end your interview is to use conversation, starting questions using this S H O W or show method to show them who you really are as a conversationalist and hopefully a new employee for them.
Speaker 1:And when this is done, well, josh, it is just beautiful. It's just beautiful and you're going to walk out of there feeling so confident and just feeling like you've really had such a nice conversation. To end the official interview.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. Those are the seven prep steps. Quick recap and then we'll get moving on here and prep. Step one always be prepping. Step two change your mindset. Your approach is all wrong. Step three know the top three to five skills the hiring manager is looking for. Step four know the two whys, know your why and why you. Step five nail your intro or the tell me about yourself question. Step six proactively prep for the messy middle, which is their questions. And step seven stand out with conversation starter questions using the show method.
Speaker 1:Such great tips, josh. This was so wonderful, and I know that sometimes feels overwhelming when you think about a framework, but hopefully, as you listen through, as we talk through each of those steps, you're realizing that you know when you're preparing in the right way for your interview. You can make it so much easier on yourself if you follow the right process, especially our seven prep steps that we outlined today, and remember to just always be your true self. That's the most important thing. Go in, do your best, enjoy the interview process, because it truly is all about growth and it is your time to shine. And if these tips helped you, please share them. Pay it forward. It's likely you're not alone. Everyone is trying to learn and grow in this space.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. A quick reminder. If you do want that resource and you want to jot down that URL where you can get it, it's equippedinterviewcom. Forward slash seven steps. Also, if you have a question or scenario you'd like our help with guidance, a topic that you want us to talk about, love to hear it. Send us an email at questions at equippedinterviewcom. It's questions at equippedinterviewcom.
Speaker 1:Well, that's all for today, but let's keep this conversation going. Check at equippedinterviewcom. Well, that's all for today, but let's keep this conversation going. Check out equippedinterviewcom. Thanks so much for listening. We can't wait for next time where we discuss Josh. What's next time?
Speaker 2:Next time is how to navigate weird or off-the-wall interview questions.
Speaker 1:They do, they do happen, don't they?
Speaker 2:It can be frustrating, or hopefully you can get through them and that's our goal.
Speaker 1:Going to help you with that. Remember you've got this. Believe in yourself.
Speaker 2:Be intentional, do the work, build your confidence to stand out in your next job interview. Thank you.
