Job Interviews — How the 1% got their dream jobs.

“Hey Richmond, I wanted to seek your help. We are interested to find out how the top candidates perform during the interviews.”

As a people analytics professional, I partner with the business leaders to discover people insights and help them understand their teams. I am a believer that data helps us to see better than our own eyes and it helps us to make better and more informed decisions.

People data potentially contains a lot more insights than other forms of data, but they are never obvious. When we look at data about people and behaviour, we can expect to deal with a large set of random data points. Because people are naturally irrational, emotions and behaviours can vary based on the environment they are in or it can be their character or personalities.

This is exactly why job interview analytics and insights are always interesting, because people behave differently and respond to questions differently. To find out if there are any patterns or certain behaviours that candidates exhibit and clinch their dream jobs, besides collecting and analyzing thousands of samples, I also have sat incognito in hundreds of interviews to observe anything interesting.

It is only after 11 months of analyzing data and sitting in these interviews, I finally see some worthy patterns. Indeed candidates who get their dream jobs do behave and react in a certain way. If you want to stand out from the crowd and get that job, there are three things you need to keep in mind and do.

The “Why”

Imagine that you are going on a first date with your dream girl. Both of you were sitting in a fine dining restaurant and waiting for your appetizers to come.

Your dream girl started the conversation: “I can’t believe we are finally here! I am glad that we are able to meet, so tell me more, what do you do for a living?”

And you said, “Oh I am a rich guy, I am really into cars and I recently bought this Ferrari. I worked in this company as a managing director selling education programmes for the kids. I manage a 30 man team and under my leadership, I have generated more than $3 million last year. I have worked with so many global clients and they all had great reviews about our partnerships. If you are free one day, I will want to show you around in my office.”

Do you think there will be a second date? Probably not.

But suppose the conversation go the other way: “Oh I believe education is the best gift that we can give others. And everyone should have an opportunity to learn more, especially children. So I worked in this company that does exactly that, it’s inspiring to see many of these education programmes we sell made real impact in the children’s lives. Last year, we reached a record number of global clients and touched thousands of children’s hearts. My team was brilliant at this and we generated more than $3 million in revenue. I would love to bring you around my office to show you around. I just got a Ferrari recently, are you game of ride?”

I am sure there will be more dates to come. The only difference between these conversations is the underlying reason. The “Why”. The “Why” is a powerful force that engages and influences people. When people can see your “Why”, you connect people at a different level and that leaves a lasting impression.

Top candidates don’t go babbling about their achievements and their work experience. In fact, they spent more than 40% of their time talking about their “Why”, before they even talk about the results. It’s no different between interviewing and dating, start with your “Why”. Talk about what motivates you, share more about your beliefs and opinions, using that and lead to the results and achievements. That’s how it should be done.

Here’s an example, “I believe that data is a powerful thing. It helps us to see better, even better with our own eyes. With relevant data, we can make better decisions and deliver more impactful results. Over the past decade, I have helped leaders to see and understand more about their teams. With self service analytics solutions, we managed to cut down decision making time by 60%, and sped up our recruiting process by 80%. I love to find out more about what you are working right now, and how we can work together in the future.”

So remember, the “Why” matters.

The Abundance Mindset

“I can’t see how I fit into this role…” It’s something I hear from many top candidates. And what I learnt from this is that they hold on to power. They are never needy and they are always ready to walk away. This puts them on a position of power and the recruiters, knowing that they are about to lose the candidates, will try desperately to convince them, offering more information and even better compensation packages.

It’s also more than just power. It’s also about confidence. The confidence that you can bring impactful results, as well as the confidence about your own skills and abilities. This is exactly what the recruiters are looking for.

In the contrary, if you are the needy one who keeps justifying why you are a good fit to the role and how capable you are, you are giving away your power. Not only that you have to try extremely hard to explain and convince, you most likely have to say yes, if you ever have a job offer. You are just not in control.

Like it or not, it’s simply a game of sales and negotiation. People want things that they cannot have. So being exclusive, having that abundance mindset, makes you a more worthy candidate to consider. But of course, you still need to be qualified with the right skills and abilities to do the job!

Questions

After sitting in hundreds of interviews, I kind of know if the candidate is likely to get far in a very short period of time. Top candidates ask questions, like tons of it. It seems like they are interviewing the interviewers. They really turned the table around and they are in full control of the conversation.

They would ask how they can add value to the team, who they will be working with, what’s the short term goals and the long term focus, what kind of results they are looking at, how the team has been performing. The most amazing thing is that they are thrown a question to answer, they would answer with another question.

“Tell me a situation where you have to go beyond what you know to solve the problem.” They would give an elaborate answer, and end with another question: “What I will do is … So I am interested, is this something that is happening in the team?” To be honest, I am quite impressed. They maintained control all the time and that puts them in a more favourable position throughout the entire interview.

The Ultimate Interview Formula

Start with the “Why”, not being needy and asking tons of questions. This is exactly how the top candidates ace the interviews and get that offer letter. All these would differentiate you from the rest of the crowd. Being the most capable and the most experienced is not going to help, it’s how you connect with others and how you impress others that really counts.

Practice these and see for yourself. I am sure you will be inspired and amazed by the results.