Do you really know why you are being interviewed?

Do you really know why you are being interviewed? Knowing the real reasons can transform your professional job search and career marketing experience. And that leads to better interviews and offers.

So there you are plonked down firmly in front of a recruiter, HR or direct hiring manager. You may have found your way there via a job advertisement, a referral or your own career proactive activities.

Yet however your career legs found your way into that room, do you know the real reason you are being interviewed?

There is a real real purpose of your job interview and the reason a role is available. But the answers are not necessarily what you think it is.

So what is the real reason your good self is plonked (albeit often nervously) in the interview hot seat with the desire of being offered the job ? Have you thought about really what the hell you are doing there? Most candidates don’t reflect on this question and therein lies the foundation of why many interviews are unsuccessful.

A job vacancy has arisen perhaps because someone has resigned and needs replacing.  Or maybe the company is expanding, changing direction or launching a new product or service. There are many potential ‘front line reasons’ why a job is available and you are being interviewed.

But the real reason is that you are there to solve business pain or needs

Sure you are there to talk about your career, background, the company, their visions, cultural fit, your technical skills etc.  And most interviewers won’t directly verbalise their business pain and issues.

Pain and solutions are always at the bottom, middle and end of all unexpressed and expressed hiring objectives.

But pain has many degrees of heat. Tapping into that heat source will give you the fuel to discern and align further in the interview and opportunity.

Where does it sit heat scale:

A few examples include:

Meet unprecedented market demand (due to external factors)

Improve customer service (due to a flood of client complaints)

Reduce expenditure & costs  (due to dwindling profits & overspending)

Increase market share (due to aggressive competitor activities)

Remedy  bad community PR (due to risk issues/ mismanagement)

Multiply ROI on media spend (due to new digital challengers)

Create a inclusive culture and leadership team (due to high staff turnover)

New business sales (due to expansion plans and visions)

The pathway to a successful interview outcome is to find out WHAT the need points and problems are for the company and show HOW you can solve or meet them.

Like any purchasing decision the ‘buyer’ needs to feel really comfortable that the product/service will solve their needs and be a good investment.

So understand that the hiring company will need plenty of comfort, evidence and assurances that YOU can and will save the day for them so to speak.

Tips to show how you can solve the hiring company’s needs and problems :

1. Research, research, research

In sending a covering letter or email introduction/pitch with a CV you must have researched the issues and concerns facing that industry &/or company.

If you are applying for role within your current sector, you will know the general issues. If applying to a unfamiliar sector you need to learn, ask questions and review.

Never assume you know. Thank goodness for Google, Linked In Groups and the plethora of online and network resources.

Address your ‘awareness’ of the issues in your covering letter/email and demonstrate relevant and similar solutions from past experiences to align against the issues and challenges.

2. During the interview

This where you can use great sales tools and techniques to FLIP interview questions around.

You need to get the interviewer to TELL you what the issues they are facing are and discuss the problems.

They generally wont be sharing that without prompting so you need to ASK. Questions are the answers –  for example :

” what is the biggest challenge your marketing team is facing in the supermarket shelf war ?” OR  ” what are the major user experience issues on your website that prevent conversion ?”

3. Understanding expressed issues

You are then in a great position to really shine, showcase how you have dealt with similar pain points in the past and relay how you can contribute to and solve their needs.

4. 80% of interviews don’t quite go the way of a 2-way problem-solution conversation.

Unfortunately most focus on rapid fire ‘tell me about a time…’ behavioural questions. Remember that interviewers are not always skilled curiosity driven 2-way great conversationalists or experts in the field they are interviewing for.

So you need to help them and yourself by changing the interview framework around to your advantage to showcase that YOU are their solution.

5. Feel Felt Found Tool

Next time you are being interviewed ask and weave in Feel Felt Found technique questions and responses about issues and demonstrate your understanding.

The FEEL FELT FOUND technique is a wonderful tool which can be applied to all areas of our career and life.  It’s a technique which is non combative, is soft and yet extremely powerful. You need to put it into your own ‘voice’ but it must follow 3 basic principles:

“I understand how you FEEL – This phrase lets the interviewer know that you heard what they said.

“Others have FELT that way – This phrase lets the interviewer know that their initial objection is common – inferring that the situation CAN change.

“What I have FOUND, however is……..   This is gold where you show the interviewer in a logical and well thought out manner how you can do the job without question with transferrable and relatable stories. In other words this is where you comfort them that hiring you isn’t as bigger an objection as they thought

Don’t wait till the last part of the interview when you get asked ‘if you have any questions’. Introduce your questions as soon as possible into the interview.

Read more examples of the Feel Felt Found Technique here

6. Answering objections

This is a critical part of an interview and understanding the unexpressed concerns will strengthen your ability to soothe business pain points and minimise hiring risks

7. Flip the question back

A great tool to flip  stock standard questions like  ‘tell me about a time when you did xyz….’   is to turn the conversation around and ask :

‘before I answer that great question,

‘may I ask something first about XYZ ..‘

Then ask a smart and well thought our question to open conversation about the challenges the company faces so you can address it and tie it into your experiences and knowledge.

This is very powerful – try it. And best of all you will often be able to lead the interview into a more robust 2-way human business dialogue which will increase your interview success.

Whatever age, gender, role, race or skillsets you have I assure you after coaching and working with 1000s of clients and candidates when I ran a media recruitment agency… these tips WORK.

Check out how Sue Parker can help you with your executive and professional job search and career marketing HERE