Controllable Behaviors to Help Stand Out in an Interview

Most candidates I work with tell me that they are very frustrated that interviewing for jobs is very competitive and they wish that there were more in the process that they can control to help set them apart from the competition. While a candidate cannot control how many other candidates apply or what their qualifications are, they can easily control these four common sense behaviors to help connect with the Manager and help set them apart from the next option.

Be on Time

This sounds like the most obvious suggestion possible although after dealing with thousands of candidates over the years, you would be amazed at how many show up late for one reason or another.

Make sure that you have picked a time that is historically a down time during your daily schedule. Some experts advise to schedule the interview first thing in the morning to minimize the risk of having an unexpected meeting or unforeseen commitment come up compared to waiting for the end of the day where there is more time for an issue to arise.

If you do foresee any potential challenges with your schedule, make sure to let the interviewer know. Make sure to have their direct phone number available so that you can reach them to alert them of any delays. From working with Managers in the past, I can tell you that a Manager who knows a candidate will be 30 minutes late is much more likely to still meet with the candidate compared to a Manager who is told a candidate has showed up 10 minutes late without setting their expectations and giving them any advanced warning.

Focus on Body Language

Sitting up straight and making eye contact is not just something your parents would say when they were mad at you. Take their wise words and make sure to focus on your posture. Even if you do not mean to slouch in your chair, this lack of body language self awareness can lead the Manager to draw the conclusion that you might not be interested or energized by the opportunity.

Occasionally you will find yourself in a position where there are multiple interviewees and your body language will be critiqued even closer. In these situations it is essential to make eye contact with each of them and not focus on a single interviewer. A good rule of thumb is to maintain initial eye contact with the person who asked the question, but then make sure to scan the rest of the room as you answer. One company I know even planted an interviewee to purposely not seem interested in the candidate with their body language to see how the candidate would react, would they control the room or simply let the person stay unengaged? This was very important to the Hiring Manager because they believed it showed if the candidate has the potential to lead or if they would let possible future co-workers get away with their bad habits.

Show Energy and Excitement

Building on the idea regarding the importance body language is also the idea of displaying energy and excitement in the opportunity the candidate has in front of them. Dull answers do not make an impact on Hiring Managers but candidates who stand up and clearly communicate why they want the job and the impact that they can make do.

Many Managers will say that they look for the “soft skills.” The idea behind this idea is that a quality Manager with years of industry experience feels that they can take an employee without specific knowledge and train them on job if they are willing and want to learn. Rather than focusing on specific experiences, these Managers are looking for candidates with strong “soft skills.”

These skills include those that will show up on time, present well, work hard, not cause issues, try their best, work well with others, etc. These are all skills that a person either has or they don’t and they cannot always be taught. Finding a candidate in an interview showing passion and excitement is not necessarily a predictor that they will be able to learn the job and be a positive contributor, although given the short setting that an interview entails, it is a very strong way to communicate that the candidate has potential to show strong “soft skills” in the future.

Be Prepared

Being invited to interview with a company is a very big deal. To get to that point your information has been reviewed by multiple staff members and Management level employees are taking time out of their day (that could be spent in many other and higher priority ways) to sit down and talk with you. Because of this, you would assume that there is no excuse to not take the time to prepare for the interview, although after speaking with Hiring Managers over the years, you would be very wrong.

While most Managers can overlook a candidate not dressing a certain way or submitting an awkwardly formatted resume, there is no Manager who can tolerate a candidate not being prepared for their interview. Still to this day is the single most common reason I hear from Hiring Managers regarding why they passed on a candidate is they showed up without adequate preparation.

Managers have told me that the candidate did not take the time to fully read the job description, did not have any questions prepared and more than you would think, THEY COULD NOT GIVE A CLEAR DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THE COMPANY DOES.

Please, please, please do not make this mistake. In the modern world with the Internet right on our phones, please take the time to research the company and understand what they do. Research their history, who is their CEO? Who are their main competitors? Have they been in the news recently? Prepare and be able to give a ten second overview of the company if requested by the interviewer, this comes up more than most think.

I would also recommend researching the Hiring Manager and any other interviewees that you will be meeting with on LinkedIn if their names have been provided beforehand.

In every interview I have ever been on, I was given a few minutes to ask questions towards the end of the conversation. Make sure to have 10 questions ready to go for this moment. I say up to 10 because during the course of the interview you will have time to ask follow up questions that you might have on your list so this will allow you to still hopefully have 3-4 at the very end when you are given an opportunity. Rank your questions in order of importance prior to the interview so if you do find yourself with closer to 10 questions to ask at the end, you can make sure to focus on the top few.

The hiring team should be doing their best to respect your time so it is essential to do the same to them. Do not take an interview “just to take an interview.” While it might not look good to cancel an interview last minute, the hiring team will thank you in the end as they don’t want to waste their busy time on a candidate who is not interested or committed in the opportunity.

Go back to the basics and put yourself in the shoes of what the Hiring Managers are seeing.  Follow these tips to make sure you are taking the time to focus on the small details that can set you apart from similar candidates in contention for the position.