The Best Little Job Interview Differentiator: What Makes You Different?
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Most interviews begin with a fairly traditional question:
“Tell me about yourself and what you have been doing professionally.”
They may not use those exact words but they ask you an open-ended question that is designed to be answered in 30-45 seconds.
It sounds something like, “I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $1,250,000.
Mentioning the money almost always gets their attention. Otherwise, you give them an answer that leaves them thinking, “So what?” I’ve interviewed 25 people already who say much the same thing).
But I can assure you that none of them have used this new tactic I’ve developed and it works like a charm.
So for your next interview, I want you to be armed with the best little differentiator. So let me repeat the answer to “Tell me about yourself” with one little twist.”
“I’ve been in the business for X years; for the last Y years, I have been working for RTW where I have been responsible for blah, blah that resulted in the firm (making or saving) $2.4 million dollars. Before that, I was part of a team that worked on such and such for Blue Horseshoe Corp where I did this and that that resulted in their (making or saving) $250,000.
But I suspect you’ve heard similar answers from a lot of people you’ve interviewed but what makes me different is that …………..
What can you say?
I stepped into a situation that was behind schedule and over budget, and delivered it ahead of time or on time and back on the new budget.
I worked for a boss that had left my last three predecessors running for the exits and was able to tame him/her and make him/her happy.
Get the idea?
You offer up a success you had and that becomes the basis of the conversation instead of a simple review of your resume and experience.
NOTE: You have to be prepared to answer questions about this success and not make up your answers on the fly.
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“I’m Interviewing For a Job and Saw That It Has Been Re-Posted”
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