Barry – Yes, knowing what to pitch is key, but even if you know the right things to say, if you don’t communicate them clearly and in a way that resonates with the hiring manager, all of your efforts to understand the company’s “pain” will be in vein! I think both pieces are equally important for job seekers to understand and put into play for their search.

What needs to be improved, how should costs be reduced, what new programs need to be launched, why is execution failing, what processes need to be changed?

Without understanding these Success Factors, anything the candidate says in the interview is irrelevant. The author is correct that hiring managers really couldn’t give a hoot about you personally at the beginning of the interview. They want to know how you can help them overcome their pain.

Unfortunately, most hiring managers don’t know how to describe their pain in an interview – therefore – you as the candidate need to extract that pain early in the interview process with questions in the first 5 minutes such as “What are the 3 things I’ve got to do in the job so that at the end of my first year you’ll feel like you’ve made a successful hire”. What are the two key results you’re looking for in this role within the first 90 days”.

Extract their pain – then you can make your pitch. Your accomplishments, the skills you bring, how you’ve done similar things in similar environments.

That’s how you get hiring managers to sit up and pay attention in an interview.